State Political Directorate

State Political Directorate
[Государственное политическое управление при НКВД РСФСР; Gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravlenie under the NKVD of the RSFSR] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Agency overview
Formed	6th February, 1922
Preceding agency	Cheka;
Dissolved	15th November, 1923
Superseding agency	OGPU;
Type	Secret police
Headquarters	Lubyanka Square, Moscow
Agency executive	Felix Dzerzhinsky (1922–23);
Parent agency	Council of the People's Commissars

The State Political Directorate (also translated as the State Political Administration) (GPU) was the intelligence service and secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) from February 6, 1922 to December 29, 1922 and the Soviet Union from December 29, 1922 until November 15, 1923.

Establishment

Formed from the Cheka, the original Russian state security organization, on February 6, 1922, it was initially known under the Russian abbreviation GPU—short for "State Political Directorate under the NKVD of the RSFSR" (Russian: Государственное политическое управление при НКВД РСФСР, Gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravlenie under the NKVD of the RSFSR"). Its first chief was the Cheka's former chairman, Felix Dzerzhinsky.

Mission

Internal security

On paper, the new agency was supposed to act with more restraint than the Cheka. For instance, unlike the Cheka, it didn't have the right to shoot suspected "counter-revolutionaries" at will. All those suspected of political crimes had to be brought before a judge in normal circumstances.^[1]

Foreign intelligence

The 'Foreign Department' of the GPU was headed by a former Bolshevik and party member, Mikhail Trilisser.^[2] The Foreign Department was placed in charge of intelligence activities overseas, including espionage and liquidation of 'enemies of the people'. Trilisser himself was later liquidated by Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge in 1940.

Disestablishment

With the creation of the USSR in December 1922, a unified organization was required to exercise control over state security throughout the new union. Thus, on November 15, 1923, the GPU left the Russian NKVD and was transferred into the all-union Joint State Political Directorate, also translated as "All-Union State Political Administration". Its official name was "Joint State Political Directorate under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR" (Russian: Obyedinyonnoye gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravleniye under the SNK of the USSR, Объединённое государственное политическое управление при СНК СССР), or OGPU (ОГПУ).

Personnel

Badge	Political	Military
none	Cотрудник Employee	Kрасноармеец Red Armyman
Δ	Агент 3-го разряда Agent third category	Командир отделения Squad commander
ΔΔ	Агент 2-го разряда Agent second category	Помощник командира взвода Assistant platoon commander
ΔΔΔ	Агент 1-го разряда Agent first category	Старшина роты, батареи, батальона, дивизиона First Sergeant of company, battery, battalion
Ỻ	Сотрудник особых поручений Employee with special assignments	Командир взвода Platoon commander
ỺỺ	Нач. оперативного пункта Head of operative point	командир роты (полуэскадрона) Company commander (Commander of half-squadron)
ỺỺỺ	Нач. отдела инспекции; Пом. нач. адм.-следственной части Leader of inspection department; Assistant head of investigative unit	командир батальона (эскадрона) Battalion commander (Squadron commander)
ỺỺỺỺ	Пом. нач. отделения; Уполномоч. отдела предварительного дознания; Нач. адм.-следственной части Assistant departemental leader ; Plenipotentiary of preliminary investigation department; Head of investigative unit	командир полка Regimental commander
♦	Военрук инспекции Military director of inspection	Командир бригады Brigade commander
♦♦	Нач. отделения ГПУ Head of GPU branch	начальник и комиссар дивизии Chief and commissar of division
♦♦♦	Зам. нач. отдела ГПУ Assistant head of GPU department	Командир корпуса; Зам. нач. штаба войск ГПУ Corps commander; Assistant chief of staff for GPU troops
♦♦♦♦	Нач. отдела ГПУ Head of GPU department	Зам. Пред. ГПУ — Нач. штаба войск ГПУ Deputy chairman of GPU - Chief of staff of GPU troops

References

^ Overy, Richard. The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia. London: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0393020304.
^ Kindermann, Karl Gustav, In the Toils of the O.G.P.U., Translated by Gerald Griffin; Hurst & Blackett, 1933 Digitized Dec 5, 2007, p. 149.

External links

History of the MVD of Russia: 1917–1931 Template:Ru icon

[Dictators-1] Overy, Richard. The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia. London: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0393020304.

[2] Kindermann, Karl Gustav, In the Toils of the O.G.P.U., Translated by Gerald Griffin; Hurst & Blackett, 1933 Digitized Dec 5, 2007, p. 149.

[1]

[2]

v t e Secret police agencies in the Eastern Bloc
Gulag Iron Curtain Telephone tapping in the Eastern Bloc Berlin Wall Inner German border
Soviet Union	Extraordinary Commission (Cheka) State Political Directorate (GPU) Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB) Ministry of State Security (MGB) Committee for State Security (KGB)
Albania	Directorate of State Security (Sigurimi)
Bulgaria	Committee for State Security (DS)
Czechoslovakia	State Security (StB)
East Germany	Ministry for State Security (Stasi)
Hungary	State Protection Authority (ÁVH) Ministry of Internal Affairs III
Poland	Ministry of Public Security (UB/MBP) Security Service (SB)
Romania	Department of State Security (Securitate)
Yugoslavia	Department of National Security (OZNA) Directorate for State Security (UDBA) Counterintelligence Service (KOS)