From "Soviet Soldier", 5/1990 Issue (man, I got a chance to read some of it and it was awesome); too bad it folded with the USSR.On 26 June Beria activated two of his MVD paramilitary police divisions inside Moscow in anticipation of a coup attempt. But the military was already in the process of moving far more formidable forces into the city's outskirts, thanks to Zhukov.
A late night meeting of the Presidium was held, and Zhukov managed to secretly move himself and other senior army officials into the Kremlin without being noticed by Beria's MVD guard force. In the early morning hours of 27 June Khrushchev denounced Beria in front of the assembled national leaders and summoned in the military officers. Zhukov and his group stormed into the room, arrested Beria, and sneaked him past the cordon of MVD troops around the Kremlin.
Beria was kept at Lefortovo Prison and later at the Ministry of Defense building while the military meticulously removed Beria's allies within the MVD. Once control over the special police was reestablished by the military and the Communist party, the campaign of denunciation began. By the end of July a document nicknamed the Red Book was prepared to chronicle Beria's crimes.
Beria was accused of secretly serving the intelligence services of the anti-Soviet Moslem Mussavat party in 1919 at the time of the civil war and, in later years, murdering loyal Soviet intelligence officials aware of his civil war treason. He was also accused of personally murdering a number of people during his tenure as the head of the NKVD in Georgia during the 1930s. Various sordid personal crimes were added to the list, including his rape and murder of young women in the Moscow area after he became NKVD chief. Copies of the Red Book were made available to senior Communist party and army leaders, as well as selected members of the intelligentsia and scientific community, including members of the atomic bomb team.
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Many readers have asked when and where the trial of Lavrenty Beriya took place and who personally executed his death sentence. Colonel Ye. KLIMCHUK, D. Sc. (History), answers.
How Beriya Was Tried and Executed
THE trial of Beriya and his close aides began on December 18, 1953 and lasted five days. The proceedings took place in one of the old buildings of the Moscow Military District's headquarters.
The Attorney General, R. A. Rudenko, at the last sitting of the court on December 23, 1953 read the charges: "On the Criminal Activities of L. P. Beriya." He presented an endless list of evidence depicting blood-curdling tortures committed on the would-be dictator's orders: the hanging of prisoners by their hair, the driving of nails into their ears and other sadistic acts. How many people the despot had ruthlessly ordered to death!
The verdict was merciless: death, to be carried out without delay.
Beriya was in a state of collapse when the verdict was pronounced. His bulbous eyes glazed over as if he did not understand what was happening. He staggered as he walked downstairs. He was led into a bunker chosen for the execution. One of the walls of the bunker was panelled with thick wooden boards to prevent ricochets.
Beriya was placed with his back to the wall. He looked around in fear. He said nothing when they pulled off the faded tunic which he had on during the trial. He seemed to grasp reality when he was left face to face with the executioners. An officer was just beginning to tie up his hands behind his back when he broke out of his arms with unexpected agility. He kneeled down, trying to kiss the boots of Marshal of the Soviet Union I. S. Konev, the chairman of the court. He begged for mercy in a heart-rending voice.
"Please have the sentence carried out," the Attorney General said to Colonel General K. S. Moskalenko, the senior officer of the "special" guard group.
The general turned to his aide, Lieutenant Colonel V. P. Yuferev, and said, simply and quietly:
"You're the youngest of us. Will you do it?"
Yuferev resolutely stepped forward and took out a TT pistol from his holster. But when he saw Beriya's wildly bulging eyes he turned in disgust. The miserable and horrible look of the man made him sick.
At the moment Lieutenant General P. F. Batitsky, one of the men who had arrested Beriya, stepped forward.
"Permit me," he said to Moskalenko and took out his Parabellum,
He tried to speak calmly, but his voice betrayed hatred and anger. The faces of many of his battlefield comrades who had been killed or tortured at Beriya's will stood up in his mind's eye. He himself had escaped their lot by sheer miracle in 1940.
Granted permission, Batitsky took aim and fired.
The officers went across to the wall to make sure Beriya was dead. Marshal Konev looked at the dead body and said disdainfully:
"Cursed be the day when this man was born."
(Based on archive records and a conversation the author had with Marshal of the Soviet Union P. F. Batitsky)
