Historical Figure
Lavrentiy Beriya
b. 1899
Soviet secret police chief (1899–1953)
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Biography
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph Stalin's secret police chiefs, serving as head of the NKVD from 1938 to 1945, during the country's involvement in the Second World War. Beria was also a prolific sexual predator who serially raped scores of girls and young women, and murdered some of his victims.
Timeline
The story of Lavrentiy Beriya, told in moments.
Appointed head of the NKVD, the Soviet secret police. He replaced Nikolai Yezhov, whom he then had arrested and shot. Beria ran the vast Gulag system and mobilized millions of forced laborers for wartime production.
Put in charge of the Soviet atomic bomb project. He recruited scientists, built secret cities, and used intelligence from spies inside the Manhattan Project. The first Soviet bomb was tested in 1949.
After Stalin's death, Beria moved quickly to consolidate power. He proposed liberal reforms, including relaxing controls on Soviet satellite states. The other Politburo members grew terrified of him.
Executed by firing squad in Moscow after a secret trial. Arrested at gunpoint during a Politburo meeting in June. Charged with treason, terrorism, and multiple counts of rape. He reportedly begged for his life on his knees.
Artifacts (6)
was not raised in a religious household.
igious views === Obama is a Protestant Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote in The Audacity of Hope that he "was not raised in a religious household." He described his...
a man who saw religion as not particularly useful.
He described his father as a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." Obama explained how, through working with black...
I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look lik...
, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations," he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret...
That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pit...
lled in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old. Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my...
The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a c...
n Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for ovarian and uterine cancer. Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate...
I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death...
nd "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change." In January 2008, Obama told Christianity Today: "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the...
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