Commissars of the NKVD. Secrets and crimes of the NKVD of the USSR

NKVD is an abbreviation that instilled fear not only in the citizens of the country of the Soviets, but also beyond its borders. Indeed, the repressive apparatus of fighting dissent and, at the same time, the punishing sword of the Revolution. A force structure that has both light and dark sides, terrifying with its cruelty.

Tasks

Formed, according to the approved decision of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR in July 1934 and existed until its division in 1946 into the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security, the NKVD dealt with issues of ensuring the country's security; solved the tasks of eradicating criminality; dealt with issues related to the maintenance of public order.

The sphere of activity of the NKVD was practically everywhere: from communal farms and enterprises to political investigation. The NKVD bodies could pass sentences without court hearings, the NKVD was in charge of intelligence and counterintelligence activities, as well as border troops.

Brief history of creation

The history of the creation of one of the most truly interesting and controversial power units in the world took place in several stages.

VChK - from 1917 to 1922

The history of the NKVD began on December 20, 1917 - when the Cheka was created under the Council of People's Commissars. Its main goal is the fight against counter-revolutionaries and saboteurs.

The commission had broad powers: to arrest persons suspected of anti-revolutionary activities and deprive them of their property, deprive them of food coupons, evict them from their homes and publish in periodicals a list of “enemies of the working people.

One of the tasks of the Cheka was the fight against criminality - although for the criminals (as a congenial class) there could be indulgences. The activities of the Extraordinary Commission extended not only to cities and provinces.

Special departments, which had as their task the fight against spies and counter-revolutionaries, functioned in the army and in transport - at all objects of great importance.

December 1920 - the Foreign Department is organized - having intelligence tasks.

GPU - from 1922 to 1923

In connection with the changed external and internal situation in the country, and this is the Genoa Conference, and the transition to, the vision of the work of the bodies that ensure the security of the state is changing.

In February 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR makes a decision in which it abolishes the Cheka and, on its basis, forms the GPU, which is organizationally part of the NKVD.

OGPU - from 1923 to 1934

After what happened in December 1922, the requirements for the service responsible for the country's security are changing. In the fall of 1923, the Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution on the establishment of the OGPU.

In May 1924, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee expanded the rights of the Office - subordinating the police and the criminal investigation department to it. In December 1930, the OGPU received the right to resolve personnel issues in the police, to use its agents.

NKVD - NKGB from 1934 to 1943

July 1934 - The Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopts a resolution "On the formation of the All-Union People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs." The new structure of the OGPU was included as the Main Directorate of State Security. In February 1941, the NKVD was reformatted into two different structures: the NKVD and the NKGB, but due to the outbreak of war and the need for close coordination of actions between law enforcement agencies, in the summer of 1941 they were again merged into the NKVD.

NKGB - MGB KGB from 1943 to 1954

Spring 1943 - due to the need for a more efficient solution of tasks, the NKGB again becomes an independent unit. The Main Directorate of Counterintelligence is created. In the spring of 1946, the NKGB was renamed the Ministry of State Security.

In order to increase the efficiency of work, in the spring of 1953 a united Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR was created, which included the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security, but in March 1954 the KGB was created.

Among other power structures that have left a mark in the history of our Motherland, a special place is occupied by the one that is forever imprinted in the people's memory with the letters of the NKVD. The RSFSR and many other frequently encountered but obsolete abbreviations does not cause any difficulties for anyone, however, the abbreviated names of individual public services have to be explained. This is especially true for the younger generation. And it is even more important to tell them about what the NKVD is.

Creation of a new state body

According to the decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR of July 10, 1934, a central body was formed to manage all the structures involved in the fight against crime and the maintenance of public order. It was designated by four letters - the NKVD. was the following: People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs.

Along with the newly formed units, it also included the personnel of the Main Political Directorate, which had lost its independence, but was not abolished. Thus, an organization was born that became a symbol of the genocide carried out by the Stalinist regime against its own people.

The newly created structure had an unusually wide scope of responsibility, but at the same time, incomparable powers. Thus, her competence included control over the activities of state bodies related to public utilities, construction and almost all industries.

In addition, the NKVD officers were engaged in political investigation, foreign intelligence, guarding the state border, serving in the penitentiary system and army counterintelligence. In order to successfully fulfill their duties, the NKVD was given the right to extrajudicially impose any sentences, including the death penalty. According to the decision of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, they were not subject to appeal and were enforced immediately.

The arbitrariness of special triplets of the NKVD

Such unprecedented powers, which allowed this structure to operate outside the legal field, caused one of the most terrible tragedies experienced by our Motherland. In order to fully imagine what the NKVD is, one should recall the mass repressions of the thirties, the main culprit of which was this body. Millions of Soviet citizens who became prisoners of the Gulag and were shot on trumped-up charges were convicted by the so-called special troikas.

The composition of this extrajudicial structure included: the secretary of the regional party committee, the prosecutor and the head of the regional or city department of the NKVD. As a rule, the guilt of the defendants was not determined, and the sentences in the cases under consideration were passed not on the basis of the legislation in force, but only in accordance with their personal desire, which everywhere became the result of arbitrariness.

Deportation of peoples and cooperation with the Gestapo

The statistics reflecting the work carried out by the internal troops of the NKVD during the war years look very impressive. According to available data, in terms of combating banditry alone, they carried out over 9.5 thousand operations, which made it possible to neutralize about 150 thousand criminals. Along with them, the border troops managed to liquidate 829 different gangs, which included 49 thousand criminals.

The role of the NKVD in the economy of the war years

Modern researchers and a number of public organizations are trying to assess the impact that the labor of Gulag prisoners had on the development of the country's economy. As the well-known human rights organization Memorial points out, at the end of the thirties, the NKVD launched such a violent activity that as a result of it, about 1,680,000 able-bodied men were behind bars at the beginning of the war, which accounted for 8% of the country's total labor resources at that time.

As part of the mobilization plan adopted by the government, enterprises created in places of detention produced a significant amount of ammunition and other products necessary for the front. This, of course, affected the provision of the army, but at the same time, it should be recognized that the productivity of such forced labor was very low.

Postwar years

As for the post-war years, even during this period the role of the NKVD in raising the country's economy can hardly be considered noticeable. On the one hand, the placement of Gulag camps in sparsely populated areas of the north of the country, Siberia and the Far East contributed to their development, but on the other hand, the inefficient labor of prisoners became an obstacle to the implementation of many economic projects.

This fully applies to attempts to use the forced labor of scientists and designers, who in many cases became victims of the mass period. It is known that the NKVD created special prisons, popularly called "sharashek". In them, representatives of the scientific and technical elite, convicted on trumped-up charges by the very “special troikas” mentioned above, were obliged to engage in scientific development.

Among the former prisoners of such "sharashkas" were such well-known Soviet design scientists as S. P. Korolev and A. N. Tupolev. The result of attempts to introduce forced technical creativity was very small and showed the complete inexpediency of this undertaking.

Conclusion

In the fifties, after the death of Stalin, a broad process of rehabilitation of the victims of the regime he created in the country began. The crimes that were previously presented as a fight against the enemies of the people received a due assessment both from government bodies and in public opinion. The activities of the structure, called the NKVD, were also exposed, the decoding, history and activities of which became the subject of this article. In 1946, this notorious department was transformed into the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

On July 10, 1934, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR adopted a resolution "On the Formation of the All-Union People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR", which included the OGPU of the USSR, renamed the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB). Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

The newly created NKVD of the USSR is entrusted with the following tasks:

ensuring public order and state security,
protection of socialist property,
registration of acts of civil status,
border guard,
maintenance and protection of ITU.

To solve these problems, the NKVD creates:

Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB)
Main Directorate of Workers' and Peasants' Militia (GU RKM)
Main Directorate of Border and Internal Security (GU PiVO)
Main Directorate of Fire Protection (GUPO)
Main Directorate of Correctional Labor Camps (ITL) and labor settlements (GULAG)
Civil status department (see registry office)
Administrative and Economic Department
Finance Department (FINO)
Human Resources Department
Secretariat
Specially authorized department

In total, according to the states of the central apparatus of the NKVD of the USSR, there were 8211 people.

The work of the GUGB was led by the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR G. G. Yagoda. The GUGB of the NKVD of the USSR included the main operational units of the former OGPU of the USSR:

Special Department (OO) counterintelligence and combating enemy actions in the army and navy
Secret Political Department (SPO) fight against hostile political parties and anti-Soviet elements
Economic Department (ECO) combating sabotage and sabotage in the national economy
Foreign Department (INO) intelligence abroad
Operational department (Operod) protection of the leaders of the party and government, searches, arrests, surveillance
Special Department (Special Department) encryption work, ensuring secrecy in departments
Transport department (TO) combating sabotage, sabotage in transport
Accounting and Statistical Department (USO) operational accounting, statistics, archive

Subsequently, reorganizations were repeatedly made, renaming of both departments and departments.

September 1936 Nikolay Ivanovich Yezhov was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

December 1938 Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR

February 3, 1941 Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR NKVD USSR was divided into two separate bodies: NKVD USSR(People's Commissar - L.P. Beria) and the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR (NKGB) (People's Commissar - V.N. Merkulov).

At the same time, the Special Department of the GUGB of the NKVD of the USSR was disbanded, and instead of it, the 3rd Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Defense (NKO) and the People's Commissariat of the Navy (NK VMF) and the 3rd Department of the NKVD of the USSR (for operational work in the NKVD troops) were created.

Since the beginning Great Patriotic War 1941-45 in order to concentrate the efforts of state and public security agencies for the defense of the country, on July 20, 1941, the NKGB of the USSR and the NKVD of the USSR were merged into a single people's commissariat - NKVD USSR(People's Commissar - L.P. Beria). The activities of the state security agencies were focused on combating the subversive activities of Nazi intelligence at the front, on identifying and eliminating enemy agents in the rear areas of the USSR, on conducting reconnaissance and sabotage activities behind enemy lines.

October 17, 1941 by resolution State Defense Committee(GKO) The special meeting of the NKVD of the USSR was granted the right, with the participation of the prosecutor of the USSR, on cases of counter-revolutionary crimes against the order of government of the USSR, arising in the NKVD bodies, provided for by Articles 58 and 59 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, to impose appropriate penalties up to execution. The decisions of the Special Meeting are final. This decision of the GKO ceased to be valid only on September 1, 1953, with the abolition of the Special Meeting.

On July 20, 1941, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the NKVD and the NKGB were merged into a single NKVD of the USSR. L.P. Beria remains the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, and the former People's Commissar for State Security of the USSR V.N. Merkulov is appointed his First Deputy.

On January 11, 1942, by a joint order of the NKVD and the NKVD, the 3rd Directorate of the NKVD was transformed into the 9th Department of the UOO NKVD of the USSR. (UOO - the Directorate of Special Departments was created on July 17, 1941 on the basis of the 3rd Directorate of the NPO).

On April 14, 1943, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, by separating operational-Chekist departments and departments from the NKVD of the USSR, an independent People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR (NKGB of the USSR) was again formed, under the leadership of V. N. Merkulov.

On April 18, 1943, by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, military counterintelligence (UOO) was transferred to the People's Commissariat of Defense and the People's Commissariat of the Navy of the USSR, where the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence (GUKR) SMERSH NPO of the USSR and the Directorate of Counterintelligence (UKR) SMERSH NK Navy are created.

December 1945 Sergei Nikiforovich Kruglov was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

In 1934, the OGPU merged with the newly reformed NKVD of the USSR, becoming the Main Directorate of State Security; The NKVD of the RSFSR ceased to exist until 1946 (as the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR). As a result, the NKVD became responsible for all places of detention (including the work camps known as the Gulag) as well as for the regular militia.

Other functions of the NKVD:

General police and crime investigation (police)
Intelligence and Special Operations (Foreign Department)
counterintelligence
Protection of important government officials
and many other tasks.

At various times, the NKVD consisted of the Main Directorates, abbreviated "GU"

GUGB - state security
GURKM - workers' and peasants' militia
GUPiVO - border and internal security
GUPO - fire department
GUSHosdor - highways
Gulag - camps
GEM - economics
GTU - transport
GUVPI - prisoners of war and internees

On February 3, 1941, the Special Department of the NKVD (responsible for counterintelligence in the army) was divided into the department of the ground forces and the Navy (RKKA and RKKF). The GUGB was separated from the NKVD and renamed the NKGB. On July 20, 1941, the NKVD and the NKGB were again merged, and the counterintelligence function (Office of Special Departments - USO) returned to the NKVD in January 1942. In April 1943, the NKVD USO was again transferred to the People's Commissariat of Defense and the People's Commissariat of the Navy, with the name SMERSH (Death to spies); at the same time, the NKVD was again separated from the NKGB.

In 1946, the NKVD was renamed the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the NKGB became the MGB. Immediately after the death of I.V. Stalin, the two departments were united in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in March 1953. After the arrest of L.P. Beria, the state security units were finally withdrawn from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in March 1954 with the creation of the KGB. The bodies of internal affairs and state security were finally divided into two independent services:

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR (Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR), responsible for the protection of public order, the investigation of ordinary types of crimes, the protection of places of detention, internal troops, fire protection, civil defense troops, ensuring the passport regime.
The KGB of the USSR (until 1977 - the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, from 1977 to 1991 - the State Security Committee of the USSR), responsible for political investigation, counterintelligence, intelligence, personal protection of state leaders, protection of the state border and special communications.

The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956 and the debunking of Stalin's personality cult finally confirmed the role of the two services in the history of the USSR, right up to its collapse.

counterintelligence activities.

On July 17, 1941, the State Defense Committee adopts DECISION No. 187 ss on the transformation of the bodies of the Third Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Defense from branches in divisions and higher into special departments of the NKVD of the USSR, and the Third Directorate - into the Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD of the USSR.

In DIRECTIVE No. 169 of July 18, 1941, People's Commissar of the NKVD of the USSR L.P. Beria noted that “The meaning of the transformation of the organs of the Third Directorate into Special Departments with their subordination to the NKVD is to wage a merciless fight against spies, traitors, saboteurs, deserters and all sorts of alarmists and disorganizers. The merciless reprisal against alarmists, cowards, deserters who undermine the power and discredit the honor of the Red Army is just as important as the fight against espionage and sabotage.

DECISION of the State Defense Committee "ON APPROVAL OF THE REGULATION ON THE MAIN DEPARTMENT OF COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE "SMERSH".

TO APPROVE THE REGULATION ON THE MAIN DEPARTMENT OF COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE "SMERSH" - (DEATH TO SPIES) AND ITS LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

Chairman of the State Defense Committee
I. Stalin.
POSITION
About the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence
People's Commissariat of Defense ("Smersh")
and its local organs

1. General Provisions.

2. The tasks of the Smersh bodies.

1. The following tasks are assigned to the Smersh organization:

a) combating espionage, sabotage, terrorist and other subversive activities of foreign intelligence services in units and institutions of the Red Army;

b) the fight against anti-Soviet elements that have penetrated the units and Directorates of the Red Army;

c) taking the necessary agent-operational and other (through the command) measures to create conditions on the fronts that exclude the possibility of enemy agents passing through the front line with impunity in order to make the front line impenetrable to espionage and anti-Soviet elements;

d) the fight against treason and treason in the units and institutions of the Red Army (going over to the side of the enemy, harboring spies and, in general, facilitating the work of the latter);

e) the fight against desertion and self-mutilation on the fronts;

f) verification of military personnel and other persons who were captured and surrounded by the enemy;

g) fulfillment of special tasks of the People's Commissar of Defense.

2. Bodies "Smersh" are exempt from carrying out any other work not directly related to the tasks listed in this section.

5. Organizational structure of the Smersh bodies.

1st Department - intelligence and operational work on the central bodies of the Red Army - the Directorates of the People's Commissariat of Defense.

2nd Division - work among prisoners of war of interest to the Smersh bodies, checking the Red Army soldiers who were captured and surrounded by the enemy.

3rd Division - the fight against enemy agents (paratroopers), thrown into our rear.

4th Department - counterintelligence work on the side of the enemy in order to identify channels for the penetration of enemy agents into units and institutions of the Red Army.

5th Department - leadership of the Smersh bodies of the military districts.

6th Department - investigative.

7th Department - operational accounting, statistics.

8th Department - operational and technical.

9th Department - searches, arrests, installations, surveillance.

10th Department "C" - work on special assignments.

11th Department - cipher communication.

NKVD and the Great Patriotic War

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, along with the border troops, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR included troops for the protection of railway facilities and especially important industrial enterprises; convoy troops and operational troops.

By the beginning of the war, the NKVD troops consisted of 14 divisions, 18 brigades and 21 separate regiments for various purposes, of which 7 divisions, 2 brigades and 11 operational regiments of internal troops were located in the western districts, on the basis of which in the Baltic, Western and Kiev special districts before the war the formation of the 21st, 22nd and 23rd motorized rifle divisions of the NKVD began. In addition, there were 8 border districts, 49 border detachments and other units on the western border. In the border troops of the NKVD, there were 167,600 military personnel. There were 173,900 military personnel in the internal troops of the NKVD, including:

operational troops (excluding military schools) - 27.3 thousand people;
troops for the protection of railways - 63.7 thousand people;
troops for the protection of especially important industrial facilities - 29.3 thousand people.

In the escort troops, the number of personnel was 38.3 thousand people.

The main task of the border troops of the NKVD of the USSR was considered to be the protection of the state border of the Soviet Union; the fight against saboteurs and the identification of violators of the border regime.

The main task of the operational troops of the NKVD of the USSR was the fight against political and criminal banditry and banditry in the country; detection, blocking, pursuit and destruction of gangs.

The tasks of the railway troops of the NKVD of the USSR were both the protection and defense of the objects of the "steel highways", for which they had, in particular, armored trains.

The combat service of the troops of the NKVD of the USSR for the protection of especially important industrial facilities was based on the principles underlying the protection of the state border.

The main official task of the escort troops of the NKVD of the USSR was the escort of convicts, prisoners of war and persons subject to deportation, and they also carried out external protection of prisoner of war camps, prisons and some objects where the labor of the "special contingent" was used.

The first blow of the German troops 06/22/41. took over 47 land, 6 maritime border detachments, 9 separate border commandant's offices of the NKVD of the USSR on the western border of the Soviet Union from the Barents to the Black Seas. In their plans, the Hitlerite command allotted only 30 minutes to destroy the border outposts. And the border guards stood and fought to the death for days, weeks. One of the first, the head of the frontier post, a graduate of the Saratov 4th school of the border guard and the OGPU troops, Lopatin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Now the Saratov Red Banner Higher Command School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky. In the first months of the war, the NKVD troops actually performed functions unusual for them, performed the tasks of the Red Army, and fought the German troops as motorized rifle units of the Red Army, because the internal troops of the NKVD turned out to be more combat-ready than the Red Army. Brest Fortress. The defense was held for two months by border guards and the 132nd separate battalion of escort troops of the NKVD of the USSR. The city of Brest was hastily abandoned by the Red Army at 8.00 am on 22.6.41. after the battle with the enemy infantry, who crossed the river Bug in boats. In Soviet times, everyone remembered the inscription of one of the defenders of the Brest Fortress: “ I'm dying, but I'm not giving up! Farewell Motherland! 20.VII.41”, but few people knew that it was made on the wall of the barracks of the 132nd separate battalion of escort troops of the NKVD of the USSR.

One of the first results of the work of the military counterintelligence of the NKVD was summed up on October 10, 1941. Special departments of the NKVD and the NKVD barrage detachments for the protection of the rear detained 657,364 military personnel, of which: spies - 1,505; saboteurs - 308; traitors - 2,621; cowards and alarmists - 2,643; disseminators of provocative rumors - 3,987; self-shooters - 1,671; others - 4 371 ».

Defense of Stalingrad. The 10th Infantry Division of the internal troops of the NKVD of the USSR took the first blow and held back the onslaught of the enemy until the approach of the Red Army divisions. The wars of the 41st separate brigade of the NKVD escort troops also took part in the defense of Leningrad and the protection of law and order.

In addition to the manpower and equipment of the enemy destroyed in battles, the internal troops of the NKVD during the entire period of the Great Patriotic War carried out 9,292 operations to combat banditry, as a result, 47,451 were killed and 99,732 bandits were captured, and a total of 147,183 criminals were neutralized. In addition, in 1944-1945, 828 gangs were liquidated by the border troops, with a total number of 48 thousand bandits. During the war years, the railway troops of the NKVD guarded about 3,600 objects on all railways of the country. Troop guards escorted trains with military and valuable national economic goods.

On June 24, 1945, in Moscow, at the Victory Parade on Red Square, the combined battalion with the banners and standards of the defeated German troops, formed from the military personnel of the NKVD troops, was the first to go out - this was recognition of the indisputable military merits of the Chekist soldiers shown during the war years (1941-1945). )

The material was taken from Wikipedia.

NKVD USSR

People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR- the central body of state administration of the USSR for combating crime and maintaining public order in 1934-1946, later renamed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

During the period of its existence, the NKVD of the USSR performed important state functions, both related to the protection of law and order and state security, and in the field of public utilities and the country's economy. Currently, the name of this organization is often associated with violations of the law during the period of repression.

Development of the NKVD of the USSR

The newly created NKVD of the USSR is entrusted with the following tasks:

ensuring public order and state security,
protection of socialist property,
registration of acts of civil status,
border guard,
maintenance and protection of ITU.

To solve these problems, the NKVD creates:

Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB)
Main Directorate of Workers' and Peasants' Militia (GU RKM)
Main Directorate of Border and Internal Security (GU PVO)
Main Directorate of Fire Protection (GUPO)
Main Directorate of Correctional Labor Camps (ITL) and Labor Settlements (GULAG)
Civil status department (see registry office)
Administrative and Economic Department
Finance Department (FINO)
Human Resources Department
Secretariat
Specially authorized department

In total, according to the states of the central apparatus of the NKVD of the USSR, there were 8211 people.

Special Department (OO) counterintelligence and combating enemy actions in the army and navy
Secret Political Department (SPO) fight against hostile political parties and anti-Soviet elements
Economic Department (ECO) combating sabotage and sabotage in the national economy
Foreign Department (INO) intelligence abroad
Operational department (Operod) protection of the leaders of the party and government, searches, arrests, surveillance
Special Department (Special Department) encryption work, ensuring secrecy in departments
Transport department (TO) combating sabotage, sabotage in transport
Accounting and Statistical Department (USO) operational accounting, statistics, archive

Subsequently, reorganizations were repeatedly made, renaming of both departments and departments.

Other functions of the NKVD:

General police and crime investigation (police)
Intelligence and Special Operations (Foreign Department)
counterintelligence
Protection of important government officials
and many other tasks.

At various times, the NKVD consisted of the Main Directorates, abbreviated "GU"

GUGB - state security
GURKM - workers' and peasants' militia
GUPVO - border and internal protection
GUPO - fire department
GUSHosdor - highways
Gulag - camps
GEM - economics
GTU - transport
GUVPI - prisoners of war and internees

Activities of the NKVD

Although the NKVD had an important function of state security, the name of this organization is still associated mainly with mass crimes, political repressions and eliminations, war crimes, cruelty towards Soviet and foreign citizens.

The implementation of Soviet domestic policy is associated with the enemies of the state ("enemy of the people"), their mass arrests and executions by the verdict of the court of Soviet and foreign citizens. Millions were exiled to Gulag camps and hundreds of thousands (over about 30 years) were sentenced to capital punishment. Most of these people were convicted by the NKVD troikas - a special phenomenon of the Soviet court. In many cases - mainly during the period of Yezhov - evidence did not play a special role, an anonymous denunciation was enough for an arrest. The use of the "Physical Dialectic of Punishment" was sanctioned by a special decree of the state, which opened the door to numerous abuses in the counting of those arrested and employees of the NKVD itself. The results of such operations were hundreds of mass graves later discovered throughout the country. Documentary evidence proves a "planned system" of mass executions. Such plans showed the number and ratio of victims (officially, "enemies of the people") to certain areas. The families of the repressed, including children, were to be automatically repressed, according to the order of the NKVD No. 00486.

Processes were organized against persons of non-Russian nationalities (including Ukrainians, Tatars, Germans and many others accused of "bourgeois nationalism", "fascism", etc.) and religious figures. The number of mass operations of the NKVD was directed against entire nationalities. The peoples of a certain ethnic group could be forcibly resettled, especially those who during the Second World War actively and en masse collaborated with the Nazi occupiers, acted as pests and saboteurs in the rear of the Red Army. However, the Russians, as the largest nationality in the USSR, nevertheless, made up the majority of the victims of the NKVD.

Employees of the NKVD became not only executioners, but also victims. Most of the NKVD officers (several thousand), including the entire command staff, were executed in the 30s and 40s.

Mass repression

Main article: Destruction of NKVD prisoners

Among the prisoners and those arrested by the NKVD in 1939-1941, a significant part were political activists, religious figures, intellectuals, some officials, military and police officers, including pensioners, activists of national movements, representatives of the "bourgeoisie", etc. The total number of victims is estimated at approximately 100,000 people, including more than 10,000 people in Western Ukraine alone, about 9,000 people in Vinnitsa.

Cooperation between the NKVD and the Gestapo

intelligence activities

It included:

Establishment of a broad intelligence network working for the Comintern
Filtering out spies like Richard Sorge and the Red Chapel intelligence organizations that warned Stalin of the impending Nazi invasion of the USSR and later helped the Red Army in World War II
Training of numerous other agents who showed their talent during the Cold War, through their MGB-KGB intelligence operations.

counterintelligence activities.

DECISION of the State Defense Committee "ON APPROVAL OF THE REGULATION ON THE MAIN DEPARTMENT OF COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE "SMERSH".

TO APPROVE THE REGULATION ON THE MAIN DEPARTMENT OF COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE "SMERSH" - (DEATH TO SPIES) AND ITS LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

Chairman of the State Defense Committee I. Stalin.

REGULATIONS On the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence of the People's Commissariat of Defense ("Smersh") and its local bodies

1. General Provisions.

1. The Main Directorate of Counterintelligence of the NPO (“Smersh” - death to spies) was created on the basis of the former Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD of the USSR, is part of the People's Commissariat of Defense. The head of the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence of the NPO (“Smersh”) is the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, is directly subordinate to the People's Commissar of Defense and carries out only his orders. 2. The tasks of the Smersh bodies.