Meshik, Pavel Yakolevich

(1910–1953)

   One of Lavrenty Beria’s men, Meshik served in a number of important roles in Smersh and then in Soviet-occupied Poland and Germany during World War II. According to a declassified CIA study, Meshik was responsible for drafting German nuclear scientists for Moscow’s nuclear weapons program. He was promoted to lieutenant general of state security at the end of the war. In 1945 he was transferred by Moscow to the Ukraine as chief of the republic security service, where he led the struggle against Ukrainian nationalists. He was arrested in Kiev in June 1953 and tried for treason with Beria on 23 December 1953. He was shot the same evening.

   See also Enormoz.