Background
Matveev, Aleksandr was born in 1905.
Matveev, Aleksandr was born in 1905.
Joined the Bolshevik Party, 1925. Komsomol and party functionary, 1926. 1st secretary of Minsk obkom and Minister of the Interior (NKVD) of Belorussia, 1937-1941.
Probably connected with the mass murder of POW Polish officers at the NKVD rest house in the Katyn forest near Smolensk. In the summer of 1941, fled from the German advance. Appointed 1st secretary of Orel obkom, January 1942.
Chief-of-staff of the Briansk partisan detachments, based in the Briansk forests, July 1942. After the advance of the Soviet Army, appointed 1st secretary of Briansk obkom, 1944.