Execution of Lavrentiy Beria - Chief of Stalin’s Secret Police & Most Hated Man in the Country

Execution of Lavrentiy Beria - Chief of Stalin’s Secret Police & Most Hated Man in the Country . Lavrentiy Beria, a son of deeply religious Orthodox parents, was born on the 29th of March 1899 in the Georgian village of Merkheuli then part of the Russian Empire. Young Beria attended a technical school and distinguished himself in mathematics and the sciences. In March 1917 while a student in the Azerbaijan Baku technical university, Beria joined the Bolsheviks. In the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917, which led to the collapse of the Russian Empire and allowed territories formerly under Saint Petersburg’s rule to assert independence, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was created in 1918. One year later, while he was still a student, Beria started his career in state security when the security service of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic hired him. In 1920 or 1921 he joined the Cheka, the original Bolshevik secret police. At that time, a Bolshevik revolt took place in the Democratic Republic of Georgia, and the Red Army subsequently invaded the country. The Cheka became heavily involved in the conflict, which resulted in the formation of the Georgian Soviet Socialistic Republic. Beria led the repression of a Georgian nationalist uprising in 1924, after which about 10,000 people were executed. In 1926, he was introduced to his fellow-Georgian Joseph Stalin and became an ally in Stalin’s rise to power. In 1931 Beria was appointed First Secretary of the Communist Party of Georgia which was the leading position in the Georgian Communist Party during the Soviet era and in 1934 he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union which was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union directing all party and governmental activities. By 1935, Beria had become one of Stalin’s most trusted subordinates. In August 1938, Stalin brought Beria to Moscow as a deputy head of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs – the infamous NKVD - the ministry which oversaw the state security and police forces. Under Nikolai Yezhov, head of the NKVD, the organization carried out the Great Purge which was the imprisonment or execution of a huge number, possibly over a million, of citizens throughout the Soviet Union as alleged “enemies of the people” between August 1936 and March 1938. Upon Stalin’s rise to power, some members of the former Bolshevik party began to question his authority. An investigation that revealed a network of party members supposedly working against Stalin, including several of Stalin’s rivals. By the mid-1930s, Stalin believed anyone with ties to the Bolsheviks or Lenin’s government was a threat to his leadership and needed to go. The Great Purge started with the arrests of party members, Bolsheviks, and members of the Red Army and then grew to include Soviet peasants, members of the intelligentsia, and members of certain nationalities. During its mass operations, the NKVD widely utilized imprisonment, torture, violent interrogation, and arbitrary executions to solidify control over civilians through fear. By 1938, however, the oppression had become so extensive that it was damaging the infrastructure, economy and even the armed forces of the Soviet state, prompting Stalin to wind the purge down. In November 1938 Beria succeeded Yezhov as NKVD head easing of the repression that begun under Yezhov. The government officially admitted that there had been some injustice and “excesses“ during the purges, which were blamed entirely on Yezhov and over 100,000 people were released from the labour camps. But the liberalization was only relative as arrests, torture and executions continued. Many of the NKVD officers Beria promoted were brutal torturers. The theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold, who was interrogated by Lev Shvartzman, described being beaten on the spine and soles of his feet until “the pain was so intense that it felt as if boiling water was being poured on these sensitive areas.“ Robert Eikhe, a former high ranking party official, was sadistically beaten and had an eye gouged out by Boris Rodos, in Beria’s office, while Beria.. Join World History channel and get access to benefits: Disclaimer: All opinions and comments below are from members of the public and do not reflect the views of World History channel. We do not accept promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on attributes such as: race, nationality, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation. World History has right to review the comments and delete them if they are deemed inappropriate. ► CLICK the SUBSCRIBE button for more interesting clips: #ww2 #worldwar2videos #worldhistory