Kateryna Boloshkevich

Kateryna Ivanivna Boloshkevich (Ukrainian: Катерина Іванівна Болошкевич; 19 May 1939 – 28 March 2018) was a Ukrainian weaver and statesperson who was a weaver at the Zhytomyr flax mill of the Ministry of Light Industry of the Ukrainian SSR and an elected deputy of the ninth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Previously, she worked at the Zhytomyr meat processing plant after she graduated from high school. Boloshkevich was a delegate to the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of Ukraine and was on the Central Audit Commission of the Communist Party of Ukraine. She was a two-time recipient of the Order of Lenin and got the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, the Hero of Socialist Labour and the "Hammer and Sickle" gold medal.

Biography

On 19 May 1939, Boloshkevich was born into a family of a collective farmer in the village of Hlybochytsia, Zhytomyr Raion, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine. Following her graduation from high school, she worked at the Zhytomyr meat processing plant. From 1961, Boloshkevich worked at the building of the Zhytomyr flax mill of the Ministry of Light Industry of the Ukrainian SSR. She visited the factory with other young girls to become acquainted with weaving and she was one of the first workers at the factory when it commenced operations as the most powerful of its time. During the ninth five-year plan, Boloshevich produced 6,798 linear meters of fabric, which twice exceeded the planned objective. She became the initiator of a movement to expand service areas to transport fabric, bringing the number of service machines from 24 to 36 instead of the usual 12 that improved labour productivity, for which she received a great amount of support from other weavers. She made 800,000 linear meters of linen fabrics in excess of the planned target during the tenth five-year plan.