NKVD ChiefLavrenti Beria's Chapter In"The Batu Demonstration of 1902", signed by Beria
Lavrenti Palovich Beria was a Georgian, like Stalin, who called him "my Himmler." By 1935, Beria had become one of Stalin's most trusted subordinates. He cemented his place in Stalin's entourage with a lengthy oration titled, "On the History of the Bolshevik Organizations in Transcaucasia", later published in this book in 1937, at the height of Stalin's purges, which exaggerated Stalin's role in the Batu Demonstration of 1902. It recalls his early days of banditry in Southern Russia. When Stalin's purge of the Communist Party and government began in 1934 after the assassination of Leningrad party boss Sergei Kirov, Beria ran the purges in Transcaucasia. He used the opportunity to settle many old scores in the politically turbulent Transcaucasian republics. This rare book is personally signed by Beria.