"Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (Polish: Feliks Dzierżyński [ˈfɛliɡz d͡ʑɛrˈʐɨj̃skʲi];[a] Russian: Фе́ликс Эдму́ндович Дзержи́нский;[b] 11 September [O.S. 30 August] 1877 – 20 July 1926), nicknamed "Iron Felix", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and politician. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first two Soviet secret police organizations, the Cheka and the OGPU, establishing state security organs for the post-revolutionary Soviet regime. He was one of the architects of the Red Terror and de-Cossackization.
Born to a Polish family of noble descent in the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Belarus), Dzerzhinsky embraced revolutionary politics from a young age and was active in Kaunas as an organizer for the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party. He was frequently arrested and underwent several exiles to Siberia, from which he repeatedly escaped. He participated in the 1905 Russian Revolution and pursued further revolutionary activities in Germany and Poland. Following another arrest in 1912, he spent four-and-a-half years in prison before his release after the 1917 February Revolution. He then joined Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik party and played an active role in the October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power." - (en.wikipedia.org 06.01.2024)
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