Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria
As the head of the Soviet secret police Lavrentiy Beria was considered a powerful and dangerous man. He was one of Stalin’s most trusted and feared henchman and carried out Stalin’s purges and other actions against anyone perceived to be a threat. He had almost unlimited power and was a ruthless and cruel individual. He was one of the most hated and feared men in the Soviet Union, which ultimately led to his downfall.
Beria became head of the NKVD in 1938 and would help Stalin carry out his purges. During the war he played an important role in helping integrate and organize the gulags to aid wartime production. As head of the secret police he was involved in espionage as well as carrying out revenge against collaborators within the Soviet Union and against the German people. After the war he assumed greater power while maintaining his control over the secret police. When Stalin died he was a member of the five-man directory that ruled the Soviet Union. Because of the threat he posed to his fellow leaders, he was arrested, charged with treason and executed. He was one of the last Soviet leaders to be executed as most were simply exiled or disgraced in some manner when they fell out of favor.
With Beria’s death the secret police would no longer have the arbitrary power it once enjoyed. The number of political prisoners dropped dramatically and there was a sense of relief in the general population that with Beria out of the way, things would loosen up.
Joe Milner
Lisa Eimer
Hilary Kraus