Sergei Ivanovich Ogoltsov (; 29 August 1900 – 30 December 1976ОГОЛЬЦОВ Сергей Иванович(1900-1976)
Информационный сайт 2 ~ фото, живопись, информация. Retrieved 4 May 2020 (photo of the grave, text in Russian)) was a Soviet state security official who served as a Deputy Minister of State Security from 1946 to 1953.

Early life and education

Sergei Ivanovich Ogoltsov was born on 29 August 1900 in Kanino village in Sapozhkovsky Uyezd of Ryazan Governorate in a peasant family of Russian ethnicity. In 1916 he graduated from a two-class primary school and continued his training as an apprentice of a parish clerk in the villages of Ukolovo and Prigorod.Александр Иванович Колпакиди, ''Щит и меч. Руководители органов гос. безопасности'' Москва, ОЛМА Медиа Групп, 2002, стр. 471 (in Russian). In October 1917 he became secretary of the parish executive committee, a post he held until joining the state security system in May 1918. In 1919 he joined the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). In 1925 he was sent to study in the Higher Border Guard School of the

Joint State Political Directorate The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...

(OGPU) that he graduated in 1927.Огольцов Сергей Иванович
Хронос. Retrieved 3 May 2020 (biography in Russian).

Career in state security

Just 17 years old, he started his career in

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

, working from May to October 1918 as a secretary of a bureau combating profiteering. In October 1918 he was promoted to an investigator and in March 1919 became the deputy head of a bureau combating counter-revolution. In June 1919 he was transferred from the Sapozhkovsky Uyezd office to the Ryazan Governorate office, where he advanced fast – from operative commissar of search and seizure to the head of weaponry bureau to the assistant of the Cheka plenipotentiary in Ranenburgsky Uyezd. He also participated in combat activities against the units of the Cossack general Konstantin Mamontov. Although Ogoltsov could barely read, he was apparently very effective in finding "counter-revolutionary literature" during his search and seizure operations and soon his name was brought to the attention of Cheka top executives.Огольцов С.И.
Правозащитники против пыток. Retrieved 4 May 2020 (in Russian). In April 1920 he was transferred to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, where he served as a commissar of search and seizure under direct supervision of Felix Dzerzhinsky's first deputy Ivan Ksenofontov. In May he was part of the team of security officers who accompanied Dzerzhinsky to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, where Ogoltsov remained for the next five years. From June 1920 he held various security posts in

Poltava Governorate Poltava Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Polt ...

, becoming by the end of the year deputy head of the department combating banditry. In January 1921 he was appointed the head of Cheka in Lokhvytsky Uyezd and in 1922, after Cheka had been renamed the

State Political Directorate The State Political Directorate (), abbreviated as GPU (), was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from February 1922 to November 1923. It was the immediate successor of the Cheka, and was replaced by the Joint ...

(GPU), one of the plenipotentiaries in Poltava Governorate. In 1923, Ogoltsov became the Inspector for the Special Branch 14 Infantry Corps based in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. His command was continually transferred in the 1930s to different units within Ukraine, including the 22nd Volochisskogo NKVD border unit, the 26th NKVD border detachment in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, and the 27th NKVD border unit in Sevastopol. He was promoted to the commander officer of the 27th Crimean NKVD border group in 1936.Ogoltsov, Sergei Ivanovich
Generals.dk. Retrieved 4 May 2020. After spending most of the 1930s in Ukraine among various NKVD border units, he joined the NKVD administration in Leningrad in 1939. For the next few years he spent time in Leningrad and Kuibyshev until he was made the Commissar of State Security of the Kazakh SSR in 1944. While at this position, Ogoltsov participated in the deportation of many Soviet peoples to the Kazakh SSR. From 1945 he served as the Deputy Minister of State Security of the USSR (until 1946 Deputy People's Commissar of State Security). In 1951 Ogoltsov was appointed the 1st Deputy Minister of State Security of the USSR.

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

then nominated Ogoltsov for Minister of State Security after the removal of Vsevolod Nikolayevich Merkulov, but he initially refused, citing a lack of knowledge and experience. In 1952 Ogoltsov served as the Minister of Public Security in Uzbekistan and then became the Head of Main Intelligence Directorate of the MVD. His final position was as the First Deputy Minister of State Security.

Coordinated operations

In early 1920s Ogoltsov coordinated the operations against Ukrainian nationalists and anarchists, including the units of Nestor Makhno, in

. His strategy was simple: a number of people from villages supporting the counter-revolutionaries were taken hostage and if the villagers refused to reveal the locations of counter-revolutionary units, the hostages were executed. The discovered units were completely annihilated as Ogoltsov had given a command not to take any prisoners in armed combat. As the head of NKVD in Kuybyshev Ogoltsov was in charge of execution of a Polish-Jewish social and political activist Victor Alter. Alter and his colleague Henryk Ehrlich had been arrested already in 1939 after the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

and accused of activities against the Communist movement in Poland, but pardoned in August 1941. However, in December 1941 they were again detained with no reason given for their arrest. In December 1941 they were sentenced to death behind their back as traitors. Ehrlich managed to commit suicide in prison in May 1942 but Alter was executed in February 1943. An official report to the Deputy People's Commissar of the NKVD Vsevolod Merkulov on the execution of Alter, signed by Ogoltsov, has been preserved.Сталинский почерк: убить и оболгать
Новая Газета, 31 July 2014 (in Russian). As the Deputy Minister of State Security of the USSR (1946–1951) Ogoltsov was the ministry level coordinator of several mass deportations in the Soviet Union. In October 1947 he and the Ukrainian Minister of State Security Sergei Savchenko coordinated operation ''West'' (in Russian ''Zapad''), removing a large number of people (according to the official statistics 77,791 persons) accused of nationalism and banditry, along with their family members from Western Ukraine.Meelis Saueauk, ''Märtsiküüditamine NSV Liidu sõjajärgsete massideporteerimiste kontekstis''. – ''Tuna'', 4/2019, pp. 80–97 (in Estonian). In May 1948 he was the general coordinator for operation ''Spring'' (in Russian ''Vesna'') in

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

, deporting, according to the official statistics, 39,482 people, along with their family members, accused of nationalism, banditry and being

kulak Kulak ( ; rus, кула́к, r=kulák, p=kʊˈɫak, a=Ru-кулак.ogg; plural: кулаки́, ''kulakí'', 'fist' or 'tight-fisted'), also kurkul () or golchomag (, plural: ), was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned over ...

s. In 1949 he was in charge of operation ''Breaking Wave'' (in Russian ''Priboy'') directed against the three Baltic republics of the USSR – Estonian SSR,

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation of the Bal ...

and Lithuanian SSR. The deportations took place simultaneously in all three Soviet republics on 25 March 1949 and resulted in total of 94,775 people removed from these territories. In the same role he also coordinated the murder of Jewish actor and producer Solomon Mikhoels in 1948 in Minsk, Belarus. Robert Conquest, a British historian and author, wrote in his book '' Reflections on a Ravaged Century'' that Mikhoels "was clubbed to death at Belorussia's KGB dacha in January 1948 under the supervision of Stalin's Deputy Minister of State Security, Sergei Ogoltsov." According to some sources Ogoltsov was picked for the operation personally by

. For successful execution of the operation he was awarded his third

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

. When Lavrenti Beria came to power in 1953 and revised the antisemitic policies of Stalin's last years, Ogoltsov was arrested due to his involvement in Mikhoels' murder and stripped of the order awarded to him in 1948.

Retirement

After Stalin's death, Ogoltsov was removed from his position as the First Deputy Minister of State Security by Beria and arrested on 3 April 1953 for the murder of Solomon Mikhoels. Soon after Beria was removed from power Ogoltsov was released on 6 August 1953 and appointed to the personnel department of the Ministry of State Security. However, already in January 1954 he was retired from active duty. On 14 February 1958 he was also excluded from the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

for fabricating cases against professors in Leningrad universities in 1940s. On 8 June 1959 he was stripped of his rank and all state decorations. He died on 30 December 1976 and was buried at the Vagankovo Cemetery in

List of offices

* Feb–Jun 1927 Assistant to the Head of the

OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...

Special Department at the 15th Rifle Division * 1927–1929 Head of the OGPU Special Department at the 1st Cavalry Division and Deputy Head of the OGPU Special Department at the 1st Cavalry Corps * Feb–Jun 1929 Head of the OGPU Special Department at the 96th Rifle Division and Deputy Head of the OGPU Special Department at the 17th Rifle Corps * Jun–Dec 1929 Head of the OGPU Special Department at the

95th Rifle Division The 95th Rifle Division (Russian: 95-я стрелковая дивизия 95-y strelkovaya diviziya) was a Red Army Division (military), Rifle Division during World War II, formed three times. The division was first formed in November 1923 with ...

* 1929–1930 Head of the OGPU Special Department at the 44th Rifle Division and Deputy Head of the OGPU Special Department at the 8th Rifle Corps * 1930–1932 Assistant to the Head of the OGPU Special Department in the

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

region,

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

* 1932–1934 Head of the OGPU Special Department at the 99th Rifle Division * 1934–1935 Head of the OGPU Special Department at the 30th Rifle Division and Assistant to the Head of the OGPU Special Department at the 7th Rifle Corps * Sep–Dec 1935 Deputy Commanding Officer of the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

Border Group in Volochysk, Ukrainian SSR * 1935–1936 Chief of Staff of the NKVD Border Detachment in

, Ukrainian SSR * 1936–1938 Commanding Officer of the 27th NKVD Border Detachment in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

* 1938–1939 Commanding Officer of the 4th NKVD Border Detachment in

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

* 1939–1941 Head of NKVD in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

* Mar–Jul 1941 Deputy Head of NKGB in

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

* 1941–1942 Deputy Head of NKVD in Leningrad Oblast * 1942–1943 Head of NKVD in Kuybyshev Oblast * 1943–1944 Head of NKGB in Kuybyshev Oblast * 1944–1945 People's Commissar of State Security of Kazakh SSR * 1945–1946 First Deputy Commissar of State Security of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

* Mar–May 1946 First Deputy Minister of State Security of the Soviet Union * 1946–1951 Deputy Minister of State Security of the Soviet Union in general matters * 1951–1952 First Deputy Minister of State Security of the Soviet Union * Feb–Nov 1952 Minister of State Security of Uzbek SSR * 1952–1953 First Deputy Minister of State Security of the Soviet Union * Jan–Mar 1953 Head of

GRU Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series. Gru or GRU may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper * Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga'' Organizations Georgia (c ...

of the Ministry of State Security of the Soviet Union * 1953–1954 employee in the personnel department of the Ministry of State Security of the Soviet Union

Ranks

In the last 15 years of his career in state security Ogoltsov held the following military ranks:ОГОЛЬЦОВ Сергей Иванович
История отечественных спецслужб и правоохранительных органов. Retrieved 4 May 2020 (in Russian). * Major (3 April 1939) * Major of State Security (21 April 1939) * Senior Major of State Security (7 April 1940) * Commissar of State Security, 3rd class (14 February 1943) * Lieutenant General (9 July 1945)

Honours and awards

During his career in state security Ogoltsov was awarded the following state decorations: * Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" (22 February 1938) *

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

(twice – 26 April 1940, 20 September 1943) *

(thrice – 18 May 1942, 3 November 1944, 29 October 1948) * Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class (8 March 1944) *

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

(21 February 1945) *

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...

, 1st class (16 November 1945)

Personality and family

Russian journalist Leonid Mlechin has written about Ogoltsov in his book ''History of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Career and Destiny''. He writes: "Of all the deputies Abakumov had, Ogoltsov left an impression being the most reasonable and businesslike. He also seemed less tainted by dirty affairs than the others until it became known what he had actually done. Ogoltsov was the head of the operation to murder the artistic director of the State Jewish Theatre Solomon Mikhailovich Mikhoels in January 1948."Леонид Млечин, ''История внешней разведки. Карьеры и судьбы''. Москва, Центрполиграф, 2011 (in Russian). Ogoltsov had at least one daughter, Nataliya (died in 1994).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogoltsov, Sergei 1900 births 1976 deaths People from Sapozhkovsky District People from Sapozhkovsky Uyezd Bolsheviks Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Second convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Commissars 3rd Class of State Security Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of the Red Star