Lavrentiy Beria

Soviet politician and NKVD police chief

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Lived 1899–1953, aged 54

Wikipedia
68 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1899–1953
Aged 54
Awards
26
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-09-07

He ran Stalin's secret police for seven years, organized the Katyn massacre, deported entire ethnic populations, and built the Soviet atomic bomb. After Stalin died, he briefly tried reform — then was arrested and shot by his own colleagues.

Biography

About

An ethnic Georgian, Beria joined the Cheka in 1920 and climbed quickly. In 1938 Stalin made him head of the NKVD, ending the Great Purge by purging its architect. He organized the 1939 Katyn massacre of 22,000 Polish officers and oversaw the deportation of hundreds of thousands from occupied territories to Gulag camps. During the war he mobilized millions of Gulag prisoners for production, supervised partisan operations, and directed mass deportations from the Caucasus in 1943–44 that scholars have called ethnic cleansing or genocide. He also ran the atomic bomb project, which produced its fir…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Lavrentiy Beria

Lavrentiy Beria

said1953

The enemies of the Soviet state calculate that the heavy loss we have borne will lead to disorder and confusion in our ranks.

— Quoted in "The Current Digest of the Soviet Press" Joint Committee (1953), p. 9

Lavrentiy Beria

saidundated

Do you know that there’s hardly anyone left of last year’s Caucasian governments? I’ve tried to stop it, but in vain. Yet they can’t all be Trotskyites and traitors.

— Quoted in "The Kremlin and the People" by Walter Duranty (2007), p. 126

Lavrentiy Beria

saidundated

To produce a maximum of chaos in the culture of the enemy is our first most important step. Our fruits are grown in chaos, distrust, economic depression and scientific turmoil.

— Published in the United States in 1955 by L. Ron Hubbard as Beria's work, no evidence of its authenticity has emerged since the collapse of

Lavrentiy Beria

saidundated

In a Capitalistic state you are aided on all sides by the corruption of the philosophy of man and the times.

— Published in the United States in 1955 by L. Ron Hubbard as Beria's work, no evidence of its authenticity has emerged since the collapse of

Lavrentiy Beria

saidundated

By psychopolitics create chaos. Leave a nation leaderless. Kill our enemies. And bring to Earth, through Communism, the greatest peace Man has ever known.

— Published in the United States in 1955 by L. Ron Hubbard as Beria's work, no evidence of its authenticity has emerged since the collapse of

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