Elara S. Novikova
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Grigory Mairanovsky

1899 - 1964 · Toxicologist known as 'Doctor Death'; ran the secret NKVD poison laboratory, testing poisons on condemned prisoners

'Doctor Death'; ran the poison laboratory

Timeline - Mairanovsky in the record

10 referenced events from the Ivanov's Ghost archive.

1899 Born in Batumi

Grigory Mairanovsky is born in the Black Sea port of Batumi into a Jewish family.

1914-07-28 First World War begins

The Great War mobilizes European science for slaughter and, for the first time, industrial chemistry produces poison gas, the technology Mairanovsky will later refine for murder.

1937 The poison laboratory takes shape

Under the NKVD, Grigory Mairanovsky's toxicology laboratory begins developing untraceable poisons, tested on prisoners condemned to death.

1937 Heads the poison laboratory

Mairanovsky takes charge of the NKVD's toxicology laboratory, testing poisons on condemned prisoners in search of an untraceable compound.

1939-02-20 Laboratory No. 1 formalized

The NKVD reorganizes its poison research as Laboratory No. 1 under Mairanovsky, systematizing lethal experiments on condemned prisoners.

1940 The K-2 poison

Mairanovsky's classified doctorate on mustard gas and skin leads toward K-2, a poison said to kill within a quarter of an hour and leave no trace.

1947 Oggins killed with curare

The American Gulag prisoner Isaiah Oggins is killed with curare in Mairanovsky's laboratory, a documented case of the 'Kamera' at work.

1951-12-13 Mairanovsky arrested

As the antisemitic 'Doctors' Plot' gathers, 'Doctor Death' is arrested, charged with a fabricated Zionist conspiracy, and sentenced to ten years.

1951-12-13 Arrested

Amid the 'Doctors' Plot', Mairanovsky is arrested, charged with a fabricated Zionist conspiracy, and sentenced to ten years.

1953-08-28 Confirms human experiments

In his interrogation Beria confirms that he ordered Mairanovsky to test poisons on condemned prisoners; he is shot in December.

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