Holovchenko, Ivan

Holovchenko, Ivan [Головченко, Іван; Holovčenko], b 14 October 1918 in Lyman Druhyi, Kupiansk county, Kharkiv gubernia, d 8 November 1992 in Kyiv. Soviet Army general, political figure, and writer. After graduating from the Higher Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1948, he held various Party posts before joining the KGB (1955–62). In 1962 he became a colonel-general and minister of internal affairs of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. As a prosaist he debuted in 1957 with a selection of short stories, Zapysky chekista (A Chekist’s Notes). His other works include the novels Tretia zustrich (The Third Meeting, 1960), Chorna stezhka (Black Pathway, 1961), and Militseis'ki buval'shchyny (Experiences in the Militia, 1974), and several novels coauthored with O. Musiienko. Holovchenko’s works conform to the official style of socialist realism and deal mainly with the events of the Second World War.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]