severe verdicts (death or exile) without the right to appeal. In effect they served as judges, juries, and executioners. The secret police troikas became an execution machine, implementing persecutions and torture of priests or other "anti-Soviet elements." This was done in secret and the victims of these trials often stood no chance at fighting the claims placed before them. They were often forced to give evidence against themselves and watch as the members of the troika sentenced them, often to death. Gradually, troikas were introduced to other parts of the Soviet Union for various and different purposes: "court troikas" (судебная тройка), "extraordinary troikas" (чрезвычайная тройка), and "special troikas" (специальная тройка). At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the NKVD was tasked with deporting thousands of Germans from the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This decree issued from Moscow in 1941 was the responsibility of the Troika and all measures of decrees execution were left in the hands of the so-called three who made up this particular Troika. After the war responsibilities within the government began to shift and in 1952 two special Troikas were crested. The first Troika consisted of Georgy Malenkov, Nikita Khrushchev (who was also heavily involved with the Great Purge and Show trial), and Nikolai Bulganin. The second consisted of Lavrentiy Beria, Mikhail Pervukhin, and Maksim Saburov. These troikas were created to make sure there were clear duties between party and state, although it was common to be involved on both party and state committees this blurred the lines between party and state functions. Secret Order № 00447 — the "Kulak Operations" On June 28, 1937, the Politburo issued a decree to set up a troika in West Siberia. While the original intent was to discover if there was a plot stemming from the ROVS, a group of white officers based in Paris, this can be seen as the first step in the creation of order NKVD Order no. 00447. The NKVD Order no. 00447 by July 30, 1937 О репрессировании бывших кулаков, уголовников и других антисоветских элементов ("Concerning the repression of former kulaks, criminals, and other anti-Soviet elements") undersigned by Nikolai Yezhov. By this order, troikas were created on the levels of republic, krai and oblast. Investigation was to be performed by 'operative groups' "in a speedy and simplified way" and the results were to be delivered to troikas for trials. The regional troikas