Today, February 13, Belarus celebrates the 90th anniversary of the birth of Piotr Masherov, a prominent Communist Party member and statesman of Belarus. He was one of the organizers and leaders of the anti-Nazi underground and guerrilla movement in Belarus during the Great Patriotic War. Born in the Vitebsk oblast, Piotr Masherov graduated from Vitebsk Teachers’ Training Institute in 1939 and worked as a math teacher in Rossony secondary school. He dreamt of post-graduate studies. But the war did not let his dreams come true. Piotr Masherov set up a communist underground organisation in Rossony and led the Shchorsy guerrilla unit. In November 1943 he was appointed secretary of the underground oblast committee of the Communist Youth Union. As an outstanding organiser and leader, Piotr Masherov took part in many combat operations. After the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi troops, Piotr Masherov held some key posts at Komsomol and Communist bodies of Belarus. In 1965, he became first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus. In 1980, he died in a car accident. Awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Socialist Labour titles, bearers of seven Lenin Orders, he remains in the memory of Belarusians as a leader of a prosperity republic, who could protect the interests of his nation. A prospekt in Minsk is named after him, as well as streets in towns of Glubokoye, Lida, David-Gorodok, Zhitkovichi and other towns. Commemorative plaques bearing the name of Piotr Masherov were attached to the house where he lived in Minsk, to the building of Vitebsk State University, to the school in the town of Rossony where had worked as a teacher, and the former safe house. A monument to Piotr Masherov was erected in Vitebsk.