Mikhail Petrovich Frinovsky (; 7 February 1898 – 4 February 1940) was a

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 ...

secret police official who served as a deputy head 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 ...

under

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 ...

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 ...

. Frinovsky was a revolutionary during the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

and rose through the ranks of the

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

and its successor agencies. Frinovsky was actively involved in the Great Purge and personally led the mass arrests and

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...

s of security and military officials across the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1938. Frinovsky was made People's Commissar of the Navy of the Soviet Union in 1938 when he was himself removed from power and purged along with Yezhov. Frinovsky was arrested in 1939 on

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

charges and executed in 1940.

Early life

Mikhail Petrovich Frinovsky was born 7 February 1898 in the village of Narovchat in the Penza Governorate of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, into a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

family. His father was a teacher and he studied in a religious Orthodox school in Krasnoslobodsk prior to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In January 1916, Frinovsky volunteered for the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, serving as a

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

in the

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

until his desertion in August. He subsequently joined an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

group and began working as an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

at a military hospital.. In March 1917, during the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

, Frinovsky took part in the assassination of Major-General Mikhail Antonovich Bem, a distinguished army officer who was suppressing anti-war protests in

Penza Penza (, ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura (river), Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Russian census, 2010 Census, Penza had ...

. He was also active during the July Days in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. In September, he volunteered for the Red Guard in Khamovniki district of

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 ...

. A month later, when the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

occurred, the Red Guard unit under his command participated in storming of the

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

during the

Moscow Bolshevik Uprising The Moscow Bolshevik Uprising was the armed uprising of the Bolsheviks in Moscow, from 25 October (7 November) to 2 (15) November 1917 during the October Revolution of Russia. It was in Moscow in October where the most prolonged and bitter fig ...

. Frinovsky was severely wounded and spent months recovering at a hospital in Lefortovo. Between March and July 1918, Frinovsky again returned to civilian life and worked as a deputy administrator of the Hodynskaya Clinic.

Career

In July 1918, he joined the Russian Communist Party (b) and volunteered for the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. Frinovsky was made a

commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means ' commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and ...

of a combat unit and also head of the Special Section (the political supervisor and representative of the

, the Bolshevik

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

) of the

1st Cavalry Army __NOTOC__ The 1st Cavalry Army (), or ''Konarmia'' (Кона́рмия, "Horsearmy"), was a prominent Red Army military formation that served in the Russian Civil War and Polish–Soviet War, Polish-Soviet War. History Formation On 17 Novem ...

. In 1919, Frinovsky was transferred to the Cheka full time, and became a deputy of the Special Section for Moscow later in the year. In this capacity, he participated in many operations most vital for survival of the Bolshevik regime, including actions against anarchists and rebel

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

s in

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 ...

. From December 1919 until April 1920, Frinovsky served in the Special Section for the Southern Front of the Red Army. In 1920, he was transferred to the South-Western Front, where he served as chief of the Special Section, and as deputy to the Chief of the Special Section of the 1st Cavalry Army. In 1921, Frinovsky was appointed the deputy of the Cheka of Ukraine. From 1922 to 1923, Frinovsky headed the

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, ...

division of the GPU, the successor to the Cheka. From 23 June, he was also head of the

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

(successor of the GPU) of the South-East. In November 1923, Frinovsky was transferred to the Northern Caucasus and given command of the OGPU's Special Section for the

North Caucasus Military District The North Caucasus Military District was a military district of the Russian Armed Forces from 1992-2010. Before 1992 it had been part of the Soviet Armed Forces since 1918. In 2010 it became the Southern Military District and lately also included t ...

. He was made responsible for border security along the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

coast in the region. In July 1927, Frinovsky was transferred to Moscow, this time as aide to the commander of the Special Section for the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 191 ...

. In 1927, he completed high-command courses at the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

. From 28 November 1928 until 1 September 1930, he served as the commissar of the Special Forces division assigned to the Dzherzhinsky College of the OGPU. On 1 September 1930, Frinovsky was promoted and made chairman of the OGPU of the

Azerbaijan SSR The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union be ...

. In April 1933, he was again promoted and became the commander of OGPU Border Guard, where he participated in the Soviet invasion of Xinjiang. From January to February 1934, he attended the

17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) The 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), popularly known as the Executed Congress (as the majority of those present at the Congress were arrested or executed during the Great Purge) was held from 26 January to 10 February ...

as a delegate. On 11 July, Frinovsky was appointed head of Border and Internal Troops of the

Great Purge

Frinovsky was one of the major beneficiaries of the first purge of the NKVD that followed dismissal of its head,

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 ...

. He had had some kind of falling out with Yagoda, but was on good terms with Yagoda's successor

. On 16 October 1936, Frinovsky was appointed Deputy Chairman of the NKVD, which made him third in seniority within the Soviet security apparatus. On 15 April 1937, he was promoted First Deputy Chairman of the NKVD, and head of the Chief Directorate of State Security. Now second in command to Yezhov, he was in charge of the interrogation of Yagoda, in which

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 ...

took a personal interest. He was jointly responsible with Yezhov for setting the quotas of arrests that were required in each part of the Soviet Union, and in drawing up the 383 lists submitted for Stalin's approval, containing 44,000 names of people who were to be arrested, of whom 39,000 were to be

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

. On 7 June 1937, Frinovsky led the squad of senior NKVD officers who descended on Kiev to facilitate arrest of the recently dismissed head of the Ukraine NKVD, Vsevolod Balitsky, and of Red Army officers suspected of being too closely linked to their former commander,

Iona Yakir Iona Emmanuilovich Yakir (; 3 August 1896 – 12 June 1937) was a Red Army commander and one of the world's major military reformers between World War I and World War II. He was an early and major military victim of the Great Purge, alongsid ...

. On 17 February 1938, he supervised the murder of the head of the NKVD Foreign Department,

Abram Slutsky Abram Aronovich Slutsky (; July 1898 – 17 February 1938) was a Soviet intelligence officer who headed the Soviet foreign intelligence service ( INO), then part of the NKVD, from May 1935 to 17 February 1938, when he was allegedly poisoned. ...

, who was

chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane (often abbreviated as TCM), is an organochloride with the formula and a common solvent. It is a volatile, colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to refrigerants and po ...

ed and injected with lethal poison in Frinovsky's office. On 28 April 1938, he signed the warrant for the second arrest of the poet

Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam (, ; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school. Osip Mandelstam was arrested during the repressions of the 1930s and sent into internal exile wi ...

, who died in a

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

. On 17 June 1938, Frinovsky arrived in

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

in the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

, in a special train carrying a large contingent of NKVD officers to supervise mass arrests of military and security personnel in the Far East. This purge resulted in execution of 16 senior NKVD officials, who were shot, and

Marshal of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union (, ) was the second-highest military rank of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin wore the uniform and insignia of Marshal after World War II. The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in ...

Vasily Blyukher Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher (; 1 December 1889 – 9 November 1938) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. In 1938, Blyukher was arrested during the period of military purges under Joseph Stalin. He was tortured an ...

, the commander of the Far Eastern Army. While Frinovsky was in the Far East, Stalin proposed that he be appointed People's Commissar of the Navy, an apparent promotion, which was actually part of a manoeuvre to remove Yezhov. On 22 August 1938, it was announced that his replacement as First Deputy Chairman of the NKVD would be

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 ...

. On 25 August, Frinovsky arrived back in Moscow and effectively ran the NKVD for a few days, while Beria was in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

arranging who would take over from him there and Yezhov was in a state of drunken depression. He seized the opportunity to execute a group of former NKVD officers, including Leonid Zakovsky and Sergei Naumovich Mironov, to prevent them giving evidence against him to Beria.

Downfall

On 8 September 1938, Frinovsky was named People's Commissar for the Navy, and was sufficiently in favour to be among the guests at a lunch in the

on the 21st anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, at which Stalin and Beria were present, but Yezhov was excluded. However, at the party congress in March 1939, he was not elected to the Central Committee (the most powerful body in the party) when one of his nominal juniors was. On March 16, he wrote to Stalin pleading to be dismissed because he knew nothing about running a navy, but he was in office, at least nominally. On 6 April 1939, Frinovsky was arrested under the charge of "organizing a

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

–

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

conspiracy" within the NKVD and held at Sukhanovo Prison. On 12 April, his wife Nina and his 17-year-old son Oleg were also arrested. All three were included in a list of 346 people Beria submitted to Stalin on 16 January 1940, with a recommendation that they all be executed. Yezhov and 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 ...

were on the same death list. Oleg was executed on 21 January and Nina Frinovskaya on 3 February. It was standard procedure that the condemned were photographed prior to execution: the last pictures of Frinovsky's wife and son are in David King's book,''Ordinary Citizens.''

Death

On 4 February 1940, Frinovsky was shot and executed by firing squad, and his body was

cremated Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

at the Donskoye Cemetery. His grand apartment in Kropotkinskaya Street (now Prechistenka Street) in Khamovniki was given to

Estonian SSR The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit ( union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia ...

NKVD chief Veniamin Gulst. Frinovsky was never politically rehabilitated after the death of Stalin in 1953 and the subsequent

de-Stalinization De-Stalinization () comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and Khrushchev Thaw, the thaw brought about by ascension of Nik ...

process.

Awards

* Order of Lenin (February 14, 1936) * three orders of the Red Banner (1924, 20.12.1932, 3.02.1935) * Order of the Red Star (July 22, 1937) * medal "XX years of the RSCA" (February 22, 1938) * Order of the Red Banner of the Mongolian People's Republic (October 25, 1937) * Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Azerbaijan SSR (March 4, 1931) * Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the ZRFSR (March 7, 1932) * Badge "Honorary Worker of the Cheka-OGPU (V)" (1925) * Badge "Honorary Worker of the Cheka-OGPU (XV)" (May 26, 1933) Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 24, 1941 deprived of state awards and military rank.

Family

* Brother – Frinovsky Georgy Petrovich (1908–1942) – from January 1937 he served as chief of staff, from October 7, 1937, commander of the 225th escort regiment; supervised the escort of prisoners of the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp to the places of execution, major of state security. * Wife – Frinovskaya Nina Stepanovna (1903, Ryazan – February 3, 1940) – Russian, non-partisan, higher education, graduate student of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Arrested April 12, 1939. February 2, 1940 on charges of "concealing the criminal counter-revolutionary activities of enemies of the people" (that is, her own husband and son), the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR was sentenced to death. Shot on February 3, 1940. Rehabilitated by the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the USSR on January 12, 1966. * Son – Frinovsky Oleg Mikhailovich (1922, Kharkov – January 21, 1940, Moscow) – member of the Komsomol, unfinished secondary education, student of the 10th grade of the 2nd Moscow special artillery school. Arrested April 12, 1939. On January 21, 1940, he was sentenced to death by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR on charges of participating in a "counter-revolutionary youth group". Shot on the same day. Rehabilitated by the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the USSR on January 12, 1966. In Moscow, Frinovsky occupied a 9-room apartment (Kropotkinskaya street, building 31, apt. 77), in which, after his arrest, the family of a high-ranking NKVD officer, Veniamin Gulst, moved in.А. Колесниченко «Пьяный Вася, секреты Черчиля и золотой „Вальтер“». — АиФ № 31, 2–8 августа 2017, с. 36–37

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frinovsky, Mikhail 1898 births 1940 deaths People from Penza Oblast People from Narovchatsky Uyezd Bolsheviks Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union members First convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Soviet komandarms of the first rank Cheka officers NKVD officers Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Inmates of Sukhanovo Prison Executed Great Purge perpetrators from Russia Frunze Military Academy alumni Burials at Donskoye Cemetery