It seems pretty well accepted that he was responsible for many deaths, both directly and indirectly, through his roles in the NKVD and as a senior official in the Stalinist regime. I am particularly interested in whether he could also be classed as a 'serial killer' as in someone who killed for personal or sexual gratification, or some other motive not linked to the furtherance of a military, political or ideological objective.
There's evidence indicating that he engaged in repeated sexual misconduct, including rape and extortion of sexual favours from unwilling participants. Do we know for sure that he murdered any of his victims and buried them in the basement? Is there any indication that he killed for pleasure at other times throughout his life, or displayed 'red flag' type behavior to folks around him before entering political life?
He seems to have been a pretty terrible human being by all accounts, but given the climate of the times (i.e. Kruschchev's assumption of power and attempts to distance himself from Stalinsm) is it possible that this particular legend is really too good (or bad) to be true? If it is true, is it atypical for a serial murderer to have maintained a long, successful professional career and relatively stable family life? Would people around him have known 'what was up', so to speak? Did he hide this activity so that it was a genuine surprise when it was uncovered, or is the sole reason why he wasn't outed during his lifetime because the police are unlikely to launch an investigation into allegations about their own boss?
Thank you in advance for any information you might have on this question!
It is confirmed that he was a sexual predator, according to evidence given at his trial by his bodyguards. Among other deviant behaviours, during the war he would often be driven slowly around Moscow in his armoured car and look for women that he liked, when he identified one he would have his bodyguards take the woman and bring her to his home, where he would have a meal with her and then take her to a specially constructed, soundproof room where he would rape her and engage in acts of sadomasochism, after he was done with them he would have his guard give her flowers, if she accepted he took it as implicit consent to the act and if she refused she would be arrested and probably killed. This demonstrates that he was much more than a brutal political actor in a brutal time and place, but a disturbed individual who received much sexual pleasure from causing pain and exerting domination over people, particularly women, and this fits with the characterization of him as a deranged individual. To the charge of being a serial killer, the Tunisian Embassy in Moscow is in what was is home and several skeletons of young women have been found on the grounds, so it is very likely that he did personally engage in murder for sexual gratification, this is in addition to the deaths that can be attributed to his will although they occurred at the hand’s of others, his reputation for brutality and the terror he inspired which evidently brought him great pride. There is a list of the women that he raped and/or murdered which was compiled by his bodyguard as part of Stalin’s intent to have him tried and executed, and the Russian government has said that they will release the list in 2028, they haven’t already released it so as to protect the privacy of surviving victims and their families.
As for it being atypical for a serial killer or other deranged person to have a successful professional and family life, this atypicality comes from the illicit nature of these pathologies. A serial killer has to live a double life and hide what he is so that he isn’t jailed and punished, this was not a problem for Beria as he had the force of the Soviet state behind him. That is not to say that others in the communist party and Soviet government condoned serial rape and murder, but they either turned a blind eye because his power was entrenched or they were terrified by him and forced to become complicit in fear for their own lives or their families, as was the case with his bodyguards. Stalin himself knew of his behaviours and there is a famous occasion when after learning that his daughter was visiting at Beria’s home he telephoned and ordered her to leave at once, other notable anecdotes are that when Beria complimented the appearance of the daughter of the head of the special section of the communist party Aleksandr Poskrebyshev at a party he pulled her aside and told her that she mustn’t accept a lift from him, and after he took an interest in the wife of Marshal Klim Voroshilov’s son at a gathering at their dacha he followed them in his car all the way back to Moscow which terrified the family.
My main source is Simon Sebag Montefiore‘s biography of Stalin.