Pyotr Grigorenko

From Freepedia

Pyotr Grigoryevich Grigorenko, alternative Petro Grigorenko (Russian: Петр Григоренко) (1907-1987) is a former Major General of the Soviet Army and prominent Soviet human right activist, a dissident and a writer.

A decorated veteran of World War II, he taught at the Frunze Military Academy.

In 1961 he criticized Nikita Khruschev policies and was transferred to Russian Far East as punishment. In 1963 he created Union of Struggle for the Restoration of Leninism. In the 1960s Grigorenko became a member of Moscow Helsinki Watch Group. The authorities sent him to a psikhushka (psychiatric imprisonment) in 1964-1965 and in 1969-1976. In 1964 he was stripped of his military rank, medals, and retirement benefits.

He actively participated in the struggle for the Crimean Tatar autonomy, and demonstrated against the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Grigorenko was one of the first who questioned the Soviet official version of World War II history. He pointed out that just prior to the German attack on June 22, 1941, vast Soviet troops were concentrated in the area west of Bialystok, deep in occupied Poland, getting ready for a surprise offensive, but vulnerable to be encircled in case of surprise German attack. His ideas were later advanced by Viktor Suvorov.

In 1977, when Grigorenko went for medical treatment in the United States, he was stripped of his Soviet citizenship.