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Black Hand

(Encyclopedia)Black Hand, symbol and name for a criminal and terroristic secret society, and especially associated with the Mafia and the Camorra. The Black Hand flourished in Sicily in the late 19th cent., and in ...

Dzerzhinsk

(Encyclopedia)Dzerzhinsk dzĭrzhēnskˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 285,000), W European Russia, a port on the Oka River above. There is a huge chemical complex there. The city was called Chernorech until about 1919 and...

Kurapaty

(Encyclopedia)Kurapaty, wooded area, northern outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, site of the execution of thousands of Belarussians and others by Soviet secret police between 1937 and 1941. The official count of those ex...

Dzerzhinsky, Feliks Edmundovich

(Encyclopedia)Dzerzhinsky, Feliks Edmundovich fyĕˈlyĭks ĕdmo͞onˈdəvĭch dzĭrzhēnˈskē [key], 1877–1926, Russian Bolshevik leader, organizer, and first chairman (1917–21) of the Cheka (see secret polic...

Heydrich, Reinhard

(Encyclopedia)Heydrich, Reinhard rīnˈhärt hīˈdrĭkh [key], 1904–42, German police official under the Nazi regime. Forced to resign (1931) from the navy for misconduct, Heydrich joined the SS (see National So...

Gauck, Joachim

(Encyclopedia)Gauck, Joachim, 1940–, German political and human-rights activist, president of Germany (2012–17), b. Rostock. An anticommunist from his youth, Gauck was ordained a Lutheran minister and was pasto...

Camorra

(Encyclopedia)Camorra kəmôrˈə [key], Italian secret criminal association in Naples. Of controversial origin, it first came to light in 1830. Its activities spread by intimidation, blackmail, and bribery until N...

Kamyanske

(Encyclopedia)Kamyanske, formerly Dniprodzerzhynsk dənyĭpˌrōdzĭrzhēnskˈ [key], Rus. Dneprodzerzhinsk, city (1989 pop. 282,000), central Ukraine, a port on the Dnieper River. It is a major industrial center w...

Himmler, Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Himmler, Heinrich hīnˈrĭkh hĭmˈlər [key], 1900–1945, German Nazi leader. An early member of the National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) party, Himmler took part in Adolf Hitler's “beer-hal...

Ranković, Aleksandar

(Encyclopedia)Ranković, Aleksandar älĕksänˈdär ränkōvĭˈtyə [key], 1909–83, Yugoslav political leader. A Serbian, he joined the Yugoslav Communist party in 1928 and later became (1937) a member of its c...