sentences:  As first Minister of the Interior and then Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, he must take personal responsibility for the Stalinist deportations and other aspects of the police state, and signed orders for the arrest and deportation of over 40,000 people.From 1954 to 1958, Lācis also served as Chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities.He was awarded the Order of Lenin seven times and the Stalin Prize twice, in 1949 and 1952.