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Oder-Neisse line

(Encyclopedia)Oder-Neisse line, frontier established in 1945 between Germany and Poland; it followed the Oder and W Neisse rivers from the Baltic Sea to the Czechoslovak border. The boundary, desired by most Poles ...

Ryazanov, Eldar Aleksandrovich

(Encyclopedia)Ryazanov, Eldar Aleksandrovich, 1927–2015, Russian film director and screenwriter, b. Samara, grad. State Institute of Cinematography (1950). Probably Russia's most popular filmmaker, he renowned fo...

Rostropovich, Mstislav

(Encyclopedia)Rostropovich, Mstislav mĭsˈtĭslävˌ rŏsˌtrəpôˈvyĭch [key], 1927–2007, Russian cellist, pianist, and conductor. He made his cello debut in 1940 and his conducting debut in 1968, toured with...

Hanko

(Encyclopedia)Hanko hängˈö [key], city, Southern Finland prov., SW Finland, at the tip of the Hanko peni...

Kaganovich, Lazar Moiseyevich

(Encyclopedia)Kaganovich, Lazar Moiseyevich ləzärˈ mōĭsyāˈyəvich kəgənōˈvich [key], 1893–1991, Soviet Communist leader. A Jewish shoemaker and labor organizer, he joined the Communist party in 1911. A...

Spassky, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Spassky, Boris, 1937–, Soviet chess champion. A child prodigy, he became an international master at the age of 16 and in 1955, at age 18, he became an international grand master. Subsequently in int...

Cherenkov, Pavel Alekseyevich

(Encyclopedia)Cherenkov, Pavel Alekseyevich päˈvĭl əlyĭksyāˈyəvĭch chərĕngˈkəf [key], 1904–90, Soviet physicist. He shared with the Soviet physicists I. M. Frank and I. Y. Tamm the 1958 Nobel Prize i...

Grybauskaite, Dalia

(Encyclopedia)Grybauskaite, Dalia, 1956–, Lithuanian politician, president of Lithuania (2009–14). A member of the Communist party of the Soviet Union (1983–89) and the Communist party of Lithuania (1989–90...

Leonov, Aleksei Arkhipovich

(Encyclopedia)Leonov, Aleksei Arkhipovich ŭlˌyĭksyāˈ ärkhˌyĭpôˈvyĭch [key], 1934–2019, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut and military officer. While serving as copilot of Voskhod 2 (Mar. 18–19, 1964), he beca...

Yashin, Lev Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Yashin, Lev Ivanovich, 1929–90, Russian soccer player. A superb goalkeeper, perhaps the best in the history of the game, he was a Soviet sports hero. Yashin spent his playing career (1949–71) with...