Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria
2nd Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR 9 during the period March 5, 1953 - June 26, 1953)
Head of Government: Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov
Predecessor: Sergei Nikiforovich Kruglov
Successor: Sergey Nikiforovich Kruglov
3rd People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR
November 25, 1938 - December 29, 1945
Head of Government: Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin
6th First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Georgia
November 14, 1931 - August 31, 1938
Predecessor: Lavrenty Iosifovich Kartvelishvili
Successor: Kandid Nesterovich Charkviani
First Secretary of the Tbilisi City Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia (Bolsheviks)
May 1937 - August 31, 1938
First Secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks
October 17, 1932 - April 23, 1937
Predecessor: Ivan Dmitrievich Orakhelashvili
Successor: Position abolished
People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR
April 4, 1927 - December 1930
Predecessor: Alexey Alexandrovich Gegechkori
Successor: Sergey Arsenievich Goglidze
Birth: March 17 (29), 1899
Merkheuli, Gumistinsky district, Sukhumi district, Kutaisi province,
Russian Empire
Death: December 23, 1953 (age 54)
Moscow, RSFSR, USSR
Father: Pavel Khukhaevich Beria
Mother: Marta Vissarionovna Jakeli
Spouse: Nino Teymurazovna Gegechkori
Children: son: Sergo
Party: RSDLP(b) since 1917, RCP(b) since 1918, CPSU(b) since 1925, CPSU since 1952
Education: Baku Polytechnic Institute
Military service
Years of service: 1938-1953
Affiliation: (1923-1955) USSR
Rank: Marshal of the Soviet Union
Commanded by: Head of the GUGB NKVD USSR (1938)
People's Commissar of the USSR Internal Affairs (1938-1945)
Member of the State Defense Committee (1941-1944)
Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria(Georgian ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია, Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria; March 17, 1899, village of Merkheuli, Sukhumi district, Kutaisi province. - 23 December 1953, Moscow) - Soviet statesman and politician, General Commissioner of State Security (1941), Marshal of the Soviet Union (1945). Lavrentia Beria - One of the main organizers of Stalin's repressions.
Since 1941 Lavrenty Beria- Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Sovnarkom until 1946) of the USSR Joseph Stalin, with his death on March 5, 1953 - First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR G. Malenkov and at the same time Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Member of the USSR State Defense Committee (1941-1944), deputy chairman of the USSR State Defense Committee (1944-1945). Member of the USSR Central Executive Committee of the 7th convocation, deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st-3rd convocations. Member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1934-1953), candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee (1939-1946), member of the Politburo (1946-1953). He was part of J.V. Stalin's inner circle. He oversaw a number of the most important sectors of the defense industry, including all developments related to the creation of nuclear weapons and missile technology.
On June 26, 1953, L.P. Beria was arrested on charges of espionage and conspiracy to seize power. Executed by the verdict of the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR on December 23, 1953.
Childhood and youth
Lavrenty Beria born on March 17, 1899 in the village of Merkheuli, Sukhumi district, Kutaisi province (now in the Gulrypsh region of Abkhazia) into a poor peasant family. His mother Marta Jakeli (1868-1955) - a Mingrelian, according to Sergo Beria and fellow villagers, was distantly related to the Mingrelian princely family of Dadiani. After the death of her first husband, Martha was left with a son and two daughters in her arms. Later, due to extreme poverty, the children from Martha’s first marriage were taken in by her brother, Dmitry
Father Lawrence Beria, Pavel Khukhaevich Beria(1872-1922), moved to Merheuli from Megrelia. Martha and Pavel had three children in their family, but one of the sons died at the age of 2, and the daughter remained deaf and dumb after an illness. Noticing Lavrenty's good abilities, his parents tried to give him a good education - at the Sukhumi Higher Primary School. To pay for studies and living expenses, parents had to sell half of their house.
In 1915, Lavrenty Beria, with honors (according to other sources, he studied mediocrely, and was left in the fourth grade for the second year), having graduated from the Sukhumi Higher Primary School, left for Baku and entered the Baku Secondary Mechanical and Technical Construction School. From the age of 17, he supported his mother and deaf-mute sister, who moved in with him. Working since 1916 as an intern at the main office of the Nobel oil company, he simultaneously continued his studies at the school. He graduated from it in 1919, receiving a diploma as a construction technician-architect.
Since 1915, he was a member of the illegal Marxist circle of the Mechanical Engineering School and was its treasurer. In March 1917, Beria became a member of the RSDLP (b). In June - December 1917, as a technician of a hydraulic engineering detachment, he went to the Romanian front, served in Odessa, then in Pascani (Romania), was discharged due to illness and returned to Baku, where from February 1918 he worked in the city organization of the Bolsheviks and the secretariat of the Baku Council workers' deputies. After the defeat of the Baku Commune and the capture of Baku by Turkish-Azerbaijani troops (September 1918), he remained in the city and participated in the work of the underground Bolshevik organization until the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan (April 1920). From October 1918 to January 1919 - clerk at the Caspian Partnership White City plant, Baku.
In the fall of 1919, on the instructions of the leader of the Baku Bolshevik underground A. Mikoyan, he became an agent of the Organization for Combating Counter-Revolution (counterintelligence) under the State Defense Committee of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. During this period, he established close relations with Zinaida Krems (von Krems (Kreps)), who had connections with German military intelligence. In his autobiography, dated October 22, 1923, Beria wrote:
“During the first time of the Turkish occupation, I worked in the White City at the Caspian Partnership plant as a clerk. In the autumn of the same 1919, from the Gummet party, I entered the counterintelligence service, where I worked together with comrade Moussevi. Around March 1920, after the murder of Comrade Moussevi, I left my job in counterintelligence and worked for a short time at the Baku customs. »
Beria did not hide his work in counterintelligence of the ADR - for example, in a letter to G.K. Ordzhonikidze in 1933, he wrote that “he was sent to Musavat intelligence by the party and that this issue was examined by the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party (b) in 1920,” that the Central Committee of the AKP(b) “completely rehabilitated” him, since “the fact of working in counterintelligence with the knowledge of the party was confirmed by the statements of comrade. Mirza Davud Huseynova, Kasum Izmailova and others.”
In April 1920, after the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan, he was sent to work illegally in the Georgian Democratic Republic as an authorized representative of the Caucasian regional committee of the RCP (b) and the registration department of the Caucasian Front under the Revolutionary Military Council of the 11th Army. Almost immediately he was arrested in Tiflis and released with an order to leave Georgia within three days. In his autobiography, Beria wrote:
“From the very first days after the April coup in Azerbaijan, the regional committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) from the register of the Caucasian Front under the Revolutionary Military Council of the 11th Army was sent to Georgia for underground work abroad as an authorized representative. In Tiflis I contact the regional committee represented by Comrade. Hmayak Nazaretyan, I spread a network of residents in Georgia and Armenia, establish contact with the headquarters of the Georgian army and guard, and regularly send couriers to the register of the city of Baku. In Tiflis I was arrested together with the Central Committee of Georgia, but according to negotiations between G. Sturua and Noah Zhordania, everyone was released with an offer to leave Georgia within 3 days. However, I manage to stay, having entered the service under the pseudonym Lakerbaya in the representative office of the RSFSR with Comrade Kirov, who by that time had arrived in the city of Tiflis. »
Later, participating in the preparation of an armed uprising against the Georgian Menshevik government, he was exposed by local counterintelligence, arrested and imprisoned in Kutaisi prison, then deported to Azerbaijan. He writes about this:
“In May 1920, I went to the register office in Baku to receive directives in connection with the conclusion of a peace treaty with Georgia, but on the way back to Tiflis I was arrested by a telegram from Noah Ramishvili and taken to Tiflis, from where, despite the efforts of Comrade Kirov, I was sent to Kutaisi prison. June and July 1920, I was in custody, only after four and a half days of hunger strike declared by political prisoners, I was gradually deported to Azerbaijan. »
In the state security agencies of Azerbaijan and Georgia
Returning to Baku, Beria tried several times to continue his studies at the Baku Polytechnic Institute, into which the school was transformed, and completed three courses. In August 1920, he became the manager of the affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Azerbaijan, and in October of the same year, he became the executive secretary of the Extraordinary Commission for the expropriation of the bourgeoisie and improvement of the living conditions of workers, working in this position until February 1921. In April 1921, he was appointed deputy head of the Secret Operations Department of the Cheka under the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) of the Azerbaijan SSR, and in May he took the positions of head of the secret operations department and deputy chairman of the Azerbaijan Cheka. The Chairman of the Cheka of the Azerbaijan SSR at that time was Mir Jafar Bagirov.
In 1921, Beria was sharply criticized by the party and security service leadership of Azerbaijan for exceeding his powers and falsifying criminal cases, but escaped serious punishment. (Anastas Mikoyan interceded for him.)
In 1922, he participated in the defeat of the Muslim organization “Ittihad” and the liquidation of the Transcaucasian organization of right-wing Social Revolutionaries.
In November 1922, Beria was transferred to Tiflis, where he was appointed head of the Secret Operations Unit and deputy chairman of the Cheka under the Council of People's Commissars of the Georgian SSR, later transformed into the Georgian GPU (State Political Administration), combining the post of head of the Special Department of the Transcaucasian Army.
In July 1923, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of the Republic by the Central Executive Committee of Georgia. In 1924 he participated in the suppression of the Menshevik uprising and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of the USSR.
From March 1926 - Deputy Chairman of the GPU of the Georgian SSR, Head of the Secret Operations Unit.
December 2, 1926 Lavrenty Beria became chairman of the GPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the Georgian SSR (until December 3, 1931), deputy plenipotentiary representative of the OGPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in the TSFSR and deputy chairman of the GPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the TSFSR (until April 17, 1931). At the same time, from December 1926 to April 17, 1931, he was the head of the Secret Operational Directorate of the Plenipotentiary Representation of the OGPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in the TSFSR and the GPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the TSFSR.
At the same time, from April 1927 to December 1930 - People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. His first meeting with Stalin apparently dates back to this period.
June 6, 1930, by resolution of the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of the Georgian SSR Lavrenty Beria was appointed a member of the Presidium (later the Bureau) of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia (Bolsheviks). On April 17, 1931, he took the positions of Chairman of the GPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the ZSFSR, the plenipotentiary representative of the OGPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in the ZSFSR, and the head of the Special Department of the OGPU of the Caucasian Red Banner Army (until December 3, 1931). At the same time, from August 18 to December 3, 1931, he was a member of the board of the OGPU of the USSR.
At party work in Transcaucasia
The promotion of Beria from the KGB to party work was facilitated by the leader of Abkhazia Nestor Lakoba. On October 31, 1931, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks recommended L. P. Beria to the post of second secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee (in office until October 17, 1932), on November 14, 1931 he became the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia (by August 31, 1938), and on October 17, 1932 - the first secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee while maintaining his position First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Georgia, was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Armenia and Azerbaijan. On December 5, 1936, the TSFSR was divided into three independent republics, the Transcaucasian Regional Committee was liquidated by a resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on April 23, 1937.
On March 10, 1933, the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks included Beria in the distribution list of materials sent to members of the Central Committee - minutes of meetings of the Politburo, Organizing Bureau, and Secretariat of the Central Committee. In 1934, at the XVII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, he was elected a member of the Central Committee.
Since February 10, 1934 L. P. Beria- Member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
On March 20, 1934, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was included in the commission chaired by L. M. Kaganovich, created to develop a draft Regulation on the NKVD of the USSR and the Special Meeting of the NKVD of the USSR
In December 1934, he attended a reception with Stalin in honor of his 55th birthday. At the beginning of March 1935, he was elected a member of the USSR Central Executive Committee and its presidium. On March 17, 1935 he was awarded the Order of Lenin. In May 1937, he concurrently headed the Tbilisi City Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia (b) (in this position until August 31, 1938).
From left to right: Philip Makharadze, Mir Jafar Bagirov and Lavrenty Beria, 1935.
During the leadership of L.P. Beria, the national economy of the region developed rapidly. Beria made a great contribution to the development of the oil industry in Transcaucasia; under him, many large industrial facilities were commissioned (Zemo-Avchala hydroelectric station, etc.). Georgia was transformed into an all-Union resort area. By 1940, the volume of industrial production in Georgia increased 10 times compared to 1913, agricultural production - 2.5 times, with a fundamental change in the structure of agriculture towards highly profitable crops of the subtropical zone. High purchasing prices were set for agricultural products produced in the subtropics (grapes, tea, tangerines, etc.), and the Georgian peasantry was the most prosperous in the country.
In 1935 he published the book “On the Question of the History of Bolshevik Organizations in Transcaucasia.” Beria is credited with poisoning the then leader of Abkhazia Nestor Lakoba.
In September 1937, together with G.M. Malenkov and A.I. Mikoyan sent from Moscow, he carried out a “cleansing” of the party organization of Armenia. The “Great Purge” also took place in Georgia, where many party and government workers were repressed. Here the so-called a conspiracy among the party leadership of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, whose participants allegedly planned the secession of Transcaucasia from the USSR and transition to the protectorate of Great Britain.
In Georgia, in particular, persecution began against the People's Commissar of Education of the Georgian SSR, Gaioz Devdariani. His brother Shalva, who held important positions in the state security agencies and the Communist Party, was executed. In the end, Gayoz Devdariani was accused of violating Article 58 and, on suspicion of counter-revolutionary activities, was executed in 1938 by the verdict of the NKVD troika. In addition to party functionaries, local intellectuals also suffered from the purge, even those who tried to stay away from politics, including Mikheil Javakhishvili, Titian Tabidze, Sandro Akhmeteli, Yevgeny Mikeladze, Dmitry Shevardnadze, Giorgi Eliava, Grigory Tsereteli and others.
Since January 17, 1938, from the 1st session of the USSR Supreme Council of the 1st convocation, member of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR.
In the NKVD of the USSR
On August 22, 1938, Beria was appointed first deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR N.I. Yezhov. Simultaneously with Beria, another 1st Deputy People's Commissar (from 04/15/37) was M.P. Frinovsky, who headed the 1st Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR. On September 8, 1938, Frinovsky was appointed People's Commissar of the USSR Navy and left the posts of 1st Deputy People's Commissar and Head of the NKVD Directorate of the USSR; on the same day, September 8, he was replaced in the last post by L.P. Beria - from September 29, 1938 to the head of the Main Directorate of State Security, restored within the structure of the NKVD (December 17, 1938, Beria will be replaced in this post by V.N. Merkulov - 1st Deputy People's Commissar of the NKVD from December 16, 1938). On September 11, 1938, L.P. Beria was awarded the title of State Security Commissioner of the 1st rank.
November 25, 1938 Beria was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR.
With the arrival of L.P. Beria as head of the NKVD, the scale of repressions sharply decreased and the Great Terror ended. In 1939, 2.6 thousand people were sentenced to capital punishment on charges of counter-revolutionary crimes, in 1940 - 1.6 thousand. the overwhelming majority of persons not convicted in 1937-1938 were released; Also, some of those convicted and sent to camps were released. The Moscow State University expert commission estimates the number of people released in 1939-1940. 150-200 thousand people. “In certain circles of society, he has since had a reputation as a person who restored “socialist legality” at the very end of the 30s,” notes Yakov Etinger.
According to archival documents, Beria organized the execution of Polish prisoners and the deportation of their relatives in 1940, while sources claim that deportations in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were directed primarily against a part of the Polish population hostile to the Soviet regime and nationalist-minded.
Oversaw the operation to eliminate Leon Trotsky.
Since March 22, 1939 - candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). On January 30, 1941, L.P. Beria was awarded the title of General Commissioner of State Security. On February 3, 1941, he was appointed deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. As deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, he oversaw the work of the NKVD, NKGB, people's commissariats of the forestry and oil industries, non-ferrous metals, and river fleet.
Great Patriotic War [edit]
See also: Great Patriotic War
During the Great Patriotic War, from June 30, 1941, L.P. Beria was a member of the State Defense Committee (GKO). By the GKO decree of February 4, 1942 on the distribution of responsibilities between members of the GKO, L. P. Beria was assigned responsibilities for monitoring the implementation of GKO decisions on the production of aircraft, engines, weapons and mortars, as well as for monitoring the implementation of GKO decisions on the work of the Red Air Force Armies (formation of air regiments, their timely transfer to the front, etc.). By decree of the State Defense Committee of December 8, 1942, L. P. Beria was appointed a member of the Operational Bureau of the State Defense Committee. By the same decree, L.P. Beria was additionally assigned responsibilities for control and supervision of the work of the People's Commissariat of the Coal Industry and the People's Commissariat of Railways. In May 1944, Beria was appointed deputy chairman of the State Defense Committee and chairman of the Operations Bureau. The tasks of the Operations Bureau included, in particular, control and monitoring of the work of all People's Commissariats of the defense industry, railway and water transport, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, coal, oil, chemical, rubber, paper and pulp, electrical industries, and power plants.
Beria also served as permanent adviser to the Headquarters of the Main Command of the USSR Armed Forces.
During the war years, he carried out important assignments of the country's leadership and the ruling party, both related to the management of the national economy and at the front. Oversaw the production of aircraft and rocketry.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 30, 1943, L.P. Beria was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor “for special merits in the field of strengthening the production of weapons and ammunition in difficult wartime conditions.”
During the war, L.P. Beria was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (Mongolia) (July 15, 1942), the Order of the Republic (Tuva) (August 18, 1943), the Hammer and Sickle medal (September 30, 1943), two Orders of Lenin (30 September 1943, February 21, 1945), Order of the Red Banner (November 3, 1944).
Start of work on the nuclear project [edit]
On February 11, 1943, J.V. Stalin signed the decision of the State Defense Committee on the work program for the creation of an atomic bomb under the leadership of V.M. Molotov. But already in the decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR on the laboratory of I.V. Kurchatov, adopted on December 3, 1944, it was L.P. Beria who was entrusted with “monitoring the development of work on uranium,” that is, approximately a year and ten months after their supposed start, which was difficult during the war.
Deportation of peoples [edit]
Main article: Deportation of peoples to the USSR
During the Great Patriotic War, peoples were deported from their places of compact residence. Representatives of peoples whose countries were part of Hitler's coalition (Hungarians, Bulgarians, many Finns) were also deported. The official reason for the deportation was mass desertion, collaboration and active anti-Soviet armed struggle of a significant part of these peoples during the Great Patriotic War.
On January 29, 1944, Lavrentiy Beria approved the “Instructions on the procedure for the eviction of Chechens and Ingush,” and on February 21, he issued an order to the NKVD on the deportation of Chechens and Ingush. On February 20, together with I. A. Serov, B. Z. Kobulov and S. S. Mamulov, Beria arrived in Grozny and personally led the operation, which involved up to 19 thousand operatives of the NKVD, NKGB and SMERSH, and also about 100 thousand officers and soldiers of the NKVD troops, drawn from all over the country to participate in “exercises in the mountainous areas.” On February 22, he met with the leadership of the republic and senior spiritual leaders, warned them about the operation and offered to carry out the necessary work among the population, and the next morning the eviction operation began. On February 24, Beria reported to Stalin: “The eviction is proceeding normally... Of the persons scheduled for removal in connection with the operation, 842 people have been arrested.” On the same day, Beria suggested that Stalin evict the Balkars, and on February 26, he issued an order to the NKVD “On measures to evict the Balkar population from the Design Bureau of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.” The day before, Beria, Serov and Kobulov held a meeting with the secretary of the Kabardino-Balkarian regional party committee Zuber Kumekhov, during which it was planned to visit the Elbrus region in early March. On March 2, Beria, accompanied by Kobulov and Mamulov, traveled to the Elbrus region, informing Kumekhov of his intention to evict the Balkars and transfer their lands to Georgia so that it could have a defensive line on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus. On March 5, the State Defense Committee issued a decree on the eviction from the Design Bureau of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and on March 8-9, the operation began. On March 11, Beria reported to Stalin that “37,103 Balkars were evicted,” and on March 14 he reported to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
Another major action was the deportation of Meskhetian Turks, as well as Kurds and Hemshins living in the areas bordering Turkey. On July 24, Beria addressed I. Stalin with a letter (No. 7896). He wrote:
“For a number of years, a significant part of this population, connected with the residents of the border regions of Turkey through family ties and relationships, has shown emigration sentiments, engaged in smuggling and serves as a source for the Turkish intelligence agencies to recruit spy elements and plant gangster groups. »
He noted that “the NKVD of the USSR considers it expedient to resettle 16,700 farms of Turks, Kurds, Hemshins from the Akhaltsikhe, Akhalkalaki, Adigeni, Aspindza, Bogdanovsky districts, some village councils of the Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.” On July 31, the State Defense Committee adopted a resolution (No. 6279, “top secret”) on the eviction of 45,516 Meskhetian Turks from the Georgian SSR to the Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek SSRs, as noted in the documents of the Special Settlements Department of the NKVD of the USSR.
The liberation of the regions from the German occupiers also required new actions against the families of German collaborators, traitors and traitors to the Motherland, who voluntarily left with the Germans. On August 24, an order from the NKVD followed, signed by Beria, “On the eviction from the cities of the Caucasian Mining Group resorts of the families of active German collaborators, traitors and traitors to the Motherland who voluntarily left with the Germans.” On December 2, Beria addressed Stalin with the following letter:
“In connection with the successful completion of the operation to evict from the border regions of the Georgian SSR to the regions of the Uzbek, Kazakh and Kirghiz SSR 91,095 people - Turks, Kurds, Hemshins, the NKVD of the USSR requests that the NKVD workers who most distinguished themselves during the operation be awarded with orders and medals of the USSR. NKGB and military personnel of the NKVD troops."
Post-war years[edit]
Supervision of the USSR nuclear project [edit]
See also: The creation of the Soviet atomic bomb
After testing the first American atomic device in the desert near Alamogordo, work in the USSR to create its own nuclear weapons was significantly accelerated.
The Special Committee was created based on the GKO resolution of August 20, 1945. It included L. P. Beria (chairman), G. M. Malenkov, N. A. Voznesensky, B. L. Vannikov, A. P. Zavenyagin, I. V. Kurchatov, P. L. Kapitsa (then removed due to disagreements with L.P. Beria, formally based on personal hostility), V.A. Makhnev, M.G. Pervukhin. The Committee was entrusted with “the management of all work on the use of intra-atomic energy of uranium.” Later it was transformed into a Special Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. L.P. Beria, on the one hand, organized and supervised the receipt of all necessary intelligence information, on the other hand, he provided general management of the entire project. In March 1953, the Special Committee was entrusted with the management of other special works of defense significance. Based on the decision of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee of June 26, 1953 (the day of the removal and arrest of L.P. Beria), the Special Committee was liquidated, and its apparatus was transferred to the newly formed Ministry of Medium Engineering of the USSR.
On August 29, 1949, the atomic bomb was successfully tested at the Semipalatinsk test site. On October 29, 1949, L.P. Beria was awarded the Stalin Prize, 1st degree, “for organizing the production of atomic energy and the successful completion of the testing of atomic weapons.” According to the testimony of P. A. Sudoplatov, published in the book “Intelligence and the Kremlin: Notes of an Unwanted Witness” (1996), two project leaders - L. P. Beria and I. V. Kurchatov - were awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the USSR” with the wording “for outstanding services in strengthening the power of the USSR,” it is indicated that the recipient was awarded a “Certificate of Honorary Citizen of the Soviet Union.” Subsequently, the title “Honorary Citizen of the USSR” was not awarded.
The test of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb, the development of which was supervised by G. M. Malenkov, took place on August 12, 1953, shortly after the arrest of L. P. Beria.
Career [edit]
On July 9, 1945, when special state security ranks were replaced with military ones, L.P. Beria was awarded the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
On September 6, 1945, the Operations Bureau of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was formed, and L.P. Beria was appointed chairman. The tasks of the Operations Bureau of the Council of People's Commissars included issues of the operation of industrial enterprises and railway transport.
Since March 1946, Beria has been one of the “seven” members of the Politburo, which included I.V. Stalin and six people close to him. This “inner circle” covered the most important issues of public administration, including: foreign policy, foreign trade, state security, armaments, and the functioning of the armed forces. On March 18, he became a member of the Politburo, and the next day he was appointed deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. As Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, he oversaw the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of State Control.
In March 1949 - July 1951, there was a sharp strengthening of L.P. Beria's position in the country's leadership, which was facilitated by the successful testing of the first atomic bomb in the USSR, the work on which L.P. Beria supervised.
After the 19th Congress of the CPSU, which took place in October 1952, L. P. Beria was included in the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, which replaced the former Politburo, in the Bureau of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee and in the “leading five” of the Presidium created at the suggestion of J. V. Stalin.
Former USSR MGB investigator Nikolai Mesyatsev, who conducted an audit of the “doctors’ case,” claimed that Stalin suspected Beria of patronizing the arrested ex-Minister of State Security Viktor Abakumov, who was accused of falsifying criminal cases.
Death of Stalin. Reforms and the struggle for power [edit]
On the day of Stalin's death - March 5, 1953, a Joint meeting of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was held, where appointments to the highest posts of the party and the Government of the USSR were approved, and, by prior agreement with the Khrushchev group -Malenkov-Molotov-Bulganin, Beria, without much debate, was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR. The newly formed Ministry of Internal Affairs merged the previously existing Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security.
On March 9, 1953, L.P. Beria participated in the funeral of I.V. Stalin, and made a speech at a funeral meeting from the rostrum of the Mausoleum.
Beria, along with Khrushchev and Malenkov, became one of the main contenders for leadership in the country. In the struggle for leadership, L.P. Beria relied on the security agencies. L.P. Beria’s proteges were promoted to the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Already on March 19, the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were replaced in all union republics and in most regions of the RSFSR. In turn, the newly appointed heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs replaced personnel in the middle management.
Already a week after Stalin’s death - from mid-March to June 1953, Beria, as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with his orders for the ministry and proposals (notes) to the Council of Ministers and the Central Committee (many of which were approved by relevant resolutions and decrees), initiated a number of legislative and political transformations directly or indirectly exposing the Stalinist regime and the repressions of the 30-50s in general, subsequently called by a number of historians and specialists “unprecedented” or even “democratic” reforms:
Order on the creation of commissions to review the “doctors’ case”, the conspiracy in the USSR MGB, the Headquarters of the USSR Ministry of Defense, the MGB of the Georgian SSR. All defendants in these cases were rehabilitated within two weeks.
Order on the creation of a commission to consider cases of deportation of citizens from Georgia.
Order to review the “aviation case”. Over the next two months, People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry Shakhurin and Commander of the USSR Air Force Novikov, as well as other defendants in the case, were completely rehabilitated and reinstated in their positions and ranks.
Note to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee on the amnesty. According to Beria’s proposal, on March 27, 1953, the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee approved the decree “On Amnesty,” according to which 1.203 million people were to be released from places of detention, and investigations against 401 thousand people were to be terminated. As of August 10, 1953, 1.032 million people were released from prison. the following categories of prisoners: those sentenced to a term of up to 5 years inclusive, those convicted of official, economic and some military crimes, as well as minors, the elderly, the sick, women with young children and pregnant women.
A note to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee on the rehabilitation of persons involved in the “doctors’ case.” The note admitted that innocent major figures in Soviet medicine were presented as spies and murderers, and, as a result, as objects of anti-Semitic persecution launched in the central press. The case from beginning to end is a provocative invention of the former deputy of the USSR MGB Ryumin, who, having embarked on the criminal path of deceiving the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, in order to obtain the necessary testimony, secured the sanction of I.V. Stalin to use physical coercion measures against the arrested doctors - torture and severe beatings. The subsequent resolution of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee “On the falsification of the so-called case of pest doctors” dated April 3, 1953, ordered support for Beria’s proposal for the complete rehabilitation of these doctors (37 people) and the removal of Ignatiev from the post of Minister of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR, and Ryumin by that time was already arrested.
A note to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee on bringing to criminal liability those involved in the death of S. M. Mikhoels and V. I. Golubov.
Order “On the prohibition of the use of any measures of coercion and physical influence on those arrested” The subsequent resolution of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee “ON THE APPROVAL OF MEASURES OF THE USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs TO CORRECT THE CONSEQUENCES OF VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW” dated April 10, 1953, read: “Approve the ongoing comrade. Beria L.P. measures to uncover criminal acts committed over a number of years in the former Ministry of State Security of the USSR, expressed in the fabrication of falsified cases against honest people, as well as measures to correct the consequences of violations of Soviet laws, bearing in mind that these measures are aimed at strengthening the Soviet state and socialist legality."
A note to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee about the improper handling of the Mingrelian affair. The subsequent resolution of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee “On the Falsification of the Case of the So-Called Mingrelian Nationalist Group” dated April 10, 1953 recognizes that the circumstances of the case are fictitious, release all defendants and completely rehabilitate them.
Note to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee ON THE REHABILITATION OF N. D. YAKOVLEV, I. I. VOLKOTRUBENKO, I. A. MIRZAKHANOV AND OTHERS
Note to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee ON THE REHABILITATION OF M. M. KAGANOVICH
Note to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee ON THE ABOLITION OF PASSPORT RESTRICTIONS AND REGIME AREAS
The son of L.P. Beria, Sergo Lavrentievich, published a book of memoirs about his father in 1994. In particular, L.P. Beria is described there as a supporter of democratic reforms and an end to the violent construction of socialism in the GDR.
Arrest and sentence [edit]
Circular from the head of the 2nd Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR K. Omelchenko on the seizure of portraits of L. P. Beria. July 27, 1953
In June, Beria officially invited the famous writer Konstantin Simonov and presented him with execution lists from the 1930s signed by Stalin and other members of the Central Committee. All this time, the hidden confrontation between Beria and the Khrushchev-Malenkov-Bulganin group continued. Khrushchev feared that Beria would declassify and present to the public archives where the participation of him (Khrushchev) and others in the repressions of the late 30s would become obvious.
All this time, Khrushchev put together a group against Beria. Having secured the support of the majority of members of the Central Committee and high-ranking military personnel, Khrushchev convened a meeting of the USSR Council of Ministers on June 26, 1953, where he raised the question of his suitability for his position and his removal from all posts. Among others, Khrushchev voiced accusations of revisionism, an anti-socialist approach to the situation in the GDR, and espionage for Great Britain in the 1920s. Beria tried to prove that if he was appointed by the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, then only he could remove it, but at the same moment, following a special signal, a group of Marshals of the Soviet Union led by Zhukov entered the room and arrested Beria.
The arrested Beria was accused of spying for Great Britain and other countries, seeking to eliminate the Soviet worker-peasant system, restore capitalism and restore the rule of the bourgeoisie. Beria was also accused of moral corruption, abuse of power, as well as falsifying thousands of criminal cases against his colleagues in Georgia and Transcaucasia and organizing illegal repressions (Beria, according to the accusation, also committed this while acting for selfish and enemy purposes).
At the July plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, almost all members of the Central Committee made statements about the sabotage activities of L. Beria. On July 7, by a resolution of the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, Beria was relieved of his duties as a member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee and removed from the CPSU Central Committee. At the end of July 1953, a secret circular was issued by the 2nd Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, which ordered the widespread seizure of any artistic images of L.P. Beria.
On December 23, 1953, Beria’s case was considered by the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR, chaired by Marshal I. S. Konev. L.P. Beria was accused along with his closest associates from the state security agencies, immediately after his arrest and later called the “Beria gang” in the media:
Merkulov V.N. - Minister of State Control of the USSR
Kobulov B.Z. - First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Goglidze S. A. - Head of the 3rd Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs
Meshik P. Ya. - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR
Dekanozov V.G. - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR
Vlodzimirsky L. E. - head of the investigative unit for particularly important cases of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs
All defendants were sentenced to death and executed on the same day. Moreover, L.P. Beria was shot several hours before the execution of other convicts in the bunker of the headquarters of the Moscow Military District in the presence of the USSR Prosecutor General R.A. Rudenko. On his own initiative, Colonel General (later Marshal of the Soviet Union) P. F. Batitsky fired the first shot from his personal weapon. The body was burned in the oven of the 1st Moscow (Don) crematorium. He was buried at the Donskoye Cemetery (according to other statements, Beria's ashes were scattered over the Moscow River). A brief report about the trial of L.P. Beria and his employees was published in the Soviet press.
In subsequent years, other, lower-ranking members of Beria's gang were convicted and shot or sentenced to long prison terms:
Abakumov V.S. - Chairman of the Collegium of the USSR MGB
Ryumin M.D. - Deputy Minister of State Security of the USSR
on the Bagirov case:
Bagirov. M. D. - 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Azerbaijan SSR
Markaryan R. A. - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Borshchev T. M. - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Turkmen SSR
Grigoryan. Kh. I - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Armenian SSR
Atakishiev S.I. - 1st Deputy Minister of State Security of the Azerbaijan SSR
Emelyanov S.F. - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Azerbaijan SSR
on the “Rukhadze case”:
Rukhadze N. M. - Minister of State Security of the Georgian SSR
Rapava. A. N. - Minister of State Control of the Georgian SSR
Tsereteli Sh. O. - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR
Savitsky K.S. - Assistant to the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Krimyan N. A. - Minister of State Security of the Armenian SSR
Khazan A.S. -
Paramonov G.I. - Deputy Head of the Investigative Unit for Particularly Important Cases of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs
Nadaraya S.N. - Head of the 1st Department of the 9th Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs
and others.
In addition, at least 50 generals were stripped of their titles and/or awards and dismissed from the authorities with the wording “discredited during their work in the authorities... and therefore unworthy of the high rank of general.”
“The state scientific publishing house “Great Soviet Encyclopedia” recommends removing pages 21, 22, 23 and 24 from volume 5 of the TSB, as well as the portrait pasted between pages 22 and 23, in return for which you will be sent pages with new text.” The new page 21 contained photographs of the Bering Sea.
“Beria is accused of seducing about 200 women, but you read their testimonies about their relationships with the People’s Commissar, and it is clear that some openly used their acquaintance with him to great benefit for themselves.
A. T. Ukolov
»
“I have already shown the court what I plead guilty to. I hid my service in the Musavatist counter-revolutionary intelligence service for a long time. However, I declare that, even while serving there, I did nothing harmful. I fully admit my moral and everyday decay. The numerous relationships with women mentioned here disgrace me as a citizen and former party member.
... Recognizing that I am responsible for the excesses and distortions of socialist legality in 1937-1938, I ask the court to take into account that I did not have any selfish or hostile goals. The reason for my crimes is the situation of that time.
... I do not consider myself guilty of trying to disorganize the defense of the Caucasus during the Great Patriotic War.
When sentencing me, I ask you to carefully analyze my actions, not to consider me as a counter-revolutionary, but to apply to me only those articles of the Criminal Code that I really deserve.
From Beria's last words at trial
»
In 1952, the fifth volume of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia was published, which contained a portrait of L.P. Beria and an article about him. In 1954, the editors of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia sent out a letter to its subscribers (libraries) [clarify] in which it was strongly recommended to cut out both the portrait and the pages dedicated to L.P. Beria “with scissors or a razor”, and instead paste others (sent in that same letter) containing other articles starting with the same letters. As a result of Beria's arrest, one of his closest associates, 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Azerbaijan SSR, Mir Jafar Bagirov, was arrested and executed. In the press and literature of the “Thaw” period, the image of Beria was demonized; he was blamed for the repressions of 1937-38, and for the repressions of the post-war period, to which he had no direct connection.
By the ruling of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on May 29, 2002, Beria, as the organizer of political repressions, was recognized as not subject to rehabilitation:
...Based on the above, the Military Collegium comes to the conclusion that Beria, Merkulov, Kobulov and Goglidze were the leaders who organized at the state level and personally carried out mass repressions against their own people. And therefore, the Law “On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression” cannot apply to them as perpetrators of terror.
...Guided by Art. Art. 8, 9, 10 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression” of October 18, 1991 and Art. 377-381 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation determined:
“Recognize Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria, Vsevolod Nikolaevich Merkulov, Bogdan Zakharyevich Kobulov, Sergei Arsenievich Goglidze as not subject to rehabilitation.”
Extract from the ruling of the military collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. bn-00164/2000 dated May 29, 2002.
Family [edit]
His wife, Nina (Nino) Teymurazovna Gegechkori (1905-1991), gave an interview in 1990 at the age of 86, where she fully justified her husband’s activities.
The son - Sergo Lavrentievich Beria (1924-2000) - advocated the moral (without claiming to be complete) rehabilitation of his father.
After Beria’s conviction, his close relatives and close relatives of those convicted along with him were deported to the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Sverdlovsk Region and Kazakhstan.
Interesting facts [edit]
In his youth, Beria was fond of football. He played for one of the Georgian teams as a left midfielder. Subsequently, he attended almost all the matches of Dynamo teams, especially Dynamo Tbilisi, whose defeats he took painfully..
Presumably, with his intervention, a replay of the semi-final match for the 1939 USSR Cup between Spartak and Dynamo (Tbilisi) was carried out, when the final had already been played.
In 1936, Beria, during interrogation in his office, shot and killed the Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia A. G. Khanjyan
Beria studied to be an architect. There is evidence that two buildings of the same type on Gagarin Square in Moscow were built according to his design.
“Beria's Orchestra” was the name given to his personal guards, who, when traveling in open cars, hid machine guns in violin cases and a light machine gun in a double bass case.
Awards [edit]
By court verdict he was deprived of all awards.
Hero of Socialist Labor No. 80 September 30, 1943
5 Orders of Lenin
No. 1236 March 17, 1935 - for outstanding achievements over a number of years in the field of agriculture, as well as in the field of industry
No. 14839 September 30, 1943 - for special services in the field of enhancing the production of weapons and ammunition in difficult wartime conditions
No. 27006 February 21, 1945
No. 94311 March 29, 1949 - in connection with the fiftieth anniversary of his birth and for his outstanding services to the Communist Party and the Soviet people
No. 118679 October 29, 1949
2 Orders of the Red Banner
No. 7034 April 3, 1924
No. 11517 November 3, 1944
Order of Suvorov, 1st degree, March 8, 1944 - for the deportation of Chechens
7 medals
Anniversary medal "XX years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"
Order of the Red Banner of the Georgian SSR July 3, 1923
Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Georgian SSR April 10, 1931
Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Azerbaijan SSR March 14, 1932
Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Armenian SSR
Order of the Republic (Tuva) August 18, 1943
Order of Sukhbaatar No. 31 March 29, 1949
Order of the Red Banner (Mongolia) No. 441 July 15, 1942
Medal "25 Years of the Mongolian People's Revolution" No. 3125 September 19, 1946
Stalin Prize, 1st degree (October 29, 1949 and 1951)
Badge “Honorary Worker of the Cheka-OGPU (V)” No. 100
Badge “Honorary Worker of the Cheka-GPU (XV)” No. 205 December 20, 1932
Personalized weapon - Browning pistol
Monogram watch
Works [edit]
L.P. Beria. On the history of Bolshevik organizations in Transcaucasia. - 1935.
Under the great banner of Lenin-Stalin: Articles and speeches. Tbilisi, 1939;
Speech at the XVIII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on March 12, 1939. - Kyiv: Gospolitizdat of the Ukrainian SSR, 1939;
Report on the work of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Georgia at the XI Congress of the Communist Party (b) of Georgia on June 16, 1938 - Sukhumi: Abgiz, 1939;
The greatest man of our time [I. V. Stalin]. - Kyiv: Gospolitizdat of the Ukrainian SSR, 1940;
Lado Ketskhoveli. (1876-1903)/(Life of remarkable Bolsheviks). Translation by N. Erubaev. - Alma-Ata: Kazgospolitizdat, 1938;
About youth. - Tbilisi: Detyunizdat of the Georgian SSR, 1940;
Objects named after L.P. Beria [edit]
In honor of Beria they were named:
Berievsky district - now Novolaksky district, Dagestan, in the period from February to May 1944.
Beriaaul - Novolakskoye village, Dagestan
Beriyashen - Sharukkar, Azerbaijan
Beriakend is the former name of the village of Khanlarkend, Saatli district, Azerbaijan
Named after Beria - the former name of the village of Zhdanov in the Armavir region, Armenia
In addition, villages in Kalmykia and the Magadan region were named after him.
The name of L.P. Beria was previously named after the current Cooperative Street in Kharkov, Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Victory Avenue in Ozyorsk, Apsheronskaya Square in Vladikavkaz (Dzaudzhikau), Tsimlyanskaya Street in Khabarovsk, Gagarin Street in Sarov, Pervomaiskaya Street in Seversk.
Tbilisi Dynamo Stadium was named after Beria.
Film incarnations [edit]
? (“Battle of Stalingrad”, 1 episode, 1949)
? (“Lights of Baku”, 1950)
Nikolai Mordvinov (“Donetsk Miners”, 1950)
David Suchet (Red Monarch) (England, 1983)
Valentin Gaft (“The Feasts of Belshazzar, or a Night with Stalin”, USSR, 1989, “Lost in Siberia”, UK-USSR, 1991)
Roland Nadareishvili (“Little Giant of Big Sex”, USSR, 1990)
B. Goladze (“Stalingrad”, USSR, 1989)
V. Bartashov (“Nikolai Vavilov”, USSR, 1990)
Vladimir Sichkar (“War in the Western Direction”, USSR, 1990)
Yan Yanakiev (“Law”, 1989, “10 years without the right of correspondence”, 1990, “My best friend is General Vasily, son of Joseph”, 1991, “Under the sign of Scorpio”, 1995)
Vsevolod Abdulov (“To hell with us!”, 1991)
Bob Hoskins (“Inner Circle”, Italy-USA-USSR, 1992)
Roshan Seth (Stalin, USA-Hungary, 1992)
Fedya Stojanovic (“Gospodja Kolontaj”, Yugoslavia, 1996)
Paul Livingstone (Children of the Revolution, Australia 1996)
Farid Myazitov (“Ship of Doubles”, 1997)
Mumid Makoev (“Khrustalev, car!”, 1998)
Adam Ferenczi (“Journey to Moscow” Podróz do Moskwy, (Poland, 1999)
Viktor Sukhorukov (“Desired”, Russia, 2003)
Nikolay Chindyaykin (“Children of Arbat”, Russia, 2004)
Seyran Dalanyan (“Convoy PQ-17”, Russia, 2004)
Irakli Macharashvili (“Moscow Saga”, Russia, 2004)
Vladimir Shcherbakov (“Two Loves”, 2004; “The Death of Tairov”, Russia, 2004; “Stalin’s Wife”, Russia, 2006; “Star of the Epoch”; “Apostle”, Russia, 2007; “Beria”, Russia, 2007; “ Hitler kaput!”, Russia, 2008; “The Legend of Olga”, Russia, 2008; “Wolf Messing: who saw through time”, Russia, 2009, “Loss”, Russia, 2010)
Yervand Arzumanyan (“Archangel”, England-Russia, 2005)
Malkhaz Aslamazashvili (“Stalin. Live”, 2006).
Vadim Tsallati (“Utyosov. A Lifelong Song”, 2006).
Vyacheslav Grishechkin (“The Hunt for Beria”, Russia, 2008; “Furtseva”, 2011, “Countergame”, 2011, “Comrade Stalin”, 2011)
Alexander Lazarev Jr. (“Zastava Zilina”, Russia, 2008)
Sergey Bagirov “Second”, 2009
Adam Bulguchev (“Burnt by the Sun-2”, Russia, 2010; “Zhukov”, Russia, 2012, “Zoya”, 2010, “Cop”, 2012)
Vasily Ostafiychuk (Ballad of a Bomber, 2011)
Alexey Zverev (Serving the Soviet Union, 2012)
Sergey Gazarov (Spy, 2012)
Alexey Eibozhenko Jr. (“Second Uprising of Spartak”, 2012)
Roman Grishin (“Stalin is with us”, 2013)
At a joint meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU, Georgy Malenkov was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In the list of his first deputies, Beria was mentioned “the very first”.
Four people became the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. In the resolution they were named not in alphabetical order, but in the following order: Lavrentiy Beria, Vyacheslav Molotov, Nikolai Bulganin, Lazar Kaganovich. The resolution said evasively about Nikita Khrushchev, saying that he allegedly focused on work in the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee.
So, in the list of “first deputies” Beria was named first. According to Soviet tradition, this meant that he was the second person in the state. Moreover, it was decided to merge the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and the USSR Ministry of State Security into a single Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Lavrenty Beria was appointed minister. Having united two law enforcement agencies in his hands, he concentrated in his hands power that almost exceeded the power of Malenkov himself (by the way, unlike all four of his first deputies, he has no experience of independent government work).
The author is not going to enter into the debate about the personality of Lavrentiy Beria, which has been going on for decades, to evaluate his moral principles (if there were any, of course), to delve into the motives of his actions and decisions. This activity, from my point of view, is absolutely meaningless, since the mass consciousness on this matter is based on many years of myths. But it is impossible to dispute myths.
According to established myth, Lavrenty Beria is the most terrible villain who ever lived on one-sixth of the land that was once called the USSR. But is this true? And is it really true that the homely Shvernik and Andreev, Malenkov or the imposing alcoholic Bulganin are popular popular saints in comparison with him? One can repeat as often as one likes that the unusual, extraordinary measures taken by Beria after Stalin’s death were, as they would say today, of a populist nature. But why was it he who committed them, and not the same Malenkov, who, as the head of government, had much more opportunities to do so? Whether anyone likes it or not, we have to admit that Beria in the spring of 1953 was several decades ahead of his time.
Already on April 4, a TASS report was published in the newspapers, from which the shocked country learned that the “killer doctors” were arrested without any grounds, that the investigation into their case was carried out in gross violation of Soviet laws, using “forbidden methods” , but simply - torture and beatings. All those arrested in the case of the “murderers in white coats” were immediately released with an apology and reinstated in their jobs and in the party if they were members of the CPSU (b). Such a public recognition took place for the first time in the entire history of Soviet power and was, in essence, the first case of political rehabilitation of innocently repressed people. On the same day, a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was published canceling the previous Decree on awarding Lydia Timashuk the Order of Lenin. The ill-fated Soviet Joan of Arc did not have time to really understand at first why she was awarded the highest award of her Motherland, and then why it was taken away.
At the June 1953 Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, it became clear that everyone in the top leadership, including Nikita Khrushchev, knew that the “doctor’s business” was a phony one. However, Lavrenty Beria was accused of making this shame public. They say that the doctors should have just been slowly released.
On April 28, 1953, at the suggestion of Beria, the former Minister of State Security Ignatiev was removed from the CPSU Central Committee for the “doctors’ cause.” Later, at the suggestion of Khrushchev, he was reinstated as a member of the CPSU Central Committee, and later he successfully worked as the first secretary of the Tatar and Bashkir regional committees of the CPSU.
Next, Beria dealt with the circumstances of the death, or rather, the destruction of Mikhoels. He personally interrogated the former Minister of State Security of the USSR Abakumov, his first deputy Ogoltsov, as well as the former Minister of State Security of Belarus Tsanava, at whose dacha on the then outskirts of Minsk the killing of Mikhoels and his companion took place. Abakumov firmly stated that he received the order to liquidate Mikhoels orally personally from Stalin, and that no one in the MGB except him and the direct executors of the operation knew about it.
Beria sent a letter to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Malenkov, demanding that the participants in the double murder be deprived of government awards and brought to trial. This act cannot be called populist, since the letter was secret and published only many decades later. In the same way, Beria’s order, which categorically prohibits the use of physical coercion measures against those arrested, cannot be considered populist. The order, like the letter to Malenkov, was also secret.
One of the points of this order is noteworthy: “To liquidate in Lefortovo and internal prisons the premises organized by the leadership of the former MGB of the USSR for applying physical measures to those arrested, and to destroy all the instruments by which torture was carried out.”
This is the only official recognition of the presence of torture chambers and instruments of torture in prisons. No order has yet been found to set up special rooms for torture.
As for Mikhoels’ killers, their orders were taken away, but no one went to trial. The “magnificent six” were saved by the arrest of Beria.
Later, Tsanava was arrested, but...as an accomplice of Beria! In 1955, he died in prison before his trial. Ogoltsov was arrested in April 1953 in connection with his participation in the murder of Mikhoels, but was released in August. In 19564, he was fired from the state security agencies, expelled from the party, and in 1959 he was stripped of his military rank.
At Beria’s request, Alexander Novikov, Alexey Shakhurin and others repressed in the “aviator case” were released from prison, rehabilitated and reinstated in their ranks. By that time, the investigation had been going on for 15 months, but none of those arrested pleaded guilty. By a secret order of Beria dated April 17, 1953, the investigation against them was terminated, the accused were released from custody and restored to all rights.
Yes, Beria was a cruel pragmatist and cynic, equally capable of the most noble and the most inhumane act to achieve his goals. Such were the customs in his environment. In this respect, he was no better, but no worse than other leaders in Stalin's circle. But he was head and shoulders smarter than them, more far-sighted. This ultimately ruined him. There is a saying: “They hit the head of the nail that sticks out.” So they hit him. It’s not at all because Beria was preparing some kind of conspiracy to seize power - that’s a myth. Beria understood perfectly well that the second Georgian would not be the main leader in the USSR, and he, as the first of the “first deputies”, and also a minister, had enough real power. No, all of them, Malenkov, Molotov, Voroshilov, and even the future whistleblower of Stalin, Khrushchev, were afraid for their own skin. Having dumped Beria, one could attribute his own sins, and considerable ones, to him. Yes, of course, none of them headed the political police during Stalin’s life, no matter what it was called, but each leader has no less blood on his hands than Beria. And speaking of specific services to the state, there was no question of comparison. After all, it was Beria who headed the Soviet “atomic project” and ensured the creation of an “atomic shield” in the shortest possible time, which, by the way, was never denied by outstanding scientists who worked on this problem in those years.
And both intelligence and counterintelligence, when they were led by Beria, were by no means only engaged in identifying the distributors of anti-Soviet jokes.
It seems to the author that the very next day after Stalin’s death, his heirs realized that a change in political course, the liquidation in some, preferably the mildest form, of the cult of his personality was inevitable, and therefore sooner or later the problem of pre-war and post-war repressions would emerge. And someone will have to answer for them. And the one who is the first to pronounce this inevitable “a” will become the first person. Not the same, of course, as the deceased leader was, but still better than others.
And then the obviously frightened heirs formed the conviction that Beria would certainly want to become this first of the first. Because he (which corresponded to reality) had a much greater chance of this than the same Malenkov, Bulganin, Khrushchev, Molotov, Voroshilov, Kaganovich... After all, Beria had a reputation as a man who stopped the Yezhovshchina, who freed a good third of a million innocently before the war repressed. Whereas, for example, Molotov and Kalinin did not dare to stand up for their own wives, Kaganovich did not dare to stand up for his brother...
There is no need to talk seriously about the military coup allegedly planned by Beria. Directly in Moscow, only the Dzerzhinsky Internal Troops Division and the Kremlin Regiment were subordinate to him. Meanwhile, the famous Tamanskaya and Kantemirovskaya divisions were stationed within the city; in the capital there were two dozen military academies and schools, which, by order of the Minister of Defense, had no trouble blocking the same division named after Dzerzhinsky.
But the Minister of Internal Affairs had at his disposal much more terrible weapons: secret and top-secret archives, lists of those sentenced to repression of the “first category” with resolutions not only of Stalin, but also of Molotov, Voroshilov, Khrushchev and others. This was enough for Stalin’s heirs to unitely take up arms against one of their own and simply betray him in order to save their posts and reputation. Beria was doomed not from the moment when, as Khrushchev asserted, the leadership became aware of the “conspiratorial plans of the enemy of the people and the English spy Beria,” but from that March day when they appointed him one of the first deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Internal Affairs USSR. There really was a conspiracy. But it was headed by Khrushchev and Malenkov, and not Beria.
The energetic measures taken by Beria to restore order in the country only accelerated the maturation of the Khrushchev-Malenkov conspiracy.
Beria initiated the famous amnesty, when out of 2,256,402 prisoners held in camps and prisons, 1,203,421 people were to be released. Subsequently, in order to weaken the impression of this unprecedented step, the authorities spread rumors that Beria had maliciously released thousands of murderers, robbers and rapists. It was a lie. You can verify this by visiting any library and reading the same Amnesty Decree with your own eyes.
In fact, under the amnesty, persons who received a sentence of up to five years, those convicted of economic and official crimes, pregnant women and women with children under ten years of age, and the sick were subject to release. Of course, there was a temporary surge in criminal offenses, but it was quickly extinguished by law enforcement agencies. At the same time, Beria proposed transferring the camps from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Ministry of Justice. This measure was implemented in Russia only forty-five years later! Beria also proposed transferring all construction sites, enterprises, and “sharashkas” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the jurisdiction of the relevant industrial departments.
Subsequently, Beria will be accused of summoning to Moscow several dozen (sometimes they say hundreds) of Soviet intelligence residents and advisers to state security agencies in countries, as they were then called, “people's democracies,” thereby disorganizing the activities of the Kremlin intelligence service. In fact, Beria took measures to eliminate the shortcomings of foreign intelligence and strengthen its personnel, primarily its management. Beria considered most of the advisory apparatus in the camps of “people's democracy” to be completely unsuitable for the proper performance of the functions assigned to it. If only for the simple reason that almost not a single adviser knew either the language, history, culture, traditions, or mentality of the people of the country in which he worked. Many of them, moreover, behaved completely unceremoniously towards local workers, not so much “advising”, but openly, regardless of the pride of even the ministers and secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties, they commanded.
At the June 1953 Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, held immediately after the arrest of Beria and - in violation of the Party Charter - in his absence, the former Minister of Internal Affairs was accused of betraying the cause of socialism for reducing the number of the security apparatus in the GDR by seven times, which allegedly contributed to the outbreak of mass riots on July 17, 1953.
In fact, the mass uprisings of the workers of the GDR, suppressed only by the intervention of the Soviet occupation forces, occurred due to the clumsy policy of the leadership of the republic, which set as its goal the accelerated construction of socialism in East Germany. This policy enjoyed the full support of the USSR both under Stalin and Malenkov. It was for this reason, and not because of the reduction of the security apparatus, that hundreds of thousands of residents of the GDR and East Berlin abandoned their homes and property every year and fled to the West.
Knowing how to be sensible and better informed than his colleagues on the Politburo (Presidium) of the CPSU Central Committee about real life in the Soviet Union and abroad, Beria considered the artificial implantation of socialism in East Germany and, in general, the very theory of two German states, a senseless undertaking. He believed that the best guarantee of maintaining reliable peace in Europe was not the confrontation between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany, but the presence of a single democratic, demilitarized, albeit capitalist, German state.
As we know, the unification of Germany did not happen then, and it was due to the fault of both the USSR and the Western powers. The fuse to the powder keg in the form of two German states and two Berlins smoldered in the center of Europe for almost another forty years.
Beria at the same time expressed another heretical idea, which Khrushchev, who overthrew him, put into practice three years later, allegedly as his own initiative: he considered it necessary to restore normal relations with Yugoslavia.
But Beria’s envoy to Tito did not manage to reach any Belgrade. On June 26, 1953, Lavrentiy Beria was arrested. This was followed by the arrests or dismissals from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of many generals and senior officers, both in the central apparatus and locally.
On December 16-23, 1953, in Moscow, under the chairmanship of Marshal Ivan Konev, a Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR was held, formed to consider the case of Lavrenty Beria, Bogdan Kobulov, Vsevolod Merkulov, Vladimir Dekanozov, Pavel Meshik, Lev Vlodzimirsky and Sergei Goglidze.
Among the crimes charged against the defendants were treason and espionage for the intelligence services of the imperialist powers. These accusations could only cause bewilderment among intelligence and counterintelligence veterans who have a good understanding of what espionage is...
However, the defendants were found guilty of numerous crimes and sentenced to capital punishment.
"Act
1953, December 23.
On this date, at 19:50, on the basis of the order of the chairman of the special judicial presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR dated December 23, 1953, No. 003, by me, the commandant of the special judicial presence, Colonel-General Batitsky P.F., in the presence of the Prosecutor General of the USSR, Actual State Counselor of Justice Rudenko R. A. and Army General Moskalenko K. S. The sentence of the special judicial presence was carried out in relation to the person sentenced to capital punishment - the execution of Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria.”
The act is sealed with the signatures of the three named persons.
Another act:
“On December 23, 1953, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Comrade. Lunev, deputy General Military Prosecutor Comrade. Kitaev in the presence of Colonel General Comrade. Hetman, Lieutenant General Bakeev and Major General Sopilnik carried out the sentence of the special judicial presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR dated December 23, 1953 over the convicted:
Kobulov Bogdan Zakharyevich, born in 1904.
Merkulov Vsevolod Nikolaevich, born in 1895.
Dekanozov Vladimir Georgievich, born in 1898.
Meshik Pavel Yakovlevich, born in 1910.
Vlodzimirsky Lev Emelyanovich, born in 1902.
Goglizde Sergei Arsentievich, born in 1901. —
To the death penalty - execution.
On December 23, 1953, the above-mentioned convicts were shot.” Death was confirmed by a doctor (signature).
The archives of the FSB contain tens of thousands of certificates from special departments on the execution of death sentences. None of them mention the performer's name. They were classified persons; they could be listed as anyone in the NKVD staff: drivers, prison guards, security guards.
These two acts are the only exceptions. Executors of death sentences are named both by last name and position.
On September 1, 1953, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Special Meeting under the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs was abolished. Finally, this body of extrajudicial execution, shameful for a country that considers itself a civilized state, has been eliminated.
Soon, the country's top leadership came to the conclusion that it was impossible to entrust the leadership of both state security and internal affairs agencies into one hand. According to the author, this decision was dictated not so much by the interests of the case as by fear. The ordinary fear is that, God forbid, such a two-headed monster is at the disposal of some new Yezhov with the ambitions of the head of the country, many in power will not be able to cut their heads off.
Name: Lavrentiy Beriya
Age: 54 years old
Place of birth: With. Merkheuli, Sukhumi district
Place of death: Moscow
Activity: Head of the NKVD
Marital status: Was married to
Lavrentiy Beria - biography
Many people were afraid of this man. Lavrentiy Beria is an extraordinary person. He stood at the origins of the revolution and walked alongside Stalin throughout the war. The blind executor of his leader was also merciless towards the traitors of the country, and with pleasure in many ways exceeded the power given to him.
Childhood, family
Lavrentiy Beria was born in the Kutaisi province, now Abkhazia. The mother was from a princely family. Not a single biographer notes his father's noble origin. First, the boy’s parents, Marta and Pavel, had three children. One boy died when he was two years old. The daughter suffered from the disease and lost her hearing and speech. Lavrenty was the only hope of his father and mother, especially since he was a very capable boy as a child.
The parents spared nothing for their son: they sent him to the Sukhumi paid primary school. Sold half of their house to pay for school. After graduating from college, Beria entered the construction school in Baku. When he turned seventeen, he took in his mother and sister; his father had already died at that time. Beria began to take care of and support the remnants of his family. To do this, he was forced to work and study at the same time.
Political biography of Beria
Lavrentiy finds time to become a member of the Marxist circle and becomes its treasurer. After completing his studies, he went to the front, but was soon discharged due to illness. He again lives in Baku and actively works in the local Bolshevik organization, goes underground. Only after the establishment of Soviet power did he begin to cooperate with the counterintelligence of Azerbaijan. He is sent to Georgia for underground work, he develops his activities too actively, he is arrested and expelled from Georgia. Beria leads a very stormy political life, holds leading positions in the Cheka of the Republic.
Already in the twenties, he exceeded his authority and falsified criminal cases, actively participating in the suppression of the Menshevik uprising. Until the early thirties, he was the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of Georgia. During this period of activity, his biography for the first time suits acquaintance with. Beria is constantly growing up the career ladder. In 1934, he served on the commission for the project to create the NKVD of the Soviet Union.
Whatever Beria was, it is impossible to throw out from history the positive things that he achieved for Transcaucasia. The oil industry is developing thanks to the commissioning of several large stations. Georgia has turned into a resort area. In agriculture, expensive crops began to be produced: grapes, tangerines, tea. Beria undertakes a “cleansing” in the ranks of the Georgian party, he boldly signs death sentences. In 1938, Beria became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
For his impeccable service to the state, he is given many awards. Nearby the name of Yezhov appears, against whose lawlessness Beria begins to pursue a policy of mitigation: repression is reduced by almost half, prison is replaced by camps. Before the war, Lavrenty Pavlovich deployed an intelligence network in European countries, Japan and America. Beria's department includes all intelligence services, the forestry and oil industries, the production of non-ferrous metals and the river fleet.
War
Now the production of aircraft, engines, and weapons comes under Beria’s control. He ensures that air regiments are formed and sent to the front in a timely manner. Later, the coal industry and all communication routes were placed under the jurisdiction of Lavrentiy Beria. In addition, he was a permanent adviser to I.V. Stalin’s headquarters. He had a large number of awards, orders and medals. The development of the Program to create an atomic bomb began.
But, although M. Molotov was appointed leader, the omnipresent Beria had to control the entire process. After successful tests, Lavrentiy received the Stalin Prize and the title of “Honorary Citizen”. After the death of the leader, Beria joined the struggle for high office. He proposed an amnesty for more than a million people and the termination of four hundred cases.
Removal from office and death of Beria
He fought for the post of leader, who chose a different path: he raised the question of removing Lavrentiy Beria from his post. Khrushchev selected several articles for his competitor, which the entire Politburo could not object to. Many accusations were brought against him, including espionage in the twenties and moral corruption. Lavrentiy Pavlovich was sentenced to death, like all his comrades. After the execution, the body was burned and the ashes were scattered over the Moscow River. Such is the unpredictable ending to the biography of someone who inspired fear just by his name.
Lavrentiy Beria - biography of personal life
Lavrentiy Beria (03/29/1899-12/23/1953) is one of the most odious personalities of the twentieth century. The political and personal life of this man is still controversial. Today no historian can unambiguously evaluate and fully understand this political and public figure. Many materials from his personal life and government activities are kept classified as “secret”. Perhaps some time will pass, and modern society will be able to give a complete and adequate answer to all questions concerning this person. It is possible that his biography will also receive a new reading. Beria (Lavrentiy Pavlovich's pedigree and activities are well studied by historians) is an entire era in the history of the country.
Childhood and teenage years of the future politician
Who is the origin of Lavrenty Beria? His nationality on his father's side is Mingrelian. This is an ethnic group of the Georgian people. Many modern historians have disputes and questions regarding the politician’s pedigree. Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich (real name and surname - Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria) was born on March 29, 1899 in the village of Merkheuli, Kutaisi province. The family of the future statesman came from poor peasants. From early childhood, Lavrenty Beria was distinguished by an unusual zeal for knowledge, which was not at all typical for the peasantry of the 19th century. To continue his studies, the family had to sell part of their house to pay for his studies. In 1915, Beria entered the Baku Technical School, and 4 years later he graduated with honors. Meanwhile, after joining the Bolshevik faction in March 1917, he took an active part in the Russian revolution, being a secret agent of the Baku police.
First steps in big politics
The career of the young politician in the Soviet security forces began in February 1921, when the ruling Bolsheviks sent him to the Cheka of Azerbaijan. The head of the then department of the Extraordinary Commission of the Azerbaijan Republic was D. Bagirov. This leader was famous for his cruelty and mercilessness towards dissident fellow citizens. Lavrentiy Beria engaged in bloody repressions against opponents of Bolshevik rule; even some leaders of the Caucasian Bolsheviks were very wary of his violent methods of work. Thanks to his strong character and excellent oratorical qualities as a leader, at the end of 1922 Beria was transferred to Georgia, where at that time there were big problems with the establishment of Soviet power. He took office as deputy chairman of the Georgian Cheka, throwing himself into the work of combating political dissent among his fellow Georgians. Beria's influence on the political situation in the region had authoritarian significance. Not a single issue was resolved without his direct participation. The career of the young politician was successful; he ensured the defeat of the national communists of that time, who were seeking independence from the central government in Moscow.
Georgian reign period
By 1926, Lavrenty Pavlovich rose to the position of Deputy Chairman of the GPU of Georgia. In April 1927, Lavrentiy Beria became People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. Beria's competent leadership allowed him to win the favor of I.V. Stalin, a Georgian by nationality. Having expanded his influence in the party apparatus, Beria was elected in 1931 to the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Georgian Party. A remarkable achievement for a man of 32 years old. From now on, Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria, whose nationality corresponds to the state nomenklatura, will continue to ingratiate himself with Stalin. In 1935, Beria published a large treatise that greatly exaggerated the importance of Joseph Stalin in the revolutionary struggle in the Caucasus before 1917. The book was published in all major state presses, which made Beria a figure of national importance.
Accomplice of Stalin's repressions
When I.V. Stalin began his bloody political terror in the party and country from 1936 to 1938, Lavrentiy Beria was an active accomplice. In Georgia alone, thousands of innocent people died at the hands of the NKVD, and thousands more were convicted and sent to prisons and labor camps as part of Stalin's nationwide vendetta against the Soviet people. Many party leaders died during the purges. However, Lavrenty Beria, whose biography remained unblemished, came out unscathed. In 1938, Stalin rewarded him with appointment to the post of head of the NKVD. After a full-scale purge of the NKVD leadership, Beria gave key leadership positions to his associates from Georgia. Thus, he increased his political influence over the Kremlin.
Pre-war and war periods of the life of L. P. Beria
In February 1941, Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria became Deputy Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, and in June, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, he became a member of the Defense Committee. During the war, Beria had complete control over the production of weapons, aircraft and ships. In a word, the entire military-industrial potential of the Soviet Union was under his control. Thanks to his skillful leadership, sometimes cruel, Beria’s role in the great victory of the Soviet people over Nazi Germany was one of the key ones. Many prisoners in the NKVD and labor camps worked for military production. These were the realities of that time. It is difficult to say what would have happened to the country if the course of history had had a different direction.
In 1944, when the Germans were expelled from Soviet soil, Beria oversaw the case of various ethnic minorities accused of collaborating with the occupiers, including Chechens, Ingush, Karachays, Crimean Tatars and Volga Germans. All of them were deported to Central Asia.
Management of the country's military industry
Since December 1944, Beria has been a member of the Supervisory Council for the creation of the first atomic bomb in the USSR. To implement this project, great working and scientific potential was required. This is how the State Administration of Camps (GULAG) system was formed. A talented team of nuclear physicists was assembled. The Gulag system provided tens of thousands of workers for uranium mining and the construction of testing equipment (in Semipalatinsk, Vaigach, Novaya Zemlya, etc.). The NKVD provided the necessary level of security and secrecy for the project. The first tests of atomic weapons were carried out in the Semipalatinsk region in 1949.
In July 1945, Lavrenty Beria (photo on the left) was promoted to the high military rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Although he never took part in direct military command, his role in organizing military production was a significant contribution to the final victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. This fact of Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria’s personal biography is beyond doubt.
Death of the Leader of the Nations
I.V. Stalin's age is approaching 70 years. The question of the leader's successor as head of the Soviet state is increasingly becoming an issue. The most likely candidate was the head of the Leningrad party apparatus, Andrei Zhdanov. L.P. Beria and G.M. Malenkov even created an unspoken alliance to block the party growth of A.A. Zhdanov.
In January 1946, Beria resigned from his post as head of the NKVD (which was soon renamed the Ministry of Internal Affairs), while maintaining overall control over national security issues, and became a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. The new head of the security department, S.N. Kruglov, is not Beria’s henchman. In addition, by the summer of 1946, V. Merkulov, loyal to Beria, was replaced by V. Abakumov as head of the MGB. A secret struggle for leadership in the country began. After the death of A. A. Zhdanov in 1948, the “Leningrad Case” was fabricated, as a result of which many party leaders of the northern capital were arrested and executed. In these post-war years, under the secret leadership of Beria, an active intelligence network was created in Eastern Europe.
JV Stalin died on March 5, 1953, four days after the collapse. Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov's political memoirs, published in 1993, claim that Beria boasted to Molotov that he had poisoned Stalin, although no evidence was ever provided to support this claim. There is evidence that for many hours after J.V. Stalin was found unconscious in his office, he was denied medical attention. It is quite possible that all Soviet leaders agreed to leave the ailing Stalin, whom they feared, to certain death.
The struggle for the state throne
After the death of I.V. Stalin, Beria was appointed first deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers and head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. His close ally G. M. Malenkov becomes the new Chairman of the Supreme Council and the most powerful person in the country's leadership after the death of the leader. Beria was the second powerful leader, given Malenkov's lack of real leadership qualities. He effectively becomes the power behind the throne, and ultimately the leader of the state. N. S. Khrushchev becomes Secretary of the Communist Party, whose position was considered as a less important post than the position of Chairman of the Supreme Council.
Reformer or "great schemer"
Lavrentiy Beria was at the forefront of the country's liberalization after Stalin's death. He publicly condemned the Stalinist regime and rehabilitated more than a million political prisoners. In April 1953, Beria signed a decree prohibiting the use of torture in Soviet prisons. He also signaled a more liberal policy towards non-Russian nationalities of citizens of the Soviet Union. He convinced the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the need to introduce a communist regime in East Germany, and gave rise to economic and political reforms in the country of the Soviets. There is an authoritative opinion that Beria’s entire liberal policy after the death of Stalin was an ordinary maneuver to consolidate power in the country. There is another opinion that the radical reforms proposed by L.P. Beria could speed up the processes of economic development of the Soviet Union.
Arrest and death: unanswered questions
Historical facts provide conflicting information regarding the overthrow of Beria. According to the official version, N.S. Khrushchev convened a meeting of the Presidium on June 26, 1953, where Beria was arrested. He was accused of having links with British intelligence. This was a complete surprise for him. Lavrentiy Beria briefly asked: “What’s going on, Nikita?” V. M. Molotov and other members of the Politburo also opposed Beria, and N. S. Khrushchev agreed to his arrest. Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov personally escorted the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council. Some sources claim that Beria was killed on the spot, but this is incorrect. His arrest was kept a closely guarded secret until his top aides were arrested. The NKVD troops in Moscow, which were subordinate to Beria, were disarmed by regular army units. The Sovinformburo reported the truth about the arrest of Lavrentiy Beria only on July 10, 1953. He was convicted by a “special tribunal” without defense and without the right of appeal. On December 23, 1953, Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria was shot by verdict of the Supreme Court. Beria's death made the Soviet people breathe a sigh of relief. This meant the end of the era of repression. After all, for him (the people) Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria was a bloody tyrant and despot.
Beria's wife and son were sent to labor camps, but were later released. His wife Nina died in 1991 in exile in Ukraine; his son Sergo died in October 2000, defending his father's reputation for the rest of his life.
In May 2002, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation refused to satisfy the petition of Beria's family members for his rehabilitation. The statement was based on Russian law, which provided for the rehabilitation of victims of false political accusations. The court ruled: “L.P. Beria was the organizer of repressions against his own people, and, therefore, cannot be considered a victim.”
Loving husband and treacherous lover
Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich and women is a separate topic that requires serious study. Officially, L.P. Beria was married to Nina Teymurazovna Gegechkori (1905-1991). In 1924, their son Sergo was born, named after the prominent political figure Sergo Ordzhonikidze. All her life, Nina Teymurazovna was a faithful and devoted companion to her husband. Despite his betrayals, this woman was able to maintain the honor and dignity of the family. In 1990, being at a fairly advanced age, Nina Beria completely justified her husband in an interview with Western journalists. Until the end of her life, Nina Teymurazovna fought for the moral rehabilitation of her husband.
Of course, Lavrenty Beria and his women with whom he had intimate relationships gave rise to many rumors and mysteries. From the testimony of Beria’s personal guard it follows that their boss was very popular among women. One can only guess whether these were mutual feelings between a man and a woman or not.
Kremlin rapist
When Beria was interrogated, he admitted to having physical relationships with 62 women and also suffering from syphilis in 1943. This happened after the rape of a 7th grade student. According to him, he has an illegitimate child from her. There are many confirmed facts of Beria’s sexual harassment. Young girls from schools near Moscow were abducted more than once. When Beria noticed a beautiful girl, his assistant Colonel Sarkisov approached her. Showing his ID as an NKVD officer, he ordered to follow him.
Often these girls ended up in soundproof interrogation rooms at Lubyanka or in the basement of a house on Kachalova Street. Sometimes, before raping girls, Beria used sadistic methods. Among high-ranking government officials, Beria was known as a sexual predator. He kept a list of his sexual victims in a special notebook. According to the minister's domestic servants, the number of victims of the sexual predator exceeded 760 people. In 2003, the Government of the Russian Federation recognized the existence of these lists.
During a search of Beria's personal office, women's toiletries were found in the armored safes of one of the top leaders of the Soviet state. According to the inventory compiled by members of the military tribunal, the following were discovered: women's silk slips, ladies' tights, children's dresses and other women's accessories. Among the state documents were letters containing love confessions. This personal correspondence was vulgar in nature. In addition to women's clothing, large quantities of items characteristic of male perverts were found. All this speaks of the sick psyche of the great leader of the state. It is quite possible that he was not alone in his sexual preferences; he was not the only one with a tarnished biography. Beria (Lavrentiy Pavlovich was not completely unraveled either during his life or after his death) is a page in the history of long-suffering Russia, which will have to be studied for a long time.
Ministry of the Russian Federation for Communications and Information
FGOBU VPO "SibGUTI"
Abstract on the topic
Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria: political biography
Completed:
Titova Vasilisa
Student of group MM-31
Checked:
Borovoy Evgeniy Mikhailovich
Novosibirsk
Introduction
Childhood and youth
Beginning of a political career
Great Patriotic War
Beria's activities in the post-war years
Beria's activities after Stalin's death
Arrest and execution
Why is Beria called an executioner?
Conclusion
References
Introduction
Someone said that life would be hard if it weren't for the honest eyes of dogs. He's a fool. A dog is good. But the best thing is people's honest eyes. L.P. Beria
The personality of Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria is probably one of the most controversial personalities in the history of Russia. Even years later, we cannot say unequivocally what was more - the pros or cons of Beria's policies.
In Georgia there was a personality cult of Beria. In Transcaucasia they thought of him as the most faithful of Stalin's Caucasian followers. As the head of the party organization of Georgia and Transcaucasia, he did a lot to improve his native republic and the Transcaucasian region as a whole.
In Moscow, workers carried his images at demonstrations. Collective farms and mines, streets and partisan detachments were named after him.
However, after his arrest and execution, Lavrenty Pavlovich began to be perceived almost as a fiend of hell. Many crimes that took place in the country in the 30-50s began to be attributed to him. Even the children sang a cheerful ditty: “Lavrenty Palych Beria did not justify his trust, and Georgy Maksimych Malenkov kicked him.” Soon this ditty was under an unspoken ban, but after Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev kicked Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov. However, with regard to Beria, everything remained the same. He is still called the “Cannibal”, “English spy”, “adventurer”, “executioner”.
In my opinion, the topic is very relevant in our time, because people learn from history, be it a positive example or a negative one.
The purpose of my essay is to analyze Beria’s political activities by studying his biography from birth.
Childhood and youth
Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich was born on March 29, 1899 in the village of Merkheuli. His mother, Marta Jakeli (1868-1955), was from a noble family, and on his mother’s side his second cousin was Paval Rafalovich Bermond Avlov (Prince Avalishvili). It was on his mother’s side that Beria was a distant relative of the princes Dadiani. Lavrenty's father, Pavel Khukhaevich Beria (1872-1922), moved to Merheuli from Megrelia.
Martha and Pavel had three children in their family. One of the boys died at the age of two, and the daughter remained deaf and mute after an illness.
Lavrenty graduated from the Sukhumi school in 1915. But since childhood, “..dreamed of architecture and was a good artist...Drew with pencil, watercolor, and oil.” Then in Baku he entered the secondary mechanical and construction technical school. From the age of 17, he already supported a family, which included his mother and deaf-mute sister. Back in October 1915, he and a group of students from the Baku Technical School organized an illegal Marxist circle. This is what Beria wrote in his autobiography, written on October 27, 1923.
Beria combined his studies and work. He worked as an intern in Nobel's oil office. Even then he began his political activity. In June - December 1917, Beria was on the Romanian front, working as a technician in a hydraulic engineering detachment. After returning to Azerbaijan, he was enrolled in the secretariat of the Baku Council of Workers' Deputies. When the city was occupied by Turkish troops in 1918, Beria worked at the Caspian Partnership White City plant, and also carried out various assignments for the Bolsheviks, who found themselves underground before the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan. In 1919 he received a diploma as a construction technician-architect.
In March 1917 L.P. Beria organized a RSDLP cell at the school in Baku.
In the fall of 1919, Lavrentiy Beria entered the counterintelligence service under the State Defense Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Subsequently, this period of Beria’s life caused many misunderstandings. They said that he deliberately worked for Azerbaijani nationalists and was even an agent of the British. But in his biographical profiles Beria did not hide his work in bourgeois counterintelligence; in a letter to G.K. Ordzhonikidze wrote in 1933 that “he was sent to Musavat intelligence ... by the party and that this issue was examined by the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party (b) in 1920”, that the Central Committee of the AKP (b) “completely rehabilitated” him, because “The fact of working in counterintelligence with the knowledge of the party was confirmed by statements from comrade. Mirza Davud Huseynova, Kasum Izmailova and others."
Beginning of a political career
In 1920, L.P. Beria was sent to work illegally in Georgia to prepare an armed uprising against the Menshevik government, as an authorized representative of the Caucasian Regional Committee, after which he was arrested and imprisoned in Kutaisi prison. Then L.P. Beria was expelled from Georgia in 1920 after he organized a hunger strike among imprisoned political figures.
Beria was sent to KGB work in April 1921. From that time on, he held the position of deputy head of the secret operational department of the Azerbaijani Cheka; in May 1921, he became the head of the secret operational unit, deputy chairman of the Azerbaijani Cheka. And already in November 1922 he was appointed head of the secret operational unit. Since March 1926, deputy plenipotentiary representative of the OGPU in the Transcaucasian SSFSR, deputy chairman of the Transcaucasian GPU, and since December of the same year - chairman of the GPU of the Georgian SSR. Since April 1927, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. Despite his diligence, he did not have much chance for promotion, but then an event occurred that served as the beginning of his great professional career as a security officer and Bolshevik.
Documents related to the work of L.P. have been preserved. Beria in Azerbaijan, dated 1923.
From the characteristics of L.P. Beria:
"...has outstanding abilities, demonstrated in various apparatuses of the state mechanism...He, with his characteristic energy and perseverance, carried out all the tasks assigned by the party, giving brilliant results with his versatile work....Should be noted as the best, valuable, tireless worker , so necessary at the moment in Soviet construction."
The characterization was signed by the Secretary of the Central Committee Akhundov.
Only in 1931 Beria became chairman of the Transcaucasian GPU. At this time, operations such as the destruction of the Georgian Mensheviks and nationalists were carried out under his leadership.
In 1922, there were two uprisings against the Bolsheviks, but they were suppressed, but Georgia did not become calmer. Stalin was asked to sort this out. And after completing the task, the security officers set the table in honor of Stalin. Stalin made a toast: “A lot of weed has accumulated in Georgia. We need to plow up Georgia.”
To which Beria replied: “We will destroy the weed and plow Georgia.” Stalin really liked the toast.
It is known that a day later Beria was appointed deputy chief of the Cheka. Lavrenty was 23 years old at that time.
However, changing or “plowing up” Georgia turned out to be more difficult. The underground committee of Social Democrats and National Democrats organized an uprising in 1924. The uprising was suppressed with savagery and cruelty. Most of the participants were liquidated, and the organizers of the uprising were shot. The main person in this procedure was L.P. Beria. Stalin was amused by this, after which he appointed Beria head of the Georgian GPU. He was also awarded the highest military Order of the Red Banner.
From that time on, Beria began to rapidly climb the career ladder, trying to avoid any defeats.
... "Apparently, he was always driven by a vain desire to advance, to become the first at any cost. But where did he get the sense of beauty and good taste, manifested in a lifestyle, in the discreet elegance of comfort? - remains a mystery..."
In government circles, Beria’s success was viewed very negatively; one might say that they hated him. They said that Beria informed Stalin and Menzhinsky about personal and family matters of members of the government.
This hatred led to several attempts on Beria’s life.
Through Beria, Stalin destroyed the so-called “national deviationists.” Almost everyone was shot. That’s when they finally managed to “plow up” Georgia. As a result, Lavrenty Pavlovich was appointed secretary of the Communist Party of Georgia.
But this did not bring Beria popularity outside the Caucasus. In 1935, Beria delivered a report “on the question of the history of Bolshevism,” after which his name became known in the party. This report was published in millions of copies, it was recommended for study by all party members, the report was even equated with the works of Marx and Lenin. In his work, Beria changed the history of the party, significantly diminishing the importance of Lenin in the work and activities of the party. A false theory about the two leaders of the party was also presented. Stalin's role significantly exceeded the real one. We can say that Beria created the theory of the party of two leaders - Lenin and Stalin.
This report helped Beria in his career, because he was transferred to Moscow and appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs.
A significant “cleansing” of the security service corps was Beria’s first operation as head of the NKVD. A huge number of security officers were arrested, sent to concentration camps and shot. Many said that Lavrenty Pavlovich was the same Yezhov, only more dexterous and savvy.
Great Patriotic War
June 1941 Beria was appointed a member of the State Defense Committee. The State Defense Committee had all the power in the country. Beria's responsibilities included: control of decisions of the State Defense Committee on the production of weapons, aircraft, engines, mortars, control over the formation of air regiments, their transfer to the front, etc.
Under the leadership of Lavrenty Pavlovich, in the summer of 1941, many famous military leaders were arrested, such as D.G. Pavlov, Grigoriev, N.A. Klich, P.V. Rychagov and others. Soon they were all shot. It was by the will of Beria that the prisoners who never received their trial at the beginning of World War II were shot.
According to some historians, Joseph Vissarionovich would not have lasted such a long time in power if Beria had not been his assistant. At the beginning of the war, the position of power was weak, since the Red Army did not want to fight. The people believed that only the defeat of the government of their own country could help it. Power was under threat, but Beria, the man who was responsible for the morale of the front, did not lose his head. He unleashed the weapon of fear, and mass arrests resumed. Various measures were introduced against retreating soldiers, captured prisoners, and spies. In addition to this, public executions were carried out.
By Decree of the State Defense Committee of December 8, 1942 L.P. Beria was appointed a member of the GKO Operations Bureau. Two more important tasks were included in Beria’s responsibilities: monitoring the work of the People’s Commissariat of the Coal Industry and the People’s Commissariat of Railways. On May 16, 1944, Beria was appointed deputy chairman of the State Defense Committee and chairman of the Operations Bureau. The tasks of the Operations Bureau include: control and monitoring of the work of all people's commissariats of the defense industry, railway and water transport, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, coal, oil, chemical, rubber, paper and pulp, electrical industries, power plants. In September 1943, Beria was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for special services in the field of strengthening the production of weapons and ammunition in difficult wartime conditions. On July 9, 1945, L. P. Beria received the title of “Marshal of the Soviet Union.” Beria also controlled the deportation operations of many peoples, such as Chechens, Kurds, Gypsies, Crimean Tatars, etc.
Beria's activities in the post-war years
In December 1945, he was removed from the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs. At this time, Lavrenty Pavlovich was engaged in the idea of creating an atomic bomb.
In August 1945, Beria became chairman of the committee for managing work with uranium. The committee included G.M. Malenkov, N.A. Voznesensky, B.L. Vannikov, A.P. Zavenyagin, I.V. Kurchatov, P.L. Kapitsa, V.A. Makhnev, M.G. Pervukhin. Then this committee became known as the Special Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In March 1953, the Special Committee was entrusted with the management of other special works of defense significance. After the arrest of Beria, the Committee was destroyed (June 26, 1953).
In August 1949, an atomic bomb was successfully tested at the Semipalatinsk test site. October 29, 1949 L.P. Beria received the Stalin Prize, 1st degree, “for organizing the production of atomic energy and the successful completion of the testing of atomic weapons” and the title of Honorary Citizen of the USSR.
From October to December 1945, Joseph Vissarionovich left Moscow for a long time, on the so-called vacation. Many people, including the press, began to talk about his illness, and maybe even death. Politicians began to think about all the contenders for the post of Soviet leader. At this time, Stalin left Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov, Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria and Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan in power. The first person Stalin turned to was V. Molotov. Next came Malenkov, Stalin’s deputy, then Beria, and last came Mikoyan, People’s Commissar of Foreign Trade.
Over time, Stalin began to be wary of Beria, because in fact they were two leaders, and therefore competitors of a kind. Until now, no clashes have occurred due to Beria’s cunning and resourcefulness. Lavrentiy Pavlovich left his people in charge of power in Georgia, which Stalin was not always able to track, which meant that Georgia was not under his control. One day, Stalin doubted that Beria's close people were party members, which made Beria alarmed. This gesture meant a complication of the relationship. Stalin began checking Beria’s documents and carried out a “purge” in Georgia, since there already was a cult of personality not of Stalin, but of Beria.
Those close to Stalin feared for their jobs and for their lives, because they knew him well and could already predict his course of thoughts and next steps. This led to the fact that members of the Politburo united in an alliance against Stalin's actions. The instigators of this association were Beria and Malenkov.
Beria's activities after Stalin's death
In 1953, Stalin unexpectedly died. Beria became one of the contenders for Stalin's place. Freedom of decision opened up for him, and he decided to change some of the foundations of Stalin's rule. Now not only Russians could come to posts, because Stalin was a supporter of Russification. Beria proposed translating all state documents into the languages of other republics. Some high-profile cases were stopped, the “doctors’ case” was stopped, and about a million people were released.
There has been a rehabilitation of military personnel and aviation industry leaders convicted back in 1946 in the “aviators’ case.”
Lavrenty Pavlovich also decided to make changes to the court system. He proposed an amnesty. His note, sent to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee in March 1953, says that there are a large number of people in prisons and colonies, namely about two and a half million, convicted of non-dangerous crimes.
He proposed pardoning only a million people who were sentenced to less than five years, the elderly, women with small children, the seriously ill and minors.
April 1953 Beria signed an order prohibiting the use of cruel interrogation methods, arrests of innocent citizens, and severe beatings of prisoners. As a result of the abuse, those arrested lost their minds and could go crazy. This led to the fact that the verdicts were falsified.
Beria tried to strengthen his position in power, but he did not have like-minded people and allies. Many do not understand how Beria, a man on whose initiative so many people were exterminated, was able to carry out a number of such liberations.
Some regarded Beria's policy as the formation of a new cult of personality. He was not stupid and understood that after Stalin’s death his era ended, and a new one could be started by a person completely opposite to Stalin.
However, none of the government members were happy with the appearance of a new leader in the person of Beria. A conspiracy was hatched to eliminate Beria. Despite Beria's position at that time, he is arrested. Then one of the most high-profile cases in Russian history began.
Arrest and execution
In July 1953, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held. Malenkov's report on Beria's crimes was listened to. His actions were regarded as anti-state and anti-party. A decision was made to exclude L.P. Beria from the CPSU Central Committee as an enemy of the people and an enemy of the party.
The investigation into Beria's cases lasted about six months. The Prosecutor General of the USSR R.A. Rudenko supervised the progress of the work.
The trial of L.P. Beria and his supporters took place from December 18 to 23. The court did not allow petitions for clemency, and the sentence had to be executed at the same time. Neither the prosecutor nor the lawyer could take part.
At the first meeting, charges were brought against high treason and espionage for Great Britain, in the pursuit of “the elimination of the Soviet worker-peasant system, the restoration of capitalism and the restoration of the rule of the bourgeoisie.” Since it was necessary to find as many cases as possible that were not just empty accusations, but specific facts, cases related to Beria’s activities in Georgia or Transcaucasia began to be raised. He was accused of the 1937 repressions, the execution of a group of twenty-five prisoners in Kuibyshev, Tambov. He was accused of establishing connections with foreign groups, spying on members of the Communist Party, and the so-called rapprochement with Hitler.
Specific charges in the Beria case:
§ murder of M.S. Kedrov, a Bolshevik who was executed on false charges in 1937;
§ falsification of testimony through torture in the cases of Belakhov, Slezberg, Stern, Smushkevich and others;
§ execution of 25 prisoners in 1941;
§ testing various poisons on prisoners;
§ detention, execution of relatives of Sergo Ordzhonikidze.
§ Crimes equivalent to treason:
§ Beria's service in the Musavatist counterintelligence in Azerbaijan in 1919;
§ an attempt at rapprochement with Hitler in 1941. Beria said that he followed Stalin's orders and he tried to find out through other countries what conditions Hitler would agree to end the war. This led to Beria being accused of planning to give up a significant part of the land to the enemy, and in 1943 trying to open the Main Caucasus Range to the enemy to liberate the land to armed foreign military personnel;
§ an attempt in May-June 1953 to establish a personal secret connection with Tito-Rankovic in Yugoslavia.
December, all the defendants were found guilty, they were assessed as conspirators against the Soviet regime. On the same day, Beria and his accomplices were sentenced and immediately carried out. Colonel General P.F. fired first. Batitsky.
As for Beria’s other “accomplices,” Pavel Sudoplatov, Naum Eitingon and others were completely rehabilitated, since there were insufficient grounds to establish involvement in the “Beria case.”
Why is Beria called an executioner?
Many crimes are attributed to Beria, some of them remain at the level of rumors, some were actually committed. There are a huge number of reviews from contemporaries who speak of the cruelty and inhumanity of Lavrenty Pavlovich’s actions. I will give examples of several facts confirming these points of view.
Already after Beria became People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, almost 200 thousand people were repressed. The victims of repression were: Russian Academy and scientist Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov, actor and director Vsevolod Meyerhold, Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel and other outstanding personalities of the intelligentsia of that time.
In September 1939, leaders of the Polish socialist movement Viktor Alter and Henryk Ehrlich were arrested. Viktor Alter was shot on the orders of Beria.
By order of Lavrenty Pavlovich, about 25,700 Polish soldiers were shot. Among those killed were about 295 generals and colonels.
Beria was responsible for the deaths of Soviet military leaders during the Second World War. In June - July 1941, two former heads of the Main Directorate of Air Defense - Heroes of the Soviet Union, Colonel General G.M. were arrested. Stern and Lieutenant General of Aviation E.S. Ptukhin, all three former commanders of the Red Army Air Force: Colonel General A.D. Loktionov, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Y.V. Smushkevich. In 1941, N.A. was shot. Klich, S.A. Chernykh, S.M. Mishchenko, R.Yu. Klavins, A.N. Krustinsh, A.I. Dahlberg and A.Ya. Donneberg, and on October 28, on the personal orders of Beria, generals A.D. were executed. Loktionov, G.M. Stern, F.K. Arzherukhin, P.V. Rychagov, Ya.V. Smushkevich, I.I. Proskurin, G.K. Savchenko, M.M. Kayukov, P.S. Volodin.
There is information that there were several more orders for the execution of Soviet soldiers. It can be concluded that during the war these actions cannot be justified, since it played into the hands of the country's enemies. Heavy losses of the Soviet army only worsened the situation in the war.
On November 1941, Beria ordered the extermination of all suspected anti-Soviet figures. In ten days it was necessary to conduct a census of people who had been convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes, to identify all Germans, Italians, Romanians living in Moscow. The criminals were ordered to be arrested, and foreigners were to be monitored. Guided by this order, thousands of people were shot, not excluding women or adult children.
September 1942, Ekaterina Maksimova, wife of Richard Sorge, was arrested. She was exiled to the Krasnoyarsk region, where she died of illness.
During the war, the peoples of the North Caucasus and Crimea were deported. The Germans were also deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia. Almost a million people were forcibly deported, and almost nine thousand Germans from Moscow. According to some estimates, 450 thousand Germans died in prisons.
Also, 650 thousand Chechens, Ingush, Kalmyks and Karachais, about 200 thousand Crimean Tatars and Turks were deported to the eastern regions of the country.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to say in Russian history that it is probably rare to find political figures with such a contradictory biography. I can only say that this man was born for politics. There is a maximum number of negative opinions as opposed to a minimum of positive ones. This man decided the fate of millions of people, killed and arrested many of them. Almost thousands, or even millions of murders are attributed to him. However, the positive aspects of his policies cannot be denied. The more time passes, the more difficult it is to figure out where the lie is and where the truth is. But it is known that “... any system, system, dictator, the forces opposing them, as well as the bodies that protect them, are unthinkable without people - the conductors of ideas and programs in life. Any system is created by the subjective will of the performers.” Lavrenty Beria, as well as Dzerzhinsky, Kamenev... Bukharin were the conductors of these ideas of the system. In politics, however, all sorts of metamorphoses are possible. Lenin also prophetically predicted the degeneration of his students: “History knows transformations of all sorts; Relying on conviction, devotion and other excellent spiritual qualities is not a serious thing in politics.”
Beria political defense war
References
BERIA: END OF CAREER Collection Compiled by V.F. Nekrasova, 1991
Bobrenev V.A., Ryazantsev V.B. Executioners and victims. - M.: Voenizdat, 1993
My father is Lavrenty Beria. -M.: Sovremennik, 1994
Sokolov B.V. . Beria. The fate of the all-powerful People's Commissar. - M.: AST, 2011. - 541 p.
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