Bogdan Zakharovich Kobulov (; 1 March 1904 – 23 December 1953) served as a senior member of the

Soviet 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 ...

security- and police-apparatus during the rule of

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 ...

. After Stalin's death he was arrested and executed along with his former chief and patron

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

Career

Bogdan Kobulov was born in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, the son of an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

tailor. He left school early, and was reputedly illiterate. He did odd jobs before being drafted into the Red Army in 1921. He joined

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

in 1922, and held minor posts, until he was spotted by Beria in 1931 and recruited to the Secret Political department of the

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

in Georgia. In April 1937, during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

, he was appointed head of the Secret-Political Department of the Georgian

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 ...

, which meant that he was in charge of eliminating officers associated with the ex-head of the NKVD,

Genrikh Yagoda Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda (, born Yenokh Gershevich Iyeguda; 7 November 1891 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet secret police official who served as director of the NKVD, the Soviet Union's security and intelligence agency, from 1934 to 1936. A ...

. In December 1938, after Beria took control of the NKVD, he transferred Kobulov to Moscow, as head of the newly created Investigative Directorat of the NKVD. He was in charge of major investigations, including the mass executions of thousand of Polish prisoners in the Katyn woods in 1940. He was also in charge of the case against Beria's predecessor,

Nikolai Yezhov Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov ( rus, Николай Иванович Ежов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ (j)ɪˈʐof; 1 May 1895 – 4 February 1940), also spelt Ezhov, was a Soviet Chekism, secret police official under Joseph Stalin who ...

. In May 1939, he signed the warrant for the arrest of the writer

Isaac Babel Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel ( – 27 January 1940) was a Soviet writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of ''Red Cavalry'' and ''Odessa Stories'', and has been acclaimed as "the greatest prose write ...

. From 1939, he was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. From April 1939, he was Head of the Main Economic Department of the NKVD/MGB. In 1944, he was involved in the mass deportation of the

Chechens The Chechens ( ; , , Old Chechen: Нахчой, ''Naxçoy''), historically also known as ''Kistin, Kisti'' and ''Durdzuks'', are a Northeast Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus. ...

and other small nations, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. After 1945, he was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, but was brought back to the security organs as First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, under Beria, after the death of Stalin in March 1953. At the zenith of his career as a state security officer Kobulov was Beria's

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

specialist. The young physicist Yakov Terletsky remembers seeing the "egg-shaped" Kobulov in an anteroom to Beria's office at Lubyanka in 1945 and estimated his weight at above . When Beria fell from power, Kobulov was arrested along with his boss on 27 June 1953; he was convicted on multiple charges, including espionage, and sentenced to death and executed on 23 December 1953.

References

External links

Кто руководил НКВД, 1934—1941
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobulov, Bogdan 1904 births 1953 deaths Politicians from Tbilisi People from Tbilisi Candidates of the Central Committee of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Candidates of the Central Committee of the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Commissars 2nd Class of State Security Second convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Kutuzov, 1st class Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 1st class Armenian people executed by the Soviet Union People from Georgia (country) executed by the Soviet Union Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union Georgian people of Armenian descent Cheka officers Soviet Armenians Soviet diplomats Perpetrators of Indigenous genocides Executed Great Purge perpetrators People executed for treason against the Soviet Union People executed by the Soviet Union by firearm