Lavrenty Beria is the almighty liberator of convicts from the Solovetsky camps. Execution of Lavrenty Beria

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One thing is clear: if the party leadership went for the murder, somehow this person was very dangerous to her. And not with terrible plans to throw her off her long-haired throne - Beria made it clear that he was not going to do this. Of course, he was potentially dangerous - but they don't kill us for that. At least, they don't kill like that, openly and frankly. The normal Soviet move in the struggle for power was worked out back in 1937 - to move, remove, and then arrest and falsify the case as usual. By the way, this openness and frankness also contains a mystery - after all, you could have waited and removed it quietly and unnoticed. It seems that the killers were in a great hurry ...

Khrushchev, in his revelations to foreign interlocutors, is in some way disingenuous. He presents the decision on the immediate execution of Beria as a collegial verdict of all members of the Politburo. "After a comprehensive discussion of the pros and cons of both options, we came to the conclusion: Beria must be shot immediately" ... "We!" So now we will believe that nine people, middle-aged, indecisive and rather cowardly, will stamp such a decision - to shoot one of the first persons of the state without trial or investigation. Never in their life will these people, who have been working without a murmur all their lives under a strong leader, take on such a responsibility! They will drown the issue in discussions, and in the end, even if there are grounds, everything will end in deportation somewhere in Baku or Tyumen to the post of director of the plant - let him seize power there, if he can.

So it was, and there is convincing evidence of that. Secretary of the Central Committee Malenkov, in the process of preparing the meeting of the Presidium, wrote a draft of his work. This draft has been published and it is very clear from it what was to be discussed at this meeting. To prevent the possibility of abuse of power, Beria was supposed to be deprived of the post of Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and, possibly, if the discussion goes on the right track, to release him from the post of Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, appointing him as the Minister of the Oil Industry as a last resort. And that's all. There was no question of any arrest, let alone any execution without trial. And it is difficult even to imagine, with all the tension of imagination, what could happen for the Presidium, contrary to the prepared scenario, to make such a decision impromptu. It couldn't be. And if it could not, then it was not. And the fact that this was not, that this issue was not considered at all at the Presidium, is evidenced by the fact that the draft was found in Malenkov's archive - otherwise it would have been handed over to formalize the decision and then destroyed.

So there was no "we". Beria was first killed, and then the Presidium was confronted with a fact, and he had to get out, covering up the killers. But who exactly?
And here it is very easy to guess. First, it is easy to calculate the number of the second - the artist. The fact is that - and no one denies this - that day the army was widely involved in the events. In the incident with Beria, as Khrushchev himself admits, the commander of the air defense of the Moscow military district, Colonel-General Moskalenko and the chief of staff of the Air Force, Major-General Batitsky, were directly involved, and Marshal Zhukov himself does not seem to refuse. But, what is even more important, for some reason, apparently, to stage the fight against the "parts of Beria", troops were brought into the capital. And then a very important name comes up - a person who could provide contact with the military and the army's participation in the events - Defense Minister Bulganin.

It is not difficult to calculate the number one. Who poured dirt on Beria most of all, completely losing his composure and presenting him at the same time as a devil? Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev. By the way, not only Bulganin, but also Moskalenko and Batitsky were people from his team.
Bulganin and Khrushchev - somewhere we have already met this combination. Where? Yes, at Stalin's dacha, that fateful Sunday, March 1, 1953.

Compromising evidence?
There is one mystery in the events that took place after Stalin's death - this is the fate of his papers. Stalin's archive as such does not exist - all his documents have disappeared. On March 7, some special group, according to Svetlana, "by order of Beria" (but this is not a fact) removed all the furniture from Blizhnyaya Dacha. Later, the furniture was returned to the dacha, but without any papers. All documents disappeared from the Kremlin office and even from the leader's safe. Where they are and what happened to them is still unknown.

Naturally, it is believed that Beria took possession of the archives, as a super-powerful chief of the special services, especially since the guards were subordinate to the Ministry of State Security. Yes, but the guards obeyed the state security as long as the guarded was alive. I wonder who the Kuntsevo dacha was subordinate to after Stalin's death? Was it also the MGB department or, perhaps, some government AXO - the administrative department - was in charge of this empty shell? According to another version, the entire elite of that time took part in the seizure of the archive, concerned about the elimination of the dossiers that Stalin collected on them. Beria, naturally, was also afraid that compromising evidence on him in these archives would be made public. It is also hard to believe - with such a number of accomplices, someone in so many years would certainly let slip.

Who knew nothing about the fate of the archive was Malenkov. Why - more on that later. Two options remain: either Khrushchev or Beria. If we assume that the archive fell into the hands of Khrushchev, then his fate is most likely sad. There could be a lot of compromising evidence against Nikita Sergeevich - participation in Yezhov's repressions alone was worth it! Neither he nor his comrades-in-arms had time to search for all these "dossiers" among the mountain of papers, it was easier to burn everything in bulk. But if Beria was the first to succeed, then the situation here is completely different. He had nothing to be afraid of some mysterious "documents" in the Stalinist archive, which, if made public, could ruin him - there was hardly anything for him, if even through the efforts of the entire jurisprudence of the USSR, despite the fact that it was very it is necessary, they could not dig up material for one more or less decent case under shooting. But he was vitally interested in incriminating evidence against Stalin's former comrades-in-arms - both for future possible opportunities, and to ensure his own safety.

Indirectly, his son Sergo testifies that the archive most likely fell into the hands of Beria. After the murder of his father, he was arrested, and once he was summoned for interrogation, and in the investigator's office he saw Malenkov. This was not the first visit of the distinguished guest, once he had already arrived and persuaded Sergo to testify against his father, but did not persuade him. However, this time he came for something different.
“- Maybe you can help in something else? - somehow very humanly he said it. - Have you heard anything about the personal archives of Joseph Vissarionovich?
“I have no idea,” I say. - They never talked about it at home.
- Well, how ... Your father also had archives, eh?
“I don’t know either, I never heard of it.
- Haven't you heard ?! - here Malenkov could no longer restrain himself. - He must have archives, must!
He was clearly very upset. "
That is, not only Stalin's archives disappeared, but also Beria's archives, and Malenkov knew nothing about their fate. Of course, in theory Khrushchev could have seized and liquidated them, but had he done it so that no one saw, heard or recognized anything? Doubtful. Stalin's archives were all right, but Beria's archives could no longer be secretly destroyed. And Khrushchev was not the kind of person to carry out such an operation and not blabber.

So most likely Beria took possession of Stalin's archive. Once again, I repeat that it made no sense for him to destroy him, let alone destroy his own archive, and nine out of ten chances that he hid all the papers somewhere. But where?

In one of his stories about Father Brown, Chesterton wrote: “Where does a smart man hide a leaf? In the woods". Exactly. Where were the relics of the great Russian saint Alexander Svirsky hidden? In the anatomical museum. And if you need to hide an archive, where is an intelligent person hiding it? Naturally, in the archive!

It is only in novels that our archives are ordered, systematized and cataloged. The reality looks a little different. Once I had to talk with a man who had been in the archives of the House of Radio. He was shocked by what he saw there, he told how he went through boxes with records that were not listed in any catalogs, but simply piled up in a heap - there were recordings of performances, next to which the vaunted Gergiev performances - like a donkey next to an Arab horse ... This is one example.

Another example can be found in newspapers, which from time to time report a sensational discovery in one of the archives, where they found something absolutely startling. How are these findings made? It's very simple: some curious trainee looks into a chest, into which no one has poked his nose before, and finds it. And what about the story of the rarest antique vases that disappeared peacefully for decades in the basement of the Hermitage? So the easiest way to hide an archive of any size is to dump it in some of the pantry of another archive, where it will lie in complete secrecy and safety until some curious trainee looks into it and asks: what are these dusty bags lying in the corner. And, having opened one of the bags, he will pick up a paper with the inscription: “To my archive. I.St. "

But still, they don't kill for possession of compromising evidence either. On the contrary, it becomes especially dangerous, because it is possible that in the secret safe of the faithful person there are the most important papers in an envelope with the inscription: “In case of my death. L. Beria ". No, something completely extraordinary had to happen for such cowardly enough people as Khrushchev and his company to decide on a murder, and even such a hasty one. What could it be?

The answer came by accident. Having decided to cite the biography of Ignatiev in this book, I came across the following phrase there: on June 25, in a note to Malenkov, Beria proposed to arrest Ignatiev, but did not have time. There may be a mistake in the date, for on June 26 Beria himself was "arrested", but, on the other hand, he may have spoken about it with someone orally a few days before, or a secret spy in the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported to Khrushchev. It was also clear that the new people's commissar was not going to leave the old one alone. On April 6, "for political blindness and roguishness," Ignatiev was removed from the post of secretary of the Central Committee, and on April 28, he was removed from the Central Committee. At Beria's suggestion, the CPC was instructed to consider the issue of Ignatiev's party responsibility. But all this was not right, all this is not scary. And then the information came that Beria was asking Malenkov for sanction for this arrest.

For the conspirators, this was not a danger, it was death! It’s not hard to guess that at the Lubyanka, the former chief of Stalin’s security would have been chopped like a nut and squeezed like a lemon. What would happen next is not difficult to predict if you remember how Beria kissed the hand of the dying Stalin. None of the conspirators would have met the new year, 1954, in the Lubyanka cellars of Beria, not giving a damn about legality for such a case, he would have personally hammered them with his boots.

So this usually happens with "ingenious impromptu". What to do? Remove Ignatiev? It is dangerous: where is the guarantee that a reliable person does not have a description of the night at the Stalinist dacha in a safe place, and maybe much more? He knew who he was dealing with. So what do you do?

And this is the motive! Because of this, Beria could really be killed, moreover, they should have been killed, and exactly as it was done. For there was nothing to arrest him for, but because of the dead Beria, as Khrushchev rightly noted, hardly anyone would raise a fuss: what is done is done, you cannot return the dead. All the more so if you imagine everything as if he offered armed resistance during his arrest. Well, then let the propaganda work, so that it presents him as a monster and a supervillain, so that grateful descendants can say: "It could have been a crime, but it was not a mistake."

Lavrenty Beria is one of the most odious famous politicians of the 20th century, whose activities are still widely discussed in modern society today. He was an extremely controversial person in the history of the USSR and passed a long political path, full of gigantic repressions of people and immense crimes, which made him the most outstanding "death functional" in Soviet times... The head of the NKVD was a cunning and cunning politician, on whose decisions the fate of entire nations depended. Beria carried out his activities under the auspices of the then head of the USSR, after whose death he intended to take his place at the "helm" of the country. But he lost in the struggle for power and was shot as a traitor to the Motherland by a court decision.

Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich was born on March 29, 1899 in the Abkhaz village of Merheuli in the family of poor peasant mengrels Pavel Beria and Marta Dzhakeli. He was the third and only healthy child in the family - the elder brother of the future politician died of illness at the age of two, and his sister suffered a serious illness and became deaf and dumb. From childhood, young Lavrenty showed a great interest in education and a zeal for knowledge, which was atypical for peasant children. At the same time, the parents decided to give their son a chance to become educated, for which they had to sell half of the house in order to pay for the boy's studies at the Sukhumi higher primary school.

Beria fully justified the hopes of his parents and proved that the money was not spent in vain - in 1915 he graduated with honors from the school and entered the Baku Secondary Construction School. As a student, he moved his deaf-mute sister and mother to Baku, and to support them, along with his studies, he worked for the Nobels' oil company. In 1919, Lavrenty Pavlovich received a diploma of a technician-builder-architect.

During his studies, Beria organized a Bolshevik faction, in whose ranks he took an active part in the Russian revolution of 1917, while working as a clerk at the Baku plant "Caspian Partnership White City". He also led the illegal communist party of technicians, with whose members he organized an armed uprising against the government of Georgia, for which he was imprisoned.

In the middle of 1920, Beria was exiled from Georgia to Azerbaijan. But literally after a short period of time, he was able to return to Baku, where he was instructed to carry out KGB work, which made him a secret agent of the Baku police. Even then, the colleagues of the future head of the NKVD of the USSR noticed in him the rigidity and ruthlessness towards people who disagreed with him, which allowed Lavrenty Pavlovich to rapidly develop his career, starting with the deputy chairman of the Azerbaijan Cheka and ending with the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR.

Politics

In the late 1920s, the biography of Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria was concentrated on party work. It was then that he managed to get to know the head of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, who saw his comrade-in-arms in the revolutionary and showed visible favor to him, which many associate with the fact that they were of the same nationality. In 1931 he became the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Party of Georgia, and already in 1935 he was elected a member of the Central Executive Committee and the Presidium of the USSR. In 1937, the politician reached another high step on the path to power and became the head of the Tbilisi City Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia. Becoming the leader of the Bolsheviks of Georgia and Azerbaijan, Beria won the recognition of the people and comrades-in-arms, who at the end of each congress glorified him, calling him "the beloved leader-Stalinist."

At that time, Lavrenty Beria managed to develop the national economy of Georgia to a large-scale size, he made a great contribution to the development of the oil industry and put into operation many large industrial facilities, and transformed Georgia into an all-Union resort area. Under Beria, Georgia's agriculture increased by 2.5 times in volume, and high prices were set for products (tangerines, grapes, tea), which made the Georgian economy the most prosperous in the country.

Real glory to Lavrentiy Beria came in 1938, when Stalin appointed him head of the NKVD, which made the politician the second person after the head in the country. Historians argue that the politician earned such a high post thanks to the active support of the Stalinist repressions of 1936-38, when the Great Terror was taking place in the country, which provided for the “cleansing” of the country from the “enemies of the people”. In those years, almost 700 thousand people lost their lives, who were subjected to political persecution due to disagreement with the current government.

Head of the NKVD

Having become the head of the NKVD of the USSR, Lavrenty Beria distributed leading positions in the department to his comrades-in-arms from Georgia, thereby increasing his influence on the Kremlin and Stalin. In his new post, he immediately carried out a large-scale repression of the former security officers and carried out a total purge in the country's governing apparatus, becoming “ right hand"Stalin in all matters.

At the same time, it was Beria, in the opinion of most historical experts, who was able to put an end to the large-scale Stalinist repressions, as well as release from prison many military and civil servants who were recognized as "unreasonably convicted." Thanks to such actions, Beria gained a reputation as a man who restored "legality" in the USSR.

During the Great Patriotic War, Beria became a member of the State Defense Committee, in which at that time all power in the country was localized. Only he made the final decisions on the production of weapons, aircraft, mortars, engines, as well as on the formation and transfer of air regiments at the front. Responsible for the "military spirit" of the Red Army, Lavrenty Pavlovich used the so-called "weapon of fear", resuming mass arrests and the public death penalty for all captured soldiers and spies who did not want to fight. Historians associate the victory in the Second World War to a greater extent with the tough policy of the head of the NKVD, who controlled the entire military-industrial potential of the country.

After the war, Beria took up the development of the nuclear potential of the USSR, but at the same time continued to carry out massive repressions in the countries that were allies of the USSR in the anti-Hitler coalition, where most of the male population was imprisoned in concentration camps and colonies (GULAG). It was these prisoners who were involved in military production, carried out under a strict regime of secrecy, which was provided by the NKVD.

With the help of a team of nuclear physicists under the leadership of Beria and the well-coordinated work of intelligence officers, Moscow received clear instructions on the structure atomic bomb created in the USA. The first successful test of a nuclear weapon in the USSR was carried out in 1949 in the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan, for which Lavrenty Pavlovich was awarded the Stalin Prize.

In 1946, Beria fell into Stalin's "inner circle" and became deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers. A little later, the head of the USSR saw him as the main competitor, so Iosif Vissarionovich began to carry out a "purge" in Georgia and check the documents of Lavrenty Pavlovich, which complicated relations between them. In this regard, by the time of Stalin's death, Beria and several of his allies had formed an unspoken alliance aimed at changing some of the foundations of Stalin's rule.

He tried to strengthen his position in power by signing a series of decrees aimed at judicial reforms, a global amnesty and the prohibition of harsh interrogation methods with episodes of bullying of prisoners. Thus, he intended to create a new personality cult for himself, opposite to the Stalinist dictatorship. But, since he had practically no allies in the government, after Stalin's death, a conspiracy was organized against Beria, initiated by Nikita Khrushchev.

In July 1953, Lavrenty Beria was arrested at a meeting of the Presidium. He was accused of links with British intelligence and treason. This became one of the most high-profile cases in the history of Russia among members of the highest echelon of power of the Soviet state.

Death

The trial of Lavrentiy Beria was held from 18 to 23 December 1953. He was convicted by a "special tribunal" without the right to defense and appeal. Specific accusations in the case of the former head of the NKVD were a number of unlawful murders, espionage on Great Britain, repression of 1937, rapprochement with, treason.

On December 23, 1953, Beria was shot by the decision of the Supreme Court of the USSR in the bunker of the headquarters of the Moscow military district. After the execution, the body of Lavrenty Pavlovich was burned in the Donskoy crematorium, and the revolutionary's ashes were buried in the New Donskoy cemetery.

According to historians, the death of Beria allowed the entire Soviet people to breathe a sigh of relief, which until the last day considered the politician a bloody dictator and tyrant. And in modern society, he is accused of massive repression by more than 200 thousand people, including a number of Russian scientists and prominent intellectuals of that time. Lavrenty Pavlovich is also credited with a number of execution orders Soviet soldiers, which during the war years was only in the hands of the enemies of the USSR.

In 1941, the former head of the NKVD carried out the "extermination" of all anti-Soviet leaders, as a result of which thousands of people died, including women and children. During the war years, he carried out a total deportation of the peoples of the Crimea and the North Caucasus, the scale of which reached a million people. That is why Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria became the most controversial political figure in the USSR, in whose hands was power over the fate of the people.

Personal life

The personal life of Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich is still a separate topic that requires serious study. He was officially married to Nina Gegechkori, who bore him a son in 1924. The wife of the ex-head of the NKVD throughout her life supported her husband in his difficult activities and was his most devoted friend, whom she tried to justify even after his death.

Throughout his political activities at the heights of power, Lavrenty Pavlovich was known as a "Kremlin rapist" with an unbridled passion for the fair sex. Beria and his women are still considered the most mysterious part of the life of a prominent politician. There is information that in recent years he lived in two families - his common-law wife was Lyalya Drozdova, who gave birth to his illegitimate daughter Martha.

At the same time, historians do not exclude that Beria had a sick psyche and was a pervert. This is confirmed by the politician's "lists of sexual victims", the existence of which in 2003 was recognized in the Russian Federation. It is reported that the number of victims of the maniac Beria is more than 750 girls and girls whom he raped using the methods of sadism.

Historians say that very often schoolgirls of 14-15 years old were subjected to sexual harassment by the head of the NKVD, whom he imprisoned in soundproof interrogation rooms in Lubyanka, where he subjected them to sexual perversion. During interrogation, Beria admitted that he had physical sexual relations with 62 women, and since 1943 he suffered from syphilis, which he contracted from a seventh-grader of one of the schools near Moscow. Also in his safe, during a search, items of lingerie and children's dresses were found, which were stored next to items typical for perverts.

Lavrenty Beria (03.29.1899-23.12.1953) is one of the most odious personalities of the twentieth century. The political and personal life of this man is still controversial. Today not a single historian can unequivocally assess and fully understand this political and public figure. Many of his materials personal life and state activities are kept classified. Maybe some time will pass, and modern society will be able to give a full and adequate answer to all questions concerning this person. It is possible that his biography will also receive a new reading. Beria (Lavrenty Pavlovich's pedigree and activity has been well studied by historians) - this is a whole era in the history of the country.

Childhood and adolescence of the future politician

Who is Lavrenty Beria by origin? His paternal nationality is Mingrelian. This is an ethnic group of the Georgian people. Many modern historians have disputes and questions about the genealogy of politicians. Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich (real name and surname - Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria) was born on March 29, 1899 in the village of Merheuli, Kutaisi province. The family of the future statesman came from poor peasants. From early childhood, Lavrenty Beria was distinguished by an unusual zeal for knowledge, which was not at all typical for the peasantry of the 19th century. To continue his studies, the family had to sell part of their house to pay for tuition. In 1915, Beria entered the Baku Technical School, and 4 years later graduated with honors. Meanwhile, after joining the Bolshevik faction in March 1917, he took an active part in the Russian revolution, being a secret agent of the Baku police.

The first steps in big politics

The career of a young politician in the Soviet security forces began in February 1921, when the ruling Bolsheviks sent him to the Cheka of Azerbaijan. D. Bagirov was the head of the then department of the Extraordinary Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This leader was famous for his cruelty and mercilessness towards dissenting fellow citizens. Lavrenty Beria was engaged in bloody repressions against opponents of Bolshevik rule, even some leaders of the Caucasian Bolsheviks were very wary of his violent methods of work. Thanks to the firm character and excellent oratorical qualities of the leader, at the end of 1922 Beria was transferred to Georgia, where at that time there were big problems with the establishment of Soviet power. He took over as deputy chairman of the Georgian Cheka, throwing himself into work to combat political dissent among his fellow Georgians. Beria's influence on the political situation in the region was authoritarian. Not a single issue was resolved without his direct participation. The career of the young politician was successful; he ensured the defeat of the national communists of that time, who were seeking independence from the central government in Moscow.

Georgian period of rule

By 1926, Lavrenty Pavlovich had risen to the post of Deputy Chairman of the GPU of Georgia. In April 1927, Lavrenty Beria became the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. Beria's competent leadership allowed him to win the favor of I. V. Stalin, a Georgian by nationality. Expanding his influence in the party apparatus, Beria was elected in 1931 to the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party of Georgia. A remarkable achievement for a 32-year-old. From now on, Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich, whose nationality corresponds to the state nomenclature, will continue to rub into the credibility of Stalin. In 1935, Beria published a large treatise that greatly exaggerated the importance of Joseph Stalin in the revolutionary struggle in the Caucasus until 1917. The book was published in all major state publications, which made Beria a figure of national importance.

Accomplice of Stalinist repressions

When JV Stalin from 1936 to 1938 began his bloody political terror in the party and the country, Lavrenty Beria was his active accomplice. In Georgia alone, thousands of innocent people died at the hands of the NKVD, and thousands more were convicted and sent to prisons and labor camps as part of a nationwide Stalinist vendetta against the Soviet people. Many party leaders died during the sweeps. However, Lavrenty Beria, whose biography remained unblemished, came out dry from the water. In 1938, Stalin awarded him with an appointment to the post of head of the NKVD. After carrying out a full-scale purge of the NKVD leadership, Beria gave key leadership positions to his associates from Georgia. Thus, he increased his political influence over the Kremlin.

Pre-war and war periods of L.P. Beria's life

In February 1941, Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria became Deputy Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, and in June, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, he became a member of the Defense Committee. During the war, Beria had full control over the production of weapons, aircraft and ships. In a word, the entire military-industrial potential was in his subordination. Soviet Union... Thanks to the skillful leadership, sometimes brutal, the role of Beria in the great victory of the Soviet people over Nazi Germany had one of the key values... Many prisoners in the NKVD and labor camps worked in military production. These are the realities of that time. It is difficult to say what would have happened to the country if the course of history had a different vector of direction.

In 1944, when the Germans were expelled from Soviet soil, Beria oversaw the case of various ethnic minorities accused of collaborating with the invaders, including Chechens, Ingush, Karachais, Crimean Tatars and Volga Germans. All of them were deported to Central Asia.

Leadership of the country's military industry

Since December 1944, Beria has been a member of the Supervisory Board for the creation of the first atomic bomb in the USSR. For the implementation of this project, a large working and scientific potential was required. This is how the system of State Administration of Camps (GULAG) was formed. A talented team of nuclear physicists was assembled. The GULAG system provided tens of thousands of workers for the extraction of uranium and the construction of test equipment (in Semipalatinsk, Vaygach, on Novaya Zemlya, etc.). The NKVD provided the necessary level of security and secrecy of the project. First tests atomic weapons were held in the Semipalatinsk region in 1949.

In July 1945, Lavrenty Beria (photo on the left) was presented to the high military rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Although he never took part in direct military command, his role in organizing military production was a significant contribution to the final victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. This fact of the personal biography of Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich is beyond doubt.

Death of the leader of the peoples

JV Stalin's age is approaching 70 years. The question of the leader's successor in the post of the head of the Soviet state is being raised more and more. The most likely candidate was the head of the Leningrad party apparatus, Andrei Zhdanov. L. P. Beria and G. M. Malenkov even created an unspoken alliance to block the party growth of A. A. Zhdanov.

In January 1946, Beria left the post of head of the NKVD (which was soon renamed the Ministry of Internal Affairs), while maintaining overall control over national security issues, and became a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. The new head of the security department, SN Kruglov, is not Beria's henchman. In addition, by the summer of 1946 V. Merkulov, loyal to Beria, was replaced by V. Abakumov as head of the MGB. A secret struggle for leadership in the country began. After the death of A. A. Zhdanov in 1948, the "Leningrad affair" was fabricated, as a result of which many party leaders of the northern capital were arrested and executed. In these post-war years, under the unofficial leadership of Beria, an active agent network was created in Eastern Europe.

JV Stalin died on March 5, 1953, four days after the collapse. A political memoir by Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, published in 1993, claims that Beria bragged to Molotov that he had poisoned Stalin, although no evidence was ever provided to support this claim. There is evidence that for many hours after JV Stalin was found unconscious in his office, he was denied medical assistance. It is possible that all Soviet leaders agreed to leave the sick Stalin, whom they feared, to certain death.

Struggle for the state throne

After the death of JV Stalin, Beria was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. His close ally G.M. Malenkov becomes the new Chairman of the Supreme Soviet and the most powerful person in the country's leadership after the death of the leader. Beria was the second powerful leader, given the lack of real leadership qualities in Malenkov. He effectively becomes the power behind the throne, and ultimately the leader of the state. Nikita Khrushchev became the secretary of the Communist Party, whose office was viewed as a less important post than the post of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet.

Reformer or "great combinator"

Lavrenty Beria was at the forefront of the country's liberalization after Stalin's death. He publicly condemned the Stalinist regime and rehabilitated over a million political prisoners. In April 1953, Beria signed a decree prohibiting the use of torture in Soviet prisons. He also made it clear about a more liberal policy towards non-Russian nationalities, citizens of the Soviet Union. He convinced the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the need to introduce a communist regime in East Germany, gave rise to economic and political reforms in the country of the Soviets. There is an authoritative opinion that the entire liberal policy of Beria after Stalin's death was an ordinary maneuver to consolidate power in the country. There is another opinion that the radical reforms proposed by L.P. Beria could speed up the processes of economic development of the Soviet Union.

Arrest and death: unanswered questions

Historical facts provide conflicting information about the overthrow of Beria. According to the official version, Nikita Khrushchev called a meeting of the Presidium on June 26, 1953, where Beria was arrested. He was charged with links with British intelligence. It was a complete surprise to him. Lavrenty Beria asked briefly: "What's going on, Nikita?" VM Molotov and other members of the Politburo also spoke out against Beria, and Nikita Khrushchev agreed to his arrest. Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov personally escorted the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet. Some sources claim that Beria was killed on the spot, but this is not true. His arrest was kept in the strictest confidence until his top aides were arrested. The NKVD troops in Moscow, which were subordinate to Beria, were disarmed by regular army units. The truth about the arrest of Lavrenty Beria was announced by the Sovinformburo only on July 10, 1953. He was convicted by a "special tribunal" without defense and without the right to appeal. On December 23, 1953, by the verdict of the Supreme Court, Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich was shot. The death of Beria made the Soviet people breathe a sigh of relief. This marked the end of the era of repression. Indeed, for him (the people) Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria was a bloody tyrant and despot.

Beria's wife and son were sent to labor camps, but were later released. His wife Nina died in 1991 in exile in Ukraine; his son Sergo died in October 2000, defending his father's reputation for the rest of his life.

In May 2002, the Supreme Court Russian Federation refused to grant the petition of members of the family of Beria for his rehabilitation. The statement was based on Russian law, which provided for the rehabilitation of victims of false political accusations. The court ruled: "L. P. Beria was the organizer of repressions against his own people, and, therefore, cannot be considered a victim."

Loving husband and cunning lover

Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich and women is a separate topic that requires serious study. Officially L.P. Beria was married to Nina Teimurazovna Gegechkori (1905-1991). In 1924, they had a son, Sergo, named after a prominent politician Sergo Ordzhonikidze. All her life Nina Teimurazovna was a faithful and devoted companion of her husband. Despite his betrayal, this woman was able to preserve the honor and dignity of the family. In 1990, being at a fairly old age, Nina Beria fully justified her husband in an interview with Western journalists. Until the end of her life, Nina Teimurazovna fought for the moral rehabilitation of her husband.

Of course, Lavrenty Beria and his women, with whom he had an intimate relationship, gave rise to many rumors and mysteries. From the testimony of Beria's personal security, it follows that their boss was very popular with the female. One can only guess whether these were mutual feelings between a man and a woman or not.

Kremlin rapist

When Beria was questioned, he admitted to having physical relationships with 62 women and also suffered from syphilis in 1943. This happened after the 7th grade student was raped. According to him, he has from her bastard... There are many confirmed facts of Beria's sexual harassment. Young girls from schools near Moscow have been kidnapped repeatedly. When Beria noticed a beautiful girl, his assistant, Colonel Sarkisov, approached her. Showing the identity card of the NKVD officer, he ordered to follow him.

Often these girls ended up in soundproof interrogation rooms in Lubyanka or in the basement of a house on Kachalova Street. Sometimes, before raping girls, Beria used the methods of sadism. Among high-ranking government officials, Beria was known as a sexual predator. He kept a list of his sexual victims in a special notebook. According to the minister's domestic workers, the number of victims of the sex maniac exceeded 760 people. In 2003, the Government of the Russian Federation recognized the existence of these lists.

During a search of Beria's personal office, items of women's toilet were found in the armored safes of one of the top leaders of the Soviet state. According to an inventory drawn up by members of the military tribunal, the following were found: women's silk combinations, ladies' tights, children's dresses and other women's accessories. Among the government documents were letters containing love confessions. This personal correspondence was vulgar. In addition to women's clothing, in a large number items typical of male perverts were found. All this speaks of the sick mentality of the great leader of the state. It is possible that he was not alone in his sexual addictions, his biography was not tarnished alone. Beria (Lavrenty Pavlovich was not fully unraveled either during his lifetime or after his death) is a page in the history of long-suffering Russia, which remains to be studied for a long time.

The execution of the "bloody" Stalinist People's Commissar was staged 65 years ago. Khrushchev and Malenkov hid their former comrade-in-arms in South America, researchers say.

According to the official version, Lavrenty Beria was arrested on June 26, 1953 in the Kremlin and in the same year on December 23, by a court sentence, he was shot in an underground bunker in the courtyard of the headquarters of the Moscow Military District.

However, there is a lot of dark in this story. There is a document about Beria's death. It was signed by three officials - Colonel General Batitsky, USSR Prosecutor General Rudenko and Army General Moskalenko. The document has the title: “Act. 1953, December 23 days ".

The document does not raise doubts about its authenticity, unless, of course, it is compared with other, similar documents. Now such an opportunity has appeared. And, as the archives testify, the official data of those years too often diverge from reality. Therefore, the attention of historians is attracted by other versions of the fate of Beria, living in the form of rumors. Two of them are particularly sensational.

The first assumes that Beria somehow managed to avoid the trap prepared against him during the conspiracy of his former comrades-in-arms, or even escape from the arrest that had already happened and hide in Latin America. And so he was able to stay alive.

The second rumor says that when Beria was arrested, the marshal and his guards resisted and were killed. They even name the author of the fatal shot, namely Khrushchev. There are also those who say that the pre-trial execution took place in the already mentioned bunker almost immediately after Beria's arrest in the Kremlin.

Which of these versions to believe? Especially in light of the fact that no one has ever seen Beria's ashes, and no one knows where he is buried. Not so long ago, two versions were confirmed at once that Beria still survived.

Marshal's trap

As noted by the famous researcher of Soviet history Nikolai Zenkovich, Khrushchev liked to tell his foreign interlocutors how the action against Beria was carried out. The plot, with some changes, is basically the same.

According to one of Khrushchev's stories, the end of Beria was like this. Khrushchev first convinced G.M. Malenkov and N.A. So everyone probably thought, although everyone was afraid to say it out loud. Khrushchev was not afraid. Only the technique of carrying out the operation against Beria was difficult. The normal procedure - an open discussion of the accusation against the marshal in the Presidium of the Central Committee or at the plenum of the party - was no longer valid. There was a danger that as soon as Beria found out about the charges against him, he would immediately carry out a coup d'etat and shoot all his rivals-comrades-in-arms. According to one, very widespread, version, Beria intended to arrest the entire Presidium of the Central Committee at the Bolshoi Theater, at the premiere of Yuri Shaporin's opera The Decembrists.

The action was allegedly scheduled for June 27. Although, as N. Zenkovich notes, these rumors could be spread in order to convince the public that the villain Beria himself was preparing a conspiracy against the leadership of the USSR, and the "core" of the Central Committee of the party had no choice but a preemptive strike.
Thus, in the fight against Beria, the conspirators had only one way to go: to deceive and lure him into a trap. According to one version, the operation against Beria was timed to coincide with the beginning of the army's summer maneuvers (which is interesting, there is no mention of the maneuvers in the memoirs of the military themselves). Several Siberian divisions were supposed to participate in the exercises of the Moscow Military District (MVO) (just in case Beria's supporters appear in the Moscow divisions). At a meeting of the Council of Ministers, held on June 26, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the chief of the General Staff reported on the progress of the maneuvers. A group of military men, led by Marshal Zhukov (he had already been transferred from Sverdlovsk to Moscow and held the post of Deputy Defense Minister) and the commander of the Moscow Military District, General K.S. Moskalenko, were also present in the hall.

Malenkov announced the joint meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers open. And then he turned to Zhukov to detain Beria “on behalf of the Soviet government”. Zhukov ordered Beria: "Hands up!" Moskalenko and other generals drew their weapons to prevent a provocation from Beria.

Then the generals took Beria into custody and took him to the next room, next to Malenkov's office. At the suggestion of Khrushchev, the Prosecutor General of the USSR was immediately dismissed from his post and Rudenko, Khrushchev's man, was appointed in his place.

Then the Presidium of the Central Committee discussed the question of the future fate of Beria: what to do with him next and what to do with him? There were two decisions: to keep Beria under arrest and conduct an investigation or immediately shoot him, and then retroactively formalize the death sentence in accordance with the law. It was dangerous to make the first decision: the entire state security apparatus and internal troops stood behind Beria, and he could easily be released. There was no legal basis to make the second decision - to shoot Beria immediately.

After discussing both options, they came to the conclusion: Beria still needs to be shot immediately in order to exclude the possibility of a riot. The executor of this verdict - in the same next room - in Khrushchev's stories was once General Moskalenko, another - Mikoyan, and the third - even Khrushchev himself (he added: further investigation of Beria's case, they say, fully confirmed that he was shot correctly) ...

Where is Beria buried?

Russian researchers N. Zenkovich and S. Gribanov have collected many documents about the fate of Beria after his arrest. But especially valuable evidence on this score was found in the archives by the Hero of the Soviet Union, intelligence officer and former head of the Union of Soviet Writers Vladimir Karpov. Studying the life of Marshal G. Zhukov, he put an end to the dispute whether Zhukov participated in the arrest of Beria. In the secret personal memoirs of the marshal he found, it is said bluntly: he not only participated, but also led the capture group. So, the statement of Beria's son Sergo, they say, Zhukov had nothing to do with the arrest of his father, is not true!

In the opinion of historians, Karpov's find is also important because it refutes the rumor about the heroic shot of Nikita Khrushchev during the arrest of the all-powerful Minister of Internal Affairs.
What happened after the arrest, Zhukov did not personally see and therefore wrote what he learned from hearsay, namely: “After the trial, Beria was shot by those who guarded him. During the execution, Beria behaved very badly, like the very last coward, he cried hysterically, knelt down and, finally, was all stained. In a word, he lived disgustingly and died even more disgustingly. Note: this is what Zhukov was told, but he himself did not see it.

And here is what the military journalist S. Gribanov managed to learn from the “real” “author” of the bullet for Beria, the then Colonel-General PF Batitsky: “We led Beria up the stairs to the dungeon. Then I shot him. "

Everything would be fine, notes researcher Nikolai Dobryukha, if other witnesses of the execution, and General Batitsky himself, said the same thing everywhere. Although, inconsistencies could also occur due to negligence or from the literary fantasies of researchers. One of whom, for example, the son of the revolutionary Antonov-Ovseenko, wrote that they supposedly executed Beria in the bunker of the Moscow Military District headquarters, in the presence of Prosecutor General Rudenko, who read out the verdict. General Batitsky shot the marshal. After examining the body by a doctor, "Beria's body was wrapped in linen and sent to the crematorium."
Everything would be fine, the researchers note, but where are the documents confirming the shooting and burning of Beria? It remains a mystery, for example, that, as follows from the execution act of December 23, 1953, for some reason the obligatory doctor in such cases was not present at the death of Beria. And the lists of those present at the execution, published by different authors, do not coincide. Nobody saw yet another act - cremation, as well as the body of the person who was shot. Of course, with the exception of the three who signed the act. So, the question arises: "Was it Beria who was shot?"
These discrepancies could have been ignored if Beria's son Sergo had not insisted that a member of that very court Shvernik told him personally: “I was a member of the tribunal in your father’s case, but I never saw him.” Sergo had even more doubts about the confessions of a member of the court, the former secretary of the Central Committee Mikhailov, who stated more frankly: "There was a completely different person in the courtroom." But then he explained: either instead of Beria, an actor was put in the dock, or the marshal himself had changed beyond recognition during the arrest? It is possible, some researchers suggest, that Beria could have doubles. ((A man with a mustache from Argentina
And now about the South American trace of the post-shooting biography of Lavrenty Beria.
In 1958, Beria's son Sergo and wife Nina Teimurazovna lived in Sverdlovsk under the wife's maiden name - Gegechkori (immediately after her husband's arrest, Nina Teimurazovna ended up in Butyrka prison). Once in his mailbox Nina Teimurazovna discovered a photograph in which Lavrenty Beria was depicted with a lady on Maya Square in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. The photo was taken against the background of the presidential palace. As N. Zenkovich describes, when she saw the photo, Nina Teimurazovna said: “This is her husband.”

In the mailbox, along with the picture, there was also a mysterious message: "In Anaklia, on the Black Sea coast, a man with very important information about his father will be waiting for you." Nina Teimurazovna invented an illness for herself, received a sick leave and flew to Georgia to meet with an unknown bearer of the news. However, no one came to the meeting. Probably, the anonymous author wanted to see exactly the son of Beria - Sergo.

The story of the mysterious snapshot did not end there. Many decades later, archival documentary filming of one of the squares of Buenos Aires fell into the hands of Russian documentary filmmakers. On it, against the background of the monument, surrounded by idly marching passers-by, a walking man in a light raincoat and a dark hat is clearly visible. The moment he walks directly in front of the camera operator, he momentarily turns his head towards the camera and looks directly into the lens. At the same time, his face, mustache and pince-nez on the nose are clearly visible. The first reaction of everyone who saw this footage was almost the same: "This man looks like Beria!"

To make sure that the newsreel footage was not a clever fake, filmmakers turned to specialists. After a thorough examination of the film, video editing experts stated that there were no traces of artificial editing of frames and images - the shooting was real.
Then the film was shown to specialists who compared the external data of the person filmed in Argentina with the data of Beria, so that they could give an opinion on their possible similarity, or vice versa. With the help of computer analysis, the experts studied the face of the mysterious "Argentine" and Lavrenty Beria and, with a probability of more than 90%, concluded that this was the same person.

To avoid possible error, if a man from Argentina could turn out to be a double or just a person very similar to Beria, the film was also given to be examined by specialists in psychodynamics. On the basis of a special technique that allows, on the basis of ordinary human movements, to identify his mental characteristics and, on this basis, to determine the psychotype of a person as a whole, the experts, comparing the Argentinean footage with the footage of Beria's lifetime footage, came to the conclusion that they depict the same person ... It is simply impossible to fake movements so skillfully, even if desired, experts say.

It turns out that the allegedly shot Beria, in fact, after his official death, remained alive for a long time and lived happily in Argentina? Who and for what purpose filmed Beria in Buenos Aires (if it really is him) remains a mystery. Although, there is by no means an accidental coincidence of the place and time of shooting and the fact that, passing by the operator, the man turned his head and "looked" directly into the camera lens. This suggests that the shooting was done on purpose.

For what purpose could this be done? Probably to remind in this way of the existence of Beria to those who continued to rule the Soviet country at that time. But why then, one wonders, did the USSR leadership need to create the greatest hoax with the execution of Beria, as well as release him alive in South America? Most likely, there is a version that many associates of Stalin and Beria, who rose after the death of the leader at the helm of the USSR, were themselves afraid that Beria, having over the years colossal opportunities to collect dirt on the entire Soviet elite, would not expose their old ones, “ bloody "sins" before the people, starting with participation in mass repressions. On the other hand, it was also impossible to leave Beria inside the country: many had too great a fear of his former power. Apparently, that is why Stalin's heirs and former comrades-in-arms of Beria agreed on a "neutral" option: to save the life of the marshal, but send him to live as a private person far from the USSR, as was done earlier with Leon Trotsky.

Is it for this reason that Malenkov was silent about the events of those years? Even his son Andrei lamented that after a third of a century his father preferred to avoid talking about what happened to Beria?
So where is the grave of the "bloody" marshal?

Prepared by Oleg Lobanov
based on materials from "Sovetskaya Belorussia", Zenkovich N. A. "Attempts and staging: from Lenin to Yeltsin", Sergo Beria. "Evening Moscow" "My father is Lavrenty Beria", TRK "Russia"

Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria (1899-1953) - a prominent statesman and political figure of the USSR during the Stalinist period. In the last years of Stalin's life, he was the second person in the state. Especially his authority increased after the successful test of the atomic bomb on August 29, 1949. This project was supervised directly by Lavrenty Pavlovich. He gathered a very strong team of scientists, provided them with everything they needed, and in the shortest possible time a weapon of incredible power was created.

Lavrenty Beria

However, after the death of the leader of the peoples, the career of the powerful Lawrence ended. The entire leadership of the Leninist party opposed him. Beria was arrested on June 26, 1953, accused of high treason, tried and shot on December 23 of the same year by a court decision. This is the official version of those distant historical events. That is, there was arrest, trial and execution of the sentence.

But in our days, the opinion has become stronger that there was no arrest and trial. All this was invented by the leaders of the Soviet state for the broad masses and Western journalists. In reality, Beria's death came as a result of a banal murder. The mighty Lawrence was shot by the generals of the Soviet army, and they did it completely unexpectedly for their victim. The body of the deceased was destroyed, and only then the arrest and trial were announced. As for the procedural actions, they were fabricated at the highest state level.

However, one should not forget that such a statement requires proof. And those can be obtained only after making sure that the official version consists of continuous inaccuracies and flaws. So let's start with a question: at a meeting of which authority was arrested Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria?

Khrushchev, Molotov, Kaganovich first told everyone that Beria was arrested at a meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee. However, then smart people explained to the leaders of the state that they confess to the crime under Art. 115 CC - Unlawful detention. The Presidium of the Central Committee is the highest party body and does not have the authority to detain the first deputy of the USSR Council of Ministers appointed to the post The Supreme Council THE USSR.

Therefore, when Khrushchev dictated his memoirs, he said that the arrest was made at a meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers, where all members of the Presidium of the Central Committee were invited. That is, Beria was arrested not by the party, but by the government. But the whole paradox is that none of the members of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers mentioned such a meeting in their memoirs.

Zhukov and Khrushchev

Now let's find out: who from the military arrested Lawrence, and who commanded these military? Marshal Zhukov said that it was he who led the capture group. Colonel-General Moskalenko was given to help him. And the latter stated that it was he who commanded the detention, and that he took Zhukov for the number. It all sounds strange, since the military is initially clear who gives commands and who executes them.

Further, Zhukov said that he received the task of arresting Beria from Khrushchev. But then he was prompted that in this case he had attempted the freedom of the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers by order of the secretary of the Central Committee. Therefore, in subsequent memoirs, Zhukov began to assert that he received the arrest order from the head of the government Malenkov.

But Moskalenko presented those events differently. According to him, the task was received from Khrushchev, and the instructions were given by Defense Minister Bulganin. He himself received the order from Malenkov personally. At the same time, the head of government was accompanied by Bulganin, Molotov and Khrushchev. They left the meeting room of the Presidium of the Central Committee to meet Moskalenko and his capture group. It should be said that already on August 3, Colonel-General Moskalenko was awarded the next rank of army general, and in March 1955, the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. And before that, since 1943, for 10 years, he wore three general's stars on his shoulder straps.

A military career is good, but who to believe, Zhukov or Moskalenko? That is, there is discord - one says one thing, and the other says something completely different. Maybe, after all, Moskalenko commanded the detention of Beria? It is believed that he received the highest titles not for arrest, but for the murder of Beria. It was the colonel-general who shot Lavrenty, and he did this not after the trial, but on June 26, 1953, on the basis of an oral order from Malenkov, Khrushchev and Bulganin. That is, Beria's death occurred in the summer, and not in the last decade of December.

But back to the official version and ask: did they give Lavrenty Palych the floor for an explanation before the arrest?? Khrushchev wrote that they did not give Beria a word. At first, all the members of the Presidium of the Central Committee spoke, and after that Malenkov immediately pressed a button and summoned the military to the meeting room. But Molotov and Kaganovich argued that Lavrenty made excuses and denied all charges. But what exactly the debunked deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers said, they did not say. By the way, for some reason the minutes of this meeting were not preserved either. Maybe because there was no such meeting at all.

Where the military waited for the signal to arrest Beria? Khrushchev and Zhukov said that the meeting itself took place in Stalin's former office. But the capture group was waiting in the room of Poskrebyshev's assistant. From it there was a door directly to the office, bypassing the reception area. Moskalenko stated that he was waiting with generals and officers in the waiting room, while Beria's guards were nearby.

How the signal was given to the military for the arrest of Lawrence? According to Zhukov's recollections, Malenkov made two calls to Poskrebyshev's office. And Moskalenko says something completely different. Malenkov's assistant Sukhanov transmitted the agreed signal to his capture group. Immediately after that, five armed generals and a sixth unarmed Zhukov (he never carried a weapon) entered the meeting room.

Marshal Moskalenko, fourth from the right

At what time was Beria's arrest made? Moskalenko stated that his group arrived in the Kremlin at 11 o'clock on June 26, 1953. At 13 o'clock a prearranged signal was received. Marshal Zhukov claimed that the first bell rang at the first hour of the day, and a little later the second bell rang. Malenkov's assistant Sukhanov gives a completely different chronology of those events. According to him, the meeting began at 2 pm, and the military was waiting for the agreed signal for about two hours.

Where was the arrest of Lavrenty Pavlovich? This place was defined by eyewitnesses more or less the same. The debunked deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers was arrested right at the table of the Presidium of the Central Committee. Zhukov recalled: “I approached Beria from behind and commanded:“ Stand up! You are under arrest. " He began to rise, and I immediately wrung his hands behind his back, lifted and shook". Moskalenko stated his version: “ We entered the conference room and pulled out our weapons. I went straight to Beria and ordered him to raise his hands up».

But Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev sets out these historical events in its own way: " I was given the floor, and I openly accused Beria of state crimes. He quickly realized the degree of danger and reached out to the briefcase lying on the table in front of him. At the same moment I grabbed my briefcase and said: "You are naughty, Lavrenty!" There was a pistol. After that Malenkov proposed to discuss everything at the Plenum. Those present agreed and went to the exit. Lawrence was detained at the door when he was leaving the conference room».

How and where they took Lawrence after his arrest? Here again we will get acquainted with the memoirs of Moskalenko: “ The arrested person was kept under guard in one of the rooms in the Kremlin. On the night of June 26-27, to the headquarters of the Moscow Air Defense District on the street. Kirov, five ZIS-110 cars were sent. They took 30 communist officers from the headquarters and brought them to the Kremlin. These people replaced the guards inside the building. After that, surrounded by guards, Beria was taken outside and seated in one of the ZISs. Batitsky, Yuferev, Zub and Baksov sat down with him. I got into the same car in the front seat. Accompanied by another car, we drove through the Spassky Gate to the garrison guardhouse in Moscow».

From the above official information it follows that Beria's death could not have occurred during his detention. Justice was served after the trial on December 23, 1953. The verdict was carried out by Colonel-General Batitsky. It was he who shot Lavrenty Pavlovich, firing a bullet into his forehead. That is, there was no firing squad. Prosecutor General Rudenko read out the verdict in the bunker of the Moscow Military District headquarters, they tied Lavrenty's hands with a rope, tied him to a bullet trap, and Batitsky fired.

Everything seems to be fine, but something else confuses - was there a trial over the debunked deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers? According to official figures, the arrest took place on June 26, 1953. From 2 to 7 July, a Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU was held, dedicated to the anti-state activities of Beria. Malenkov was the first to speak with the main accusations, then 24 people spoke about less significant atrocities. In conclusion, a Resolution of the Plenum was adopted, condemning the activities of Lavrenty Pavlovich.

After that, an investigation began under the personal leadership of Prosecutor General Rudenko. As a result of the investigative actions, the "Beria case" appeared, consisting of many volumes. Everything seems to be fine, but there is one caveat. None of the officials could name the exact number of volumes. For example, Moskalenko said that there were exactly 40 of them. Other persons named about 40 volumes, more than 40 volumes and even 50 volumes of the criminal case. That is, no one ever knew their exact number.

But maybe the volumes are stored in the Central Archives of the Ministry of Security? If so, they can be viewed and recalculated. No, they are not stored in the archive. Where, then, are these ill-fated volumes located? Nobody can answer this question. That is, there is no case, and since it is absent, then what kind of court can we talk about at all. However, officially the trial lasted 8 days from December 16 to 23.

It was chaired by Marshal Konev. The court included Chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions Shvernik, First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of the USSR Zeidin, General of the Army Moskalenko, First Secretary of the Moscow Regional Committee of the CPSU Mikhailov, Chairman of the Union of Right Forces of Georgia Kuchava, Chairman of the Moscow City Court Gromov, First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR Lunev. All of them were worthy people and selflessly devoted to the party.

However, it is noteworthy that they later recalled extremely reluctantly about the trial of Beria and his comrades-in-arms in the amount of six people. Here is what Moskalenko wrote about the 8-day trial: “ After 6 months, the investigation was completed and a trial took place, as Soviet citizens learned from the press.". And that's it, not a word more, but Moskalenko's memoirs are even thicker than Zhukov's.

Other members of the court turned out to be just as unintelligent. But after all, they took part in the process, which became one of the major events their lives. It was possible to write thick books about him and become famous, but for some reason the members of the court got off with only stingy general phrases. For example, here is what Kuchava wrote: “ At the trial, a disgusting monstrous picture of intrigue, blackmail, slander, mockery of the human dignity of Soviet people was exposed". And that's all he could say about 8 days of endless court hearings.

Left Marshal Batitsky

And who guarded Lavrenty Pavlovich when the investigation was underway? Such was Major Khizhnyak, commandant of the Moscow air defense headquarters. He was the only guard and escort. Subsequently, he recalled: “ I was with Beria all the time. I brought him food, took him to the bathhouse, and guarded him at the trial. The trial itself lasted more than a month. Every day except Saturday and Sunday. The meetings were held from 10 am to 7 pm with a lunch break". These are the memories - more than a month, not 8 days. And who is telling the truth and who is deceiving?

Based on the foregoing, the conclusion suggests itself that there was no trial at all. There was no one to judge, since Beria's death occurred on June 25 or 26, 1953. He was killed either in his own house, where he lived with his family, or at a military facility, to which the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers was lured by the generals. The body was removed from the crime scene and destroyed. And all other events can be called in one word - falsification. As for the cause of the murder, it is as old as the world - the struggle for power.

Immediately after the destruction of Lawrence, his closest associates were arrested: Bogdan Zakharievich Kobulov (born in 1904), Vsevolod Nikolaevich Merkulov (born in 1895), Vladimir Georgievich Dekanozov (born in 1898), Pavel Yakovlevich Meshikov (born in 1910). b.), Vlodzimirsky Lev Emelyanovich (b. 1902), Goglidze Sergei Arsentievich (b. 1901). These people were kept in prison until December 1953. The trial itself took place in one day.

The members of the court got together and took pictures. Then six accused were brought in. Konev announced that due to the illness of the main accused Beria, the trial would be held without him. After that, the judges held a formal hearing, sentenced the defendants to death and signed the verdict. It was carried out immediately, and everything that concerned Lavrenty Pavlovich was falsified. So those distant events ended, the protagonist of which was not Beria at all, but only his name.