On August 7, 1998, in the garden of a house on Moscow's Garden Ring Road, several construction workers were digging a drainage canal. Digging and digging, a sharp-eyed worker suddenly noticed that several pieces of human bones had appeared in the dirt. The workers continued to dig down, more and more bones, and the naked eye alone could tell what was likely to be human remains.
The foreman immediately called the police, and when the police arrived, they organized the excavation, which resulted in a large number of skeletons dug up in this small garden. The forensic doctor identified the bones as belonging to five young women who died more than 50 years ago.
This building was not an ordinary residence, it was the official residence of the Tunisian ambassador to Russia at the time, and further ahead, it was inhabited by a famous figure in Soviet history, Beria.
As one of the most powerful figures of the Stalin era, Beria was greatly valued. From 1938 onwards, Beria was transferred from the position of First Secretary of Georgia to Moscow as Chairman of the People's Commissar of the Internal Affairs of the USSR, directly leading the secret police force throughout the USSR.
Beria gradually became a soviet figure, in charge of the most powerful internal affairs organs in the Soviet Union, he was regarded as Stalin's right-hand man, and became one of stalin's potential successors after Stalin's death.
But in late June 1953, the Soviet authorities abruptly arrested and executed Beria (at the age of 54), a sensational "Beria Incident" just over four months after Stalin's death.
After the incident, due to the background of secret work, the name Beria became synonymous with bloody repression, conspiracy drilling, moral corruption, and imperialist espionage in the official Soviet definition.
Naturally, the remains found in the garden of Beria's former official residence were linked to Beria, and many felt that the women were likely victims of Beria's time in power.
However, Beria's family has stood firmly in denial, pointing out that the Moscow Garden Loop is steeped in history and that Beria only lived there briefly for a while. Before him, the house was inhabited by many well-known figures, including many dignitaries of the Tsarist period. Moreover, to say that the remains are related to Beria, there is no evidence to support it, it is purely a matter of people's wind and shadow.
His family also has something to say about Beria's silent execution, believing that beria suffered injustice in those years, and history will eventually return him to justice.
Beria is a man who has once again aroused public interest, but what is the truth?
Beria's evaluation was once known as a "traitor" and "heinous executioner" who "served the interests of foreign capital", but decades later, with the declassification of Soviet-era documents, Beria's achievements gradually surfaced.
As for when Soviet scientists will master atomic secrets, the United States generally believes that it will not be until 1955, and pessimistic Americans also believe that it will not be until at least 1953. But the Soviets were even four years ahead of this time, and this advance was undoubtedly due to Beria's secret police and overseas agents.
Soviet research on nuclear energy began as early as the 1930s, and by the time of World War II, the nuclear program had been developed, which was temporarily interrupted by the German invasion. In late 1942, led by the nuclear physicist Kurchatov, the nuclear program was revived. Stimulated by the success of the United States and its application in actual combat, Stalin was deeply dissatisfied with the delay in the development of his country and the failure to achieve a breakthrough, and ordered that Marshal Beria should directly lead the atomic bomb work.
Thus, Beria took on the responsibility of supervising all atomic research plans, uranium mines, and atomic bomb test sites. From 1946 onwards, the Soviet Union allocated 5 billion rubles and paid unprecedented attention to overseas scientific and technological information to strengthen nuclear energy research.
Under Beria's strict supervision and strict management, the Soviet Union soon built the first atomic energy reactor, and on August 29, 1949 (announced as September), the Soviet Union successfully conducted its first nuclear test at the Mishkeva Test Site in Kazakhstan, breaking the Monopoly of nuclear weapons in the United States.
Unlike the way the United States used air force aircraft to drop atomic bombs, under the management of Beria, Soviet scientists carried out the development and production of nuclear bomb delivery vehicles almost at the same time in the process of developing nuclear devices, and soon after the war, a special agency for the development of long-range ballistic missiles was established, and the first successful launch of the P-1 ballistic missile was successfully achieved on October 1, 1947, and the atomic bomb was weaponized.
It can be said that the success of the Soviet Union's hydrogen bomb test before the United States in August 1953 and the launch of the world's first artificial earth satellite by the Soviet Union in 1957 deeply surprised the United States with the missile gap, which is not unrelated to the foundation laid by Beria when he supervised the construction of the atomic bomb after the war.
The successful test detonation of the first soviet atomic bomb was an extremely precious gift for Stalin's 70th birthday on December 21, 1949; and on The day of Beria's 50th birthday on March 29, 1949, although the atomic bomb had not yet been tested, he was awarded the highest medal of the Soviet Union: the Order of Lenin, for the progress of the development project.
In addition, Stalin assigned Beria to the new moscow air defense system, which was also a major task.
Why Stalin chose Beria is also related to Beria's merits.
During the Great Patriotic War, the celebration of the "capture" of Moscow by the German High Command was at a critical moment when it had been planned. Stalin's refusal of his men's offer to leave Moscow and his continued battle with the military and civilians of the capital at the forefront played a very important role in boosting the confidence and morale of the Soviet people.
In order to inspire the courage and conviction of the people to overcome the aggression, Stalin decided to arrange a military parade a few days before the anniversary of the victory of the October Revolution, in accordance with tradition, and he summoned Beria to command:
Moscow's air defense forces should be strengthened. The main generals were on the front lines. The troops were reviewed by Budyonny and commanded by General Artemiev. At the parade, if German aircraft break through the defensive line to carry out bombing, the dead and wounded must be quickly removed, but the parade must be carried out to the end. I will give a presentation at the celebration and speak at the military parade.
After Beria's urgent preparations, on the evening of November 6, Stalin, surrounded by Beria, Molotov and others, delivered a speech at the celebration meeting, followed by a grand cabaret. The moving song, the dancing posture, the message conveyed is an uplifting self-confidence and a spirit of victory.
On November 7, the festival of the October Revolution was held as usual. Over Moscow, the Luftwaffe dispatched bombers to attempt sabotage, but were intercepted five times in a row by Soviet air defenses, depending on beria's active deployment.
Beria, who was responsible for stalin's safety, accompanied the Supreme Commander, who worked more than 16 hours a day, through this arduous and eternal history.
During this period, significant progress was made in the collection of warnings abroad, for which Beria was responsible. For example, the famous Richard Sorge sent to Beria on October 15, 1941, that Japan would not attack the Soviet Union, and then foresaw the movement of Japan to go to war with Britain and the United States, effectively dispelling the Soviet Union's fears of being forced to fight on two fronts, making the decision to concentrate all its forces against Germany, and drawing a large number of troops from the Far East to reinforce the war against Germany.
It is undeniable that Beria did make a great contribution during the Stalin period, after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. Beria went from intelligence gathering and diplomacy to organizing fortifications, factory retreats, and weapons production. As a result, he also received many awards, including: 1 Gold Medal for Heroes of Socialist Labor, 5 Medals of Lenin, 2 Medals of the Red Banner, 1 Medal of Suvorov 1st Class, and so on.
From 1946 onwards, Beria ceased to be Minister of the Interior. On 18 March 1946 he served as a member of the Politburo and the following day was appointed Chairman of the National Defence Committee of the Council of Ministers.
After Stalin's death, a grim situation arose in the Soviet Union, the contradictions and problems accumulated in the past were quickly exposed, and reform was imminent and imperative. At the time, most members of the Soviet leadership realized that reforms were necessary. However, the first and clearest to see the imperative of reform, and the first to rise up and promote it, was Precisely Beria.
At that time, Beria not only took a series of measures within his own purview to promote reform, but also put forward many reform ideas in other aspects.
For example, Beria advocated reducing military expenditures and using them for economic development; advocated separating the party from the government, leaving the government to manage economic issues such as industrial agriculture, and not interfering in the multi-management of party organs; advocating the expansion of the garden land next to the homes of the members of the collective farms; advocating the expansion of the power of the republics, the use of local ethnic cadres, and the need not to send Ethnic Russian cadres everywhere as the number one.
For another example, in view of the tense relations between the Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries, Beria advocated a policy of "moderation" with the Eastern European countries, especially the restoration and improvement of relations with the Yugoslav Union. Beria's ideas actually predate Khrushchev's later reforms by several years. That is why it is said that Beria had the right in the history of the Soviet Union to be called "the pioneer of reform".
As posterity put it, "Beria appeared before the people as the main initiator of radical reforms in less than four months after Stalin's death and his execution.".
On the other hand, while carrying out reforms, Beria also has actions to expand his power, such as the reorganization of the internal affairs organs, the willingness of his confidants, and so on. He was unusually active in the Politburo, making proposals one after another at meetings and even clashing with Khrushchev.
Although the number one person at the time was Malenkov, chairman of the Council of Ministers, it was actually Beria who played the leading role. The people of the time commented that he was a man who did whatever it took to achieve his ends, or a man of extraordinary wisdom and great organizational talent.
On July 10, 1953, Pravda published the communiqué of the July Plenary Session of the CPSU Central Committee, announcing that the recently held plenum had decided to remove BeriacZ from his post as a member of the CPSU Central Committee and to expel him from the Party. On December 23 of the same year, the Supreme Court of the USSR announced that Beria had been shot after a "secret trial". This is a simple soviet official report on the "Beria Incident".
Despite the various accounts of Beria's death, one thing is certain that Beria was arrested and executed without conclusive evidence.
After Beria was overthrown, everything he had done in the past was mostly denied, and because of his long-term secret work, Beria, an important person, became a "man without history" in the history of the Soviet Union.
So are the remains of the five young women who return to the beginning of this article related to Beria? After an investigation by the Moscow police, no traces of anything related to it could be found. Moreover, according to the time of recalculation, the owners of these skeletons should have died in the Great Patriotic War or earlier, and the house at that time was not owned by Beria, so this suspect Beria should be able to be cleared.
Academician Julie Halton, who worked closely with him on the atomic bomb project, highly appreciated Beria's organizational and managerial abilities. Years later, he wrote: "This man, in the modern history of the Soviet Union, is the embodiment of evil. But at the same time, he has great vitality and a high degree of efficiency, it is impossible not to recognize his intelligence, willpower and firmness, he is a first-class manager, making the right decisions about every task, and completing every job well. ”
History is dialectical, and we cannot look at historical figures like Beria on one side. According to the information later revealed, especially the declassified documents after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Beria has made meritorious contributions in the history of the Soviet Union, and it is by no means useless.