Beriya, Lavrenti Pavlovich (1899–1953)

Georgian communist. He was USSR commissar (minister) for internal affairs 1938–45 and deputy prime minister under Stalin, in charge of security matters, 1941–53. In 1945 he was made a marshal of the Soviet Union. Beriya ended the Great Purge by liquidating his predecessor Yezhov and many NKVD (Soviet secret police) officials, and organized the deportation of hundreds of thousands from eastern Poland, the Baltic States, and areas formerly occupied by the Germans. He was also in charge of the security police in the satellite states of Eastern Europe.

In the struggle for power after Stalin's death Beriya was defeated, arrested, and shot as an ‘imperialist agent’.

As a young man, Beriya joined the Bolshevik party in 1917. From 1921 to 1931 he worked in leading positions in the Cheka and GPU (secret police) organs of Transcaucasia. From 1932 to 1938 he was first secretary of the Transcaucasian committee of the Communist Party and virtual dictator of Transcaucasia.