was more difficult, as nationalists and Soviet formations fought each
other and the Germans. This struggle continued into the 1950s.
Smershand NKVD officers in partisan detachments also built
contacts with Polish and Slovak partisans in 1944. These contacts
produced intelligence for Red Army formation, as well as informa-
tion about political developments in Slovakia and Poland. In
1945–1947, this information helped the Red Army and its Polish
communist allies destroy opposition from anticommunist Ukrainian
and Polish forces operating in the region. See alsoPARTISAN
WARFARE, SOVIET.PAUKER, KARL VIKTOROVICH (1893–1937). Born into a family
of hairdressers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Pauker served as a
barber for the Budapest Opera before World War I. He was captured
by the Russian army in 1915 and, while in prison, joined the Bolshe-
vik Party. During the Russiancivil war, he joined the Chekaand
rose quickly to head of the Moscow department. From 1934 to 1936
he was chief of Joseph Stalin’s security detail. According to recent
research, Pauker—like other senior security police officers—was
very close to Stalin personally. He was a drinking companion and
confidant for several years, and he arranged a state funeral for the
leader’s second wife, Nadya, who had committed suicide. He also
took part in planning the trial of Lev Kamenev and Grigori Zinoviev
in the first of the Moscow Trials. Pauker soon afterward fell out with
Stalin and NKVDchief Nikolai Yezhov. He was arrested in March
1937 and tried five months later, on 14 August. He was shot imme-
diately following the trial.PAVLOV, KARP ALEKSANDROVICH (1895–1957). Pavlov was
deputy chief of the Kolyma River forced labor camps in 1937 when
the Yezhovshchinabegan. He apparently ensured that his boss, Ed-
uard Berzin, would be purged, and he was rewarded with Berzin’s
job. Under Pavlov’s rule, conditions for prisoners worsened dramat-
ically. There were a high number of political executions. Deaths due
to malnutrition and overwork skyrocketed. The winter of 1937–1938
was the worst in the history of these terrible camps. Pavlov’s career
took off after 1938. He was given increasing responsibility for gu-
lag projects across the Soviet Union during World War II. ThesePAVLOV, KARP ALEKSANDROVICH (1895–1957) • 18906-313 G-P.qxd 7/27/06 7:56 AM Page 189