(SANITIZED)LAVRENTY PAVLOVICH BERIA(SANITIZED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00423R000500550003-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 3, 2009
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: May 1, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2009/09/03: CIA-RDP83-00423R000500550003-3
SECRET
US OFFICIALS ONLY - SECURITY INFORMATION
Country: USSR
Subject: Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria
"Cold grey eyes behind a pince-nez, pinched lips and the hands of a
pianist -- that is what catches the eye in Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria.
Intellect and hidden cruelty -- that is what makes him look like the
perfect contrast to the butcher-faced Malenkov.
3. "Beria is an 'artist" in the NKVD torture chambers, a sophisticated
sadist who not only finds some satisfaction in his shady and shameful
job but even sees in it some esthetic values.
4. "His background is 'veiled by mystery'. Rumors have it that he is the
son of an Abkhasian land-owner, whereas the official records speak of
him as the 'son of a poor farmer'. He was born near Soukhoum (Abkhasia,
Caucasus) on 29 Mar 99. While in high school he wanted to become an
architect.
5. "Beria is not an 'old Bolshevik' in the usual sense of the word -- he
joined the party after the October revolution. His natural henchman's
talent opened the doors to his future career. In 1921 he was but an
investigating judge but one year later became deputy president of the
Chekian Georgia. In 192+ he was chief of the GPU in Georgia. For his
'glorious' participation in the'bloody suppression of the rioting
Georgian and Abkhasian Nationalists he was decorated for the first time
with the Order of the Red Banner.
6. "Stalin's accession to power was another piece of luck. He knew by the
hearsay of Stalin's pre-revolutionary activities and was enthusiastic
about him. In his book (which was his very first and last one too) he
extolls Stalin as the 'Lenin of Transcaucasia'. This book earned him
the second decoration with the Order of the Red Banner (there were no
other orders at that time) and the nomination to the post of the First
Secretary of the Georgian Central Committee.
7. "During the years of Stalin's bloody struggle for power Beria's talent
for 'party purges' showed him for his -very 'best' side. The aim and
purpose of his work was the physical destruction of all the old Lenin
Bolsheviks, and he ruthlessly annihilated even his teachers and former
friends. By striking a devastating blow against the 'Association of
Former Political Prisoners' he also netted a handsome reward by con-
fiscating for himself their luxurious villa in Boukhoum.
25 YEAR
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Approved For Release 2009/09/03: CIA-RDP83-00423R000500550003-3
 Approved For Release 2009/09/03: CIA-RDP83-00423R000500550003-3
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SECRET MATIOAt,
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8. "In 1937 he became Yeshov's deputy. He then soon advanced to the post
of the NKVD's People's Commissar and some time later he was nominated
Minister of the State Security Service. 'Yeshov's Mittens' were but very
primitive and insufficient methods in Beria's opinion. His '.creative
powers" cried for large scale activities. It was he who 'streamlined'
the work of the NKVD and 'taught' them how to get hold of sufficient
numbers of 'workers' needed for the 'great construction plans of the
Stalin Era'.
"Berials 'merits' during and after the last war World War IJ are
'spectacular'. He was the originator of the 'SMERSH' (an abbreviation
of the anti-spy organization 'Down With the Spies') a super tcheka
organization in army and state levels. This Tcheka-man by virtue of
birth was also responsible for the 'tightening of screws' and for the
Sovietisation of the newly annexed 'People's Democracies'.
10. "From *this point of view his love for the com.unist brother-parties
is almost pathetic. For.this reason, probably, Stalin had also entrusted
him with another matter of importance -- the leadership over the entire
atomic research program. Beria did not disappoint Stalin -- by espion-
age and bribery he collected the missing links relative to the develop-
ment of atomic weapons.
11. "In 19+6 Beria was appointed Member of the Politburo and Stalin's
deputy. He is seldom seen in public. His spe?.ch is slow and colorless
but his command of the Russian language is better than Stalin's. The
Malenkov, Beria and other tchekist disciples have now taken over the
dictatorship of the Tcheka Leader Stalin."
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Approved For Release 2009/09/03: CIA-RDP83-00423R000500550003-3