Yakov Sverdlov (Nazi Cold War)

Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov (Я́ков Миха́йлович Свердло́в) was a member of the Bolshevik Party and chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Early Life
Yakov Sverdlov was born in 1885 in the city of Nizhny Novgorod into the family of a Jewish engraver. The family lived from hand to mouth. Yakov’s father Mikhail (or Moishe, as they called him) took a second underground job forging various documents and stamps for revolutionaries to pay for his children’s education. His forgeries were so good the police could never tell one of his fakes from the real article.

On April 30, 1896, at the age of 11, Sverdlov was admitted into the first grade of the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Gymnasium. Yakov’s relationship with his teachers was far from perfect. Many times he protested against the school regulations, which irritated many of his tutors. Eventually tiring of the combative Sverdlov, they expelled him after finishing only five grades.