The 'North Caucasian' deputy commissar who shot himself at the peak of his career
A 'North Caucasian' Chekist who began in the counterintelligence section of the Ukrainian Cheka alongside Nikolaev-Zhurid and Dagin, and followed Yevdokimov to the North Caucasus in 1923. In the summer of 1936 he succeeded Karutsky as head of the West Siberian NKVD, and within months was called up to the Moscow apparatus, heading the GUGB secret-political and then counterintelligence departments and rising to deputy commissar of internal affairs. Named in the awards decree of 2 July 1937, he shot himself days later, a death Naumov singles out as coming while his career was still rising.
Career Timeline
- 1919–1923Officer of the Ukrainian Cheka counterintelligence section
- 1923–1936OGPU and NKVD in the North Caucasus, in Yevdokimov's group
- 1936Head of the West Siberian NKVD
- 1936–1937Head of the GUGB Secret Political Department
- 1937Deputy commissar of internal affairs; head of counterintelligence
- 1937Shot himself days after being decorated