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NkvdThe Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (or NKVD) (Russian: Народный комиссариат внутренних дел - People's Commisariat for Interior Affairs) was an agency that handled a number of the USSR's affairs of state; it was best known for its activities as secret police of the Soviet Union. In addition to its state security and police functions, however, some of its departments handled other matters, such as transport, fire guards, border troops, etc. It was intrumental in Stalin's ethnic cleansing and genocides, and was responsible for massacres of civilians and other war crimes. Many consider NKVD to be a criminal organisation. Evolution of NKVD structure and tasks After the October Revolution of 1917, the bolsheviks dissolved the old police and sought the creation of workers' and peasants' militsiya under the supervision of the NKVD of the RSFSR. However, NKVD apparatus was overwhelmed by functions inherited right from the Imperial MVD, such as supervision of the local governments and firefighting, and the new proletarian workforce was largely inexperienced. Realizing that it is left with no capable security force, the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR created secret political police, the Cheka (the Russian acronym for All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for the Suppression of Counterrevolution and Sabotage), led by Felix Dzerzhinsky. It gained the right for quick non-judicial trials and executions, if that was deemed nececcesary in order to 'protect the revolution'. The Cheka was reorganized in 1922 as the GPU (State Political Directorate) of NKVD of the Russian SFSR. Upon the formation of the Soviet Union, in 1923 GPU was transformed into all-Union OGPU (Joint State Political Directorate) under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. NKVD of the RSFSR retained control of the militsiya, as well as various other responsibilities. In 1934, OGPU was incorporated into newly-created NKVD of the USSR, becoming Main Directorate for State Security (GUGB); NKVD of the Russian SFSR ceased to exist and was not resurrected until 1946 (as MVD of the RSFSR). As a result, NKVD also became responsible for all detention facilities (including the forced labor camps, known as the Gulag) as well as for the regular police. Other NKVD departments dealt with: and other related tasks. At various times NKVD had the following Chief Directorates, abbreviated as "ГУ" - главное управление. - ГУГБ - государственная безопасность, of State Security (GUGB)
- ГУРКМ - рабоче-крестьянская милиция, of workers' and peasants' militsiya
- ГУПВО - пограничная и внутренняя охрана, of border ad internal guards
- ГУПО - пожарная охрана, of fire guards
- ГУШосдор - шоссейные дороги, of highways
- ГУЖД, железные дороги, of railways
- ГУЛАГ - GULAG
- ГЭУ - экономика, of economics
- ГТУ - транспорт, of transport
- ГУВПИ - военнопленных и интернированных, of POW and interned
On February 3, 1941, the Special Sections of the NKVD (responsible for counter-intelligence in the military) were included to the Army and Navy (RKKA and RKKF, respectively); also, GUGB department was removed from NKVD and renamed NKGB. Following the outbreak of WWII, NKVD and NKGB were reunited on July 20,1941 and counter-intelligence was returned back to the NKVD in January 1942. In April 1943 it was again transferred to the Narkomat of the Defence and Narkomat of the Navy, where they became the SMERSH (from Smert' Shpionam or "Death to Spies"); at the same time, NKVD was again split with NKGB. In 1946, the NKVD was renamed MVD and NKGB was renamed MGB. Following yet another merger with MVD which happened in 1953, the essense of checkist forces was finally removed from MVD in 1954 to finally become KGB. Once and for all, the police force was split into two independent agencies: - MVD (Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del - Ministry of Interior), responsible for criminal police, correctional facilities and fire rescue;
- KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti - Committee of State Security) - responsible for political police, counter-intelligence, intelligence, personal protection and confidential communications.
NKVD activities Although NKVD perfomed important function of state security, today the name of this organization is associated primarily with activities considered criminal: political repressions and assassinations, military crimes, violation of rights of Soviet and foreign citizens, violation of the laws. NKVD's repressions and executions See for detailed articles on the issue. Implementing the Soviet internal politics with respect to perceived enemies of the state ("enemies of the people"), the agency conducted arrests and executions of Soviet and foreign citizens. Millions were rounded up and sent to GULAG camps and hundreds of thousands executed by NKVD. Formally, most of those people were convicted by NKVD troikas ("triplets") - special martial courts. Evidentiary standards were very low; a tip off by an anonymous informer was considered sufficient ground for arrest. Usage of "physical means of persuasion" was sanctioned by a special decree of the state, which opened the door to numerous abuses, documented in recollections of victims and members of NKVD themselves. Hundreds of mass graves resulting from such operations were later discovered throughout the country. Documented evidence exists that NKVD committed mass extrajudicial executions, guided by secret "plans". Those plans established the number and proportion of victims (officially "public enemies") in given region, e.g., the quotas for clergy, former nobles etc., regardless of personality. The families of the repressed, including children, were also automatically repressed according to NKVD Order no. 00486. The purges were organized in a number of waves according to the decisions of the Politburo of the Communist Party. E.g., the campaigns among engineers ("Shakhty Case"), party and military elite ("fascist plots"), medics ("Doctors Plot"),. Distinctive and permanent purging campaigns were conducted against non-Russian nationalities (Ukrainians, Tartars, Germans and many others - they were accused of "bourgeois nationalism", "fascism", etc.) and religious activism. A number of mass operations of the NKVD were related to prosecution of the whole ethnic categories. Whole populations of certain ethnicities have been forcibly resettled. Despite that, it is important to note that Russians still formed the majority of NKVD victims. NKVD agents became not only executioners, but also one of the largest groups of their own victims. The majority of 1930s agency staff (hundreds of thousands), including all commanders, were executed. During World War II, NKVD units were used for rear area security, including halting deserters. On "liberated" territory, the NKVD and later NKGB carried out mass arrests, deportations and executions, including prosecution of anti-Nazi resistance movements like Polish Armia Krajowa. NKVD's intelligence unit organized overseas assassinations of ex-Soviets and foreigners that were regarded the enemies of USSR. Among officially confirmed victims of such plots are: After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, new Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev started the campaign against NKVD purges. During 1950s-1980s, thousands of victims were legally "rehabilitated", i.e. acquitted of guilt and had their rights restored. Many of the victims and their relatives refused to apply for rehabilitation due to fear or lack of documents. Still, the rehabilitation was ineffective: in most cases the formulation was "due to lack of evidence of the case of crime", a Soviet legal slang that effectively said "there was crime, but unfortunately we cannot prove it". Only a limited number of persons were rehabilitated with the formulation "cleared of all charges". With very few exceptions, NKVD agents have not been officially convicted for the particular violation of somebody's rights. Legally, those agents executed in 1930s were also "purged" without legitimate criminal investigation and court decision. In 1990s-2000s, a small number of ex-NKVD agents living in Baltic states were convicted for their crimes against local population. For now, still alive ex-agents receive generous pensions and privileges established by USSR government and later confirmed by all the CIS countries. They are not persecuted in any way despite being later recognized by some of their victims. NKVD intelligence activities - Establishment of wide-spread spy network within Comintern;
- Successful infiltration of Richard Sorge, "Red Capella" and other agents who alerted Stalin of forthcoming Nazi invasion to USSR (see World War II) and later assissted Red Army during the war;
- Recruiting dozens of other agents who showed their worth in the Cold War intelligence operations of MGB-KGB.
NKVD have averted several confirmed plots to assassin Joseph Stalin. NKVD and Soviet economy Main article: Gulag. The extensive system of slave labor of the Gulag system made a notable contribution to Soviet economy and into the development of remote areas. Colonization of Siberia, North and Far East was among explicitely stated goals in the very first laws about Soviet labor camps. Mining, construction works (roads, railways, canals, dams, plants), logging, and other hard works of labor camps were within the Soviet planned economy, and NKVD had its own production plans. The most unusual part of NKVD achievements is its role in Soviet science and arms development. On the initiative of Lavrenty Beria (the last and most influential commander of the agency), hundreds of researchers and engineers were arrested and placed in the privileged semi-prison institutes (much more comfortable than GULAG), colloquially known as sharashkas. Continuing their studies there and later released, some of them became the leaders of the world science and technology. Among such "sharashka" members are Sergey Korolev, the head designer of Soviet space mission in 1961, and Vladimir Tupolev, the famous airplane designer. Related articles External links *
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