Bystrykh, Nikolai Mikhailovich

Born into the family of the turner Motovilikhinsky cannon factory Mikhail Ivanovich Bystrykh and his wife Apollinaria Grigorievna. In 1907, due to the trauma of his father, he was forced to quit a two-year school and go to work at the plant. Under the influence of the Bolsheviks working at the plant , he began to participate in underground activities. In 1912, he was arrested for distributing Pravda , and subsequently arrested twice more.

After the outbreak of the First World War , he was drafted into the army, where he became a machine-gunner, reached the senior non-commissioned officer and was sent to the school of ensigns , but in June 1917 , as a specialist, was seconded back to the factory. In October joined the RSDLP (b) . After the October Revolution, he was appointed head of the machine gun command of the Red Guard detachment, then as an employee of the counterintelligence bureau at the Central Headquarters of the Red Perm Guard.

In May 1918, he began working in the Okhan Uyezhnaya Cheka, Perm Governorate , then transferred to the Vyatka Governorate Cheka. In May 1919, became the head of the active part of the special department of the 3rd Army of the Eastern Front. April 3, 1920 appointed head of the special department of the Yekaterinburg Provincial Cheka. In May, he headed the special department of the 16th Army of the Western Front, and then - a special department of the 6th Army of the Crimean Front.

According to eyewitnesses, N. M. Bystrykh was a man of cheerful temper, a wit who loves to sing Ukrainian songs and was photographed in far-fetched and proud poses (his eyes are fixed away, and his face is always spiritualized) ^[1] . In the questionnaire, filled by the Fast On September 22, 1920 , to the question: “Immediate tasks for the moment of experience,” he answered: “Strengthen the rear, break Wrangel and the Polish gentry and light the fire of the world revolution” ^{[1] [2]} .

In November 1920, he was appointed head of the special department of the Crimean Cheka. He took an especially active part in the conduct of the Red Terror in Crimea as the chairman of the emergency troika. He signed hundreds of death sentences - the “troika”, chaired by N. M. Bystrykh, issued resolutions on the execution ^[1] :

• in Dzhankoy: December 4, 1920 - 134 people and December 20 - 41 people;
• in Simferopol: November 22, 1920 - 27 people, November 24 - 69 people;
• in Evpatoria - December 8, 1920 - 122 people.

In the same month, he conducted an operation to arrest Makhno’s headquarters ^[1] . He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner , a gold watch with the inscription "To the Honorable Soldier of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army" and a silver checker with the inscription "To Nikolai Mikhailovich Bystrykh for bravery in the fight against the enemies of the Soviet Republic from Felix Dzerzhinsky ."

In January 1921, he headed the special department of the Kharkov Military District. From next year he served in the central office of the GPU of Ukraine, and on February 21, 1923 he headed its Special Department. Simultaneously, from November 1926 he commanded the border troops of the GPU of the Ukrainian SSR. He was awarded the " Honorary Badge of the Cheka-GPU ."

In 1931 he was appointed head of the Main Directorate of the Border Guard, and at the same time - head of the Main Inspectorate of the OGPU for the police. In June 1932 he presented a project to increase the number of border guards to 100 thousand people by 1935 (in fact, this figure was achieved later) ^[3] .

In May 1933 he was sent to Tashkent as deputy plenipotentiary representative of the OGPU for Central Asia. He was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner and the second "Honorary Badge of the Cheka-GPU."

The following year, he returned to Moscow to the post of chief inspector of border and internal security of the NKVD. In 1935 he received the rank of state security commissioner of the 3rd rank and was awarded the Order of the Red Star .

After NI Yezhov became the people's commissar of internal affairs, the post of chief inspector was reduced as duplicating activity of other structural units of the people's commissariat, and the Bystrykhs were appointed deputy head of the NKVD workers 'and peasants' militia department.

October 22, 1938 was arrested. February 22, 1939 was sentenced to death and executed on the same day. He was posthumously rehabilitated on September 22, 1956 ^[4] .

The streets in the cities of Perm and Lysva are named in honor of the Bystrykh.

• Bystry N. M. // Petrov N. V., Skorkin K. V. Who Directed the NKVD, 1934—1941: a Handbook , Ed. N. G. Okhotina and A. B. Roginsky. - M .: Links, 1999. - 502 p. - 3000 copies - ISBN 5-7870-0032-3 .
• Marchenko A. T. Nikolai Bystrykh // Border Guards. - M .: Young Guard, 1977. - ( Life of wonderful people . Ser. Biogr. Vol. 15 (532)).
• Sysoev, Nikolay. State Security Commissioner // Pogranichnik. - 1989. - № 9. - p. 47-54.
• State Security Commissioner with "lower education" // Sysoev N. G. Gendarmes and KGB: From Benkendorf to Yagoda. - M .: Veche, 2002. - (“Special Archive”). - 384 s. - ISBN 5-94538-136-5 .