Mikhail Frinovsky

Mikhail Frinovsky
Mikhail Frinovsky
Birth name	Mikhail Petrovich Frinovsky
Born	January 1898
Died	February 4, 1940 Moscow
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	NKVD
Rank	Komandarm 1st rank
Signature

Mikhail Petrovich Frinovsky (Russian: Михаил Петрович Фриновский; January 1898 - February 4, 1940) served as a deputy head of the NKVD in the years of the Great Purge and, along with Nikolai Yezhov was responsible for setting in motion the Great Purge.

Mikhail Petrovich Frinovsky was born in 1898 to a teacher in the village of Narovchat, Penza Guberniya. Prior to World War I, he studied in a religious school. In January 1916, Frinovsky volunteered for the army. He served as a sergeant in the cavalry until his desertion in August of the same year. He joined an anarchist group and took part in the assassination of Major-General M. A Bem in 1917.

In March 1917, Frinovsky began working as an accountant in Moscow. In September, he volunteered for the Red Guard. The unit under his command participated in the storming of the Kremlin, during which Frinovsky was severely wounded.

Between March and July 1918, Frinovsky again returned to civilian life and worked as a deputy administrator of the Hodynskaya Clinic. In July 1918, he joined the RKP(b) and volunteered for the Red Army. Frinovsky was made a commissar of a combat unit and also head of the Special Section (the political supervisor and the representative of the secret police, ChK) of the 1st Cavalry Army.

In 1919, Frinovsky was transferred to the VChK. Later in the year, he became a deputy of the Special Section for the Moscow ChK. In this capacity, he participated in many operations most vital for the survival of the bolshevik regime, including actions against the anarchists, as well as the destruction of anarchist and rebel militias in the Ukraine.

From December 1919 until April 1920, Frinovsky served in the Special Section for the Southern Front. In 1920, he was transferred to the South-Western Front, where he served as chief of the Special Section, and as deputy to the Chief of the Special Section of the 1st Cavalry Army. Between 1921-1922, he was the deputy to the Chief of the Ukrainian ChK.