Pavlo Yakovych Meshyk (; , Pavel Meshyk; 1910 – 23 December 1953) was a Ukrainian Soviet security operative and

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 ...

officer.

Biography

Meshyk was born in a family of clerks in

Konotop Konotop ( ) is a city in Sumy Oblast, northeastern Ukraine. Konotop serves as the administrative center of Konotop Raion within the oblast. Konotop is located about from Sumy, the administrative center of the oblast. It is host to Konotop Ai ...

. After graduating from Konotop school, in 1925–1930 he worked as a repairman at Konotop Mechanical Factory. At the factory, Meshyk graduated the school of FZU and in 1930 in

Kamianets-Podilskyi Kamianets-Podilskyi (, ; ) is a city on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi. Formerly the administrative center of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, the city is now the administrative center of Kamianets ...

he finished university preparatory courses. In October 1931 Meshyk with a " Komsomol voyage ticket"Vronska, T.
(МЕШИК Павло Якович)
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine enrolled into the Electrical Power Institute in

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

, but already in March 1932 on the party's selection he was directed to work at

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

. After finishing the OGPU College (1932–1933), Meshyk worked in the central office of OGPU–NKVD in

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 ...

in economic and counterintelligence departments (assistant commissioner of Division 1 of the GUGB (OGPU) Economic Department (EKO), 1933–1935; operational commissioner of Division 2 of the GUGB EKO, later Division 14 ( Vneshtorg,

trade office A trade office, sometimes known as a trade representation, commercial office, or trade mission, is an official establishment that promotes the commercial interests of a government (such as a city, state, or country) in a foreign capital. The hea ...

s) of the GUGB Department 3 (counterintelligence), 1935–1937). this is the List of leadership positions Meshyk held afterwards: * 1937–1938 assistant chief of Division 14 of the GUGB Department 3 * 1939 assistant chief of the NKVD Investigational Section * 1939–1940 chief of the NKVD Main Economic Directorate (GEU) Investigational Section * 1940–1941 chief of the NKVD GEU Department 1 * 1941 People's Commissar of State Security of the UkrSSR * 1941–1943 chief of the NKVD Economic Directorate (EKU) ** 1941 chief of the NKVD Special Department 7 (production of weaponry) ** 1942 chief of the NKVD EKU Department 1 (aviation) * 1943–1945 assistant chief of the NKO Main Directorate of Counterintelligence (GUKR)

SMERSH SMERSH () was an umbrella organization for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin. The form ...

* 1945 NKVD commissioner of the

First Ukrainian Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...

* 1945 advisor to Ministry of General Administration at the

Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

of the Republic of Poland (including the

Provisional Government of National Unity The Provisional Government of National Unity (, TRJN) was a puppet government formed by the decree of the State National Council (, KRN) on 28 June 1945 as a result of reshuffling the Soviet-backed Provisional Government of the Republic of Pola ...

) Upon his return from Poland, Meshyk worked for the

Soviet atomic bomb project The Soviet atomic bomb project was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during and after World War II. Russian physicist Georgy Flyorov suspected that the Allied powers were secretly developing a " superwea ...

: * 1945–1953 assistant chief of the First Main Directorate (Sovnarkom – Sovmin of USSR) * 1953 Minister of Internal Affairs of the UkrSSR (on initiative of

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 30 June 1953 Meshyk was arrested 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, ...

. On 23 December 1953 he was sentenced by the Special court presence (, Spetsialnoye sudebnoye prisutstvie) of the Supreme Court of USSR to "VMN" (i.e.

capital punishment 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 the "case of Beria's gang". Meshyk was executed by shooting. He was stripped of all awards and titles. Meshyk was partially rehabilitated when on 29 May 2000 the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation requalified

corpus delicti (Latin for "body of the crime"; plural: ), in Western law, is the principle that a crime must be proven to have occurred before a person could be convicted of having committed that crime. For example, a person cannot be tried for larceny unle ...

(body of the crime) to "Excess of power and abuse of office that led to severe consequences", execution by shooting changed to 25 years of imprisonment without confiscation of personal property.

Awards

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 ...

(1949) * 2

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 ...

(1943, 1944) * 2

Order of Kutuzov The Order of Kutuzov ( ''orden Kutuzova'') is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named after famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (1745–1813). The Order was established during World War II t ...

(1st degree, 1945) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

(1942) *

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 ...

(1940) *

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

(1937) * Merited NKVD agent (1941)

References

External links

Pavlo Meshyk
at Shield and Sword {{DEFAULTSORT:Meshyk, Pavlo 1910 births 1953 deaths People from Konotop People from Konotopsky Uyezd Soviet interior ministers of Ukraine Republican KGB chairmen (Ukraine) Soviet lieutenant generals