World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseViktor Semyonovich Abakumov was born in 1908 in Moscow, Russia as one of three children of a poor family, or at least so he claimed in a short autobiography he prepared for the Soviet NKVD in Dec 1939; a 1952 investigation failed to locate any records of his birth, and the low social status might be fabricated to distance himself fom any sign of family wealth. He claimed that he had only four years of formal schooling before volunteering for the military in 1921; 13 would be a very young age for military service, thus further supporting those who believe Abakumov was older than he claimed. As a medical orderly in the 2nd Moscow Brigade between 1921 and late 1923, he participated in the brutal suppression of the peasant uprising in Ryazan Oblast, Russia. His father passed away in 1922 during his military service. In 1924, he returned to civilian life as 2nd Moscow Special Brigade was disbanded. In the late 1920s, he joined the Communist Party via the Communist Youth League. In 1930, he was appointed the head of the Military Department of the Komsomol Zamoskvorechye Regional Office. In 1932, he joined the OGPU, which became the NKVD in 1934. As a member of the Economic Department of the NKVD, he was responsible for supervising informers that watched for foreign spies within Soviet industries.

ww2dbaseAbakumov was described as tall, well-built but slightly overweight, dark brown haired, having a square face with high forehead, brown eyes, a big nose, and a big mouth with thick lips. A womanizer, he was known for having relations with some of the female informants under his responsibility.

ww2dbaseOn 20 Dec 1936, Abakumov was promoted to the rank of State Security Junior Lieutenant. In Apr 1937, he was transferred to the Secret Political Department of the GUGB of the NKVD, which was a major advance in his career. Although he claimed to have very little formal education, his subordinates reported that he was an approachable superior and gave very clear and to-the-point (but very demanding) orders, while his superiors valued him for his ruthless efficiency. In 1938, he was made the acting head of the UNKVD Directorate of Rostov Oblast, Russia (his predecessor Yakov Deich was arrested in Mar 1938 and would die in prison shortly after); this appointment was made permanent on 27 Apr 1939. He was promoted to the rank of State Security Captain in Dec 1938.

ww2dbaseAbakumov remained in Rostov Oblast when the European War began in Sep 1939. During the Winter War, his directorate arrested 16 men in Rostov-on-Don, charging them of being Finnish spies. In Feb 1941, he was recalled to Moscow and was made the NKVD deputy commissar and was placed in charge of purging the Baltic States of political undesireables. In Jul 1941, he was made the head of the Special Department Directorate (UOO) in the NKVD organization with a new rank of State Security Commissar of 3rd Rank. In Feb 1943, he was promoted to the rank of State Security Commissar of the 2nd Rank. He was made the chief of the newly created Main Directorate of Counterintelligence (GUKR) SMERSH, "Death to Spies"; in this new role, his subordinates began noting that his previous approachable attitude slowly changed, ultimately shifting to a rule-by-intimidation type of management style. While he previously hunted for spies with fervor, now as the head of a counterintelligence directorate, he often personally tortured the accused to acquire confessions, usually with brutal methods.

ww2dbaseAfter the war, in 1946, Abakumov was made the head of the Ministry for State Security (MGB). In Nov 1946, he established the Special Board (OSO) within the MGB, thus his ministry now gained the full range of power to arrest, investigate, judge, imprison, and carry out death sentences in Russia and Soviet-occupied nations. In 1949, he played a direct role in the "Leningrad Affair" purge. At the end of 1951, Abakumov was himself a victim of one of Joseph Stalin's purges. Arrested and brutally tortured, he was ultimately sentenced to death and executed in Dec 1954, despite the 1946 charges against him had already been found unsupported.

Photographs

Viktor Abakumov Timeline