Figure 1.--. |
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The Popular Leningrad leader Sergi Kirov was murdered in 1934. Most historians believe that Stalin was probably responsible, but no actual evidence exists. Kirov was one of Stalin's important associates as he seized control of the Party. The two were very close. Kirov gradually came to question Stalin's methods. This probably was why he was killed. Stalin is known to have derived satisfaction over many of the executions. Kirov seems to have been different. The decesion to have him killed seems to have affected him deeply. Stalin used the Kirov assasination as an excuse for launching a campaign of teror perhaps unequaled in histoy. Many within the Party had opposed him. Now he prepared to root out any opposition, first within the Party and then society as a whole. This was done by targetting groups of people rather than individuals. This is often referred to as the Great Purges, although a historian as popularized the Great Terror. It began with the arrest of the Old Bolsevicks that had prominant roles in the Revolution, including many of Stalin's closest associates. The elite of the Soviet Communist Party was desimated. Show trials were held for some. This was the public face of the purges. Most simply disppapeared, either being shot without a trial or being committed to the the Gulag. Orders went out to NKVD offices throughout the country with quotas to be filled. Some offices sought to impress headquaters by exceeding their quota. The height of the trror was 1937. The institutions of the Soviet state were affected, including the Red Army. Not only was this the only institution that could threaten Stalin. German agents convinced Stalin that army officers were plotting againt him. The result was a severe loss of some of the best trained and most professionl military officers. Many believe this, in part, explains the poor perormance of the Red Army when the Germans invaded (1941). Historians disagree as to the full extent of the purges, especially the death toll. It seems likely that over 1 million Soviet citizens were sumarily executed or died as a result of illtreatment during detention. The terror ended in 1938 as Stalin moved to scale it back. The overseer of the purges, Yezhov was relieved and then purged himself. This had two advantages for Stalin. It made it look like he was not resonsible and the execution of Yezhov destoyed much of the evidence of his envolvement. Stalin appointed Lavrenty Beria, a fellow Georgian and close confidant, as the new NKVD chief.
The Popular Leningrad leader Sergi Kirov was murdered in 1934. Most historians believe that Stalin was probably responsible, but no actual evidence exists. Kirov was one of Stalin's important associates as he seized control of the Party. The two were very close. Kirov gradually came to question Stalin's methods. This probably was why he was killed. Stalin is known to have derived satisfaction over many of the executions. Kirov seems to have been different. The decesion to have him killed seems to have affected him deeply.
The Great Purge was conceived and ordered by Stalin who was in complete control of both the paty and state aparatus. NKVD chief Genrikh Yagoda headed the NKVD when Stalin began to prepare for the purges. Most of the the purges were conducted by Nikolai Yezhov replaced Yagoda as NKVD chief (September 1936).
Thus the Great Terroris sometimes known as the Yezhovshchina. Yezhov may have been resoonsible for the details and implementation, but there is no doubt that it was Stalin who developed the general outlines for the Purges and the dimensions of the operations.
Stalin used the Kirov assasination as an excuse for launching a campaign of teror perhaps unequaled in histoy. Many within the Party had opposed him. Now he prepared to root out any opposition, first within the Party and then society as a whole. This was done by targetting groups of people rather than individuals. This is often referred to as the Great Purges, although an important historian has popularized the term--the Great Terror. [Conquest]
The great purges were carried out in a number of carefully organized stages. [Okhotin and Roginsky]
The first step was to prepare the security organizations and to develop specifics plans on purging the elites.
The purging of the elites was the first objective. This began with the arrest of the Old Bolsevicks that had prominant roles in the Revolution, including many of Stalin's closest associates. The elite of the Soviet Communist Party was desimated. Show trials were held for some. This was the public face of the purges. Most simply disppapeared, either being shot without a trial or being committed to the the Gulag.
Those arrested were unterogated and forced to confess. Those that refused were torchured until they did so. Often they just signed a confession their interogators prepared for them. This led to other people being arrested because once a confession had been made then you had to name names. Some teenagers were among those arrested. Here we do not have a lot of detail. One of the bargains made to those arrested was if they confessed that the persons family would be spared. This happened to several important Officials and ministers in the government. However the promice was broken and the family was also arrested. After confessing, the individual was shot or sent to off to the Gulag. Here many died from mistreatment, including the cold, overwork, lack of food, or illness. Plans were prepared for mass repressions against the "social base" of potential opponents. This meant not individuals, but groups of people who might be prone to oppose Stalin.
The groups targeted for mass repression was the kulaks, selected ethnic minorities, family members of those purged, military officers, and so-called saboteurs in agriculture and industry. Orders went out to NKVD offices throughout the country with quotas to be filled. Some NKVD offices sought to impress headquaters by exceeding their quota. The height of the trrror was 1937-38. The institutions of the Soviet state were affected, including the Red Army. Not only was this the only institution that could threaten Stalin. German agents convinced Stalin that army officers were plotting againt him. The result was a severe loss of some of the best trained and most professionl military officers. Many believe this, in part, explains the poor perormance of the Red Army when the Germans invaded (1941).
The terror ended in 1938 as Stalin moved to scale it back. Stalin finally decided to stop the mass killing operations. It is not clear just why. It may have gone beyond what he had planned. Or he may have decided that he had achieved his goals. He relieved
the overseer of the purges, Yezhov, and then had him purged. This had two advantages for Stalin. It made it look like he was not resonsible and the execution of Yezhov destoyed much of the evidence of his envolvement. Stalin appointed Lavrenty Beria, a fellow Georgian and close confidant, as the new NKVD chief.
This period is thus called the Beria thaw. Beria ordered mass operations ended. He abolished the units set up for extrajudicial executions.
Historians disagree as to the full extent of the purges, especially the death toll. It seems likely that based on Soviet statistics that over 1 million Soviet citizens were sumarily executed or died as a result of illtreatment during detention. [Ellman] Soviet archives report about 1.6 million arrests and 0.7 million executions. Most of those arrested were sentenced to terms in the Gulag, often 10-year terms. Many of these inviduals died as a result of illtreatment in the camos or after their relaease. The Russian Memorial Society reports 1.7 million arrests , 1.4 million setenced, and 0.7 million executions. The majority of the execultions (0.4 million) were ordered by NKVD Troikas involved in anti-Kulak operations. Another major source of executions (0.2 million) were ordered by NKVD Dvoikas and local Special Troykas involved in operarions against targeted ethnic minorities. Military courts ordered 41,000 executions. While small in comparison to the other operations, this was particularly significant because it decimated the officer corps of the Red Army. While there are authors sympathetic to Stalin that deny these estimates, there are others who believe that thy are overstated. [Appelbaum, p. 584.] One author thinks as many as 1.7 people were executed during the purges. [Conquest] When the number of people who died as a result of mistreatment, the death tool may reach 2 million.
The full accounting of Stalin's terror campaign in the 1930s may have a much greater death toll. Anthony Eden, British Foreign Minister, went to Moscow after the NAZI invasion which was the first step in organizing the grand alliance that would defeat Hitler (December 16-20, 1941). At the time, The Germans were still only a few miles from Moscow, although the Red Army had launched its counter-offensive and the Germans were retrating. He had a quiet private converstaion with Marshal Stalin. Eden asked Stalin how many peopledc had been killed in the 1930s. Stalin's answer speaks volumes. "I don't know, perhaps 10 million, but you have to know when to stop." [Davies ]
There are fewer published accounts of the experiences of the victims of the purges and other Soviet attrocities than is the case for the victims of the NAZIs. This is not because of any shortage of victims. It is because the Soviets did not lose the War and were not occupied by the Allies. Thus the victims of Stalin and the NKVD had little chnce to publish their accounts. There are, however, some accounts. Here for HBC we are particularly interested in the experiebces of children. Once such account was of Al'dona Volynskaia, the daughter of an important Communist Party member in Moscow.
Applebaum, Anne. Gulag: A History.
Conquest, Robert. The Great Terror.
Davies, Norman.
Ellman, Michael. Soviet Repression Statistics: Some Comments (2002).
Okhotin, N.G. and A.B. Roginsky. Great Terror (Memorial, 2007).
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