Matvei Berman
Encyclopedia
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...
) was a Soviet intelligence officer and head of the GULAG
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
Soviet prison camp system from 1932 to 1937.
Life
Berman was the son of a brickyard owner. He joined the Russian army and entered the military school in IrkutskIrkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
. He then became a cadet of the 25th Reserve infantry regiment.
Berman joined the Bolsheviks in June 1917. In 1918 he joined the Red Army and was stationed in Tomsk
Tomsk
Tomsk is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Tom River. One of the oldest towns in Siberia, Tomsk celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2004...
and in June was working in a propaganda unit. In August 1918 he joined the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
and was named chief of state security in the city of Glazov
Glazov
Glazov is a town located in the north of the Udmurt Republic, Russia along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Population: It was founded in the 16th century as a village; town status was granted to it in 1780. Olga Knipper, wife of the famous Russian writer Anton Chekhov, was born in Glazov. During the...
. From 1923 to 1924 he was People's Commissar for State Security in the Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the former Soviet Union....
. He then led the OGPU in Central Asia. From February 1927 to October 1927 he was the chairman of the OGPU in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic.
In November 1929 he helped develop the GULAG
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
system of camps and became deputy chief of the GULAG in 1930. From June 9, 1932 to August 17, 1937 he was head of the GULAG. He was awarded the Order of Lenin
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
on August 4, 1933, soon after the completion of the White Sea – Baltic Canal. By 1935, by his own count, Berman was in charge of over 740,000 prisoners working on 15 major projects in the GULAG.
After the fall of Genrikh Yagoda
Genrikh Yagoda
Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda , born Enokh Gershevich Ieguda , was a Soviet state security official who served as director of the NKVD, the Soviet Union's Stalin-era security and intelligence agency, from 1934 to 1936...
, Berman continued to rise in the hierarchy of the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and he held the offices of head construction of the Moscow-Volga Canal and Deputy head of the NKVD in 1936-1937.
In August 1937, Berman's fall began in the time of the Great Terror
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
. On August 17, 1937, he lost his position as head of the GULAG and was appointed People's Commissar of Posts and Telecommunications (Russian: Наркомпочтель). On December 23, 1938, he was expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, arrested the next day in the office of Georgi Malenkov, and sent to prison at Lubyanka
Lubyanka
Lubyanka or Lubianka may refer to:*Lubyanka Square, Moscow*Bolshaya Lubyanka Street, Moscow*Lubyanka Building, former KGB headquarters and prison at Lubyanka Square, Moscow*Lubyanka , a metro station in MoscowPlaces in Poland called Lubianka...
. He was found guilty by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR of belonging to a "terrorist and sabotage organization" and shot on March 7, 1939 at Kommunarka.
On October 17, 1957 Berman was legally rehabilitated.
Matvei's younger brother, Boris, also worked for the NKVD and the GULAG in supervisory positions. Boris was awarded the Order of Lenin
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
on December 19, 1937, arrested on September 24, 1938 and executed on February 22, 1939. He was not rehabilitated.
Awards
- Honorary worker of the Cheka-GPU (V) (1924)
- Order of the Red BannerOrder of the Red BannerThe Soviet government of Russia established the Order of the Red Banner , a military decoration, on September 16, 1918 during the Russian Civil War...
(1927) - Order of Red Banner of Labor Uzbek SSR (1927)
- Honorary worker of the Cheka-GPU (XV)
- Order of Lenin Order of LeninThe Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
(1933) - Order of the Red StarOrder of the Red StarEstablished on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...
(1937)
Sources
- К.А. Залесский (KA Zalessky): Империя Сталина. Биографический энциклопедический словарь (Stalin's Empire, Biographical Encyclopedic Dictionary) veche Моskau-Verlag 2000, ISBN 5-7838-0716-8
- Н. В. Петров, К. В. Скоркин (N.V. Petrov, K.V. Skorkin): Кто руководил НКВД, 1934-1941 - Справочник (Who Directed the NKVD, 1934-1941), Swenja-Verlag 1999, ISBN 5-7870-0032-3