Nikolai Erastovich Berzarin ( Russian: Никола́й Эра́стович Берза́рин; 1 April 1904 – 16 June 1945) 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 ...

military officer who held

field army A field army (also known as numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps. It may be subordinate to an army group. Air army, Air armies are the equivalent formations in air forces, and ...

commands during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. A

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

, in 1945 he became the first commandant of the Soviet occupying forces in Berlin.

Early life and Russian Civil War

Nikolai Erastovich Berzarin was born in

Saint Petersburg 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 ...

on 1 April 1904, the son of a Putilov Factory

lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and turning, with tools that are applied to the w ...

operator and a seamstress. He had one brother and three sisters. In 1913 he began night courses at the city primary school, completing these in 1914 with the specialty of

bookbinder Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...

. Berzarin worked as an unskilled laborer at the Saint Petersburg harbor. His father died in 1917, followed by his mother in 1918. Berzarin joined 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 ...

on 14 October 1918, beginning his service as a Red Army man in the 17th Petrograd Army Combat Sector. During the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

he fought on the Northern Front against Allied troops in Archangelsk and in the suppression of the

Kronstadt rebellion The Kronstadt rebellion () was a 1921 insurrection of Soviet sailors, Marines, naval infantry, and civilians against the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik government in the Russian port city of Kronstadt. Located on Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland, ...

Interwar period

Berzarin received command training at the 2nd Petrograd Infantry Command Courses and upon graduation in September 1923 was appointed a squad leader in the 5th Amur Rifle Regiment. Berzarin rose to command a platoon in the regimental school in March 1924, and fought in the destruction of Zazeyskoye uprising in

Amur Oblast Amur Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south. The administrati ...

that year as assistant chief of a machine gun detachment. In 1925, he married bank employee Natalya Porosinyuk, with whom he had two daughters, Larissa and Irina. He graduated from machine gun courses at the Vystrel courses for command personnel in 1925 and became a member of the Communist Party in 1926. After graduating from the Command Courses of the Siberian Military District in October 1927, Berzarin commanded a platoon of the courses and in October 1928 became a class commander there. Berzarin rose to command a training company at the

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

Infantry School in April 1931. He served as responsible secretary of the party bureau of the Irkutsk Training Courses for Infantry Commanders from March 1932, and in July 1933 became assistant chief of the combat training department of the staff of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army. He became commander of the 77th Novgorod Rifle Regiment of the army's 26th Rifle Division in February 1935, receiving the rank of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

when the rank was introduced in late 1935, and in August 1937 chief of the 2nd Department of the staff of the army's Primorsky Group of Forces. 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 ...

in 1938, the NKVD tried to implicate Berzarin in the case of the executed commander

Ivan Fedko Ivan Fyodorovich Fedko (; ; July 6, 1897 – February 26, 1939) was a Soviet Komandarm 1st rank and army commander. He was born in what is now the Left-bank Ukraine. He fought in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I before joining the B ...

but the case was closed due to lack of evidence. That year, his daughter Irina was born. In July, freshly appointed commander of the 32nd Rifle Division the previous month, Berzarin took part in the Battle of Lake Khasan. He was promoted to '' kombrig'' on 31 December 1938. After Lake Khasan, Berzarin's career developed quickly: he was appointed commander of the 59th Rifle Corps in February 1939 and deputy commander of the 1st Red Banner Army of the Far Eastern Front in July 1940. Berzarin's rank was changed to major general when the Red Army introduced general officer ranks on 4 June 1940. In May 1941, he was appointed commander of the newly formed 27th Army, stationed at

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

in the Baltic Special Military District.

World War II

After Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Berzarin commanded the army as part of the Northwestern Front in the Baltic strategic defensive operation, during which it defended the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

coast. The army entered action in July and was forced to retreat to the lines of the Western Dvina, Velikaya, and Lovat rivers under the pressure of the German advance. The 27th Army counterattacked near Kholm in August and subsequently fought in defensive actions near Demyansk, stopping the German advance on the line of Lakes Velye and Seliger in early October. Berzarin was transferred to command the 34th Army of the front in December, leading it in the encirclement of German troops in the Demyansk Pocket during February 1942, but was unable to prevent the relief of the pocket in May. Berzarin was demoted to deputy commander of the 61st Army of the Bryansk Front in October, then served as deputy commander of the 20th Army from 4 January 1943. Berzarin distinguished himself in the fighting in the Battles of Rzhev and the Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive in March. During the latter, he was seriously wounded near

Vyazma Vyazma () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Vyazemsky District, Smolensk Oblast, Vyazemsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyazma River, about halfway between Smolensk, the ...

on 17 March and spent several months in the hospital. Berzarin was promoted to the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

on 28 April. Upon his recovery, Berzarin was returned to army command, taking over the 39th Army in September. He led the army as part of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian Fronts in the Smolensk operation and the winter offensive battles of 1943 and 1944 near

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

. Berzarin was transferred to command the 5th Shock Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front on 27 May. The army was transferred north to the 1st Belorussian Front in October and Berzarin led it in the Vistula–Oder offensive that began in January 1945. For his command of the army in the offensive, Berzarin was made a

on 6 April. He was promoted to the rank of

colonel general Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

on 20 April.

Commander of Berlin

Nikolai Berzarin 2019 stamp of Transnistria

During the Battle of Berlin, Berzarin's 5th Shock Army reached the eastern outskirts of Berlin on 21 April 1945, making them the first Soviet Army to do so. On 24 April, he was appointed commander of the city by Marshal Zhukov, in an echo of the Tsarist tradition of rewarding the first commander to enter a city with command over it. By his "Order No. 1" on 28 April, Berzarin assumed all governmental power. He worked to re-establish order in the ruined German capital, creating a city police force and supplying the population with food, water, gas and electricity, as well as re-opening schools and theatres. On 17 May, he appointed non-partisan Arthur Werner the first post-war Mayor of Berlin presiding over a civil city government. On 16 June 1945, after only 55 days in office, he was killed in a motorcycle accident when he collided with a truck convoy near his office in Berlin- Friedrichsfelde, aged 41. Berzarin is buried in the

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

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 ...

Awards and honours

Honorary citizenship

In 1975 Berzarin posthumously was bestowed

honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

. After

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

he was formally removed from the roll of honorary citizens by the Senate of Berlin in 1992. Upon a resolution by the Berlin Abgeordnetenhaus parliament, he regained his honorary citizenship in 2003, in view of his merits concerning the supply of the local population. Detractors of the re-awarding claimed that Berzarin was a Stalinist and involved in Soviet war crimes being responsible for the deportation of 47,000 Balts in 1940. These accusations, however, were proven wrong later on, as Berzarin was deployed in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

at the questioned time. From 1947 until 1991 Petersburger Straße in Berlin-

Friedrichshain Friedrichshain () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany. From its creation in 1920 until 2001, it was a freestanding Boroughs of Berlin, city borough. Formerly part of East Berlin, it is adjace ...

, a section of the Inner Ring Road, was named ''Bersarinstraße'' in his honour, the Bersarinplatz roundabout bears his name up to today. In April 2005, a road bridge in Berlin-

Marzahn Marzahn () is a locality within the boroughs and localities of Berlin, borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf in Berlin. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform led to the former boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf fusing into a single new borough. In the ...

was named after Berzarin,Presse- und Fototermin: 60. Jahrestag – Feierstunde mit Senator für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur, Dr. Thomas Flierl, Bezirksbürgermeister Dr. Uwe Klett, Botschaftern und weiterer politischer Prominenz am 21. April vor dem ersten befreiten Haus ...
/ref> in the area where his army reached the Berlin city limits in 1945. A birch tree planted in 2005 and a memorial stone mark the (presumed) site of his motorcycle accident.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berzarin, Nikolai 1904 births 1945 deaths Military personnel from Saint Petersburg Soviet colonel generals Motorcycle road incident deaths Road incident deaths in Germany Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin 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 Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union), 1st class Recipients of the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel killed in World War II