Lavrenty Beria

Lavrenty Beria Historical Figure Nationality: 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) The Man With the Iron Heart POD: May 29, 1942; Relevant POD: May, 1945 Type of Appearance: Contemporary reference 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 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 Joe Steele POD: 1878; Relevant POD: July, 1932 Novel or Story?: Story only Type of Appearance: Contemporary reference

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 political 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 WarEdit

MGB head^[1] Lavrenti Beria took power in the Soviet Union during World War III, following Joseph Stalin's death in the USA's atomic bombing of Omsk.^[2] 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.^[3]

However, Beria's rise had been directly connected to Stalin's power.^[4] With Stalin gone, the fear Beria engendered in the Soviet government and people began to diminish,^[5] and he proved unable to earn anyone's respect.^[6] His rule only lasted for a few weeks in the Summer of 1952. Beria publicly ignored Truman's offer of a cease-fire,^[7] but the Soviet government opened back channels to the U.S., assuring Truman that Beria's position was unstable.^[8] Under circumstances shrouded in secrecy, Beria was removed from power and replaced by Vyacheslav Molotov, who soon signed an armistice with the NATO powers.^[9] Beria's final fate was never disclosed to the world.^[10]

Lavrenty Beria in The Man With the Iron HeartEdit

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.^[11]

Lavrenty Beria in WorldwarEdit

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 EarlyEdit

Lavrenty Beria was one of several people from the Caucasus region who'd "cut a swath" through Soviet politics.^[12] Beria himself came to run the NKVD during the Second World War.^[13]

Lavrenty Beria in Joe SteeleEdit

Literary CommentEdit

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 AlsoEdit

• 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.

ReferencesEdit

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

v • d • e The Hot War Books Bombs Away · Fallout · Armistice 1 of 3 Add photo POV Characters Max Bachman1 · Daisy Baxter2† · Cade Curtis3 · Aaron Finch3 · Boris Gribkov3 · Gustav Hozzel2† · Luisa Hozzel3 · Bruce McNulty1 · Rolf Mehlen2† · Konstantin Morozov3 · Tibor Nagy1† · Ihor Shevchenko3 · Bill Staley1† · Marian Staley3 · Istvan Szolovits3 · Harry Truman3 · Vasili Yasevich3 Countries China · France · East Germany · West Germany · Hungary · North Korea · South Korea · Soviet Union · United Kingdom · United States Events Korean War · World War III 1=denotes a character who was a POV for one volume or less 2=denotes a character who was a POV for two volumes 3=denotes a character who was a POV for three volumes † Denotes a deceased POV.

v • d • e Joe Steele Works Short Story · Novel POV Characters Charlie Sullivan · Mike Sullivan Secondary Characters Joe Steele · Leon Trotsky · J. Edgar Hoover · Vince Scriabin · John Nance Garner Events World War II  · Japanese War Geography United States · North Japan · South Japan

v • d • e The Man With the Iron Heart POV Characters Wes Adams*† · Vladimir Bokov · Bernie Cobb · Jerry Duncan · Frankfurt Guard* · Rolf Halbritter* · Reinhard Heydrich† · Ivan Koniev*† · Konrad* · Diana McGraw · Cedric Mitchell* · Ernst Neulen*† · Joachim Peiper · Charlie Pytlak*† · Tom Schmidt · Smitty* · Jürgen Voss*† · Lou Weissberg Geography Germany · United States · United Kingdom · France · Soviet Union Other NKVD · German Freedom Front · Radium · Mothers Against the Madness in Germany *=Denotes POV for one scene only. †=Denotes POV who was killed.

v • d • e The War That Came Early Books Hitler's War · West and East · The Big Switch · Coup d'Etat · Two Fronts · Last Orders 1 of 6 Add photo POV Characters Juan Antonio Ansaldo* • Arno Baatz2† • Joaquin Delgadillo2† • Aristide Demange2 • Willi Dernen5† • Peggy Druce6 • Hideki Fujita6† • Sarah Goldman6 • Saul Goldman aka Adalbert Stoss1 • Luc Harcourt4† • Adolf Hitler* • Theo Hossbach5 • Vaclav Jezek6 • Ivan Kuchkov3 • Vera Kuznetsova*† • Julius Lemp6 • Pete McGill6 • Anastas Mouradian4 • Ludwig Rothe1† • Hans-Ulrich Rudel6 • Alistair Walsh6 • Chaim Weinberg6 • Sergei Yaroslavsky3† Countries China • Czechoslovakia • France • Germany • Italy • Japan • Philippines • Poland • Soviet Union • Spain • United Kingdom • United States Events Spanish Civil War • World War II • Generals' Plot • October 1939 Plot • Hess Agreement • 1941 British Military Coup • 1944 German Civil War *=denotes a character who was a POV for a single scene 1=denotes a character who was a POV for one volume 2=denotes a character who was a POV for two volumes 3=denotes a character who was a POV for three volumes 4=denotes a character who was a POV for four volumes 5=denotes a character who was a POV for five volumes 6=denotes a character who was a POV for six volumes † denotes a deceased character.

v • d • e Worldwar Books Worldwar (In the Balance · Tilting the Balance · Upsetting the Balance · Striking the Balance) Colonization (Second Contact · Down to Earth · Aftershocks) Homeward Bound 1 of 8 Add photo Human POV Characters Mordechai Anielewicz2 · Rance Auerbach2 · George Bagnall3 · Karl Becker3† · Mutt Daniels3† · Johannes Drucker4 · Monique Dutourd4 · Bobby Fiore3† · David Goldfarb2 · Ludmila Gorbunova3† · Leslie Groves3 · Heinrich Jäger3† · Glen Johnson5 · Jens Larssen3† · Kassquit5 · Liu Han2 · Vyacheslav Molotov2† · Nieh Ho-Ting3 · David Nussboym3 · Yuri Palchinsky3 · Moishe Russie3 · Reuven Russie4 · Jonathan Yeager5 · Karen Yeager6 · Sam Yeager1 · Yi Min3† Race POV Characters Atvar1 · Breltan3† · Drefsab3† · Felless4 · Fotsev4† · Gefron3 · Gorppet4 · Krefak3† · Nesseref3† · Svallah4 · Straha4 · Teerts3† · Ttomalss1 · Ussmak3† Geography Race Colonies on Tosev 3 · Big Five · Home Events Race Invasion of Tosev 3 · Peace of Cairo · 1962 Attack on the Race's Colonization Fleet · 1964 United States Presidential Election · Race-German War of 1965 · Voyage of the Admiral Peary †=Death depicted or alluded to 1=POV in every single volume 2=POV in Worldwar and Colonization Series 3=POV in Worldwar series only 4=POV in Colonization series only 5=POV in Colonization series and Homeward Bound 6=POV in Homeward Bound only

v • d • e Leaders of the Soviet Union OTL Vladimir Lenin · Joseph Stalin · Georgy Malenkov · Nikita Khrushchev · Leonid Brezhnev · Yuri Andropov · Konstantin Chernenko · Mikhail Gorbachev · Gennady Yanayev (temporary) The Gladiator Joseph Stalin · Vladimir Putin The Hot War Joseph Stalin · Lavrenti Beria · Vyacheslav Molotov Joe Steele Vladimir Lenin · Leon Trotsky Worldwar Iosef Stalin · Vyacheslav Molotov · Lavrenty Beria (temporary) Miscellaneous Alternate History Vladimir Lenin ("Liberating Alaska") · Joseph Stalin (In the Presence of Mine Enemies, "Liberating Alaska", The Man With the Iron Heart, "The Phantom Tolbukhin", "Ready for the Fatherland", The War That Came Early) · Leonid Brezhnev · Mikhail Gorbachev (A World of Difference)