Lavrenty Beria

Lavrenty Beria
Historical Figure
Nationality:	Georgian, Soviet Union (born in the Russian Empire)
Date of Birth:	1899
Date of Death:	1953
Cause of Death:	Execution by bullet to the head
Religion:	Atheist
Occupation:	Politician, Spy, Author of Non-Fiction
Spouse:	Nina Gegechkori
Children:	Sergo Beria
Professional Affiliations:	NKVD, MGB
Political Party:	Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Political Office(s):	Head of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers
Fictional Appearances:

The Hot War POD: November, 1950
Appearance(s):	Armistice
Type of Appearance:	Contemporary references
Political Office(s):	General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (for four weeks in 1952)

Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (also Anglicized as Lavrenty or Lavrenti; Russian, Лаврентий Павлович Берия; Georgian, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია) (29 March 1899 – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician, and chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin. By the end of the Great Purge he had become deputy head and subsequently head of the NKVD and carried out a purge of the NKVD itself. Beria was most influential during and after World War II, and immediately after Stalin's death in 1953, when as First Deputy Prime Minister he carried out a brief campaign of liberalization. He was briefly a part of the ruling "troika" with Georgy Malenkov and Vyacheslav Molotov until the political maneuvering of his enemies, spear-headed by Nikita Khrushchev, saw Beria arrested for treason and executed with a bullet to the head in short order.

According to several sources, including Molotov, Beria claimed to have killed Stalin, although whether or not he meant he'd directly poisoned Stalin or simply prevented Stalin from getting proper treatment through his own inaction is unclear. Prior to his execution, Beria confessed to a variety of crimes under torture, but directly assassinating Stalin was not one of them.

Lavrenty Beria in The Hot War

MGB head Lavrenti Beria took power in the Soviet Union during World War III, following Joseph Stalin's death in the USA's hydrogen bombing of Omsk. Beria was already a powerful, feared man, and American political theorist George Kennan likened the prospect of him ruling a nation to the idea of the late J. Edgar Hoover ruling the United States.

However, Beria's rise had been directly connected to Stalin's power. With Stalin gone, the fear Beria engendered in the Soviet government and people began to diminish, and he proved unable to earn anyone's respect. His rule only lasted for a few weeks in the Summer of 1952. Beria publicly ignored Truman's offer of a cease-fire, but the Soviet government opened back channels to the U.S., assuring Truman that Beria's position was unstable. Under circumstances shrouded in secrecy, Beria was removed from power and replaced by Vyacheslav Molotov, who soon signed an armistice with the NATO powers. Beria's final fate was never disclosed to the world.

Lavrenty Beria in The Man With the Iron Heart

The Man With the Iron Heart POD: May 29, 1942; Relevant POD: May, 1945
Type of Appearance:	Contemporary reference

Lavrenty Beria's name 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 Worldwar

Worldwar POD: May 30, 1942
Appearance(s):	Tilting the Balance; Striking the Balance; Second Contact
Type of Appearance:	Direct
Date of Death:	1963
Cause of Death:	Shot to death

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 invaded Earth, 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 plutonium from a Lizard starship, allowing Soviet physicists to build and the Red Army to use a working explosive-metal 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. Molotov also correctly suspected that Heinrich Himmler's rise to power in Germany further stoked Beria's own ambition, as Himmler had fulfilled the same functions in Germany that Beria had in the USSR.  

In 1963, Beria attempted a coup to replace Molotov. He succeeded in imprisoning Molotov in an NKVD jail in Moscow, but his plans to execute Zhukov were thwarted, thanks in no small part to Zhukov's popularity with the rank and file of the GRU. Additionally, NKVD agent David Nussboym opportunistically helped Molotov escape. Zhukov led a counter-coup to rescue and restore Molotov. Beria was killed by Red Army forces.

Lavrenty Beria in The War That Came Early

The War That Came Early POD: July 20, 1936; Relevant POD: September 29, 1938
Appearance(s):	Hitler's War; Two Fronts
Type of Appearance:	Contemporary reference

Lavrenty Beria was one of several people from the Caucasus region who'd "cut a swath" through Soviet politics. Beria himself came to run the NKVD during the Second World War.

Lavrenty Beria in Joe Steele

Literary Comment

Joe Steele POD: 1878; Relevant POD: July, 1932
Novel or Story?:	Story only
Type of Appearance:	Contemporary reference

In the short story, Lavrenty Beria is the head of the Soviet security force under Leon Trotsky, drawing parallels to Heinrich Himmler of Germany and J. Edgar Hoover of America. In the novel, Genrikh Yagoda remains the head of the NKVD into the 1950s, and Beria is not mentioned at all.

See Also

• Heinrich Himmler, the OTL head of Nazi Germany's SS. Joseph Stalin once described Beria as the Soviet Union's version of Himmler.
• Nikita Khrushchev, who in OTL succeeded Stalin as Communist Party leader in 1953, and who ultimately became the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union until he was removed from power in 1964.
• Georgy Malenkov, who as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, briefly shared power with Khrushchev until Khrushchev was able to arrange his ouster.
• Vyacheslav Molotov, longtime foreign minister of the Soviet Union and close adviser of Stalin. In Worldwar Molotov succeeds Stalin as leader of the USSR. Beria launches a doomed coup attempt in 1963 that results in Beria's death. In The Hot War, Beria briefly succeeds Stalin in 1952 before Molotov helps oust him.

References

Political offices (OTL)
Preceded by Nikolai Yezhov	Head of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) 1938-1953	Succeeded by Ivan Serov
Preceded by Vyacheslav Molotov	First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union 5 March 1953 – 26 June 1953	Succeeded by Lazar Kaganovich
Party political offices (The Hot War)
Preceded by Joseph Stalin	General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union June, 1952	Succeeded by Vyacheslav Molotov
Political offices (Worldwar)
Preceded by Nikolai Yezhov	Head of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) 1938-1963	Succeeded by Unknown