Oleksandr Korniychuk

Oleksandr Korniychuk
Олександр Корнійчук
Korniychuk in 1940
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR
In office
1947–1953
Preceded byVacant (previously Mykhailo Burmystenko)
Succeeded byPavlo Tychyna
In office
1959–1972
Preceded byPavlo Tychyna
Succeeded byMykhailo Bilyi
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR
In office
1944–1944
PremierNikita Khrushchev
Preceded byvacant (previously by Christian Rakovsky)
Succeeded byDmytro Manuilsky
Personal details
Born(1905-05-25)25 May 1905
Khrystynivka, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire
Died14 May 1972(1972-05-14) (aged 66)
Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
SpouseWanda Wasilewska
Occupationplaywright
Soviet Party and State official
AwardsStalin Prize
(1941, 1942, 1943, 1949, 1951)

Oleksandr Yevdokymovych Korniychuk (Russian: Алекса́ндр Евдоки́мович Корнейчу́к; Ukrainian: Олександр Євдокимович Корнійчук; 25 May [O.S. 12 May] 1905 – 14 May 1972) was a Soviet and Ukrainian playwright, literary critic and state official.

His plays include The Death of the Squadron (1933), Platon Krechet (1934), Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1938), his pro-collectivization comedy In the Steppes of Ukraine (1940), and The Front (1942). Korniychuk was a five-time Stalin Prize laureate (1941; 1942; 1943; 1949; 1951) and is regarded as a major proponent of Socialist Realism in Soviet drama.

Korniychuk served as the head of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR from 1943 to 1945. He was also a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1952–1972), and the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1947–1953; 1959–1972).