Who was the head of the Soviet NKVD from 1938 to 1953 and was executed after a coup attempt?

• A. Nikolai Yezhov
• B. Georgy Malenkov
• C. Lavrenti Beria
• D. Vyacheslav Molotov

Answer: (C)

Leading the Soviet security apparatus from 1938 through the early 1950s placed Lavrenti Beria at the center of state coercion, overseeing the NKVD, the Gulag, and internal security during the height of Stalin’s purges and the postwar period. His control over the country’s security forces made him one of the most powerful figures in the Soviet Union. After Stalin’s death in 1953, a new leadership coalition moved against him, accusing him of attempting to seize power, and he was arrested and executed. This combination of long tenure in charge of the NKVD and a dramatic downfall after a coup attempt is why he is the correct answer. The other figures listed were not the NKVD head during that era (Yezhov was the purge-era predecessor, while Malenkov and Molotov were political leaders, not the head of the NKVD).