this is aleksey from moscow with me kevin these are all top stories the u.s. congress is parings a vote on the last minute deal between republicans and democrats to raise the debt ceiling and avoid default critics said the compromise doesn't soul america's problems but its reputation going down the drain. the u.s. and the e.u. step of a push for sanctions against the syrian government after a crackdown on protesters reportedly left more than

a hundred people also says violence on either side of the country's conflict is unacceptable. troops clashed with protesters in cairo as military police move in to break up a rally hundreds of demonstrators are camped out in tahrir square for weeks now to mount a faster pace of change after five years of the uprising. next week travels through one of history's dark chops as we explore the notorious concentration camps of the former soviet union. the summer of one nine hundred fifty three soviet leader joseph stalin passed away one hundred days ago mosco has sent classified instructions to every corner of the soviet union the biography of a man whose name is often mentioned only in whispers is to be removed from the great soviet encyclopedia and destroyed. state security martial of n.t. beriah used to supervise both the u.s.s.r. through legs and the entire repression machine of the soviet union. many episodes

of his life and the circumstances of his death are still couched in mystery. this army bunker in central moscow is more than ten meters underground plenty beriah found himself here soon after his arrest in the criminal there was no chance of escape or help from the outside. area was interrogated by none other than the soviet union's prosecutor general. one of the initial charges put against him was force participation in widespread political repression. this list contains the names of thirty six people in beers your instruction tourist everybody there is also an old saying first category which means education.

i confess that all those resolutions were approved by myself in person. with the forty volumes of the dairy a case which still a couple of such chills you every can find records of interrogations and indictments and for some reason most of these materials have not yet been to classifieds. beriah case is a peculiar one there are no fingerprints to be found normally prisoners have their pictures taken from the front and sides various cases on the other hand contains only this photo it looks as though it was taken from a family album. supports the theory that has been rumored for half a century she claims beriah was never interrogated and the trial itself was a skillfully executed performance involving

a body double. well they did what he did somebody was indeed taken for a question in the summer where he always wore a cloak and a hat and his face was that he didn't behind a scoffer or a public place that you but why did they need to do it in summer yes it's clear that officers peepin from very rooms couldn't see that the man was not very it's all. for victims of political persecution various name was synonymous with the repressions that swept everything away in their path in the one nine hundred thirty s. those who survived the tropical years cannot forget the horrors that plague them in the period the nighttime whisper of black vans pulling up to the house tenants are branded about borning charged for spying on behalf of foreign intelligence services all of them would either face execution or end up in a prison camp. if it's a much censure violence what and to the court you're if you're in the night i was but it shout down but i still have very vivid memories of them i was so scared that

it couldn't handle if the tread belt would be made so no matter how hard i try to pull the. city back over his life story is typical of a whole generation her father took part in the one nine hundred seventeen bolshevik revolution as his career progressed he rose to the upper ranks but ultimately it meant little in the 1930's stalin have begun to get rid of the old guard of his predecessor vladimir lenin whole families were being arrested. more with this one shows me in prison. as the daughter of anime is of the people you would my father wasn't the only one they had arrested with what oh well that's exactly what the judge told me don't are of animus of the people you go. a picturesque region in the caucasus. under stalin

a puzzle was compelled to join georgia. three decades before that celebrity burial had been born here in the village of merkel high in the mountains. for nearly forty years atari come taria taught at the local school. it stood side by side with the house where the bury a family lived. i can't remember anything negative about the lover and he was a good bit little when he grew up his parents and tell him to study their. soviet leaders were fond of vacationing up has here. as he is leader nestor like obama introduced the young hopeful levante beriah to his old friends. the two met here in one nine hundred thirty one by that time barry had already shown his worth by working in local state security agencies. where we wrote a letter to mr leahy ordered this and all the letters to be found and destroyed in their letter various nested put in a word for him so that stalin don't forget the medium of those what is of survived

i've seen them all. stalin took note of the young activists soon after that burial was appointed head of the georgian communist party. immediately began planting loyalists in camp posts as for the man who had introduced him to stalin beria now considered him a nuisance. in december nine hundred thirty six very invited nestor like oh but to dinner a few hours later suddenly felt sick. what everybody in our pas you knew that he had been for isn't that people know what's in it to doctors who say it is much i'm sure gods and similar gee if i were eliminated there and then. body was taken from the georgian capital to pass the word was given a state funeral in sioux whom's botanical gardens that was shortly before nine hundred thirty seven the year of the most massive political crackdown in the soviet union. it was

a hero's funeral the way. from tbilisi but he didn't turn out for it i think he was afraid of retribution afterwards does look declared an enemy of the people who. live in this signal the start of mass repression. is a black sea resort in the past in the one nine hundred thirty s. local steer clear of this building just outside town. writer sergei chickenhead say has found out that so-called political prisoners were kept here in the basement of the interior ministry's local television. as soon as all the paperwork was signed off on the condemned worn out from these basements and shot right here on this body in the limestone pits by the sea shore.

yuri bernier has spent his whole life here after he was labeled a son of an enemy of the people he lived through the stigma for fifteen years he was stripped of many rights such as being barred from studying at a legal institute. his family home was deserted in one thousand thirty seven fifteen relatives all of whom were well to do peasants were shot for refusing to join soviet collect the farmers the crackdown on enemies of the people in this region was especially harsh all the while stalin and beria vacationed in nearby colleges. let's get that when i was a schoolboy i saw beriah several times that he would come here with a wedding load of border guards and very always wore eyeglasses would go down the road with his hands behind his back and look like a man wanting to boss everybody around. for many years whenever of has in families got together even mentioning the names of relatives branded as enemies of

the people with dangerous nowadays when guests visit yuri benny as grants and hands him a vessel in the form of a horn reserved for special occasions. a guests drink wine from simple looking glasses but the first toast has no festive undertones they're going to drink wine to commemorate the victims of the repressions unleashed by stalin and beria. today we remember all the rules who are oppressed in the prime of their lives the time has come for us to name their names without having to worry about a new crackdown. let us never forget them. moscow the bianca square house number two. this is the headquarters of the soviet

union secret police beriah took charge of us government department in one nine hundred thirty it after moving to the soviet capital from georgia he was originally educated as a builder but on like his fanatical predecessors he took a more practical approach to. as for. the nine hundred thirty eight and the reign of terror it changed under beriah it didn't come to an end but was less massive in scope and you would it was no focused on particular tasks there it's a system and incorporated into the soviet economy. one of lot of your lemons associates until of cinco was executed in one thousand thirty eight as son anton spent nearly thirteen years in the girl like he knows from his own experience how soviet economic progress was achieved in the one nine hundred thirty s. and the price paid for it he worked at numerous giant construction sites and was almost blind when he left prison camp you know each day we work for twelve hours on

end of the bus the round trip from the barracks and back big big hungry and exhausted in meats just go out into a plank bed and the whole time they were played with thoughts about whether their wives and children had not been thrown out into the street simply because they were related to an enemy of the people very. very a was also behind the establishment of secret research bureaus scientists and academics were rounded up on invented charges and forced into unpaid labor. author of the gulag archipelago alexander solzhenitsyn spent several years in one of them. needless to say having to work in confinement it was a negative experience for scientists moreover many of them were arrested as an excuse to make them work in those outfits were horrible they saw it as a chance to be released and of besides they were better chances for survival there than in a regular prison camp scientists were given better food and the work was not as

harsh. one of various top secret projects was a toxicological love or a tree of the n.k.v.d. . here scientists tested poisons on people sentenced to death later top soviet leaders authorized the use of such poisons him politically motivated assassinations . the laboratory head is on record as reporting the following some one hundred convicts were used for the purpose more than half of them died as a result of the experiments. i wish to state categorically that i knew nothing about it. couldn't bear it was later told i received instructions from above who doesn't your guess it was stolen his told him to supply the n.k.v.d. with poisons still humans are good in that you. today

a significant number of russian communists are campaigning to have beria exonerated they feel he was one of stalin's best managers but modern day communists preferred not to mention the price people paid for various kind of order. at the border which variously treated people as nothing but cards in a machine that's the way people were treated during those years whenever beriah was given a job to do he just did it and that's. sorted before the end of world war two burial was given a top secret job. overseeing the development of the soviet atomic bomb. stalin ordered beriah to coordinate the cooperation between soviet spies that were hunting out scientific information in the west and the u.s.s.r. as nuclear physicists only a few people knew about burials task. for

. russia would be so much bryson if you know about song from feinstein version. who finds totty dot com. we'll. bring you the latest in science and technology from around russia. we've got the future covered. kazakstan the secret military facility semi platens twenty one was built under various watchful arik. initial preparations for secret tests got underway by the summer of one thousand nine hundred forty nine. the aim was to achieve nuclear

parity as soon as possible with the united states which already had the ball. to be very had to meet the deadline if you don't need a deadline they told us you'll wish you were dead. on august twenty ninth one thousand forty nine at the semi-colon in sgt tests i think has a stand command bunker gave the order to set off. the air waves none of those present had ever seen anything like it we were stunned there hard for the explosion but we remain shocked for a long time mass this is one of the caricaturist depicting beriah style of management here he is shown dressing subordinates down for poor performance. the

cartoonist was executed as an enemy of the people back in one thousand thirty eight beriah didn't think nearly as much of humor as he did of flattery. and to date on are one such person whose deeds are immense his name is love rain t. period. and in that time feeling a little bit confused if truth though it seems that it's common to be praised in such music that's it and i have to live with it. one of the few people who had begun to collide with beria head on was dr george or kept pizza who would later be awarded the nobel prize in physics he was one of the chiefs of the soviet atomic project and its initial stages when the scientists complained to stalin about beria instantly became the worst enemy and various ice. covered bierria has the conductor's baton he stands for that's not bad but then

this scientist must play first violin the conductor's job is not only willing to put on but also understanding this chord understanding scores is not very a strong point. army general who has to tell. the story he was in stalin's office when very interesting and again cursing. there is shouted i've had enough of him it's high time he was dealt with stalin set firmly i'll take care of it but leave him alone. in the spring of one nine hundred fifty three stalin guy even though his body had not yet been buried a power struggle unfolded between his close associates with beriah at the forefront . of the spoiled relations with all those who had been in stalin's inner circle everything he did after stalin's the of course the fact that he was pursuing his own agenda. is interior ministry even collected compromising materials to discredit

his opponents they gave rise to conspiracy theories that he saw to seize power. in the end his former associates saw beriah as a threat they decided to strip him of power by resorting to the very methods he used to deal with opponents levante beriah was dubbed the foreign spy acting against the interests of the soviet union a charge that typically been used against most of the political prisoners that ended up and who likes. that. this is how i felt about there is a rest. talking about god knows an appropriate. well i said that time i think got into providence when i made inquiries in the commandments office about whether i was in for amnesty but. i was surprised to hear this is he'll be ok so red. central moscow today this building houses the chinese ian embassy in russia but from the one nine hundred thirty s.

until his arrest it was lebron teaberry as residents none of his relatives saw him alive after he was detained later that gave rise to rumors claiming that barry had been shot in his home before he was due to be arrested. two armored personnel carriers with soldiers inside pressure the gate leading into the courtyard security personnel rushed out of the house to see what was going on there a came to the window to investigate the commotion at that moment she was hit by machine gun fire it was a military like of which. most historians do not subscribe to that theory one of them nikita patrol has found out that a girl living in a house across the road from the mansion of the interior minister saberi ensuring his trial be broke into tears of the burial later drawing going to. kill legit is well you would be in your silly girl if some weakening him going to hold of you he would have given you all you do it all those words some of the area better than anything else. he deprived me of the joys

of childhood and youth as you look into his evil deeds taken who took his moral characteristics he's a pervert and then a molester children. unit that you committed a crime against or stolen. i only admit that i shouldn't have had contact with. but i supported her materially on a regular basis. during interrogation beriah confirmed that he had had numerous liaisons for many years now eagerly approaching co has been trying to prove that the notorious former secret police chief is his grandfather according to him area met his grandmother in one of the secret towns in the urals when he was on a business trip there where. comics lived in barracks that he used to be

behind these buildings there is a fair chance that my grandfather was among them. labyrinthine period often showed up in the street. good moral likely it or not if you met my grandfather here. later he fathered a son my father is come there very both. never saw his father he was raised by adoptive parents who never discussed the matter many still seal apache because a fraud. is one of the most active defenders of various names and he is still quite sure of a barrier is his grandfather. who could move some time ago i was the one playing with the idea of changing my name but i was advised to take a d.n.a. test first so that the result could be that got with official papers no i said i feel i'm none other than a beary and i'm dead sure of it without any tests being. episodes

of rape and extramarital relations have little effect on the outcome of various trial is former associates in the kremlin had already sealed his fate shortly before he was arrested the prosecutor's office and the judge simply rubber stamp their decision many saw barrier as too dangerous to let them live. to move up the whole affair came to a logical conclusion if you have a vicious attitude towards others be ready to face the same attitude in return the budget in this case paris fell victim to the lawless system that he himself had protected and developed over the world. one of various most brutal deeds came to light not long ago after the declassification of special archives this folder containing the so-called caton case was handed over to poland shortly before the

breakup of the soviet union one of the documents is a memo written by beria in its he suggests the execution of more than twenty thousand poles who ended up in soviet captivity in the autumn of one nine hundred thirty nine. top secret. to cameron stalin the polish prisoners of war are trying to continue their counter revolutionary activity everybody's eagerly looking forward to their release to be able to join the struggle against the soviet government. of the use of sardines and necessary to subject them to execution as the last sanction of the law signed the area people's commissar when surnow affairs it was no doubt these art was sent to documents i'm sure authorized various proposal to fix acute polish army soldiers officers and other military personnel. the polish army officers were taken prisoner by soviet troops

it happened after a secret agreement was signed in august one thousand thirty nine between the soviet union and hitler's germany to divide poland into spheres of influence. thousands of captive poles found themselves in soviet camps soon afterwards to soviet repression machine jettison that unnecessary and burdensome palace the father of a now and polish film director and jay vida was among the poles shot by barriers man. that any unlike my father most of those taken prisoner were not career offices rather they represented the polish intelligentsia. they were university professors high school teachers actors and artists among them. in short all those who had been drafted into the army in one thousand nine hundred you don't. get another project thought up by beria so the seeds of an intrepid conflict between georgians and i pads eons in the

caucasus on his orders hundreds of families were forcibly moved from georgia to up has here and in one thousand thirties and forties following the devastation caused by mass oppressions there that triggered the erosion and simulation of the apache and population. the houses that were built under the projects have survived or not has he is rural areas to this day but nobody lives there now. not old in the village residence still refer to them as various houses the aim of the resettlement policy was to make sure that as many georgians as possible were settled and i was in religious. various time bomb eventually went off in the one nine hundred ninety s. half a century later. the civil war that broke out then drove georgians out about has here. their publics infrastructure was almost completely destroyed. today there was

a monument to those who died in the war and mass oppressions outside each village. as for burial there are no monuments to him have has he and now there is not even a trace of his parental house in the village of america. for your. love rented various house used to stand behind all his ruling building our bedroom now nothing but tall weeds girl there. neither man nor beast there venture through their. people in a has here respect long running traditions in accordance with one of them dead people deserve either praise or no mention at all the only reminder to this day of stalin's right hand man libretti beriah are ruins and waste land and nothing else.