NKVD: Difference between revisions
imported>SW10048 No edit summary |
imported>Rangerkid51 No edit summary |
||
Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
The functions of the OGPU (the [[secret police]] organization) were transferred to the NKVD in 1934, giving it a monopoly over law enforcement activities that lasted until the end of [[World War II]]. During this period, the NKVD included both ordinary public order activities, as well as secret police activities. The NKVD is known for its role in political repression and for carrying out the Great Purge under [[Joseph Stalin]]. It was led by [[Genrikh Yagoda]], [[Nikolai Yezhov]] and [[Lavrentiy Beria]]. | The functions of the OGPU (the [[secret police]] organization) were transferred to the NKVD in 1934, giving it a monopoly over law enforcement activities that lasted until the end of [[World War II]]. During this period, the NKVD included both ordinary public order activities, as well as secret police activities. The NKVD is known for its role in political repression and for carrying out the Great Purge under [[Joseph Stalin]]. It was led by [[Genrikh Yagoda]], [[Nikolai Yezhov]] and [[Lavrentiy Beria]]. | ||
The NKVD undertook mass extrajudicial executions of untold numbers of citizens, and conceived, populated and administered the Gulag system of [[ | The NKVD undertook mass extrajudicial executions of untold numbers of citizens, and conceived, populated and administered the Gulag system of [[concentration camp]]s. Their agents were responsible for the repression of the wealthier peasantry, as well as the mass deportations, [[ethnic cleansing]], and even [[genocide]] of entire nationalities to uninhabited regions of the country. They oversaw the protection of Soviet borders and espionage (which included political assassinations), and enforced Soviet policy in communist movements and puppet governments in other countries, most notably the repression and massacres in Poland. | ||
In March 1946 all People's Commissariats were renamed to Ministries, and the NKVD became the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The [[KGB]] would succeed the NKVD as the secret police of the Soviet Union. | In March 1946 all People's Commissariats were renamed to Ministries, and the NKVD became the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The [[KGB]] would succeed the NKVD as the secret police of the Soviet Union. |