Zinovy Markovich Ushakov (Russian: Зиновий Маркович Ушаков; 7 November 1895 – 26 January 1940) was a Soviet police officer who became a notorious torturer during the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...

Career

He was born in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

province, the son of a carpenter. Ushakov left school at age 13 to work the same trade, but was drafted into the Imperial Russian armed forces in 1916. Arrested for desertion, he escaped after spending 50 days in prison. During the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

, he fought as a partisan in Ukraine. He joined the Cheka in Kiev in 1920, and was based in Ukraine until 1934, when he was transferred to

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901 ...

. From February 1935 to December 1936, he was deputy head of the Special Department of the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

in the Belorussian

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

Republic. Ushakov was transferred to Moscow in January 1937, as assistant to the head of the special department of the NKVD, Mark Gai. He played a major role in fabricating the case against

Marshal Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevskiy, p=tʊxɐˈtɕefskʲɪj; – 12 June 1937) nicknamed the Red Napoleon by foreign newspapers, was a Sovie ...

and other Red Army commanders. The first Red Army officer to be arrested in the Great Purge, Dmitry Shmidt, was interrogated by Ushakov, and forced to give evidence incriminating the commander of the Ukraine military district,

Iona Yakir Iona Emmanuilovich Yakir (russian: Ио́на Эммануи́лович Яки́р; 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 ear ...

. After Marshal Tukhachevsky was arrested in May 1937, Ushakov took over his interrogation and forced a confession out of him - which he retracted at his trial - by beating him so severely that there were blood stains on the document he signed incriminating himself. After the arrest of

Robert Eikhe Robert Indrikovich Eikhe ( lv, Roberts Eihe (Ēķis), russian: Роберт Индрикович Эйхе; August 12, 1890 — February 4, 1940) was a Latvian Bolshevik and Soviet politician who was the provincial head of the Communist Party ...

in April 1938, Ushakov forced a confession out of him through torture, making use of the fact that Eikhe's broken ribs had not mended properly. Ushakov was sent on a mission to the Far Eastern territory in the summer of 1938 and was arrested in

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( rus, Хабaровск, a=Хабаровск.ogg, r=Habárovsk, p=xɐˈbarəfsk) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of th ...

on 5 September, when

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...

was taking control of the NKVD. He was sentenced to death on 21 January 1940, and shot on 26 January. Unlike other victims of the Great Purge, he has never been 'rehabilitated'.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ushakov, Zinovy 1895 births 1940 deaths People from Kyiv Cheka NKVD officers Soviet police officers Great Purge victims from Ukraine Majors of State Security