Head of MGB
In 1946, Stalin appointed Abakumov Minister for State Security (MGB). Although the ministry was under the general supervision of Beria, Stalin hoped to curb the latter's power. In this capacity he was in charge of the 1949 purge known as the "Leningrad Affair," in which the Politburo members Nikolai Voznesensky and Aleksei Kuznetsov were executed.
Read more about this topic: Viktor Abakumov
Famous quotes containing the words head of and/or head:
“Ask anyone committed to Marxist analysis how many angels on the head of a pin, and you will be asked in return to never mind the angels, tell me who controls the production of pins.”
—Joan Didion (b. 1934)
“But it thought no bed too narrow—it stood with lips askew
And shook its great head sadly like the abstract Jew.”
—Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989)