Beria

[Osteles]

As the title sais.
Beria...
An illuster, yet interesting figure...

What is your opinion on the man (post-Stalin)?
It is believed he sought a closer cooperation with the West. True or popular belief? Could he be trusted?
What was his goal for this? I myself would consider him staunchly anti-West.
What actually provoked his fall from power? Wiki is in my opinion not clear on it as it sais the main reason is actually his approach to the West. Would the Soviet nations been more free under him instead under Chrutsjov?

 

[krieger11b]

An absolute monster, and maybe the biggest mass rapist since Genghis Kahn.

 

[Henry IX]

Could he be trusted?

No.

 

[pithorr]

An absolute monster, and maybe the biggest mass rapist since Genghis Kahn.

Well, Beria was pretty mild comparing to his predecessors - Yagoda and Yezhov... He rather eased purges in the late 30s.

 

[chepaeff]

Also he was a British spy, lol.

Well, Beria was pretty mild comparing to his predecessors - Yagoda and Yezhov... He rather eased purges in the late 30s.

It hardly depended on him, really. Yagoda was milder somewhat since he wasn't as eager as Yezhov.

 

[pithorr]

Also he was a British spy, lol.

Was he?

 

[chepaeff]

Was he?

Of course not. But its funny that he was accused of that.

 

[pithorr]

Of course not. But its funny that he was accused of that.

Ah, but wasn't it a standard procedure?

 

[chepaeff]

Ah, but wasn't it a standard procedure?

Yezhov and Yagoda were, but it was always generic "foreign agents".

 

[Jopa79]

In 2016 I read a Finnish book, Berijan tarhat (The farms of Beria), it's a book written by Unto Parvilahti and it's based on his own experiences during captivity in Siberia prison camps after Finland's exit from the World War II.

The book is often compared to Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, they share so much similar. After the Continuation War the Allied Control Comission sent a claim for the Finns to cede 19 individuals for the Soviets. Parvilahti and 18 others were imprisoned in Finland and handed over the Soviets as prisoners.

Parvilahti was sentenced because he had volunteered in Finnish SS-battalion. He spent 10 years in captivity in several prison/labor camps in Siberia, but survived. In his book Parvilahti tells and describes the conditions of the camps and the life in there. It is absolutely depressing and shocking to read.

Lavrentiy Beria is heavily responsible of the Soviet forced labor camp system which existed still in 1950s.

 

[diegosimeone]

One of the most underrated criminals of the 20th century.

 

[Denkt]

Would the Soviet nations been more free under him instead under Chrutsjov?

It is possible, both Beria and Khrushchev followed Stalin's line while Stalin was alive and after his Death began follow other lines. Nikita Khrushchev who eventually won the Power struggle was one of the worst offenders during the great purges as far as I know, playing along with Stalin and afterwards turning against him with destalinzation.

Don't think Beria was any more different from Khrushchev in that regard. They would do whatever appeased the boss, and afterwards turn against him. Beria eventually lost the Power struggle and was executed, probably to a degree because of the liberalisation reforms.

 

[Narwhal]

Only thing Beria deserved :

[yes, as historical as Inglorious Bastards ; on purpose]

 

[Graf Zeppelin]

Only thing Beria deserved :

[yes, as historical as Inglorious Bastards ; on purpose]

No one deserves lynching like this.

 

[Narwhal]

No one deserves lynching like this.

You are right. I just saw this (wonderful imo) movie and wanted to find a way to put it in. Unlike in real life, in the movie they make sure to get rid of him for motives that applies only to Beria (rapes & betraying the country), not stuff like wrongfull executions.

 

[viale]

not stuff like wrongfull executions.

Comrade, there is no such thing as wrongfull executions, only preemptive actions against counterrevolutionary dissidents.

 

[pithorr]

Comrade, there is no such thing as wrongfull executions, only preemptive actions against counterrevolutionary dissidents.

And Capitalist/Imperialist Spy!

 

[Kgw]

Comrade, there is no such thing as wrongfull executions, only preemptive actions against what might have been, if given the chance, counterrevolutionary dissidents.

Fixed.

The execution in the movie was quite appalling, BTW.

 

[Husein]

Beria was a Paradox of a man. On one hand a horrible individual who committed despicable acts on national and personal level. On the other hand one of the few people and perhaps the only one that could have saved the SU from its decline, becoming a pariah state and gradual dissolution.

 

[Lyudmila Pavlichenko]

In 2016 I read a Finnish book, Berijan tarhat (The farms of Beria), it's a book written by Unto Parvilahti and it's based on his own experiences during captivity in Siberia prison camps after Finland's exit from the World War II.

The book is often compared to Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, they share so much similar. After the Continuation War the Allied Control Comission sent a claim for the Finns to cede 19 individuals for the Soviets. Parvilahti and 18 others were imprisoned in Finland and handed over the Soviets as prisoners.

Parvilahti was sentenced because he had volunteered in Finnish SS-battalion. He spent 10 years in captivity in several prison/labor camps in Siberia, but survived. In his book Parvilahti tells and describes the conditions of the camps and the life in there. It is absolutely depressing and shocking to read.

Lavrentiy Beria is heavily responsible of the Soviet forced labor camp system which existed still in 1950s.

Beria was a disgusting man, but OTOH Parvilahti absolutely deserved to be gulaged and I have zero sympathy for an SS member.