Konstantin Chelpan
{{Short description|Soviet engineer (1899–1938)}}
{{Infobox engineer
|image = Konstantin_Chelpan_1899-1938.jpg
|image_size =
|alt =
|caption =
|name = Konstantin Chelpan
|native_name ={{nobold|Константин Челпан}}
|native_name_lang =ru
|nationality = Soviet
|citizenship =
|birth_name =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|05|27|df=yes}}
|birth_place = Cherdakly, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1938|03|10|1899|05|27|df=yes}}
|death_place = Kharkiv, Ukraine SSR, {{nowrap|Soviet Union}}
|resting_place = Unknown
|resting_place_coordinates =
|education = Kharkiv Technological Institute
|spouse =
|parents = Fyodor Myhailovich Chelpan, Elizaveta Khalangot
|children = Lenimir Konstantinovich Chelpan
|discipline = Diesel engines
|institutions = Kharkiv Locomotive Factory
|practice_name =
|employer =
|significant_projects =
|significant_design = V-2 engine
|significant_advance =
|significant_awards = Order of Lenin
|signature =
}}
Konstantin Fyodorovich Chelpan ({{langx|ru|Константин Фёдорович Челпан}}; 27 May 1899 – 10 March 1938) was a prominent Soviet engineer of Greek background. Head of the Engineering Design Bureau of the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory, chief designer of the T-34 tank engine. Awarded the Order of Lenin, he was politically repressed and executed under a mass persecution ordered by Joseph Stalin, but politically rehabilitated after death.
Early life and education
Born on 27 May 1899 in Cherdakly, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire (now Kremenivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine),{{cite web|last=Лавриненко|first=Евгений|title=Челпан Константин Федорович|url=http://donbass.name/2586-glavnyj-konstruktor-v-2.html|work=аллея звезд|accessdate=19 February 2012|language=Russian|date=January 2011|archive-date=9 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130809142357/http://donbass.name/2586-glavnyj-konstruktor-v-2.html|url-status=dead}} to Fyodor Myhailovich Chelpan and Elizaveta Khalangot.{{cite book|last=Захарова|first=Г.М.|title=Жизнеописания знаменитых греков Украины. Дело Константина Челпана|year=2001|publisher=Мариуполь : ЗАО «Газета "Приазовский рабочий|pages=54–85|language=Russian}} Both parents were Greeks.
After graduating from Mariupol Realschule in 1919, took part in the Russian Civil War. In 1924, he graduated with honors from Kharkiv Technological Institute with a major in internal combustion engines.{{cite web|last=Джуха|first=И.Г.|authorlink=Ivan Dzhukha|title=Челпан К.Ф.|url=http://www.greek-martirolog.ru/dbm_person/persona.php?id=5322965_199aa|work=ГРЕЧЕСКИЙ МАРТИРОЛОГ|accessdate=19 February 2012|language=Russian|archive-date=8 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208054003/http://www.greek-martirolog.ru/dbm_person/persona.php?id=5322965_199aa|url-status=dead}}
Career
From 1924 to 1937 Chelpan worked at the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory as a Designer, Head of the Diesel Department, Lead Designer, and Head of the Engineering Design Bureau.{{cite book|last=Ибрагимов|first=Даниял|title=Противоборство: Документальная повесть|year=1989|publisher=ДОСААФ СССР|isbn=5-7030-0200-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zk19AAAAIAAJ|accessdate=19 February 2012|page=59|language=Russian}}{{cite book|last=Джуха|first=Иван|title=Греческая операция: история репрессий против греков в СССР|year=2006|publisher=Алетейя|isbn=5-89329-854-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OH8iAQAAIAAJ |author2=Ассоциация греческих общественных объединений России|accessdate=19 February 2012|page=50|language=Russian}} In 1928–1929 he received practical training in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK.
Konstantin Chelpan was the head designer of the famous T-34 tank diesel engine V-2,{{cite book|last=Костюченко|first=Станислав|title=Как создавалась танковая мощь Советского Союза, Книга 1|year=2004|publisher=АСТ|isbn=5-17-024396-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3_fAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=19 February 2012|pages=|language=Russian}} for which he was awarded the Order of Lenin.{{cite book|last=БУГАЙ|first=НИКОЛАЙ|title=Обязать НКВД СССР ... выселить греков|year=1999|publisher=ИНСАН|pages=159, 164|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=He9LAAAAMAAJ|author2=КОЦОНИС, АНАТОЛИЙ|accessdate=19 February 2012|language=Russian|isbn=9785858402886}} The engine consisted of lightweight aluminum alloy.{{cite book|last=Suzuki|first=Takashi|title=The romance of engines|year=1997|publisher=SAE|isbn=1-56091-911-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7alJT8YtaQC|accessdate=19 February 2012|page=206}}{{cite book|title=Отечественные архивы, Выпуск 1|year=2001|publisher=Отечественные архивы|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0ZAAAAYAAJ|author=Комитет по делам архивов. Министерство печати и информации|accessdate=19 February 2012|page=63|language=Russian}}{{cite book|last=Ziemke|first=Earl|title=Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East (Paper)|year=2002|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=0-16-001962-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pr6HhrecbZ8C|accessdate=19 February 2012|page=27}}{{cite web|title=Сталинский "греческий заговор"|url=http://www.greekgazeta.ru/archives/nomer03/articles/28.shtml|work=ГРЕКИ В РОССИИ|publisher=ГРЕЧЕСКАЯ ГАЗЕТА|accessdate=19 February 2012|language=Russian}}
From 1927, he was a senior lecturer at Kharkiv Technological Institute.{{cite web|last=Павлова|first=Г. В.|title=Челпан Константин Федорович|url=http://library.kpi.kharkov.ua/PREPODAVATELY/PR_%D7.html|work=История Харьковского технологического института в лицах 1885-1930|accessdate=19 February 2012|language=Russian|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711083925/http://library.kpi.kharkov.ua/PREPODAVATELY/PR_%D7.html|archive-date=11 July 2012|url-status=dead}}
Arrest and death
File:Konstantin Chelpan Arrest Warrant.JPG
Konstantin Chelpan was arrested on 15 December 1937 during the first days of the Greek Operation of NKVD. He was charged with leading a Greek nationalist counter-revolutionary organization, as well as conspiring to sabotage the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory. After being interrogated and tortured, he confessed to being a spy. On 4 February 1938, he was sentenced to execution by shooting. The sentence was carried out in Kharkiv prison on 10 March 1938 and covered up. In a few years his wife received a death certificate, indicating that Konstantin Chelpan died on 16 May 1942 from congestive heart failure.
On 6 August 1956, Konstantin Chelpan was rehabilitated by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. However, only in 1988 was his true cause of death revealed.
Commemoration
- In 1994 one of the streets in the village of Cherdakly was named after Konstantin Chelpan.
- In 2000 a book entitled Life story of famous Ukrainian Greeks. The case of Konstantin Chelpan by G. Zakharova was published.
- In 2001 a commemorative plaque was placed on the house, where Konstantin Chelpan had spent his last years.
References
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Category:People from Donetsk Oblast
Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Category:20th-century Russian engineers
Category:20th-century Russian scientists
Category:Great Purge victims from Ukraine
Category:Greek people executed by the Soviet Union
Category:Ukrainian people of Greek descent
Category:Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute alumni
Category:Soviet people of Greek descent