Execution of Lavrentiy Beria - Chief of Stalin's Secret Police & most hated man in Russia

YouTube ^ | 10/28/2025 | World History

[SmokingJoe]

Execution of Lavrentiy Beria - Chief of Stalin's Secret Police & Most Hated Man in the Country . Lavrentiy Beria, a son of deeply religious Orthodox parents, was born on the 29th of March 1899 in the Georgian village of Merkheuli then part of the Russian Empire.

Young Beria attended a technical school and distinguished himself in mathematics and the sciences. In March 1917 while a student in the Azerbaijan Baku technical university, Beria joined the Bolsheviks. In the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917, which led to the collapse of the Russian Empire and allowed territories formerly under Saint Petersburg's rule to assert independence, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was created in 1918. One year later, while he was still a student, Beria started his career in state security when the security service of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic hired him. In 1920 or 1921 he joined the Cheka, the original Bolshevik secret police.

===== SNIP =====

Many of the NKVD officers Beria promoted were brutal torturers. The theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold, who was interrogated by Lev Shvartzman, described being beaten on the spine and soles of his feet until "the pain was so intense that it felt as if boiling water was being poured on these sensitive areas." Robert Eikhe, a former high ranking party official, was sadistically beaten and had an eye gouged out by Boris Rodos, in Beria's office, while Beria..

---

TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: kgb; lavrentiyberia; nkvd; stalin

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. Very interesting.

[Chewbarkah]

That was a good presentation — thanks for posting. The “ending” I was told years ago paralleled the youtube narrative, but at the end of the Presidium meeting, Khrushchev pulled out a revolver and shot Beria in the head, because he was too dangerous to let it wait; the subsequent Supreme Ct trial was staged to explain it to the public. Variants had Beria shot in the basement. The clips of the trial shown in the video certainly contradict all that, but those sneaky Bolshies were good at faking evidence, so who whos.

[rlmorel]

IIRC, Beria cried like a baby begging for his life.

Of course, from a humor perspective, I have to say "The Death of Stalin" was one of the funniest Soviet related movies I have ever seen!

The scene where Marshal Zhukov is approached by Khrushchev (who wanted to frame Beria) and Zhukov busts his balls nearly made tears of laughter come out of my eyes!

KHRUSHCHEV: What if we blame this on someone...

MARSHAL ZHUKOV: Wait. (holds his hand up in warning)

KHRUSHCHEV: ..who's out of control.

MARSHAL ZHUKOV: Nicky, be very careful what you say next. Who?

KHRUSHCHEV: Beria.

MARSHAL ZHUKOV: I'm gonna have to report this conversation. Threatening to do harm or obstruct any member of the Presidium in the process of...(breaks into a maniacal grin and begins giggling) Look at your f**king face!

[dfwgator]

Speculation also is that Stalin himself poisoned Lenin, and Beria poisoned Stalin.

[AlaskaErik]

“Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime”

[SmokingJoe]

Jack Smith?
Just kidding.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

He apparently liked raping small children as well.

Hurrah for the USSR our dear "friends".

[OldMissileer]

I love that movie. A fantastic dark humor movie, especially if you like Russian history.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Ping

[rlmorel]

It was suggested to me, but I didn’t want to really watch it. I thought “How can I laugh at a murderous ideology responsible for the deaths and oppression of hundreds of millions of people” that kind of thing.

But yes-once I watch it, it unexpectedly hit me square on the funny bone!