Beria was a Soviet politician, Marshal of the Soviet Union and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus (NKVD) under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and First Deputy Premier in the postwar years (1946–53).
He administered vast sections of the Soviet state. He served as de facto Marshal of the Soviet Union in command of the NKVD field units responsible for anti-partisan operations on the Eastern Front during World War II. His troops also were a barrier against thousands of "turncoats, deserters, cowards and suspected malingerers". Beria administered the vast expansion of the Gulag labor camps. He was responsible for overseeing the secret defense institutions known as "sharashkas", critical to the war effort.
Beria also played the decisive role in coordinating the Soviet partisans, who developed an impressive intelligence and sabotage network behind German lines. He attended the Yalta Conference with Stalin, who introduced him to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt as "our Himmler". After the war, he organized the communist takeover of the countries of Central Europe and Eastern Europe.
Beria's uncompromising ruthlessness in his duties and skill at producing results led to his overseeing the Soviet atomic bomb project. Stalin gave it absolute priority and the project was completed in under five years. To achieve this, Beria's NKVD organised Soviet espionage against the West.
Beria was promoted to First Deputy Premier, where he carried out a brief campaign of liberalization. He was briefly a part of the ruling "troika" with Georgy Malenkov and Vyacheslav Molotov. Beria's overconfidence in his position after Stalin's death led him to misjudge other Politburo members.
There was a coup d'état led by Nikita Khrushchev with the military forces of Marshal Georgy Zhukov. Beria was arrested on charges of treason during a meeting in which the full Politburo condemned him. This was all planned by Krushchov. The NKVD was powerless because Zhukov's troops were there. After interrogation, Beria was taken to the basement of the Lubyanka and shot.
Secret police
A secret police force is an agency most often used in dictatorships. It is used to scare people living under a dictatorship into agreeing with the dictator's policies. Not all dictatorships, however, use a secret police force. Fidel Castro's Cuba and Mao Zedong's China were able to maintain a dictatorship without using secret police.
National Fascist Party
National Fascist Party was the ruling party of the Kingdom of Italy from 1922–1943. Benito Mussolini founded the party in 1919 and served as its Chairman (Italian:"Presidente del Partito Nazionale Fascista") from 1919–1943. The Party came to power after Mussolini led thousands of Blackshirts on a march in Rome and forced King Victor Emmanuel III to appoint him Prime Minister. As Prime Minister (the "real" head of government), Mussolini banned all other political parties and established a one-party police state, which lasted until he was thrown out of power by his own citizens and ordered to be arrested by the King in 1943. After Mussolini's arrest, the National Fascist Party was destroyed.
However, Mussolini was rescued from prison by German soldiers sent by Adolf Hitler in 1943, and was made the head of state (this time a member of the newly created Republican Fascist Party) of the Italian Social Republic, a puppet state whose real laws were made by the Nazis.
Mussolini was killed by Italian citizens in 1945 and the Republican Fascist Party was dissolved and banned.
Debbie Reynolds
Mary Frances Reynolds, better known as Debbie Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016), was an American actress and singer. Reynolds was born in El Paso, Texas. She starred in many television programs and movies. She also had many songs and albums during her career.
On December 28, 2016, Reynolds died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California from a cerebral hemorrhage with hypertension being a factor, aged 84. This was one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher died.
Gerald Wallace
Gerald Jermaine Wallace (born July 23, 1982) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the position of small forward. He has been nicknamed "Crash" for his aggressive style of play, and is known as one of the better defensive players in the league.
Wallace played high school basketball at Childersburg High School in Childersburg, Alabama. He then played college basketball for one year at the University of Alabama, then entered the 2001 NBA Draft.
The Sacramento Kings chose Wallace with the 25th pick of the 2001 NBA Draft. Wallace was on the Kings for three seasons, but did not play much. His chance came in 2004. The Charlotte Bobcats were a new NBA team, and had a chance to choose players from other teams in an "expansion draft". The Bobcats chose Wallace, who became an important part of the team over the next six years. In 2010, he was chosen to represent the Bobcats in the NBA All-Star Game, which made him the first Bobcats player to play in the All-Star Game. He also made the NBA All-Defensive First Team for that season.
On February 24, 2011, Wallace was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Thelma &amp; Louise
Thelma & Louise is a 1991 American adventure crime road movie starring Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise. Also starring in the movie are Michael Madsen, Harvey Keitel and Brad Pitt. It was among the highest-grossing movies of 1991.
Faye Dunaway
Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941 in Bascom, Florida) is an American actress. She has starred in "Bonnie and Clyde", "Chinatown" and "The Thomas Crown Affair". She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in "Network". Duanaway is a convert to Roman Catholicism.
Old Melbourne Gaol
The Old Melbourne Gaol is a large, historic prison in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The bluestone building was the first large prison built in Victoria. It was the location of many executions, including Ned Kelly who was hanged at the prison in 1880. It closed in 1929 and is now a museum.
Melbourne was first settled in 1835 and its first small gaol was built in 1839. A second gaol was built in 1841 next to the Supreme Court buildings. In 1852 work started on a new gaol based on the Pentonville Model Prison design. This had its own outside wall of solid bluestone. A second stage started in 1857, and the wall was extended in 1859. In 1860 the north wing, chapel, central hall and entrance was built. A western wing for female prisoners was started in 1862, and the outside wall was finished in 1864. There were also 17 jailer's houses, a chief warden's house and a hospital. It was built on a high point at the edge of the city. However a report in 1870 said the gaol should be closed and the prisoners moved to a more suitable location. The prison finally closed in 1929.
During World War II, the gaol was used as a military prison for Australian soldiers. After the war it became a storage building for the Victoria Police. Some of the buildings were pulled down to allow for the building of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, now Victoria University. In 1972 the buildings were taken over by the National Trust as a museum.
Leukodystrophy
Leukodystrophies are disorders which affect the white matter of the brain and the nervous system. Nerves are surrounded by fatty cover of a substance called myelin. In a leukodystrophy, there are problems with the growth or the development of this cover. This affects the function of the respective nerve. Myelin is made of at least ten different chemicals. Leukodystrophy is a gene defect. As a result of this defect, one of the molecules that make up myelin cannot be synthesized as it should.
Indian Rebellion of 1857