NKVD

People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD)
Народный комиссариат внутренних дел; Narodnyi komissariat vnutrennikh del
	NKVD emblem
Agency overview
Formed	10 July 1934; 90 years ago
Preceding agency	Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU);
Dissolved	15 March 1946; 78 years ago
Superseding agencies	People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB); Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD);
Type	Secret police Intelligence agency; Law enforcement; Gendarmerie; Border guard; Prison authority;
Jurisdiction	Soviet Union
Headquarters	11-13 ulitsa Bol. Lubyanka,; Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Agency executives	Genrikh Yagoda (1934–1936); Nikolai Yezhov (1936–1938); Lavrentiy Beria (1938–1946); Sergei Kruglov (1946);
Parent agency	Council of People's Commissars
Child agencies	Main Directorate for State Security (GUGB); Main Directorate of Camps (Gulag); Main Directorate of Militsiya (GURKM); Main Directorate of Border and Internal Security (GUPiVO).;

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (Russian: Народный комиссариат внутренних дел, romanized: Narodnyy komissariat vnutrennikh del, IPA: [nɐˈrodnɨj kəmʲɪsərʲɪˈat ˈvnutrʲɪnʲɪɣ dʲel]), abbreviated as NKVD (Russian: НКВД; listen^ⓘ), 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) secret police organization, and thus had a monopoly on intelligence and state security functions.^[1]^[2] The NKVD is known for carrying out political repression and the Great Purge under Joseph Stalin, as well as counterintelligence and other operations on the Eastern Front of World War II. The head of the NKVD was Genrikh Yagoda from 1934 to 1936, Nikolai Yezhov from 1936 to 1938, Lavrentiy Beria from 1938 to 1946, and Sergei Kruglov in 1946.^[3]

First established in 1917 as the NKVD of the Russian SFSR,^[4] the ministry was tasked with regular police work and overseeing the country's prisons and labor camps. ^[1] It was disbanded in 1930, and its functions dispersed among other agencies before being reinstated as a commissariat of the Soviet Union in 1934.^[5] During the Great Purge in 1936–1938, on Stalin's orders, the NKVD conducted mass arrests, imprisonment, torture, and executions of hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens. The agency sent millions to the Gulag system of forced labor camps and, during World War II, carried out the mass deportations of hundreds of thousands of Poles, Balts, and Romanians, and millions of ethnic minorities from the Caucasus, to remote areas of the country, resulting in millions of deaths. Hundreds of thousands of NKVD personnel served in Internal Troops divisions in defensive battles alongside the Red Army, as well as in "blocking formations," preventing retreat. The agency was responsible for foreign assassinations, including that of Leon Trotsky.

Within 1941 and from 1943 to 1946, secret police functions were split into the People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB). In March 1946, the People's Commissariats were renamed to Ministries; the NKVD became the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), and the NKGB became the Ministry of State Security (MGB).

^ ^a ^b Huskey, Eugene (2014). Russian Lawyers and the Soviet State: The Origins and Development of the Soviet Bar, 1917–1939. Princeton University Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-4008-5451-6.
^ Khlevniuk, Oleg V. (2015). Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator. Yale University Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-300-16694-1.
^ Yevgenia Albats, KGB: The State Within a State. 1995, page 101
^ Semukhina, Olga B.; Reynolds, Kenneth Michael (2013). Understanding the Modern Russian Police. CRC Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-4822-1887-9.
^ Semukhina, Olga B.; Reynolds, Kenneth Michael (2013). Understanding the Modern Russian Police. CRC Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4398-0349-3.

[huskey-1] Huskey, Eugene (2014). Russian Lawyers and the Soviet State: The Origins and Development of the Soviet Bar, 1917–1939. Princeton University Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-4008-5451-6.

[2] Khlevniuk, Oleg V. (2015). Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator. Yale University Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-300-16694-1.

[3] Yevgenia Albats, KGB: The State Within a State. 1995, page 101

[semukhina74-4] Semukhina, Olga B.; Reynolds, Kenneth Michael (2013). Understanding the Modern Russian Police. CRC Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-4822-1887-9.

[5] Semukhina, Olga B.; Reynolds, Kenneth Michael (2013). Understanding the Modern Russian Police. CRC Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4398-0349-3.

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Agency overview
Народный комиссариат внутренних дел Narodnyi komissariat vnutrennikh del
NKVD emblem
Formed	10 July 1934; 90 years ago (10 July 1934)
Preceding agency	Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU)
Dissolved	15 March 1946; 78 years ago (15 March 1946)
Superseding agencies	People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB) Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD)
Type	Secret police Intelligence agency Law enforcement Gendarmerie Border guard Prison authority
Jurisdiction	Soviet Union
Headquarters	11-13 ulitsa Bol. Lubyanka, Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Agency executives	Genrikh Yagoda (1934–1936) Nikolai Yezhov (1936–1938) Lavrentiy Beria (1938–1946) Sergei Kruglov (1946)
Parent agency	Council of People's Commissars
Child agencies	Main Directorate for State Security (GUGB) Main Directorate of Camps (Gulag) Main Directorate of Militsiya (GURKM) Main Directorate of Border and Internal Security (GUPiVO).