On July 10, 1953, an explosive news item was published on the front page of the major Moscow newspapers, and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held a central plenum and decided to remove Beria from the Central Committee of the CPSU and expel him from the party. On the same day, Beria's First Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and Minister of Internal Affairs were also relieved of their duties.
As soon as this news came out, the political circles of various countries in the world were in an uproar.
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Who is Beria? The recognized number two figure in the former Soviet Union, Stalin's confidant, was the main executor of the Great Purge. Countless high-ranking politicians have died at his hands, and millions more have been imprisoned or exiled. At that time, whenever the name of Beria was mentioned, it was all famous.
The question, then, is, how did Beria, who had such power, be deposed, removed, arrested, and shot less than four months after Stalin's death? Who gave him the fatal blow behind Beria's back?
Let's start with a brief look at Beria's rise.
Lavlenti Bavlovich Beria, known as Himmler of the SOVIET Union, was born in Georgia in 1899 and joined the Cheka (the predecessor of the KGB) in 1920.
Beria rose rapidly in his position within the Soviet Union, and in 1931 he was already the political leader of the Republics of the South Caucasus, and it was through his efforts that these countries joined the Soviet Union one by one. The assassination of 1933 pushed him to the heart of political power. When Stalin was assassinated during his vacation, Beria, who was accompanying him, fought to protect Stalin with his body, and the assassin was killed on the spot.
It was this event that Stalin praised Beria so much that he took a big step towards power.
In 1938, Beria was transferred to Moscow as first deputy commissioner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, and later promoted to head of the ministry.
Immediately afterwards, Beria began to gradually assign his cronies to the Ministry of internal affairs, mainly to eliminate dissidents for Stalin and monitor party personnel. Slowly it became the police agency of that period.
Especially during the Great Purge, the Ministry of the Interior used illegal torture and secret agents to persecute many elites in the party, government, and military circles. Usually who Stalin wanted to kill, Beria led the Ministry of the Interior to arrest and execute the target. As Stalin's instrument of murder and the main executor of the Great Purge plan, Beria had the blood of his compatriots on his hands, and many Soviet generals, marshals, and senior leaders talked about it.
In 1945, Beria was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union and began to take charge of the post-war Soviet nuclear weapons research program. He collected data on American atomic bombs, organized Soviet experts to build and test them, and built the first atomic bomb in the Soviet Union in just four years. During World War II, Beria also experienced several general battles and performed well in intelligence. It also played a pivotal role in the early post-war arms race with the United States.
The turning point in Beria's life came quietly from stalin's death.
In March 1953, Stalin died. At the center of the former Soviet authority, a leadership group centered on Malenkov, Beria and Khrushchev emerged.
Malenkov was appointed First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Beria was Minister of Internal Affairs and First Deputy Secretary of the Council of Ministers, and Khrushchev was appointed Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee.
Beria controlled the Ministry of the Interior and the national nuclear missile program, and took real power. So Beria had the decision-making power of the trio.
Because of the sight of Beria's iron fist and bloody methods, officials at all levels in the former Soviet Union were afraid that bad luck would come to them, and Khrushchev and Malenkov were no exception.
In 1953, taking advantage of Beria's trip to East Germany, Khrushchev, together with Malenkov, Molotov, Zhukov and others, prepared to launch a coup d'état to eliminate Beria in one fell swoop.
On June 26, 1953, Malenkov came forward to convene a special meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Soviet Party, and Beria, who had just returned from East Germany, also came to the meeting with a briefcase, and he never imagined that his fate would come to an abrupt end today.
Beria sat down to ask what the content of today's meeting was, and Khrushchev replied: "The agenda of today's meeting is on the anti-party and separatist activities of the imperialist agent Beria."
When Beria heard this, he felt bad and subconsciously put his hand into his briefcase, and just then Zhukov led the Soviet soldiers who had been ambushed in advance to rush in and arrest Beria.
On 23 December, the court sentenced Beria to death on charges of "treason," "organizing anti-Soviet activities," and "attempting to seize state power." That night, Beria was shot.
The Beria incident is a portrayal of the core struggle for power in the former Soviet Union, but the losing side is Beria.