KOBULOV, AMAYAK ZAKHAROVICH (1906–1955). Like his
brother Bogdan Kobulov, Amayak Kobulov was brought into the
senior leadership of the NKVDby Lavrenty Beriain 1938. With no
experience in foreign intelligence, he was sent to Germany as NKVD
rezidentin 1939 and served there until the outbreak of World War
II. Veteran intelligence officers stated that Kobulov was an incompe-
tent intelligence chief who added to the confusion in Moscow sur-
rounding German intentions. Following the assignment to Berlin,
Kobulov served as security chief in Uzbekistan and deputy chief of
the gulagsystem, He was promoted to lieutenant general in July- Like his brother, he was arrested the day after Beria’s fall in
July 1953. He was tried for treason in October 1954 and shot the fol-
lowing year. See alsoBARBAROSSA.
KOBULOV, BOGDAN ZAKHAROVICH (1904–1953). One of
Lavrenty Beria’s principal deputies, Bogdan and his brother
Amayak Kobulovwere quickly promoted after their mentor’s pro-
motion to head the NKVDin 1938. Following World War II, Kob-
ulov was sent to Germany to supervise the looting of German indus-
try, and he was promoted to colonel general in July 1945. Following
Joseph Stalin’s death in March 1953, Kobulov was promoted to
deputy minister of internal affairs by Beria. Three months later he
was arrested, tried, and executed with his patron in December 1953.KOLYMA. The forced labor camps in the Kolyma River region of east-
ern Siberia were the most frightening islands of the gulag archipel-
ago. Beginning in the early 1930s, tens of thousands of imprisoned
peasants and political prisoners were transported to the Kolyma
camps to mine gold. Under a group named Dalstroi, a Russian
acronym for Far Northern Construction Trust, the Kolyma camps
were run by experienced Chekistslike Ivan Nikishov. The Kolyma
camps produced hundreds of tons of gold.
The capital of the Kolyma area, the port city of Magadan, was ice-
bound several months a year. The weather in the Kolyma area is severe,
with winter temperatures frequently below –40 degrees. Prisoners were
often transported to the region by ship, and thousands perished on the
voyages. The Kolyma camps had the reputation as the Auschwitz of the
gulag empire. The death rate was very high: one study found that al-134 •KOBULOV, AMAYAK ZAKHAROVICH (1906–1955)06-313 G-P.qxd 7/27/06 7:56 AM Page 134