# 1939 in the Soviet Union

The following lists events that happened during 1939 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

## Incumbents

* General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union – Joseph Stalin
* Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Kalinin
* Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union – Vyacheslav Molotov

## Events

* March 10–21 — 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
* May 11 — September 16 – Battles of Khalkhin Gol
* August 19 — German–Soviet Credit Agreement (1939)
* August 23 — Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
* September 17-October 6 — Soviet invasion of Poland
* September 28 — Soviet–Estonian Mutual Assistance Treaty, also amendment to the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty
* October 5 — Soviet–Latvian Mutual Assistance Treaty
* October 10 — Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty
* November 26 — Shelling of Mainila
* November 30 — Winter War

## Births
### January

* January 4 — Igor Chislenko, Soviet and Russian association football player (d. 1994)
* January 6 — Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Soviet and Ukrainian football player and manager (d. 2002)
* January 22 — Mikhail Moiseyev, military officer and politician (d. 2022)
* January 28 — Viktor Shustikov, Russian footballer
* January 31 — Aleksandr Porokhovshchikov, Russian actor and film director (d. 2012)

### February

* February 1 — Ekaterina Maximova, Soviet and Russian ballerina (d. 2009)
* February 2 — Valeri Kravchenko, volleyball player (d. 1996)
* February 6 — Simon Achikgyozyan, Armenian military commander (d. 1991)
* February 15 — Akbar Mirzoyev, 2nd Prime Minister of Tajikistan
* February 16 — Nikolai Sevryugin, 1st Governor of Tula Oblast (d. 2002)
* February 23 — Anatoly Dobryakov, 1st Governor of Pskov Oblast (d. 2003)

### March

* March 8 — Lidiya Skoblikova, Soviet and Russian speed skater and coach
* March 31 — Zviad Gamsakhurdia, 1st President of Georgia (d. 1993)

### April

* April 15 — Omirbek Baigeldi, 1st Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan (d. 2024)

### May

* May 2 — Leonid Kanevsky, actor
* May 19 — Kateryna Boloshkevich, Ukrainian weaver and statesperson (d. 2018)
* May 20 — Roman Kartsev, Soviet and Russian actor (d. 2018)
* May 26
** Merab Kostava, Georgian dissident, musician and poet (d. 1989)
** Vitaly Galkov, sprint canoer (d. 1998)
* May 30 — Mikhail Kolesnikov, 2nd Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (d. 2007)

### June

* June 20 — Leonid Gorbenko, 2nd Governor of Kaliningrad Oblast (d. 2010)

### July

* July 5 — Pavel Morozenko, theatre and film actor (d. 1991)
* July 7
** Elena Obraztsova, Soviet and Russian opera singer (d. 2015)
** Vladilen Volkov, 2nd Head of the Altai Republic
* July 16 — Konstantin Kobets, State Adviser for the RSFSR for Defence (d. 2012)

### August

* August 4 — Oleg Zaytsev, ice hockey defenceman (d. 1993)
* August 5 — Jumber Patiashvili, 14th First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party
* August 14 — Vladislav Tikhomirov, 2nd Governor of Ivanovo Oblast (d. 2017)
* August 16 — Valery Ryumin, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2022)
* August 17 — Valery Gavrilin, Soviet and Russian composer (d. 1999)
* August 28 — Vladimir Ivashov, Soviet and Russian actor (d. 1995)

### September

* September 5 — Suren Arutyunyan, 14th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia (d. 2019)
* September 7 — Stanislav Petrov, Soviet Air Defence Forces official (d. 2017)
* September 12 — Ion Ustian, 5th Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Moldavian SSR
* September 13 — Guntis Ulmanis, 5th President of Latvia
* September 17 — Vladimir Menshov, actor and film director (d. 2021)

### October

* October 2 — Yuri Glazkov, Soviet Air Force officer and cosmonaut (d. 2008)
* October 5 — Vladimir Rusalov, Russian psychologist and anthropologist (d. 2023)
* October 8 — Elvīra Ozolina, javelin thrower
* October 12 — Yuri Vasilyev, Soviet and Russian stage and film actor (d. 1999)
* October 18 — Ivan Shabanov, 4th Governor of Voronezh Oblast

### November

* November 9 — Suimenkul Chokmorov, Kyrgyz film actor (d. 1992)
* November 21 — Vladimir Suslov, 1st Governor of Tver Oblast
* November 28 — Gennadi Volnov, Russian basketball player (d. 2008)

### December

* December 6 — Abish Kekilbayev, 2nd State Counsellor of Kazakhstan (d. 2015)
* December 22 — Valentin Afonin, Soviet and Russian footballer (d. 2021)
* December 30 — Elena Tchaikovskaia, Russian figure skating coach and choreographer

## Deaths

* January 15 — Kullervo Manner, politician (b. 1880)
* February 2 — Vladimir Shukhov, engineer (b. 1853)
* February 22 — Grigory Khakhanyan, corps commander (b. 1896)
* February 23
** Pyotr Smirnov, naval officer and politician (b. 1897)
** Alexander Yegorov, army officer (b. 1883)
* February 26
** Stanislav Kosior, politician (b. 1889)
** Vlas Chubar, politician (b. 1891)
** Pavel Postyshev, politician (b. 1887)
** Ivan Fedko, army officer (b. 1897)
** Levon Mirzoyan, politician (b. 1897)
* February 27 — Nadezhda Krupskaya, revolutionary and wife of Vladimir Lenin (b. 1869)
* March 3 — Georgy Bazilevich, corps commander (b. 1889)
* March 7 — Matvei Berman, security officer (b. 1898)
* March 10 — Georgy Bondar, corps commander (b. 1893)
* April 1 — Anton Makarenko, educator and writer (b. 1888)
* April 15 — Konstantin Petrovich Grigorovich, engineer and professor (b. 1886)
* May 11
** Polina Osipenko, military pilot (b. 1907)
** Anatoly Serov, fighter pilot (b. 1910)
* May 19 — Karl Radek, politician (b. 1885)
* May 21 — Grigori Sokolnikov, economist and politician (b. 1888)
* July 29 — Vilhelm Knorin, politician (b. 1890)
* September 11 — Konstantin Korovin, painter (b. 1861)
* October 7 — Boris Shchukin, actor (b. 1894)
* December 25 — Ivan Dmitriyevich Borisov, military pilot (b. 1913)