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==OGPU (1923-34)==
==OGPU (1923-34)==
The head of the OGPU at that time was also a member of the Supreme Court and the Chief Prosecutor of the USSR was responsible for the legality of all acts of the OGPU. It was simply another ''CHEKA'' with broader powers. These powers grew to such proportions that it became for a while the most powerful and feared government agency. It had so much power that its activities were actually curtailed in 1934.
The head of the OGPU at that time was also a member of the Supreme Court and the Chief Prosecutor of the USSR was responsible for the legality of all acts of the OGPU. It was simply another ''Cheka'' with broader powers. These powers grew to such proportions that it became for a while the most powerful and feared government agency. It had so much power that its activities were actually curtailed in 1934.
The OGPU was responsible for overseeing the Belomar (White Sea) Canal infrastructure project. [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]] notes "[[Stalin]] simply needed a great construction project somewhere" to reduce [[unemployment]] and estimates that 100,000 workers, perhaps more, died during the first winter of work on the Canal.<ref>Alexander Solzhenitsyn, ''The Gulag Archipelago'', Vol. II [New York: Harper & Row, 1975], p. 86 - 98.</ref>
The OGPU was responsible for overseeing the Belomar (White Sea) Canal infrastructure project. [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]] notes "[[Stalin]] simply needed a great construction project somewhere" to reduce [[unemployment]] and estimates that 100,000 workers, perhaps more, died during the first winter of work on the Canal.<ref>Alexander Solzhenitsyn, ''The Gulag Archipelago'', Vol. II [New York: Harper & Row, 1975], p. 86 - 98.</ref>