Lavrenti Pavlovich Beria, the head of
Joseph Stalin's dreaded secret police
apparatus, was born in Merkheuli, Russia, on March 29, 1899. He joined
the Bolshevik wing of the Communist Party in 1917 and was active in
Stalin's native Georgia during the October 1917 Revolution. Beria
joined the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating
Counter-Revolution and Sabotage (Cheka), the first secret police
apparatus of the new Soviet Union that was tasked with liquidating
counter-revolutionaries and enemies of the state. Eventually he was
appointed chief of the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD)
in Georgia.
Stalin summoned Beria to Moscow in 1938, during the height of the
Purges, and installed him as second in command to NKVD chief Nikolai
Yezhov. Soon afterwards Yezhov was arrested and Beria replaced him.
Beria became the driving force behind Stalin's pre-World War II rein of
terror, overseeing the purging of the armed forces. Apprioximately
one-third of all officers were arrested by the NKVD, and three out of
five marshals and 14 out of 16 army commanders were subsequently were
executed.
Beria became a favorite of Stalin, and as commissar--and then later
minister of internal affairs--he wielded great power. He was appointed
to the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and in February 1941
he was named deputy prime minister. He was appointed to the Politburo
in 1946, the first secret police chief to be so honored.
Stalin died on March 5, 1953, and Beria tried to succeed him as
dictator. With Beria's support,
Georgi Malenkov was appointed Chairman
of the Council of Ministers (Premier); Malenkov then appointed Beria
first deputy premier. Beria appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine on
July 20, 1953, which was captioned "Enemy of the People".
As the real "power behind the throne", Beria positioned himself as an
anti-Stalinist reformer. When an uprising in East Germany led to fears
in the Presidium that Beria might allow the reunification of Germany on
terms favorable to the West, it was time to act against the secret
policeman. Beria's machinations were defeated by a group led by
Nikita Khrushchev, who was named First
Secretary of the Communist Party and who lead the denunciation of
Beria. His ally Malenkov had earlier been forced to resign from the
Presidium, and Beria was arrested in July, accused of conducting
"anti-state" activities and of conspiracy. He was found guilty and shot
on December 23, 1953.
