# Dmitry Onika

Dmitry Grigoryevich Onika (November 21, 1910, Kremenchug, Poltava Governorate — September 3, 1968, Moscow) — Soviet state official, organizer of the coal industry of the USSR, Doctor of Technical Sciences (1954), Professor (1965). Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 4th and 5th convocations in 1954—1962.

## Biography

He was born on November 21, 1910, in the city of Kremenchug, Poltava Governorate, into a working-class family. Russian. In 1920—1921, he worked as a farmhand-shepherd in the Poltava Governorate, then became homeless. Since 1924, he was an apprentice of a bedmaker at a workshop in Kremenchug. From 1925 to 1928, he was a student at the vocational school of the wagon-building plant in the village of Kryukovo [ru], Moscow Region. Since 1928, he worked as an assistant steam engine operator at a timber processing plant in Kryukovo. In 1929—1930, he studied at courses preparing for higher education at the Zhytomyr Pedagogical Institute, now known as Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University [uk].
In 1930, he entered the Moscow Mining Academy and joined the CPSU in April of the same year. Due to the division of the Moscow Mining Academy into six universities in May 1930, he graduated from the Moscow Mining Institute (now - the Mining Institute of MISiS) with a degree in "mining engineer-electromechanic" in 1938.
From 1939 to 1957, he worked in leadership positions in the coal industry of the USSR: head of the main department, deputy people's commissar, head of the Moscow Coal Combine (1942—45).
In 1946—1947, he was the Minister of Coal Industry of the Western, then Eastern regions of the USSR (1946—1947), the first deputy minister of the coal industry of the USSR (1948).
On September 10, 1947, at the suggestion of the Ministers of Coal Industry D.G. Onika and A.F. Zasyadko, the holiday Miner's Day was officially approved in the USSR.
During the Great Patriotic War from October 1941 to January 1942, Brigadier Engineer D.G. Onika was the commander of the 8th Sapper Army of the Southern Front [ru] which was involved in the construction of defensive structures near Donbass and Stalingrad. After the war, he held the rank of Colonel of the Engineering and Technical Service (1950).
He made a significant contribution to the housing and socio-cultural development of the city of Stalingorsk (since 1961 - Novomoskovsk). In 1953, he initiated the construction of the children's railway in the city. At his initiative, mining settlements such as Kamenetsky, Dubovka, Rudnev, Kazanovka, and many others were built in the city, landscaping of roads leading from Novomoskovsk to Uzlovaya, Severo-Zadonsk [ru], and Donskoy was carried out, and the Stalinogorsk television center was created.
In 1954, he defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences.
From 1957 to 1959, he headed the Karaganda Regional Economic Council. In connection with the uprising in Temirtau in 1959, he was expelled from the party, removed from his position, and appointed the manager of the Sokolovrudstroy trust (Kazakh SSR). From 1962 to 1964, he was the director of the Institute of Labor (Moscow). Since 1965, he worked in the State Planning Committee and the State Supply Committee of the USSR, engaged in scientific and teaching activities.
He conducted theoretical and experimental research on the creation of mining combines for conducting mining operations.
He died in a car accident on September 3, 1968, in Moscow. He is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

## Works

* Onika D. G. (1945). Restoration of the Moscow Coal Basin. Economy in the Service of the Fatherland War. Moscow: Gosplanizdat. p. 111.
* Onika D. G. (1945). Moscow Suburban Coal Stoking. Moscow: Moskovsky Bolshevik. p. 122.
* Onika D. G. (1956). Moscow Coal Basin (1855—1955). Moscow: Moskovsky Rabochy. p. 235.
* Onika D. G. (1956). Coal Industry of the USSR in the Sixth Five-Year Plan. Moscow: Ugletekhizdat. p. 71.
* Onika D. G. (1959). Horizontal Mining Operations. Moscow: Gosgortekhizdat. p. 472.
Co-authored:
* Onika D. G., ed. (1963). Issues of Production and Labour Organization. Materials of an International Conference. Moscow.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
* Onika D. G., Dokukin A. V. (1967). Coal Industry of the People's Republic of Poland. Moscow.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Published posthumously:
* Onika D. G. (1969). Excavation of Mine Openings. Moscow: Nedra. p. 480.
* Onika D. (1972). Excavation of Mine Openings. p. 460.

## Awards

* Three Orders of Lenin
* Three Orders of the Red Banner of Labour
* Order of the Red Star

## Legacy

In 1995, D.G. Onika was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the city of Novomoskovsk.

## Literature

* Compiled by V. I. Ivkin, ed. (1999). State Power of the USSR. Supreme Authorities and Their Leaders. 1923—1991. Moscow: Rossiyskaya Politicheskaya Entsiklopediya. ISBN 5-8243-0014-3.
* Honorary Citizens of Novomoskovsk: Biobibliographic Dictionary / Eds.: A. E. Prorokov, N. N. Tarasova, E. V. Bogatyrev, A. V. Polishina, N. V. Pavlova, S. G. Zmeeva. – 2nd ed., revised and enlarged. – Novomoskovsk: LLC "Rekom", 2010. – 84 p.
* Great Patriotic War. Commanders: Military Biographical Dictionary / Collective authors; Ed. by M. G. Vozhakin. — Moscow; Zhukovsky: Kuchkovo Pole, 2005. — 408 p. — ISBN 5-86090-113-5.