Why the biography Malyuta Skuratova romanticized in the Stalin years

Not everyone can do the job of organizing the security of an authoritarian regime. We need special personal qualities, the main one of which has always been cruelty. The tyrant, by its very nature, needs fear, this feeling is based on his unlimited power.

But no matter how difficult this service is, there is always someone who is ready to carry it. Because of the back of every dictator with unlimited powers, the inconspicuous silhouette of the head of the secret police looms. On the documentary frames of the 1930s behind the gray Stalinist jacket, no, no, and Yezhov's foolish figurine in his tunic, belted by a broad officer's belt, and the pince-nez of "the glorious Henry" flashed from behind Hitler's sloping shoulder .

There was someone to look after and stooped back of Ivan IV, not without reason called the Terrible. Grigory Belsky reliably ensured him the opportunity to reign, without fear of trouble and conspiracy. Malyuta Skuratov's biography, and this was the "creative pseudonym" of this head of power structures at the court of the formidable autocrat, typical for the brains of a master of any epoch.

Rod Grigory was either from Smolensk, or from Pereslavl-Zalessky. The difficulty in determining the origin of an outstanding executioner is that it has to be judged from indirect sources. Personal affairs during the reign of Ivan the Terrible did not start, and the chronicle, that is, the fixation of historical facts, in 1568 in general was banned by a special royal decree. Belsky himself had to follow the observance of this order. Thus, the biography of Malyuta Skuratov, especially the events of his youth, is vague. Supposedly he had two brothers, Nezhdan and Jacob, but their fate is unknown.

It is erroneously considered that Grigory (Malyuta - nickname meaning "short", and the word "skurat" is translated into modern language as rough leather, apparently a hint of unhealthy complexion) created a secret police of Ivan the Terrible, a kind of special forces, typing people into it Unprincipled and cruel. This is not so, he already made a career in this state body, created by Alexei Basmanov, Vasily Yuryev and Afanasy Vyazemsky. These three nobles announced a kind of competition, to which twelve thousand volunteers responded, so there were no problems with personnel for the future power department. The number of vacancies was originally determined in 570 staff units. One of them was taken by Malyuta Skuratov. Oprichnina first took it cool, the post was not high, just a sexton.

However, natural cruelty promoted promotion through the ranks. At Gubin, the fiefdom of the boyar Chelyadinin-Fedorov, who fell into disfavor, the sexton "finished" (the so-called enforcement of the extrajudicial sentence) 39 people at once. And after he distinguished himself in the delivery to the highest court of women, intended for perverted royal comfort, the biography of Malyuta Skuratova made a sharp turn. Together with Ivan the Terrible, he began to take part in the torture, he was charged with the arrest of not someone, but the cousin of the king, Prince Staritsky.

It is possible that some of the conspiracies were inspired or staged by the head of the special service in order to once again prove its usefulness and usefulness. The enthusiasm of the new chief of the secret police reached the point where he dealt with his loved ones practically without rest. House Malyuta Skuratov became a branch of his workplace. The most cynical of the reprisals, which he made for his life full of professional achievements, was the assassination of Metropolitan Philip, fearlessly opposed to royal tyranny.

In the Stalin years the biography of Malyuta Skuratova was subjected to a certain editing, by means of which the historians of the thirties tried to create the image of Ivan the Terrible as a strict but generally positive ruler and statist. With such a view of historical events, the issues of state security were to be handled by a stern, strong-willed man, but in general, pretty. The death of Malyuta during the storming of the castle Veysenenstein was like a heroic end to the life of "an outstanding figure of the era."

For the sake of justice, it is necessary to note the disinterestedness of Grigory Malyuta Skuratov-Belsky. He did not make wealth, his widow Ivan IV even appointed a pension, which he usually did not do.