Beria, My Father: Inside Stalin's Kremlin - Review

Contemporary Review, Sept, 2001

Beria, My Father: Inside Stalin's Kremlin. Sergo Beria. Francoise Thom, editor and Brian Pearce, translator. Duckworth. [pound]25.00. 397 pages. ISBN 0-7156-3062-8. This biography, first published in Paris as Beria mon pere in 1991, gives us a view of the man feared by millions of Soviet citizens as 'Stalin's Butcher'.

He was cruel, ruthless and ambitious. He served Stalin and orchestrated his 'great terror' but in time came to hate Stalin who in turn distrusted him. After the dictator's death he was in turn ousted from power by Khrushchev who had him 'tried' and executed. This biography is not impartial history and Sergo Beria's portrait of his father as an opponent of force does not ring true but it is next to impossible to know where truth lay when discussing Stalin's evil regime. This is a very personal account because Sergo Beria was himself arrested and faced execution when his father fell from power. The author admits that whilst he loved his father he 'did not respect him'. One of the most interestin g chapters is the last -- 'Who Was My Father?' Here the account analyses Beria's character and this, as much as the historical account, will make this book indispensable for historians of twentieth century Russia. Sergo Beria admits his limitations: 'In this account I have based myself on what I was myself witness to. I have also mentioned ... things told me by my mother and others ...' This book takes us to the heart of the evil empire.