born 1891, Łodz, Pol., Russian Empire
died March 15, 1938, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.
Soviet politician.
A leader of the Cheka secret police (1920–24) and its successor, the OGPU (1924–34), and a close associate of purge trials (1936). In 1937 he was replaced as police chief by {{link=Yezhov, Nikolay Ivanovich">Nikolay Yezhov and himself became a victim of the widespread purges. Accused of being a member of a "Trotskyite" conspiracy intent on destroying the Soviet Union through sabotage, he was convicted, sentenced to death, and executed.