Dzerzhinsky, Feliks Edmundovich

Dzerzhinsky, Feliks Edmundovich

(fyĕ`lyĭks ĕdmo͞on`dəvĭch dzĭrzhēn`skē), 1877–1926, Russian Bolshevik leader, organizer, and first chairman (1917–21) of the Cheka (see secret policesecret police,
policing organization operating in secrecy for the political purposes of its government, often with terroristic procedures. The Nature of a Secret Police
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). He was the son of Polish aristocrats. Under his direction, the reign of terror against anti-Bolsheviks reached its height in 1918. Dzerzhinsky also headed the agencies that succeeded the Cheka (the OGPU and the GPU) and held other high posts.