Famous People

Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin was a Soviet Colonel General, Engineer and Chief Designer of the People’s Commissariat of the Tank Industry of the USSR. He was awarded several national awards for outstanding designing of both military and civilian vehicles. 

Born to a Jewish family in Pavlohrad on February 26, 1908, Kotin was one of five children, and the only boy. The family fled to Kharkiv as a result of the pogroms. In 1927, Kotin entered the National Technical University Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, which marked the start of his career in design. 

Kotin died on October 21, 1979, and is buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia. There was a monument erected in Pavlograd to commemorate Kotin and his military acheivements.