Matvey Kuzmin

Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin (; 3 August 1858 – 14 February 1942) was a Russian peasant who was killed in World War II. He was posthumously the oldest person to be named a Hero of the Soviet Union on 8 May 1965 based on his age at death.

Early life Kuzmin was born in 1858 in the village of Kurakino, in the Velikoluksky District (then Uezd) of Pskov Oblast. He was a self-employed farmer who declined the offer to join a kolkhoz or collective farm. He lived with his grandson and continued to hunt and fish on the territory of the kolkhoz "Rassvet" (, 'Dawn'). He was nicknamed "Biriuk" (lone wolf). Among the chaos, a German officer had realized what had happened and turned his pistol towards Kuzmin and shot him twice. Kuzmin died during the skirmish. Three days later Kuzmin was buried with military honors. Subsequently he was reburied at the military cemetery of Velikiye Luki. which is still included in Russian school readings for third grade.

Kuzmin's self-sacrifice, which was compared with that of Ivan Susanin, earned him the posthumous honour of being named a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Throughout the Soviet Union, streets were named in his honour. A Soviet naval trawler was also named for him.

In 1943, a statue to him was raised in a Moscow Metro station Izmailovsky Park, now Partizanskaya, which was designed by the Soviet sculptor Matvey Manizer.