Beria nation. Lavrenty Beria with family

Ministry of the Russian Federation for Communications and Information

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Topic abstract

Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria: political biography

Performed:

Titova Vasilisa

Student group MM-31

Checked:

Borovoy Evgeny Mikhailovich

Novosibirsk

Introduction

Childhood and youth

The beginning of a political career

The 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

Bibliography

Introduction

Someone said that life would be hard if not for the honest eyes of dogs. He is a fool. The 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 unequivocally say what was more - the pros or cons of Beria's policy.

Beria had a personality cult in Georgia. In Transcaucasia, he was thought of as the most faithful of the Caucasian followers of Stalin. Being the head of the party organization of Georgia and the Transcaucasus, 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. Many crimes that took place in the country in the 1930s and 1950s were attributed to him. Even the children sang a cheerful ditty: "Lavrenty Palych Beria did not justify the trust, and Georgy Maksimych Malenkov kicked him." Soon this ditty was under an unspoken ban, but after Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov was already kicked by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev. However, with regard to Beria, everything remained the same. He is still called "Cannibal", "English spy", "adventurer", "executioner".

In my opinion, the topic is very relevant in our time, because people learn from history, whether it is a positive example or a negative one.

The purpose of my essay is to analyze the political activities of Beria, having studied his biography from birth.

Childhood and youth

Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich was born on March 29, 1899 in the village of Merkheuli. His mother, Martha Dzhakeli (1868-1955), was from a noble family, and Paval Rafalovich Bermond Avlov (Prince Avalishvili) was his second cousin through his mother. It was on the maternal side that Beria was a distant relative of the princes of Dadiani. Lavrenty's father, Pavel Khukhaevich Beria (1872-1922), moved to Merkheuli 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.

Lavrentiy graduated from the Sukhum School in 1915. But since childhood, "..dreamed about architecture and was a good artist ... He drew with a pencil, watercolor, 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 a mother and a deaf-mute sister. Back in October 1915, together with a group of students from the Baku Technical School, he organized an illegal Marxist circle. So Beria wrote in his autobiography, written on October 27, 1923.

Beria combined with study and work. He worked as an intern in the oil office of Nobel. Even then, he began his political activities. In June - December 1917, Beria was on the Romanian front, doing the work of 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 White City Caspian Partnership factory, and also carried out various instructions for the Bolsheviks, who were underground before the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan. In 1919 he received a diploma of a technician-builder-architect.

In March 1917 L.P. Beria organized a cell of the RSDLP at the school in Baku.

In the fall of 1919, Lavrenty Beria entered the counterintelligence service under the State Defense Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Subsequently, this period of Beria's life caused a lot of rumors. It was said that he deliberately worked for Azerbaijani nationalists and was even an agent of the British. But in the biographical questionnaires of his work in the bourgeois counterintelligence, Beria did not hide, 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 CP (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 the statements of Comrades. Mirza Davud Huseynova, Kasum Izmailova and others.

The beginning of a political career

In 1920, L.P. Beria was sent to illegal work 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 of imprisoned politicians.

Beria was sent to KGB work in April 1921. Since that time, he has been deputy head of the secret operational department of the Azerbaijan Cheka, in May 1921 he became head of the secret operational unit, deputy chairman of the Azerbaijan Cheka. And already in November 1922 he was appointed head of the secret operational unit. Since March 1926, deputy plenipotentiary of the OGPU in the ZSFSR, deputy chairman of the Transcaucasian GPU, 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 zeal, he did not have much chance of promotion, but then an event occurred that served as the beginning of his great professional career as a Chekist and Bolshevik.

Documents related to the work of L.P. Beria in Azerbaijan, dated 1923.

From the characteristics of L.P. Beria:

"... possesses outstanding abilities, manifested in various apparatuses of the state mechanism ... He, with his inherent energy, perseverance, carried out all the tasks assigned by the party, giving brilliant results with his versatile work .... It should be noted as the best, valuable, tireless worker , so necessary at the present moment in Soviet construction".

The characteristic was signed by the secretary of the Central Committee Akhundov.

Only in 1931 did Beria become chairman of the Transcaucasian GPU. At this time, such operations as the destruction of the Georgian Mensheviks, 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 deal with this. And after completing the task, the Chekists set the table in honor of Stalin. Stalin made a toast: “A lot of weeds have accumulated in Georgia. We need to plow Georgia.”

To which Beria replied: "And we will exterminate the weed, and we will plow Georgia." Stalin liked the toast very much.

It is known that a day later Beria was appointed deputy head of the Cheka. Lawrence at that time was 23 years old.

However, it turned out to be more difficult to change or “plow” Georgia. An 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 of this procedure was L.P. Beria. Stalin was amused by this, after which he appointed Beria the head of the Georgian GPU. He was also awarded the highest military order of the Red Banner.

Since that time, 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 a sense of beauty and good taste, manifested in a lifestyle, in a restrained elegance of comfort? - remains a mystery..."

In government circles, Beria's success was treated very negatively, one might say that they hated him. It was said that Beria informs Stalin and Menzhinsky about personal and family matters of members of the government.

This hatred led to the fact that several attempts were made on Beria.

Through Beria, Stalin destroyed the so-called "national deviationists." Almost everyone was shot. That's when they still managed to "plow" 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 completed 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 members of the party, the report was even equated with the works of Marx and Lenin. In his work, Beria changed the history of the party, significantly downplaying the importance of Lenin in the work and activities of the party. The false theory of the two leaders of the party was also presented. The role of Stalin, however, 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 “purge” in the Chekist corps is the first operation of Beria, already as the head of the NKVD. A huge number of Chekists were arrested, sent to concentration camps and shot. Many said that Lavrenty Pavlovich is the same Yezhov, only more dexterous and savvy.

The Great Patriotic War

June 1941, Beria was appointed a member of the GKO. All power in the country was precisely in the GKO. Beria's duties included: control of the GKO decisions 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 at the behest of Beria that the prisoners who did not wait for trial at the beginning of the Second World War 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 authorities of their own country could help her. The power was under threat, but Beria, the man who was responsible for the fighting spirit of the front, did not lose his head. He used the weapon of fear, and mass arrests resumed. Introduced all sorts of measures against the retreating soldiers, captured, spies. In addition to this, they carried out a public death penalty.

By the Decree of the State Defense Committee of December 8, 1942, L.P. Beria was appointed a member of the GKO Operational Bureau. Two more important tasks were included in the responsibilities of Beria - control of 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 Operational 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 industry, power plants. In September 1943, 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. July 9, 1945 L.P. Beria received the title of "Marshal of the Soviet Union". Beria also controlled the deportation of many peoples, such as Chechens, Kurds, Gypsies, Crimean Tatars, etc.

Beria's activities in the post-war years

Since December 1945, he was removed from the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs. At this time, Lavrenty Pavlovich was working on the idea of ​​​​creating an atomic bomb.

In August 1945, Beria became chairman of the committee for the management of 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).

August 1949, the atomic bomb was successfully tested at the Semipalatinsk test site. October 29, 1949 L.P. Beria received the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree "for organizing the production of atomic energy and successfully completing 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 a 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 to whom Stalin addressed was V. Molotov. Already then came Malenkov, Stalin's deputy, then Beria, and the last was Mikoyan, People's Commissar for Foreign Trade.

Over time, Stalin became wary of Beria, because in fact they were two leaders, and therefore a kind of competitor. Until now, clashes have not occurred due to the cunning and resourcefulness of Beria. Lavrenty Pavlovich left his people in power in Georgia, which was not always possible for Stalin to trace, which meant that Georgia was not under his control. Once Stalin doubted that close people of Beria were members of the party, which made Beria alarmed. This gesture meant a complication of the relationship. Stalin began to check the documents of Beria, carried out a "cleansing" in Georgia, since there was already a personality cult not of Stalin, but of Beria.

Stalin's associates feared for their places and for their lives, because they knew him well and could already foresee the course of his thoughts, his next steps. This led to the fact that the members of the Politburo united in an alliance against the actions of Stalin. The instigators of such an association were Beria and Malenkov.

Beria's activities after Stalin's death

Stalin died unexpectedly in 1953. 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 the posts, because Stalin was a supporter of Russification. Beria proposed to translate all government documents into the languages ​​of other republics. Some high-profile cases were stopped, the “case of doctors” was stopped, about a million people were released.

There was a rehabilitation of the military and leaders of the aviation industry, convicted back in 1946 in the "case of aviators."

Even Lavrenty Pavlovich decided to make changes to the court system. He proposed an amnesty. His note, sent to the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU in March 1953, says that a large number of people are sitting in prisons and colonies, namely about two and a half million, convicted of non-dangerous crimes.

He offered to pardon only one million people who were sentenced to less than five years, the elderly, women with small children, seriously ill and minors.

On 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 bullying, the arrested people lost their minds, they could go crazy. This led to the fact that the sentences 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, the man on whose initiative so many people were destroyed, was able to make a number of such liberations.

Some regarded such a policy of Beria as the formation of a new cult of personality. He was not stupid and understood that after the death of Stalin, his era ends, and a new one could be started by a person completely opposite to Stalin.

However, none of the members of the government was satisfied with the appearance of a new leader in the person of Beria. A conspiracy was arranged to eliminate Beria. Despite the position of Beria at that time, he was arrested. Then one of the most high-profile cases in the history of Russia began.

Arrest and execution

July 1953, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held. Malenkov's report on the crimes of Beria was heard. His actions were regarded as anti-state and anti-party. It was decided to exclude L.P. Beria from the Central Committee of the CPSU as an enemy of the people and an enemy of the party.

The investigation into the cases of Beria lasted about six months. The Prosecutor General of the USSR R.A. Rudenko controlled the progress of the work.

The trial of L.P. Beria and his supporters took place from 18 to 23 December. The court did not allow petitions for clemency, and the sentence had to be executed at the same time. Also, neither the prosecutor nor the lawyer could take part.

At the first meeting, charges were brought of high treason and espionage in favor of Great Britain, in an effort to "eliminate the Soviet worker and peasant system, restore capitalism and restore the rule of the bourgeoisie." Since it was necessary to find as many cases as possible, behind which there were not empty accusations, but concrete facts, they began to raise cases related to Beria's activities in Georgia or the Transcaucasus. He was accused of repressions in 1937, executions of a group of twenty-five prisoners in Kuibyshev, Tambov. He was accused of establishing links with foreign groups, spying on members of the Communist Party, the so-called rapprochement with Hitler.

Specific allegations in the Beria case:

§ the murder of M.S. Kedrov, a Bolshevik who was shot in 1937 on false charges;

§ falsification of testimony by torture in the cases of Belakhov, Slezberg, Stern, Smushkevich and others;

§ execution of 25 prisoners in 1941;

§ tests of various poisons on detainees;

§ detention, execution of Sergo Ordzhonikidze's relatives.

§ Crimes equivalent to treason:

§ Beria's service in Musavat counterintelligence in Azerbaijan in 1919;

§ attempted rapprochement in 1941 with Hitler. Beria said that he followed Stalin's order and he tried to find out through other countries on what conditions Hitler would agree to end the war. This led to the fact that Beria was accused of intending to give a significant part of the land to the enemy, and in 1943 he tried to open the Main Caucasian Range to the enemy in order to liberate the land by an armed foreign military;

§ an attempt in May-June 1953 to establish a personal secret connection with Tito-Ranković 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 executed. the first shot was Colonel-General P.F. Batitsky.

As for the other "accomplices" of Beria, the complete rehabilitation of Pavel Sudoplatov, Naum Eitingon and others was completed, since there were not enough 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 of contemporaries who speak of the cruelty and inhumanity of the actions of Lavrenty Pavlovich. Let me give you a few examples to support these points of view.

Already after Beria became People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, almost 200 thousand people were repressed. The victims of repressions were: Russian academy and scientist Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov, actor and director Vsevolod Meyerhold, Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel and other prominent personalities of the intelligentsia of that time.

In September 1939, leaders of the Polish socialist movement Viktor Alter and Henryk Erlich were arrested. Victor Alter was shot by order 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 death 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 Ya.V. Smushkevich. In 1941, N.A. Klich, S.A. Chernykh, S.M. Mishchenko, R.Yu. Klavinsh, A.N. Krustynsh, A.I. Dalberg and A.Ya. Donneberg, and on October 28, on the personal instructions 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 was in the hands of the enemies of the country. The heavy losses of the Soviet army only worsened the situation in the war.

On November 1941, Beria ordered to exterminate all alleged anti-Soviet figures. In ten days, it was necessary to register people who were convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes, to identify all Germans, Italians, Romanians living in Moscow. The criminals were ordered to be arrested and the foreigners to be followed. Guided by this order, thousands of people were shot, including neither women nor adult children.

September 1942 arrested Ekaterina Maksimova, wife of Richard Sorge. She was exiled to the Krasnoyarsk Territory, where she died of illness.

During the war years, the peoples of the North Caucasus and Crimea were deported. The Germans were also sent to Kazakhstan and Siberia. Almost a million people were forcibly deported, and almost nine thousand Germans from Moscow. According to some reports, 450 thousand Germans died in prisons.

Also, 650 thousand Chechens, Ingush, Kalmyks and Karachays, about 200 thousand Crimean Tatars and Turks were deported to the eastern regions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say in Russian history that one can hardly find political figures with such a controversial 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 many of them, arrested them. Almost thousands, if not millions, of murders are attributed to him. However, the positive aspects of his policy 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, forces opposing them, as well as the bodies protecting them, are inconceivable without people - conductors of ideas, 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. Even Lenin prophetically predicted the rebirth of his students: “History knows all sorts of transformations; relying on conviction, devotion and other excellent spiritual qualities is not at all a serious thing in politics.

beria political defense war

Bibliography

BERIA: END OF CAREER Collection Compilation by V.F. Nekrasova, 1991

Bobrenev V.A., Ryazantsev V.B. Executioners and victims. - M .: Military publishing house, 1993

My father is Lavrenty Beria. -M.: Sovremennik, 1994

Sokolov B.V. . Beria. The fate of the all-powerful drug addict. - M.: AST, 2011. - 541 p.

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Soviet statesman and politician, marshal of the Soviet Union (1945, stripped of this title in 1953). He was a member of Stalin's inner circle. As the head of the NKVD (1938-1945), he participated in the Stalinist repressions, at the same time he carried out the rehabilitation of the illegally repressed. He oversaw a number of important branches of the defense industry, including all developments related to the creation of nuclear weapons.

Life story

Born in the village of Merkheuli, Sukhumi region, in a poor peasant family. Father - Pavel Khulaevich Beria (1872 - 1922). In 1915, after graduating from the Sukhumi Higher Primary School, L.P. Beria left for Baku and entered the Baku Secondary Mechanical and Construction Technical School. From the age of 17, he supported his mother and deaf-mute sister, who moved in with him.

In March 1917, L.P. Beria organized a cell of the RSDLP (Bolsheviks) at the school in Baku. From March 1919 until the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan (April 1920), L.P. Beria also led an illegal communist organization of technicians. In 1919, L.P. Beria successfully graduated from a technical school, received a diploma as a technician of an architect-builder.

While preparing an armed uprising against the Menshevik government in Georgia, he was arrested and imprisoned in Kutaisi prison. In August 1920, after a hunger strike organized by him for political prisoners, L.P. Beria was expelled from Georgia.

Returning to Baku, L.P. Beria entered the Baku Polytechnic Institute to study.

In April 1921, the RCP(b) sent L.P. Beria to the KGB work. From 1921 to 1931, he held leading positions in the Soviet intelligence and counterintelligence bodies, was deputy chairman of the Azerbaijani Extraordinary Commission, chairman of the Georgian GPU, chairman of the Transcaucasian GPU and plenipotentiary representative of the OGPU in the ZSFSR, was a member of the collegium of the OGPU of the USSR.

During his work in the bodies of the Cheka-GPU in Georgia and the Transcaucasus, L.P. Beria took an active part in the fight against the Mensheviks, Dashnaks, Musavatists, Trotskyists, foreign intelligence agents and other persons who opposed the Bolsheviks who came to power, or who were accused of such confrontation. L.P. Beria was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Georgian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR and the Armenian SSR with the wording "For the successful fight against counter-revolution in the Transcaucasus."

In November 1931, L.P. Beria was transferred to party work - he was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CP (b) of Georgia and Secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and in 1932 - First Secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and Secretary of the Central Committee CP(b) of Georgia.

In 1938, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks transferred L.P. Beria to work in Moscow: on August 22, 1938, he became the first deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR N.I. Yezhov, on September 29 he headed the key Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD, and on 25 November already replaces Yezhov as People's Commissar. Since March 22, 1939 - a candidate member of the Politburo.

In February 1941, the head of the NKVD was appointed deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, he was awarded the title of "State Commissar of State Security." During the Great Patriotic War, from June 30, 1941, he was a member of the State Defense Committee, and from May 16, 1944 - deputy chairman of the State Defense Committee and carried out responsible instructions from the country's leadership and the ruling party, both related to the management of the national economy, and at the front. In particular, Beria became the initiator and curator of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.

March 18, 1946 L.P. Beria becomes a member of the Politburo, that is, he is one of the country's top leaders. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 30, 1943, L.P. Beria was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor "for special services in strengthening the production of weapons and ammunition in difficult wartime conditions." On July 9, 1945, when replacing special state security ranks with military ones, L.P. Beria was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Laureate of the Stalin Prize (1949) "for the organization of the production of atomic energy and the successful completion of the testing of atomic weapons." Holder of the "Diploma of Honorary Citizen of the Soviet Union" (1949).

Economic activity in Transcaucasia

From 1931 to 1938, while serving as secretary and first secretary of the Central Committee of the CP (b) of Transcaucasia, Beria consistently pursued a policy of developing agriculture and industry in Transcaucasia. Mass planting of citrus fruits, tea, grapes, rare industrial crops began. In exchange for these products, grain, meat, and vegetables arrived in Transcaucasia. Irrigation work was carried out, as a result of which the sown area increased. The drainage of the Colchis lowland and a number of other swamps in Georgia and Abkhazia, in addition to introducing new lands into agricultural circulation, also led to an improvement in the overall epidemiological situation. Malaria has ceased to be the scourge of Transcaucasia.

A number of food, light, construction industries, machine-building plants were built, the Baku oil fields were reconstructed and expanded. Large-scale construction of residential buildings and public buildings in Tbilisi was also launched, as well as the reconstruction and construction of a number of resorts on the Black Sea coast.

Repression

Until now, there are different points of view on the participation of Beria in the repressions of the late 30s and 40s. No one doubts that the head of the NKVD and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in those years obviously had the most direct relation to what was happening, but the nature of Beria's personal contribution is assessed differently by different researchers.

Aleksey Barinov, a journalist for AiF, wrote in 2004 that already in the mid-thirties, heading the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, Beria personally and through the apparatus carried out mass repressions among the intelligentsia of Transcaucasia. Without citing documents, however, Barinov claims that there is a lot of evidence that Beria himself participated in interrogations and torture.

Beria had nothing to do with the decision to start repressions, since they began with the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of July 2, 1937 “On anti-Soviet elements”. At that time, Lavrenty Pavlovich was still in Transcaucasia.

It is known that in 1939, after the entry of Beria into the post of People's Commissar of the NKVD to replace Yezhov, the pace of repression sharply declined. Moreover, in 1939 there was a review of a number (at least one hundred thousand) of cases of "unreasonably convicted" persons previously. In November 1939, an order “On shortcomings in the investigative work of the NKVD bodies” was issued, demanding that the rules of criminal procedure be strictly observed. However, for example, Professor Rudolf Pikhoya, the former head of the State Archives of the Russian Federation, claims that it was Stalin's game against Yezhov and to increase his own popularity, and Beria did not play a decisive role here. At the same time, A.P. Parshev, a publicist and writer, states that it was Beria who initiated the decrees on curtailing repressions.

The Krugosvet encyclopedia and the Memorial Society report that in 1939-1941, as a result of Beria’s activities, mass deportations of residents of the Baltic republics annexed to the USSR, Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and Moldova were carried out. Despite the decrease in the rate of repressions, the powers of the Special Council under the NKVD expanded (especially after the start of the Great Patriotic War, when the Special Conference received the right to apply "executive punishment"). With the name of Beria, opponents of his rehabilitation also associate the confirmation of the right to torture "obvious and unarmed enemies of the people." Beria is also accused of organizing the execution in 1940 of a significant part of the captured Polish officers near Katyn near Smolensk and in several other camps according to a secret decree of the Politburo. After June 22, 1941, there were total preventive deportations of Soviet Germans, Finns, Greeks and some other peoples. Beginning in 1943 and later, total deportations were applied to Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Karachays and Balkars, Crimean Tatars, Meskhetian Turks, and some other peoples of the North Caucasus and Crimea, accused of collaborating with the invaders. Beria, as the head of the NKVD, is associated with the organization of these deportations.

In the collections "Polish underground in the territory of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus 1939-1941" (Vol. 1.2. Warsaw-Moscow, 2001) and “Deportation of Polish Citizens from Western Ukraine and Western Belarus in 1940”, (Warsaw-Moscow, 2003) it is stated that the deportations in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were directed mainly against hostile to the Soviet regime and the nationalist-minded part of the Polish population.

At the end and after the war, he devoted himself entirely to work on the nuclear potential of the USSR and could not be directly involved in subsequent repressions. At the same time, they also refer to the fact that preventive deportations were used in the allies of the USSR in the anti-Hitler coalition, and the so-called "retribution deportations" were more humane than the imprisonment of most of the male population of the deported peoples in camps and colonies.

Beria's son, Sergo Lavrentievich, in 1994 published a book of memoirs about his father, which many regarded as an attempt to whitewash his father. In particular, L.P. Beria is described there as a supporter of democratic reforms, an end to the forced construction of socialism in the GDR, the return of the South Kuriles to Japan, and so on. At the same time, the author claims that his father, like any other top leader of our country at that time, is personally responsible for the repression and cannot be rehabilitated.

nuclear project

On February 11, 1943, Stalin signed the decision of the GKO on the program of work 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.

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 on the basis of the decision of the State Defense Committee 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 (soon was dismissed), V. A. Makhnev, M. G. Pervukhin. The Committee was entrusted with "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. On the one hand, Beria organized and directed the receipt of all the necessary intelligence information, on the other hand, he carried out general management of the entire project. In March 1953, the Special Committee was entrusted with the management of other special works of defense significance. On the basis of the decision of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU of June 26, 1953 (the day Beria was arrested and dismissed), the Special Committee was liquidated, and its apparatus was transferred to the newly formed Ministry of Medium Machine Building of the USSR.

On August 29, 1949, the domestic atomic bomb was successfully tested at the Semipalatinsk test site and Lavrenty Pavlovich was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the USSR. And the test of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb took place on August 12, 1953, shortly after the removal of Beria from all posts.

1953: rise and fall of Beria

By the time of the death of I.V. Stalin, Beria as a political figure was largely relegated to the background: since December 1945, he no longer headed the internal affairs and state security bodies, in 1951-1952 the new leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the MGB fabricated the so-called "Mingrelian case” against the leaders of the organizations of the Georgian Communist Party in the western regions of the republic - it is usually believed that this action was indirectly directed against Beria, who was a Mingrelian by origin (however, in his passport in the nationality column it was written “Georgian”). Beria did not control other political repressions of the last years of Stalin's rule, in particular, the case of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and the "case of doctors." Nevertheless, after the XIX Congress of the CPSU, Beria was included not only in the expanded Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which replaced the former Politburo, but also in the "leading five" of the Presidium created at the suggestion of Stalin.

There is a version that Beria was involved in the death of Stalin, or at least that, on his orders, timely assistance was not provided to the terminally ill Stalin. Documentary materials and eyewitness accounts do not support the version according to which Stalin's death was violent. Beria participated in the funeral of Stalin on March 9, 1953, delivered a speech at the funeral rally. By this time, he had already entered the new Soviet government, headed by G. M. Malenkov, as the Minister of Internal Affairs. The newly formed Ministry of Internal Affairs united the previously existing Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security. At the same time, Beria became the first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and, in fact, the main contender for sole power in the country.

As Minister of the Interior, Beria carried out a series of liberalization measures. On May 9, 1953, an amnesty was declared, freeing 1.2 million people. According to Beria's secret order, torture during interrogations was abolished, and "socialist legality" was ordered to be strictly followed. A number of high-profile political criminal cases were dropped or reviewed. The “case of doctors” was closed, those arrested on it were released; for the first time, it was openly announced that "illegal methods of investigation" were used against the accused. All those convicted in the "Leningrad case" and the "Mingrelian case" were also rehabilitated. High-ranking military men imprisoned during the trials of the late 1940s and early 1950s were released and reinstated in rank (including Air Chief Marshal A. A. Novikov, Marshal of Artillery N. D. Yakovlev, etc.) In total, investigative cases were closed for 400,000 people.

A number of measures taken during these months at the initiative of Beria concerned domestic and foreign policy. Beria advocated cutting military spending and freezing expensive construction projects. He achieved the beginning of negotiations on a truce in Korea, tried to restore relations with Yugoslavia. After the start of the anti-communist uprising in the GDR, he proposed to take a course towards the unification of West and East Germany into a "peace-loving, bourgeois state." Pursuing a policy of nominating national cadres, Beria sent documents to the republican Central Committee, which spoke of the wrong Russification policy and illegal repressions.

The strengthening of Beria, his claims to Stalin's legacy and his lack of allies in the top party leadership led to his fall. On the initiative of N. S. Khrushchev, the members of the Presidium of the Central Committee were announced that Beria was planning to carry out a coup d'état and arrest the Presidium at the premiere of the opera The Decembrists. On June 26, 1953, during a meeting of the Presidium, Beria, by prior agreement between Khrushchev and G.K. Zhukov, was arrested, bound, taken out of the Kremlin by car and kept in custody in the bunker of the headquarters of the Moscow Air Defense District. On the same day, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR is dated to deprive Beria of all titles and awards. In July 1953, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, he was formally removed from the Presidium and the Central Committee and expelled from the party. It was only then that information about the arrest and removal of Beria appeared in Soviet newspapers and caused a great public outcry.

Regarding the further fate of Beria, there are several versions of varying degrees of reliability. Beria's son in his book defended the version according to which his father was not arrested at all at a meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU (thus, Khrushchev's memoirs, the stories of Zhukov and others are a tendentious lie), but was killed as a result of a special operation in his mansion in the center of Moscow. There are notes signed in the name of Beria and addressed to various members of the Presidium of the Central Committee, including Malenkov, Khrushchev and Voroshilov: in them, Beria defends his innocence, admits his foreign policy "mistakes" and complains about the lack of proper lighting and pince-nez. They are dated the first days of July 1953; if their authenticity is recognized, then Beria, at least at that time, was alive.

According to the official version, supported by documents, Beria lived until December 1953 and appeared, along with some of his former employees from the state security agencies (V.N. Merkulov, B.Z. Kobulov and others), who were arrested during the same year, before the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR, chaired by Marshal I. S. Konev. He was accused of a large number of acts that had nothing to do with the real activities of Beria: espionage in favor of Great Britain, the desire to "eliminate the Soviet worker and peasant system, restore capitalism and restore the rule of the bourgeoisie." Contrary to rumors, Beria was not accused of raping dozens or even hundreds of women; in his case there is only one such statement from a person who was Beria's long-term mistress, gave birth to his daughter and lived at his expense in an apartment in the center of Moscow; she filed a rape complaint only, apparently, in order to avoid persecution after his arrest.

On December 23, 1953, the case of Beria was considered by the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR, chaired by Marshal I. S. Konev. All the accused were sentenced to death and executed the same day. Beria was shot a few hours before the execution of the other convicts. On his own initiative, the first shot was fired from a personal weapon by Colonel-General (later Marshal of the Soviet Union) P.F. Batitsky. A brief report on the trial of Beria and his collaborators appeared in the Soviet press.

One of the bloodiest leaders of the country of the Soviets, the most important Chekist of the USSR, the man who led the repressive measures, the deportation of nationalities, organized the work on the creation of atomic weapons in the USSR, the future Marshal Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich was born in the town of Merkheuli near Sukhumi in March 1899. It happened on the 29th. Despite the fact that his mother was a descendant of an ancient family of princes, the family lived in poverty. The parents had three children, but the eldest boy died, the girl was disabled, and only little Lavrenty grew up as a healthy and inquisitive child. At the age of 16, he graduated with honors from the Sukhumi School. Soon the family moved to Baku, where Beria graduated from the Mechanical Construction School at the age of 20. It is interesting that Beria wrote with errors throughout his life.

In the capital of the future Azerbaijan SSR, Beria became interested in the ideas of communism and joined the Bolshevik Party. It was here that he became an assistant in charge of the underground. Beria was arrested twice for his activities. He spent two months in the dungeons, and after leaving there in 1922, he married Nino Gegechkori, who was the niece of his cellmate. After 2 years, their son Sergo was born.

At the dawn of the 20s, Beria met with, who highly appreciated him. Already in 1931, Beria was appointed the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Georgian SSR, and 4 years later, the chairman of the city party committee of the city of Tbilisi. During his time in power, Georgia turned into one of the most prosperous republics of the USSR. Beria actively developed oil production, contributed to the development of industry, and increased the level of well-being of the inhabitants of the republic.

In 1935, Beria published a book entitled "On the Question of the History of Bolshevik Organizations in Transcaucasia." In this work, he did his best to exaggerate the role of Stalin in the revolutionary events. A copy of the book personally for Stalin, he signed "To my beloved master, great comrade Stalin!".

This sign has not gone unnoticed. In addition, Lavrenty Pavlovich actively led the terror in the Transcaucasus. In the summer of 1938, Beria was appointed First Deputy People's Commissar for State Security. And in November, Beria became the head of the NKVD instead of the one who was shot. In the homeland of Beria, a bronze statue of him was erected. First, Lavrenty Pavlovich released several hundred thousand people from the camps, recognizing them as falsely accused. But this was a temporary phenomenon and soon the repressions continued. There is information that Beria liked to personally be present at the torture, from the sight of which he enjoyed. Beria led the deportation of peoples from the Caucasus, the "cleansing" in the Baltic republics, was involved in the murder of Trotsky and recommended the execution of captured Poles, which happened in the Katyn forest.

In 1941, Beria took the post of General Commissar of State Security. With the outbreak of war, he was included in the State Defense Committee. Like it or not, Beria had the talent of an organizer. During the war years, he oversaw the military-industrial complex, the production of military equipment, the functioning of the railway. transport. The coordination of intelligence and counterintelligence along the lines of the NKVD and the State Security Commissariat was concentrated in the hands of Beria. In 1943 he received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. 2 months after the Victory, Beria became Marshal of the USSR.

Since 1944, Beria oversaw the activities of Soviet scientists in the development of atomic weapons. In 1945, he became the head of the special committee for the creation of the atomic bomb. The fruit of his (however, not only his) work was the testing in 1949 of the first atomic bomb of the USSR, and after 4 years - the hydrogen bomb.

By 1946, Beria had reached the peak of his power. He was considered perhaps the most influential leader in the country. By the end of the Stalin era, Beria was the chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR. This state of affairs did not suit all contenders for power in the country, and shortly after Stalin's death, on June 26, 1953, right during the meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, the military under the leadership arrested Beria. He was accused of espionage and anti-Soviet activities, and also expelled from the Communist Party. On December 23, 1953, Beria was sentenced to death - and on the same day the sentence was carried out.

He led the atomic project, wanted to democratize society and "thaw", carried out an amnesty, but he did not succeed in clearing his own name from notoriety to a fatal shot.

Musavat counterintelligence

Beria was born in the village of Merkheuli, Kutaisi province, in a poor peasant family, but managed to get a good education (builder-architect). As a young man, Beria joined an illegal Marxist circle, and after the revolution he worked in the city's Bolshevik organization.

Soon the Baku Republic fell under the onslaught of the Turkish-Azerbaijani troops. From that moment on, the darkest story in Beria's biography begins - he becomes an agent of Musavat (Azerbaijani) intelligence. According to Beria, he worked as a double agent, carrying out the task of the Bolsheviks. According to another version, he simply went over to the side of the enemies of the proletarian revolution.

Executioner

At the Yalta Conference, to Roosevelt's question: "Who is Beria?" - Stalin replied: "This is our Himmler." However, the scale of his participation in the repressions is still debatable.
After the end of the Yezhovshchina and the appointment of Beria as head of the NKVD in 1938, the intensity of executions and landings began to decrease, many cases were sent for review. With the name of Beria, some even associate something similar to the "thaw". According to another version, one stage of repression ended and another began. Beria signed the execution lists, led the operations for the resettlement of peoples and created SMERSH, but it was under Beria that the NKVD turned from a punishing body of the revolution into an economic and industrial complex with hundreds of thousands of prisoners, and repressive functions were transferred to the people's commissariat of state security. Many consider Beria a sadist, but best of all he succeeded in the implementation of scientific and technical projects, which somewhat does not fit with the image of a bloody executioner. So who was Beria: a born sadist or a technical executor of someone else's will?

Katyn massacre

Dozens of years have passed, many archival documents have been declassified (in particular, the infamous "Package No. 1"), the Russian leadership recognized the responsibility of the NKVD for organizing the execution, but this topic still remains one of the most painful in Russian-Polish relations.
Almost five thousand people were killed directly in the Katyn forest, and in total, about twenty thousand people were killed as part of the operation to destroy Polish prisoners. The details of the operation are striking: the hands of the Poles were tied and shot in the back of the head from a German weapon, the corpses were dumped into a common not even a grave - a pit. The signal for brutal reprisals was allegedly given by the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, Lavrenty Beria.
True, today there is no direct evidence that this was done by the NKVD or the Red Army.

Blue Beard

One of the main accusations against Beria, including the one voiced in the official verdict, is "moral licentiousness." Rumors circulated in Moscow about the numerous rapes committed by Beria. His subordinates allegedly grabbed women right on the street, pushed them into a car and took them to his dacha. In the book of memoirs, the famous Soviet actress Tatyana Okunevskaya tells in detail about several such episodes.
In 1948, married to Nina Gegechkori, Beria fell in love with 16-year-old Lyalya Drozdova and began to live in two families. Lyalya bore him a daughter. After the arrest of Beria, apparently in order to save herself, Drozdova announced the rape. In this regard, it is still quite difficult to figure out what is true in the stories about Beria's adventures, and what is exaggeration and myth.

Head of Atomic Project

In 1945, Beria headed the leadership of the Soviet atomic project. Under his command is not a gigantic repressive machine, but brilliant Soviet intellectuals: Sakharov, Zeldovich, Kurchatov, Tupolev, Korolev and many others. The construction of closed scientific campuses begins, equipment and specialists are brought from defeated Germany. Four years later, the first domestic atomic bomb was successfully tested in Semipalatinsk, and on October 29, 1949, Beria was awarded the Order of Lenin and he was awarded the Stalin Prize "For organizing the production of atomic energy and successfully completing the test of atomic weapons." But his role in the atomic project is still ambiguous. Could the task have been completed earlier? In other words: thanks or in spite of?

Chief Assassin

More and more historians are inclined to believe that Stalin died a violent death, as a result of a Kremlin conspiracy. The reasons are obvious: the aged leader conceived a new purge of the party elite: the "Leningrad case", the "Mingrelian case" - none of the members of the Politburo could feel safe, especially the Mingrelian Lavrenty Beria. If there really was a plot to eliminate the leader, and Stalin was actually poisoned, the most obvious organizer of the assassination is Beria.

Reformer

After Stalin's death, the incredibly powerful Beria developed extraordinary activity. Almost immediately, he came up with the idea of ​​a large-scale amnesty, which was carried out. He banned torture and began the process of rehabilitating political prisoners. Beria nurtured the idea of ​​​​unifying the FRG and the GDR, and also took the initiative to “indigenize” the Soviet republics - according to him, national elites, and not proteges from Moscow, should lead different parts of the empire.
Beria planned to limit the role of the Communist Party in the leadership of the country, limiting it to an agitation and propaganda function, Soviet technocrats and specialists were to come to real power. In fact, it was about large-scale liberalization and a radical restructuring of the entire Soviet system. Beriev's "thaw", if implemented, could go much further than Khrushchev's. But this did not happen, as the wits joked, soon:

"Lavrenty Palych Beria / / Lost confidence, / And Comrade Malenkov / / Kicked him."
In the Kremlin struggle for power, Beria and his associates lost, were arrested and shot. But the question “What was it and what could lead the country to?” - remained.

1. Name Beria (Beg e a) (translated from the Hebrew “son of misfortune”), has biblical roots: that was the name of several characters of the Old Testament and that was the name of one of the Syrian cities.

3. Many Soviet Jews blame L.P. Beria for all the Jewish sorrows of the Stalinist era: the Great Terror of 1937-38, the incitement of state anti-Semitism, the painful campaign against the "rootless cosmopolitans", the murder of S. Mikhoels, the massacre of members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and, of course, the case of "killer doctors" and preparations for the deportation of Jews.

Everything related to the Old Testament is hidden from us by the distance of time and I am not ready to draw any analogies and talk about biblical prophecies.

We will try to briefly cover the rest of the issues, illustrating, where possible, with examples of the intersection of L. Beria with Jewish contemporaries, trying to see the whole behind the details, but by no means justify it, whitewash it, wash it off from blood. My personal attitude to the issue is determined, in particular, the fact that for ten years I had a chance to work closely with the son of L.P. Beria, Sergei (Sergo) Alekseevich Gegechkori (1924 - 2000). Much was revealed to me in our numerous and, as it seemed to me, confidential conversations, both at the time when his publications and interviews about his father were still impossible, and later. The monologues of Sergei Alekseevich, to some extent, were colored by the natural desire of the son, at least in part, to “brighten” the image of the father.

L.P. Beria

The question of the attitude of the LP (hereinafter I will call the father, and the son - SA) to the Jews is actively discussed by both Jewish authors and Russian national patriots. self-rehabilitation for all the crimes of Stalinism.

There is no consensus among Jews. Some, like L. Radzikhovsky, in his short but resonant article “Judophiles and Judeophobes” (“Jewish Word”, No. 20 (193), 2004), they see him as a Judophile. Moreover, he put LP on a par with Vl. Solovyov, V.G. Korolenko, A.M. Gorky, A.D. Sakharov, G.E. Rasputin, M.S. Gorbachev and others.

Others, like the Israeli L. Katsin (“Jewish World”, 03/09/2006), indiscriminately blame him for everything, including the murder of S. Mikhoels, and identify his role in the “doctors' case” with the deeds of the biblical king Ahasuerus, who first authorized the extermination of the Jews, and then saved them.

In the eyes of the Russian national patriots, the LP is, firstly, the murderer of Stalin, and secondly, if not a Jew, then their undoubted servant, who helped purposefully destroy all the best in the Russian people.

But the LP personality is multidimensional, and cannot be reduced to any flat schemes. It is "woven" from alternative qualities, among which, in particular, nobility coexists with sophisticated intrigue, etc. As for the Jews, it seems to me personally that he was neither a Judeophobe nor a Judophile, but was a man of a specific cause. He was a congenital pragmatist - a perfectionist, a person charged to achieve maximum results. He aspired to this and achieved this in any task entrusted to him, abstracting from the moral conflicts accompanying the task, even if it was not only ungodly, but simply criminal and inhuman.

And he considered each person mainly through the prism of suitability in a particular case, psychological compatibility, reliability, and the ability to abstract from these same conflicts. And if a person demonstrated these qualities, he arranged the LP, regardless of nationality.

As the SA repeatedly emphasized, on a personal level, LP was not nationally blind. And indeed, in his immediate environment, where there were people of different nationalities, Jews were indispensable. This applies to all areas of the LP's activity: both to its work in the Caucasus, and in state security, and, in particular, in intelligence and the Atomic project. Even such an antipode of the LP as A. Antonov-Ovseenko does not accuse the LP of anti-Semite phobia: “ When appointing governors, the new people's commissar often gave preference to fellow countrymen, but, in essence, he was a kind of internationalist in the basest sense of the word, an omnivorous politician, ready to utilize the necessary people of any nationality for himself. Despite the fact that the above quote is permeated with hatred for LP, this facet of his psychological portrait corresponds to reality.

Equally, if the task was to eliminate a person, then there is no need to talk about Judophilia. The role of the LP in the murder of L.D. Trotsky is known. By his personal order in 1941 Jews, heroes of Spain and Khalkhin Gol, were shot without trial: twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General of Aviation Ya. Smushkevich and Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General G. Stern. In the same year, the defector V. Krivitsky, also a Jew, was liquidated in the United States. Atwhile when the LP was in Moscow, Jews were repressed: journalist M. Koltsov (arrested on 12/14/1938), writer I. Babel (arrested on 05/15/1939) and others. Of course, all this was done with the knowledge or on behalf of Stalin.

In general, according to the stories of the SA, the LP was sure that the Jews were useful to the country. That the country needed intellectual strength, the carriers of which in the mass are Jews, in the energy inherent in many of them, a creative approach to business, a sober calculation combined with reasonable risk, and a willingness to take responsibility. That it is impossible to overestimate the subtle mutual influence that manifests itself in the interaction of Jews with representatives of other cultures. But he disapproved of Jewish aspirations to enter politics and their claims to leadership positions, believing that this leads to the incitement of anti-Semitism. It seems to me that in such a position there is already something that can be perceived as a certain anti-Semitic charge. After all, the cornerstone is only nationality. Or maybe it's a tribute to the conjuncture? Knowing about the political opportunism inherent in the Jewish environment, which he himself, according to the SA, justified by centuries of persecution, the LP did not consider it possible to openly rely on them.

In summary, let's say that the LP respected the Jews, valued them and knew how to use them in the interests of the cause. Perhaps this attitude stemmed from the fact that he was, as the English say, "a man who made himself." Having not received a serious formal education, which he regretted all his life, he nevertheless understood the importance of science, knowledge, a truly creative approach and appreciated them. And in the Jewish environment, these components have always been well represented. Or maybe he spontaneously, inwardly felt what is today called the Pareto Law? According to one interpretation of this law, in any business, 20% of the people do 80% of the work. And in these 20% of Jews there are always a disproportionate number of what, in real life, the fact is confirmed that the true elite in any field are not those who are on top, but those who are wealthy.

And the last. As a top manager, LP was distinguished by his ability to find the best performer for each problem. And always and in everything, he sought to put his subordinates in conditions of intense competition. And, for its maximum sharpness, next to the Jew, usually, there was an anti-Semite. Thus, the maximum sharpness of competition was guaranteed. Moreover, if the case required, the LP often went into conflict with ideology. And the people whom he trusted and considered useful for the cause, he defended as best he could.

And now let's try to fill the outlined general assessment with concrete content.

Start over

About the origin. Forged inthe mountain village of Merkheuli inAbkhazian and by nationality was a Mingrelian. Father - a poor peasant Pavle Beria. Mother, Martha Jakeli (1882-1955), seemed to be a distant relative of the Dadiani princes. According to Avtorkhanov, when Stalin was seized by a painful passion for searching for Jewish connections among members of the Politburo, it turned out that Beria's mother, Marta Ivanovna, was a Mountain Jew. However, no evidence of this, or links to the source, is given. And her middle name does not lend credibility to the Stalinist verdict. Interestingly, of the 11 members of the Politburo, in one way or another, "smeared", in this sense, all turned out to be, except for the colorless Bulganin. Note that if Iosif Vissarionovich admitted the idea of ​​the applicability of general assessments to him, then in this sense he was also not without sin: his daughter-in-law, son-in-law and grandchildren were with the Jews.

Finishing his studies at the Sukhum real school, in his mountain village, young Lavrenty hardly saw at least one living Jew.

But I could hear about them. E. Allmendinger, a resident of the neighboring German settlement of Lindau, drew attention to a capable boy. An educated woman became his mentor, and, having revealed to him many secrets of world history and culture, she laid a healthy ideological basis in the boy. At the same time, it was impossible to bypass the question of the role of the Jews in history in general and the history of religion.

L.P. Beria

The first practical experience of business communication with Jews was acquired by LP during the period of the Chekist work in Baku. He obtained funds to finance the intelligence service and the Soviet administration by selling two tankers of oil with the help of a young Jew. The mediator received a commission and the opportunity to emigrate.

During the period of work in Georgia, there were not so many Jews surrounded by the LP. But friendly relations between his family and the married couple I.F. Stansky (Parukhov) - R.M. Veksler are known. This family also belonged to the party elite of Georgia, despite the fact that the spouse came from a bourgeois family of Odessa Jews.

It was at the turn of the 20s - 30s that an international team was formed, which, together with the LP, went through all the steps of his career ladder, first up, and then down, until the execution. It includes Russians V. Merkulov, V. Dekanozov, Armenian B. Kobulov, Georgian S. Goglidze , Jew S. Milshtein.

Now on the issue of Jewish sorrows. As indicated above, I am by no means going to justify, whitewash the LP, launder it from the blood, but the organizations of the "Great Terror" of 1937. on an allied scale, he did not and could not have relations by official position. Or rather, he had an attitude, fulfilling Moscow's directives on a scale of Georgia, which, in general, is also quite a lot.

Order of secret affairs

He was transferred to Moscow in the summer of 1938, and was appointed People's Commissar of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in December of the same year, when the repressions had already begun to decline. Moreover, with his arrival, some of the prisoners, in particular, many military men, were released and rehabilitated. After his arrival at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the repressions were significantly reduced, but did not stop. In the period 1939-1945, the LP was involved in many massacres, expulsions and deportations, but they were not of a anti-Semite nature. This, of course, does not diminish their criminal, bestial character in the least. The Jews were repressed, so to speak, on a general basis, without singling them out in one direction or the other. In the aforementioned execution of J. Smushkevich and G. Stern, 18 other people of other nationalities were also shot without trial. And along with the Jews Babel and Koltsov, the German V. Meyerhold was repressed (arrested on 06/15/1939).

On the other hand, who can say how many scientists and engineers, Jews and non-Jews, were saved from death in the “sharashkas” organized on the initiative of the Liberal Party?

I can be pointed out that during the “post-Yezhov” purge of the apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs carried out by the LP, the number of Jews decreased from 21% to 5%. Half were repressed, and the other half were fired during the purge. It seems to me that the point here is not the anti-Semitism of the LP. For the most part, they were nominees from the time of the Civil War. With the uncompromisingness, unrestraint and cruelty inherent in this generation of Chekists. In addition, they openly claimed a special role in the life of the country and, apparently, in the eyes of Stalin became dangerous.It is a sin to say so, but they did so much lawlessness that their death was, obviously, a well-deserved result of their activities.

At the same time, after this purge, a number of Jews remained in the NKVD, who occupied a fairly high position. These people, in turn, were mainly arrested or removed during the promotion of the “Zionist conspiracy” in the state security system, and later repressed again, already as “ henchmen of Beria.

In 2000-2001 in the press there was an accusation of LP in authorship"racial instructions" of 1939 (No. 00134/13, 0019/13). In the first of them, dedicated to the selection of personnel in the NKVD, in particular, it is declared: “... it is important to cut off, mainly, persons who have Jewish blood. Up to the fifth generation, it is necessary to be interested in the nationality of close relatives. Were there Jews? All other interracial marriages should be considered positive.” Historian G. Kostyrchenko ("Lechaim", May 2002) showed that these documents are clumsily crafted fakes, rewriting of Nazi primary sources. Although even today national-patriots in Russia and Ukraine are not averse to reanimating and implementing such approaches.

Agents and residents

Even before the war, the LP had skillfully established the productive use of Jewish emigrants from Russia, the USSR and Europe in the interests of the USSR. The anti-Semitic practice of fascism contributed to the fact that the Jews of the whole world were inclined to help the USSR. At the disposal of the LP was a personal network of agents in many countries of Europe and in the USA. LP knew how to work with agents and took care of them. The data of his personal agents (and these are hundreds of names) did not go through the filing cabinets of the state security agencies. This order was established by him for strategic intelligence. He believed that "a real illegal immigrant should not be allowed through the apparatus." Therefore, many of his confidants and their role have not been disclosed so far. SA named only some of them in his books: O. Chekhov, M. Rokk, Zinovy ​​Peshkov and others.

Here is one illustration. The SA claimed that in September-October 1939, in Moscow, in Beria's house, an American named Robert lived for a month and a half. The boy was 15 years old, and no one, of course, devoted him to anything. Later, the father confirmed to the SA that the pre-war Robert and the head of the American Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer, are the same person. In 1939 R. Oppenheimer was by no means a "star" in physics. But by that time he was a member of the US Communist Party, helping financially the Spanish Republicans. And for ideological reasons, as an anti-fascist, he came to make a bomb. SA slightly lets in around this “fog”:« True, he did not come directly from America, but through third countries: through Australia and so on. All this was arranged by my father through Joliot-Curie and Georgian emigrants.”

At that moment, the idea was not supported. Unfortunately, this story, which caused the effect of an exploding bomb in the United States, was not confirmed by anything, except for the words of the SA.

It should be noted that the Soviet residency abroad was to a large extent recruited from Jews.

Until the war itself, anti-Semitism in the country was muted, but at the end of the 1930s, the infection began to penetrate into the official structures of the USSR. This probably happened under the influence of the relevant state practice in Nazi Germany, with which the Stalinist leadership was moving closer at that time. In the course of the war, to some extent under the influence of fascist propaganda, anti-Semitism in the country "surged" and in all strata of Soviet society was in full swing.

Despite this, after the outbreak of the war, the LP set itself the goal of attracting the world Jewish community to the side of the USSR. Turn Jews into agents of influence on their governments, or idle agents of the secret services. In particular, he tried to use the Jewish lobby in the US to hasten America's entry into the war with Germany. As part of this area of ​​activity, on the initiative of the LP in April-May 1942. The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC) was formed. His tasks were to pump out "money" from foreign Jews and to carry out propaganda actions among them. Indeed, the activities of the JAC during the war brought the USSR significant financial assistance and moral support. They also discussed the possibility of rendering assistance to the USSR for post-war reconstruction.

During a trip to the USA, in 1943, the leaders of the JAC, S. Mikhoels (1890-1948) and I. Fefer (1900-1952), convinced the American society that anti-Semitism in the USSR had been completely eliminated, talked about the great successes of Soviet Jews. According to P. Sudoplatov, the trip of S. Mikhoels and I. Fefer to the USA, at the same time, was used in order to set up the mechanism of the emerging "atomic espionage", for the organization of which the LP was responsible. A. Einstein (1879-1955), L. Szilard (1898-1964), R. Oppenheimer (1904-1967) were touched by the fact that, against the backdrop of rampant fascism in Europe, in the USSR, Jews were guaranteed a safe existence. And these great physicists began to cooperate with Soviet intelligence.

nuclear project

Let's move on to the next stage in the activities of the LP, connected with the creation of the Soviet atomic bomb. At first, V.M. Molotov was appointed the curator of the Atomic Project from the Government of the USSR, and the LP became his deputy, but in reality, the specific organizational and personnel management of the project, including intelligence issues, was assigned to the LP.

And the work on the bomb began with interesting "Jewish" collisions, in which the uncomplicated pragmatism of the LP was fully manifested. Immediately after the appointment of I.V. Kurchatov (1902-1960) as scientific director of the Atomic Project, he proposed to involve chemical physicist Yu.B. Khariton (1904-1996) in the work. By this time, Khariton was already known for his works on the physics of combustion and explosion, and in 1939-41, together with Zeldovich, he showed the feasibility of a chain reaction of uranium fission, and with the participation of I. Gurevich, the critical mass of uranium-235 was also estimated. Due to the approximate knowledge of nuclear constants, the value turned out to be underestimated by a factor of five, which does not detract from the fundamental nature of the results obtained.

But Khariton had a full bouquet of "contraindications": a non-partisan Jew with close relatives (sister) abroad. His father at the beginning of the century was a prominent member of the Cadets, emigrated and after the capture of the Baltic States, irretrievably sunk in the camps. In addition, in 1926-1928. Khariton completed an internship with E. Rutherford and J. Chadwick at the Cavendish Laboratory. Everything is like in a joke: the bride is lame, but with a child. And it was about top-secret matters of extreme importance. Naturally, Kharitonane's personnel filter passed. But Kurchatov knew who he needed for the success of the case, showed perseverance and turned personally to Stalin. He emphasized that Khariton was the only scientist in the USSR who was simultaneously a specialist in nuclear physics, chemistry and physics of explosives and in the kinetics of branched chain reactions. Stalin and Beria, despite all the "contraindications", heeded Kurchatov's arguments and approved Khariton.

In turn, the first person Khariton tried to involve in his work was his friend and co-author of a key work, the theoretical physicist Ya.B. Zeldovich (1914-1987) . Non-party Zeldovich did not have a higher education, and also "limped" on the fifth point. But in this project, the result was desperately needed. So he, too, passed the filter. Khariton and Zeldovich worked together for a long time and fruitfully. In Arzamas-16, Khariton was the Chief Designer, and Zeldovich was the Chief Theorist of Nuclear Weapons.

It should be noted that Zeldovich was far from the last of the "limping" ones who were involved in the projects of atomic and hydrogen bombs. This list includes Colonel-General B.L. Vannikov, future academicians of the USSR Academy of Sciences I.K. Kikoin, L.D. .Landau, I.M.Khalatnikov, I.Ya.Pomeranchuk, E.M.Lifshits, A.B.Migdal, G.I.Budker, V.L.Ginzburg, L.V.Altshuler. And that's not all.

But the world-famous physicist P. L. Kapitsa was excommunicated from these works. In all likelihood, this is due to the fact that Kapitsa insisted on the original project, and the LP, having comprehensive data on the American bomb obtained by scouts in his pocket, did not have the right to even hint about this to Kapitsa. And as Yu.B. Khariton points out: “... given the public interest in the tense relations between the USSR and the United States at that time, as well as the responsibility of scientists for the success of the first test, any other solution would be unacceptable and simply frivolous.

It can be argued that the Soviet atomic and hydrogen bombs, "under the umbrella" of the LP, were largely created by Jews. In the defense and, in particular, in the nuclear industry, Stalin not only tolerated, but also protected talented Jews. They were guarded almost like members of the government. Even when the anti-Semitic Sabbath of 1949-1950 was gaining momentum in the country.

From August 20, 1945, the LP became the sole head of the Atomic Project: the chairman of the Special Committee under the State Defense Committee, which led the entire range of work on the atomic and then hydrogen bombs. . The main field of his activity was the creation of the nuclear missile shield of the USSR. The only exception was the leadership (supervision) of strategic intelligence. Remaining a candidate member of the Politburo, occupying a high official position, LP handed over his post in the NKVD to S.N. Kruglov. And the NKGB (People's Commissar V.N. Merkulov) was separated from the Ministry of Internal Affairs back in April 1943,

Switching to the nuclear problem, in all the atrocities and anti-Semitic actions that took place after that on the initiative of Stalin, Zhdanov and Malenkov, the LP did not take a direct, "executionary" part. He is not personally involved either in the murder of S.Mikhoels or in the massacre of members of the JAC. But after 1946 became a member of the Politburo, he, of course, bears political responsibility for everything, on an equal footing with other members of the criminal party Areopagus.

But back to the Atomic Project. B.L. Vannikov (1897-1962) became the deputy LP in the Committee, and, in general, the second person in the Atomic Project. Few Jews, even before the war he was accused of espionage, arrested, went through all the circles of hell in the dungeons of Lubyanka, and was sentenced to death. And only the beginning of the war saved him. All this did not stop the LP from making him his main assistant. Vannikov was a man of great intelligence and experience, externally and internally dynamic, witty, bringing restlessness and liveliness into every business he touched. LP highly valued him and classified him as a wise Jew. At the same time, neither during the arrest, nor during the bullying at the Lubyanka, he did not help Vannikov. The SA, however, claimed that the father delayed the execution of the sentence, which, in the end, turned out to be a salvation. Vannikov did not hide his dislike for the existing regime. In a conversation with the SA, to whom he had a paternal attitude, he said:

“Our system breeds only hypocrites. We are deprived of everything, and we have no right to ambition. Stalin spits on wealth, he is only interested in power. But do not allow yourself to admire his asceticism.”

B.L. Vannikov and A.P. Zavenyagin

A.P. Zavenyagin (1901-1956), a good organizer and metallurgist specialist, was appointed administrative director of all work on the bomb. But secretive, sullen, ambitious misanthrope. Vannikov and Zavenyagin were antipodes. It was exactly the case when one is a Jew, and the other is an ardent anti-Semite. Zavenyagin sometimes allowed himself to go against the instructions of the LP. But if Vannikov tried to turn the LP against him on this basis, he invariably advised him to continue cooperation. It was important for him to maintain a situation of rivalry and not allow the accusation that he surrounded himself with Jews.

In one of his interviews, SA noted:

“Lavrenty defended the nuclear scientists. No harm done. Neither before nor after the war of those who worked with his father. He didn't let them touch him."

As a vivid illustration of this, I will mention the story I heard from Sergo about how the LP stood up for Khariton. In the early 1950s, Stalin informed the LP that he had received materials in which Khariton was exposed as a British spy. I am quoting LP's answer and further conversation from a later SA book:

“- All the people who work on this project,” said the father, “are personally selected by me. I am ready to be responsible for the actions of each of them. Not for sympathies and antipathies to the Soviet system, but for actions. These people are working and will work honestly on the project that we have been entrusted with. ... And about Khariton, I can say the following, - reported the father. - This person is absolutely honest, absolutely devoted to the work he is working on, and I am sure he will never go to meanness.

The father expressed his opinion in writing and gave the paper to Stalin. Iosif Vissarionovich put it in a safe.

That's good, you will answer, if anything ...

I am responsible for the whole project with my head, and not just for Khariton, - answered the father.

In addition to that, in one of the interviews SA developed this idea:

“Khariton is one of the main creators of the atomic bomb. He really studied in England in the 1920s, lived there for a long time, was critical of the Soviet government and did not hide his attitude. But he was never a spy. Father said:

"What does it matter? Well, he does not like the Soviet regime - this is his own business. And he is an honest scientist, he works for us and works very well.”

If the interests of the case demanded to go into conflict with any ideological moments, Beria, without hesitation, went into such a conflict. So, at the request of Khariton, he defended L.V. Altshuler, who did not hide his sympathy for genetics and antipathy for T.D. Lysenko. On this basis, the security service decided to remove from the object under the pretext of unreliability. Here is a fragment from the memoirs of L.V. Alshuller, who was summoned to Moscow a few days later:“Alone with me in his office, the head of PGU B.L. Vannikov, having my“ criminal ”dossier on the table, inspired me:“ We are horrified. At the facility, where even the secretaries of the regional committees are not allowed, there turned out to be such a bad person as you, anti-party on questions of music, biology, etc. If we allowed everyone to say whatever they think, we would be crushed, crushed. I had the good sense to remain silent. He finished with the words: “Go, work.”

It is difficult to overestimate the role of Soviet intelligence and the participation of Soviet and foreign Jews in it in the success of the Atomic Project. As Sudoplatov points out, during the war, 90% of the agents from whom important information was obtained were Jews. But nuclear espionage is a topic for a separate discussion. Here I will limit myself to just a few names. These are foreigners R. Oppenheimer, A. Einstein, L. Szilard, N. Bor, B. Pontecorvo, the Rosenberg spouses. As well as Soviet residents and illegal immigrants, A. Adams, L. Vasilevsky, E. Zarubina, S. Semyonov, N. Silvermaster, G. Kheifets, Heroes of Russia Zh. Koval, Ya. Chernyak, Hero of the Soviet Union S. Kremer. Note that in the traditional sense, Oppenheimer, Szilard and Bohr were not Soviet agents, but they provided undeniable help. Later, Oppenheimer contributed to the fact that several people needed by Soviet intelligence were taken to work on the Manhattan Project. Including the German emigrant K. Fuchs. And according to A.D. Sakharov, the information transmitted by Fuchs actually contained all the American atomic secrets that could be transmitted in writing.

Of course, among foreigners, and among Soviet residents and illegal immigrants, there were people of other nationalities: Italian E. Fermi, German K. Fuchs, Polish American Hero of Russia L. Cohen, Russians V. Zarubin, N. Zabotin, M. Konenkova, P .Melkishev, L. Kvasnikov, Heroes of Russia A. Feklisov, A. Yatskov and others.

And he organized this colossal and extremely successful enterprise, which did not know failures and betrayals - LP.

After successful tests of atomic weapons, the labor of the glorious galaxy of Jews was rewarded.For work on bombs, Vannikov, Khariton and Zeldovich became Heroes of Socialist Labor 3 times each, Kikoin - 2 times and Landau - 1 time. Particularly distinguished participants were also rewarded with a large sum of money, cars "ZIS-110" or "Victory", they were presented with dachas. Eight of the above list became laureates of the Lenin Prize, the State Prize was awarded to them 27 times (Kikoin - 6 times -!!!). True, the prizes were awarded not only for work on nuclear weapons.The LP himself was awarded more modestly - the Order of Lenin.

In addition to the Atomic Project, LP in the post-war period oversaw other weapons projects: the development of missiles and the creation of an air defense system in Moscow.One of the leaders of the last project, which was called "Berkut", was SA. And in these projects, Jews were also adequately represented: S.A. Lavochkin, K. S. Alperovich, A.L. Mints.

Waiting for big changes

We turn to the last, most tragic, both for L. Beria and for the Jews, page of Soviet history.

In the postwar period, Stalin physically and psychologically began to fail. Two strokes (1945 city, 1949 d.) he was knocked down. Sometimes he did not appear in the Kremlin for a long time. And in the secretariat of the Central Committee, there is a fierce undercover struggle of potential successors for the favor of the leader and real power. First, between the groups of A. Zhdanov and G. Malenkov. LP, although he was somewhat distant from the epicenter of the fight, acted in conjunction with Malenkov, and carefully monitored the situation.

The political mosaic changed with kaleidoscopic speed: new enemies, arrests, trials, executions. But we will highlight only what is relevant to our topic.

January 12, 1948 in Minsk, on the personal instructions of Stalin, S. Mikhoels was killed. Moreover, the members of the Politburo were not informed about the circumstances of his liquidation either before or after. In March, the new Minister of the Ministry of State Security, V.S.

Against the thickening anti-Semitic background, this looks paradoxical, but on November 29, 1947. The USSR supported the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine at the UN (UN General Assembly resolution No. 181), and two days after its creation, on May 17, 1948, recognized Israel, and did so first. Moreover, it was the LP, through intelligence, who organized the supply of weapons to Israel through Czechoslovakia. Through the same Czechs, a probe was carried out regarding the participation of Soviet volunteers. The Israelis refused. Subsequently, the LP considered the USSR's pro-Arab orientation a mistake, because a stake on Israel would have provided the USSR with the support of the entire world Jewish diaspora.

The arrival in Moscow, in September, of the first ambassador of Israel, Golda Meir, was enthusiastically welcomed by Jews, including Molotov's wife, P. Zhemchuzhina. The government was irritated. In November 1948 The Politburo dissolved the JAC, and in December arrests of its members began. On December 30, the Politburo expelled P. Zhemchuzhina from the party, and on January 21, 1949. she was arrested and then exiled.

The next, extremely important, one might say landmark, event took place on January 24, 1949. Under the chairmanship of Malenkov, the party Areopagus decided to launch a campaign against the rootless cosmopolitans. What was the reason for the need for such a company? The victory in the war caused an unprecedented spiritual upsurge of the people, gave rise to colossal hopes and expectations of improvements in life. As some modern Russian historians cynically write, the government was supposed to launch a “mobilization project” that would designate a new internal enemy, which would allow the “crackdown” to begin to tighten. When replacing the Soviet-international-cosmopolitan paradigm with the Russian-great-power-national one, the emphasis shifted to the fight against "rootless cosmopolitans". This euphemism did not deceive anyone. Persecution of the Jews unfolded everywhere, they were vilified in the press and at meetings, they were expelled from the party. They were expelled from administrative posts, from scientific institutions, editorial offices and publishing houses, medicine. People not alive At this time, they will hardly be able to imagine this suffocating atmosphere of hostility and ill will.As a member of the Politburo, the LP bears full political responsibility for this anti-Semitic sabbath. At the same time, defense projects, in particular, the nuclear one, which he oversaw, remained for the Jews security islands. In fairness, we note that the LP made attempts, based on “gross flaws in the preliminary investigation,” to return the “JAC case” and the case on charges of a group of Jews at the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant for further investigation.

The clouds were thickening. In 1950 The “ZIS case” broke out. About 50 people were arrested, almost all Jews, of whom eight were shot in November.

But all this was only a prelude to the "case of doctors", which actually began in the same November, with the arrest of prof. Ya. Etingera. Investigator Ryumin set out to prove the existence of an extensive conspiracy of high-ranking doctors who harmed the health of the party and military elite. But Ryumin overdid it: Etinger in March 1951. died. Inside the MGB, a squabble began, as a result of which, according to Ryumin's denunciation, Minister V. Abakumov was removed and then arrested, allegedly for opposing the detection of the criminal activities of a group of doctors.

Abakumov was replaced by S.D. Ignatiev, a creature of Malenkov. Following the minister, the leadership of the investigative unit of the MGB, including the deputies, turned out to be behind bars. Chief Colonel L. Shvartsman. It was he who showed that the Zionist organization operates in the MGB, in which he enrolled up to 30 responsible Jews. This obvious nonsense was favorably received by the leader. October 1951 all of them were arrested, including Generals N.Eitingon, L.Raikhman, Colonel A.Sverdlov (son of Y.Sverdlov).

Stalin, longing for major political revelations, the new 1937, "clung" to this matter. The “degree” of the case was sublimated: Abakumov, the “Zionists” from the MGB, doctors and the JAC should have been tied into a spy conspiracy directed from the Politburo.

But the members of the JAC have been "steaming" in the Lubyanka for three years now. They were simply taken out of the "conspiracy": July 18, 1952 d. 13 people (except L. Stern) were sentenced to death.

They did not have time to shoot them, as the appearance of L. Timashuk. filled the "case of doctors" with details and gave it harmony. And in the twentieth of September 1952 Mr. Stalin gave the green light to the arrests of the Kremlin's doctors. The arrests began on 18 October, immediately after XIX . party congress. By mid-November, Ryumin had the entire color of elite medicine and the former leadership of the MGB in his hands. But Abakumov, Eitingon, and a number of others held firm.

But Stalin could not wait. And on November 14, Ryumin was fired from the authorities. Replaced it with S. Goglidze. From that moment on, the case becomes purely Jewish, although out of the 28 doctors arrested on the case, only 10 were Jews, and among the doctors exposed by L. Timashuk, there were no Jews.

On the evening of January 9, 1953 in the Presidium of the Central Committee, it was discussed how to present the "case of doctors" to the people and the world. We approved the TASS report "The Arrest of a Group of Pest Doctors" and the editorial of Pravda. In the Message, of the 9 given surnames, 6 are Jewish. And Stalin prudently did not attend this meeting.

Imprint TASS message appeared on January 13, almost on the fifth anniversary of the murder of S. Mikhoels. From the message it followed that the role of the main conspirator was determined by a full member of the Academy of Medical Sciences, prof. M.S. Vovsi, a brilliant diagnostician, consultant at the Kremlin Hospital. The choice of M. Vovsi for this role was determined not only by his nationality and prominent position in society, but also by the fact that he was a cousin of S. Mikhoels. And Mikhoels in the message was branded as an agent of the bourgeois-nationalist organization "Joint", which allegedly gave orders to destroy the leading cadres of the USSR. M. Vovsi allegedly received these instructions through his brother and, therefore, was an agent of the CIA and the MossadOn the same day, Pravda devoted an editorial to the cause of doctors, from which it followed that there were right-wing opportunists, bearers of anti-Marxist views, in the Presidium of the Central Committee. This was already the verdict on some members of the Areopagus. The "doctors' case" turned into a problem for the Presidium of the Central Committee: the leader was looking for a way to get rid of the old guard. And according to many signs, on which we have no opportunity to dwell, it was obvious that Molotov, Malenkov, Beria were among the first candidates. After the publication of the TASS report and the editorial of Pravda, a paroxysm of anti-Semitism began in the country, which is also impossible to imagine for a person who did not experience it. Monstrous rumors were circulating in Moscow and throughout the country that Jewish doctors and pharmacists were harassing Soviet people. They just do not yet drink the blood of Christian babies, but this can be expected from them. Patients shied away from Jewish doctors and pharmacists, they were insulted and threatened. Spiritual hostility to the Kevreys was in the air, and they felt it physically. At the end of January, on the personal orders of Stalin, P. Zhemchuzhina was brought to Moscow, whom some of those arrested had already denounced as a Jewish nationalist. It remained to connect her and Molotov with foreign intelligence. And what, presumably, was the plan of the leader in full?It is claimed that the following scenario existed for the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question". A show trial is being organized, in which I. Ehrenburg is a public prosecutor. The defendants are found guilty and sentenced to be hanged in Red Square. On the way, the indignant people of their execution begins a general Jewish pogrom. Rescuing the Jews, the government deports them far to the East. Truly, a truly educated person will not only “send, but also conduct.”

There is a lot of evidence in the press confirming the existence of such a plan. Eyewitnesses testify that barracks were being prepared in the East, and freight trains were accumulating in the European part. The existence of this plan in 1970, in a conversation with the doctor of historical sciences Ya.Ya. Etinger, was allegedly confirmed by the former member of the Presidium of the Central Committee N. Bulganin. But the historian G. Kostyrchenko, who specifically investigated this issue, without denying anything in principle, claims that no documentary evidence of the plan for the deportation of Jews and its preparation could be found. Within our topic, it is important that there is no evidence and involvement in this LP plan.

Already after the 20th Party Congress, evidence appeared in the foreign press of I. Ehrenburg and the ambassador of the USSR in the Netherlands, a former member of the Presidium of the Central Committee and secretary of the Central Committee K. Ponomarenko. Ostensibly, only Beria hesitated. The leader became so excited that he suffered a stroke from which he never recovered. Can you take this seriously? Most likely, this is Khrushchev and K °, tried to convince the country and the world that when Stalin planned this atrocity, they courageously opposed him, which led him to the grave. As they say, cowardly wolves "dressed up" as brave sheep. Well, LP retroactively once again presented itself in a vile light.

The same story looks somewhat differently in A. Antonov-Ovseenko. He writes: “Speaking on the radio on July 19, 1964, Khrushchev spoke about the last meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee during Stalin’s lifetime, at the end of February 1953. They discussed the "doctors' case" and the question of the deportation of Jews. Among those who did not support the measures proposed by the Leader, he turned out to be - for the first time! - Lavrenty Beria.

After Stalin

But on March 5, 1953, the denouement came. Stalin is dead. His death was announced to the people on the Jewish holiday of Purim. The literature on the topic "The Death of Stalin" is extensive and its flow does not dry out. Most are inclined to believe that the leader was poisoned. If this is so, then it is not known who had a hand in this: Beria, Khrushchev or Malenkov. They all certainly had reasons for this. But LP had the greatest potential.

Other times have come. The MGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were united under the leadership of the LP. The 112 days before his arrest are vividly colored by his initiatives to radically rebuild the country. No one could impose anything on him anymore, everything came from him personally, clearly reflecting his innermost views. Within the framework of our topic, we will mention only those actions that are associated with the Jews.

Already on March 10, 1953, groups were created in the united Ministry of Internal Affairs to check and review falsified cases, including the "case of arrested doctors." On the same day, P. Zhemchuzhina was released from prison. Many Chekists are released.

On March 21, the issue of the reinstatement of P. Zhemchuzhina in the party is raised, and on March 30 - N. Eitingon.

And already on April 1, Beria sends information to the Presidium of the Central Committee on the “case of doctors”, which, in particular, says: “In view of the special importance of this case, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR decided to conduct a thorough check of all investigative materials. As a result of the check, it turned out that this whole case was from beginning to end is a provocative fiction of the former Deputy Minister of State Security of the USSR Ryumin .... Not disdaining any means, grossly violating Soviet laws and the elementary rights of Soviet citizens, the leadership of the MGB sought at all costs to present innocent people, the greatest figures of Soviet medicine, as spies and murderers.

And on April 2, a note about the circumstances of the murder of S.M. Mikhoels was submitted to the same address. Stalin, V. Abakumov, S. Ogoltsov (Abakumov's deputy) and the former Minister of State Security of Belarus L. Tsanava were named as the real organizers of his murder. Moreover, as the commentator points out, the LP personally enters the name of Stalin into the prepared document: “Abakumov testified about the operation of this criminal action:“ As far as I remember, in 1948 the head of the Soviet government I.V. Stalin gave me an urgent task - to quickly organize the MGB USSR, the liquidation of Mikhoels ... When Mikhoels was liquidated and this was reported to I.V. Stalin, he highly appreciated this event and ordered to award orders, which was done.

The next day, April 3, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which met with almost the same composition, which on January 9 of the same year launched the "cause of doctors", adopted a resolution:

“Accept the proposal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR on the full rehabilitation and release from custody of doctors and members of their families arrested in the so-called “case of pest doctors”, in the amount of 37 people.”

In the press release of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (not TASS-!) on this occasion, stronger expressions were used: the case was fabricated using "inadmissible methods of investigation." The case was closed, the doctors who survived were released and another case was opened - against investigators Ryumin and others.

Thus, the ax raised over the heads of hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews was withdrawn and their reputation was cleansed of slander. Everything was done uncompromisingly and extremely promptly. And who played a decisive role in this? Of course, L. Beria personally. He was well aware that state and everyday anti-Semitism in the USSR was an indisputable fact, but he took a number of, of course, courageous steps towards the triumph of justice.

The Jews, of course, were happy. But did they understand to whom they owe salvation? Some understood. A.D. Sakharov recalls that the happy Ya.B. Zeldovich at that time told him: “But this is our Lavrenty Pavlovich figured it out!" This phrase eloquently demonstrates the attitude towards the LP and the trust in him on the part of his closest employees. Of course, only the emotional and loving Zeldovich could say this out loud. This could not be said by the rather dry, restrained Khariton, who, during many years of cooperation, never once asked LP about the fate of his father. He could think it, but Vannikov could hardly pronounce it aloud. He then knew LP from different angles. Landau could not even think of this, who had enough of Beria's "hedgehog" mittens, hated LP and "slipped" out of the Atomic Project at the first opportunity.

But the noose thrown around the neck of Soviet Jewry was only weakened. The proposal of the LP to rehabilitate the executed members of the JAC was rejected: Malenkov was too deeply involved in this crime, literally "pushing through" the death sentence. Members of the JAC were rehabilitated only in 1955.

In May 1953, Beria petitioned the Presidium of the Central Committee for the posthumous rehabilitation of M.M. Kaganovich and reported on the results of studying the circumstances of the arrest and conviction of P. Zhemchuzhina and her predominantly Jewish entourage:

« The above-mentioned people arrested in the case of Comrade Zhemchuzhina were also sentenced by the Special Conference under the Ministry of State Security of the USSR to various terms of imprisonment and were kept in the Vladimir prison with strict isolation, as well as in a camp for especially dangerous criminals. Thus, Comrade Zhemchuzhina and her relatives mentioned above became the victims of the massacre inflicted on them by the USSR Ministry of State Security.

Recent questions

What is the "dominant" vector of the attitude of the LP towards the Jews? In my opinion, it does not exist. And there is a purely pragmatic approach, based only on the interests of the case. Nothing personal and a minimum of ideology. The presence of Judeophobic views in him, so natural for the ruling clique of the USSR, is not confirmed, and SA in his book categorically denies them: “ Anti-Semitism, like any decent person, evoked a feeling of disgust in my father ... .. But, in my opinion, sympathy, and sympathy for a long time for people of Jewish nationality, is caused, it seems to me, first of all by the fact that my father knew them well. The fact is that there were a lot of such people in intelligence, in technology, that is, in those areas in which he worked all his life. The desire to paint the image of the father with warm watercolors is completely understandable. But, based on the above, in this particular issue, it is difficult to disagree with him.

And what would happen if L. Beria stayed in politics? Perhaps perestroika in the USSR would have come thirty years earlier, and according to a different scenario. And the history of the country could be completely different. Maybe. Would he want to stop the machine of state anti-Semitism? And would he succeed? These are the main questions within our topic. But we are not destined to find out the answers to these questions.

Due to its position, the LP was forced to make global decisions in various areas. Yiu had enough energy and wisdom to delve into everything and make reasonable and balanced decisions. He was extremely punctual and strict, had an amazing ability to single out the main link in every problem and had the authority to throw all his strength, will and resources on its solution. But there was also enough rigidity.

Despite his toughness, LP enjoyed the sincere respect of his close circle of assistants. And his arrest and liquidation were a big surprise and a serious blow for them. Suffice it to say that the bust in Arzamas-16 was not destroyed, neither in 1953 nor later. It still stands in the Atomic Bomb Museum. In addition, the SA told me, and then wrote in his book, that most of the scientists who knew LP on joint work did not give discrediting testimony after his arrest.

A more or less detailed description of the activities of the LP in the management of the Atomic Project belongs to Yu.B. Khariton. In particular, he notes that with the transfer of the project into the hands of the LP, the situation has changed dramatically. He, possessing at the same time great energy and efficiency, quickly gave all the work on the project the necessary scope and dynamism, convinced everyone that he was a first-class manager who knew how to bring things to the end . Experts could not fail to note his mind, will and determination. It may seem paradoxical, but Beria, who did not hesitate to sometimes show frank rudeness, knew how to be polite, tactful and just a normal person under the circumstances. Meetings held very tough, skilled, businesslike, he tried to keep abreast of all affairs and even to give meaningful advice that surprised everyone, borrowed, no doubt, from undercover data. He was a master of unexpected and non-standard solutions.

When evaluating the effectiveness of such decisions, experts may have their own criteria, but they must be correct. The main danger for an expert is to fall into the sin of simplification, when it is not difficult for him to look smarter and more far-sighted than the person being assessed. I tried my best to avoid it.

Despite all my reservations, the reader may get the idea that my goal was to draw a blissful, retouched image of L. Beria. But we have retrospectively reviewed this ambiguouspersonality from a distance exceeding 55 years, not comprehensively, but through the "Jewish periscope", fixing only pictures of Lavrenty Pavlovich's intersections with Jews.So that “the connecting thread of days” does not break (W. Shakespeare, translated by B. Pasternak). And in this subjective retro-periscope, I saw these pictures just like that.

1. Beria S., “My father is Lavrenty Beria” - M .: Sovremennik, 1994.

2. Khariton Yu. B., Smirnov Yu. I., "Myths and reality of the Soviet atomic project." - Arzamas: Russian. federal nuclear center VNIIEF, 1994. - S. 19-56.