31. He was probably in contact with the Soviet state security agency, Cheka , 32. He joined the Cheka in 1920 and served in its internal security section. 33. This was a signal for the Cheka in Petrograd to fabricate the case. 34. Cheka founder Felix Dzerzhinsky was one of the first people to head the unit.35. Dzerzhinsky became head of the Cheka secret police shortly after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. 36. The Cheka is reported to have practiced torture. 37. Cheka was actively and openly utilizing kidnapping methods.38. On 20 December 1917 the Cheka was created by the decree of Vladimir Lenin. 39. Dzerzhinsky was succeeded as head of the Cheka by fellow ethnic Pole Vyacheslav Menzhinsky. 40. The original director of the Kolyma camps was Eduard Berzin, a Cheka officer.
