Lavrenty Beria

From Turtledove

Lavrenty Beria
Historical Figure
Timeline:	OTL
Nationality:	Soviet Union (born in Georgia
Religion:	Atheist
Date of Birth:	1899
Date of Death:	1953
Cause of Death:	Execution by Firing Squad
Occupation:	Commisar for Internal Affairs (Head of the NKVD)
Children:	Sergo Beria
Affiliations:	Soviet Communist Party
Timeline:	Worldwar
Date of Death:	1963
Cause of Death:	Shot to Death
Timeline:	The Man With the Iron Heart (mentioned)
Timeline:	"Joe Steele" (mentioned)

Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (also spelled Lavrenty, 1899–1953) was a Soviet politician, and chief of the Soviet security and secret police including the NKVD. At the orders of Joseph Stalin, Beria oversaw the deaths of millions.

Lavrenty Beria in Worldwar

Lavrenty Beria (1899-1963) was head of the NKVD in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov until he was killed leading a coup to overthrow the latter.

In 1942, when the Race's Conquest Fleet arrived, Beria was critical to the Soviet effort to resist conquest by the aliens. Under his leadership, the NKVD took part in a number of special ops missions against the Race, some in conjunction with the German SS; one such mission captured for the Soviets a sample of uranium from a Lizard starship, allowing Soviet physicists to build and the Redy Army to use a working atomic bomb against Race forces in 1943, nearly two years before the Soviets were able to build such bombs entirely on their own. He also suppressed political dissent in the Soviet government and in areas the Soviet Union continued to control, and he handled both human and Lizard prisoners.

Beria remained head of the NKVD after the Peace of Cairo and for the remainder of Stalin's life. He continued to hold the position under Stalin's successor as General Secretary, Vyacheslav Molotov. During this time he was instrumental in getting material support to Mao Tse-Tung's Communist rebellion in China without the Race's notice.

Molotov distrusted both Beria and Georgy Zhukov, who were, along with Andrei Gromyko, Molotov's most important advisers. Molotov attempted to play Zhukov and Beria, two long time rivals, against one another.

In 1963, Beria attempted a coup to replace Molotov. He succeeded in imprisoning Molotov in an NKVD jail, but Zhukov led a counter-coup to restore Molotov. Beria was killed by Red Army forces. Zhukov's joke to Molotov that the carpet of Molotov's office would need cleaning suggests that Zhukov personally killed Beria.

Lavrenty Beria in The Man With the Iron Heart

Lavrenty Beria's inspired great fear in Soviet citizens, even among the generals of the Red Army. Moisei Shteinberg used Beria's name to intimidate General Yuri Vlasov when Vlasov hampered the NKVD's efforts to fight the German Freedom Front.

Lavrenty Beria in "Joe Steele"

Lavrenty Beria was the head of the Soviet security force, serving as Leon Trotsky's number two. J. Edgar Hoover was seen as fulfilling a role similar to Beria's in the United States.

Political offices
Preceded by Vyacheslav Molotov	General Secretary of the Soviet Union (Worldwar) 1963	Succeeded by Vyacheslav Molotov