Dymshyts, Veniamin E.
DYMSHYTS, VENIAMIN E.
DYMSHYTS, VENIAMIN E. (1910–1993), Soviet economist and engineer who became a deputy premier of the Soviet Union in 1959. He was a grandson of the Hebrew writer A.A. Rakowski. Born in Theodosia (Crimea) he qualified as an engineer at the Moscow Technical Institute and began working as a construction engineer in 1931. By 1950 he was deputy minister of construction enterprises in the metallurgical and chemical industries. Later he went to India as chief engineer of the Bhilai steel plant which was erected with Soviet aid. Dymshyts became chairman of the State Planning Committee in 1959 and simultaneously was appointed deputy premier, the only Jew in the upper echelon of the regime. He was promoted to head of the National Economic Council in 1962, with responsibility for dealing with the daily problems of overall economic management. Later he assumed the leadership of the new state committee to centralize the distribution of industrial products. Dymshyts was a member of the Communist Party Central Committee for 1961 and a deputy to the Supreme Soviet. He was awarded the Stalin Prize twice (1946, 1950). On March 4, 1970 he was the main representative of Soviet Jewry in a press conference about the situation and strongly criticized the State of Israel.
[Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)]