Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov (russian: link=no, Виктор Семёнович Абакумов; 24 April 1908 – 19 December 1954) was a high-level
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
security official from 1943 to 1946, the head of
SMERSH
SMERSH (russian: СМЕРШ) was an umbrella organization for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Josep ...
in the
USSR People's Commissariat of Defense, and from 1946 to 1951 Minister of State Security or
MGB (ex-
NKGB
The People's Commissariat for State Security (russian: Народный комиссариат государственной безопасности) or NKGB, was the name of the Soviet secret police, intelligence and counter-intelligence fo ...
). He was removed from office and arrested in 1951 on fabricated charges of failing to investigate the
Doctors' Plot
The "Doctors' plot" affair, group=rus was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Healthcare in Russia, Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. ...
. After the death of
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
, Abakumov was tried for fabricating the
Leningrad Affair, sentenced to death and executed in 1954.
Early life and career
Abakumov was an ethnic Russian. Recent scholarship suggests that he was born in Moscow,
though he was previously said to be from the
Don Cossack
Don Cossacks (russian: Донские казаки, Donskie kazaki) or Donians (russian: донцы, dontsy) are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (russian: До ...
region of south Russia. His father was an unskilled labourer and his mother a nurse.
At the age of 14, Abakumov joined the Soviet
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
in spring 1922 and served with the 2nd Special Task Moscow Brigade in the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
until demobilization in December 1923.
[Parrish, 1996,] He then joined the
Komsomol
The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...
. He became a candidate member of the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
in 1930, and worked in the
People's Commissariat of Supplies until 1932, while being responsible for the Military Section of the Communist Youth League in the Moscow area (''raion'').
[Parrish, 1996]
In early 1932, recommended by the Party to join the security services (
OGPU
The Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU; russian: Объединённое государственное политическое управление) was the intelligence and state security service and secret police of the Soviet Union f ...
), he was assigned to the Economic Department and possibly to the Investigation Department. In 1933, he was dismissed from the Economic Department and assigned as an overseer to the
GULAG
The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
. This was a clear demotion; Abakumov was a compulsive womanizer, and his superior,
M.P. Shreider (
ru), regarded Abakumov as unfit to be a
Chekist.
Rise through NKVD ranks
In 1934, after the reorganization of the security apparatus (the OGPU was joined to the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
as a
GUGB
The Main Directorate of State Security (russian: Glavnoe upravlenie gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti, Главное управление государственной безопасности, ГУГБ, GUGB) was the name of the Soviet
most importa ...
), Abakumov started his work in a 1st Section of Economics Department (EKO) by the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) of NKVD. On 1 August 1934, he was transferred to the Chief Directorate of Camps and Labour Colonies (GULAG), where he served until 1937, mainly as an operative officer in the 3rd Section of Security Department of GULAG of the NKVD. In April 1937, Abakumov was moved to the 4th Department (OO) of GUGB of the NKVD where he served until March 1938.
After the next reorganization of NKVD structure in March 1938, he became assistant to the chief of the 4th Department in the 1st Directorate of the NKVD. From 29 September to 1 November 1938, he was an assistant to
Pyotr Fedotov
Pyotr Vasilyevich Fedotov (Russian: Пётр Васильевич Федотов; 18 December 1900 – 29 September 1963) was long time Soviet security and intelligence officer, head of counterintelligence in NKVD/NKGB and head of foreign intellig ...
, the head of the 2nd Department (Secret Political Dep – or. SPO) of GUGB of the NKVD. Until the end of 1938, he worked in the ''SPO'' GUGB NKVD as a head of one of the sections. Abakumov survived the
Great Purge
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...
by participating in it. He executed each order without scruples, probably saving him from facing an execution squad himself. Near the end of December 1938, Abakumov was moved from Moscow to
Rostov-on-Don
Rostov-on-Don ( rus, Ростов-на-Дону, r=Rostov-na-Donu, p=rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East Eu ...
, where he became the head of the UNKVD of the
Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblast, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast has an area of and a populati ...
(the head of the local NKVD Office).
World War II activities
Abakumov returned to Moscow HQ on 12 February 1941 as a Senior Major of State Security and, after the reorganization and creation of the new
NKGB
The People's Commissariat for State Security (russian: Народный комиссариат государственной безопасности) or NKGB, was the name of the Soviet secret police, intelligence and counter-intelligence fo ...
, he became one of the deputies of
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...
, who was the People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (head of the NKVD). On 19 July 1941, he became the head of Special Department (''OO'') of the NKVD which was responsible for
Counterintelligence
Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...
and internal security in the RKKA (Red Army).
In this position, after the attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union and the defeats experienced by the Red Army, on Stalin's order he led the purges of RKKA commanders accused of betrayal and cowardice. In 1943, from 19 April to 20 May 1943, Abakumov was one of Stalin’s deputies, when he held the post of People's Commissar of Defence of the USSR.
In April 1943, when Chief Counterintelligence Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Defence of the USSR (or ''GUKR'' NKO USSR) better known as
SMERSH
SMERSH (russian: СМЕРШ) was an umbrella organization for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Josep ...
was created, Abakumov was put in charge of it, in the rank of Commissar (2nd rank) of State Security, and held the title of vice-Commissar of Defense.
During the war, he reported directly to
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
, and appears to have been able to bypass Beria. For example, Beria disclaimed responsibility for the arrest in 1941 of the Red Army Marshal,
Kirill Meretskov
Kirill Afanasievich Meretskov (russian: Кири́лл Афана́сьевич Мерецко́в; – 30 December 1968) was a Soviet military commander. Having joined the Communist Party in 1917, he served in the Red Army from 1920. During th ...
, for which he blamed Stalin and Abakumov. However, Nikita Khrushchev – who later denounced Stalin and had both Beria and Abakumov executed – did not believe him. He claimed that Stalin "thought he had found in Abakumov a bright young man who was dutifully carrying out his orders, but actually Abakumov was reporting to Stalin what Beria had told him Stalin wanted to hear".
He used his position to enrich himself. He took over a 'splendid' apartment, whose previous occupant, a soprano, he had arrested, and "stashed his mistresses in the
Moskva Hotel and imported trainloads of plunder from Berlin."
Head of MGB
In 1946, Stalin appointed Abakumov Minister of State Security (
MGB). Although the ministry was under the general supervision of Beria, Stalin hoped to curb the latter's power. Beria was said by
Vsevolod Merkulov
Vsevolod Nikolayevich (Boris) Merkulov (russian: Всеволод Николаевич Меркулов; – 23 December 1953) was the head of NKGB from February to July 1941, and again from April 1943 to March 1946. He was a leading member of ...
to be "scared to death of Abakumov" and tried to "have good relations" with him. In his capacity in the MGB he was in charge of the 1949 purge known as the "
Leningrad Affair," in which the Politburo members
Nikolai Voznesensky
Nikolai Alekseevich Voznesensky (russian: Никола́й Алексе́евич Вознесе́нский, – 1 October 1950) was a Soviet politician and economic planner who oversaw the running of Gosplan (State Planning Committee) dur ...
and
Aleksei Kuznetsov were executed.
He also carried out the early stages of the anti-semitic campaign that Stalin ordered, as the second pro-Arab phase of Stalin's Middle East plans following the enormous military support he had given to help establish the state of Israel, involving the arrest and torture of numerous prominent Jews, including an Old Bolshevik,
Solomon Lozovsky
Solomon Abramovich Lozovsky (russian: Соломон Абрамович Лозовский, family birth name: Dridzo russian: Дридзо, 1878–1952) was a prominent Communist and Bolshevik revolutionary, a high-ranking official in the Soviet ...
.
When the eminent scientist,
Lina Stern, was arrested and brought before Abakumov, he shouted at her, accusing her of being a Zionist and of plotting to turn the Crimea in a separate Jewish state. When she denied the accusation, he shouted: "Why you old whore!" Stern replied: "So that's the way a minister talks to an academician."
Arrest and execution
In June 1951, Abakumov's deputy,
Mikhail Ryumin
Mikhail Dmitrievich Ryumin Михаил Дмитриевич Рюмин (1 September 1913 – 22 July 1954) was a Soviet security officer and deputy head of the Soviet MGB (Ministry of State Security) who engineered the "Doctors' Plot" in 195 ...
, wrote to Stalin alleging that Abakumov was not doing enough to fabricate a case against the Jews. Ryumin's brainchild was the
Doctors' Plot
The "Doctors' plot" affair, group=rus was an alleged conspiracy of prominent Healthcare in Russia, Soviet medical specialists to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. ...
. Abakumov and several other senior MGB officers were arrested. In March 1953 Stalin died, Beria regained control of the police, and Ryumin was arrested. Beria and Ryumin were arrested and shot, but Abakumov and his associates remained in prison.
Abakumov and five others were brought to a six day trial in December 1954, accused of falsifying the 'Leningrad Affair'. Abakumov and three former deputy heads of the MGB Section for Investigating Specially Important Cases, A.G. Leonov, V.I. Komarov and M.T. Likhachev, were sentenced to death and shot after the trial ended on 19 December. Col Likhachev was based successively in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia in 1945–49 and had played a role in preparing the
Rajk and
Slansky show trials, though this role was not part of the case against him.
Two others, Ya.M. Broverman and I.A. Chernov were sentenced, respectively, to 25 years and 15 years in the GULAG.
In 1970, it was reported that Broverman was enjoying a relatively privileged position as a trustee in a labour camp.
Awards
Abakumov was deprived of all titles and awards on November 14, 1955.
In literature and film
Abakumov is portrayed as a cunning courtier, not altogether trusted by Stalin, in
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repress ...
's novel, ''
The First Circle
''In the First Circle'' (russian: link=no, italics=yes, В круге первом, V kruge pervom; also published as ''The First Circle'') is a novel by Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, released in 1968. A more complete version of the boo ...
''. In the 1992
film version
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...
of the book, he was played by
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. He received multiple accolades, inc ...
and in a Russian language mini-series broadcast in 2006, he was played by
Roman Madyanov
Roman Sergeevich Madyanov (russian: Рома́н Серге́евич Мадя́нов; born July 22, 1962) is a Soviet and Russian actor. Madyanov's career in cinema began as a child actor when he starred as Huckleberry Finn in ''Hopelessly Lost' ...
. There is another fictional portrayal of him in the novel ''
Dust and Ashes
''Dust and Ashes'' (russian: Прах и пепел) is a novel by Anatoly Rybakov that recounts the era in the Soviet Union of the build-up to the ' Congress of the Victors' (26 January - 10 February 1934), the early years of the second Five Yea ...
'' by
Anatoly Rybakov
Anatoly Naumovich Rybakov (russian: Анато́лий Нау́мович Рыбако́в; – 23 December 1998) was a Soviet and Ukrainian writer, the author of the anti-Stalinist ''Children of the Arbat ''trilogy, the novel ''Heavy Sand' ...
. In Solzhenitsyn's famous non-fiction text,
The Gulag Archipelago
''The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation'' (russian: Архипелаг ГУЛАГ, ''Arkhipelag GULAG'') is a three-volume non-fiction text written between 1958 and 1968 by Russian writer and Soviet dissident Aleksandr So ...
, he accused Abakumov of personally engaging in the beatings and torture of prisoners during interrogations.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abakumov, Viktor
1908 births
1954 deaths
Executed people from Moscow
NKVD officers
People from Moskovsky Uyezd
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union
Second convocation members of the Soviet of the Union
Soviet colonel generals
Commissars 2nd Class of State Security
KGB officers
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 1st class
Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 1st class
Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class
Recipients of the Order of the Red Star
Expelled members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
People convicted of treason against the Soviet Union
Police officers convicted of treason
Inmates of Lefortovo Prison
Executed Soviet people from Russia
Russian people executed by the Soviet Union
Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union
People executed for treason against the Soviet Union
People executed by the Soviet Union by firearm