From the Editor
On November 17, 1938, a resolution of SNK and the CPSU(b) “On arrests, prosecutorial oversight and the conduct of the investigation" was adopted. This resolution ended mass operations of the NKVD in 1937–1938. This was precisely what Vladimir Vysotsky sang about in his song "The Ballad of Childhood” (1975): “For the first time I received my freedom by decree of the thirty-eighth". The great terror was followed by the campaign to restore “socialist legality”, during which Stalin's leadership initiated large-scale purges of the NKVD, which lasted for almost three years and resulted in expelling about 7.5 thousand operatives from the security organs, of whom about a thousand were arrested and convicted.
Historiography of Political Repression in the USSR
A.G. Teplyakov
The Temptation of Preservation: Historians, Writers and Security Officers Against Criticism of the Bolshevik Terror
The article discusses the alarming trends that are noticeable in the modern historiography of Stalinist terror, which has been under great pressure from reactionary authors for the last ten years.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Teplyakov A.G. The Temptation of Preservation: Historians, Writers and Security Officers Against Criticism of the Bolshevik Terror // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 1. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-01.pdf
Prehistory of the Great Terror
V. Dönninghaus
Dress Rehearsal of the “Great Purge” and Western National Minorities
The representatives of the so-called “western” national minorities (Germans, Pole, Finns, etc.) were targeted by the Central Committee’s Politbureau long before the beginning of the mass repressions during 1937–1938 as a potential “base” for the “Fifth Column”.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Dönninghaus V. Dress Rehearsal of the “Great Purge” and Western National Minorities // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 2. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2018/ISTKURIER-2018-2-02.pdf
Prehistory of the Great Terror
S.A. Papkov
“Сriminal Case” of Employees of the Novosibirsk Regional Museum (1935)
Political exile in the USSR was an important tool for controlling the behavior of the intelligentsia and a way of restricting the rights of social groups hostile to the Soviet system. The article deals with an episode of liquidation of one of the “anti-soviet groups” seized by the NKVD bodies from the staff of the Novosibirsk Regional Museum.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Papkov S.A. “Сriminal Case” of Employees of the Novosibirsk Regional Museum (1935) // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 3. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-03.pdf
Prehistory of the Great Terror
V.B. Laperdin
“Purge” in Collective Farms of West Siberian Region’s Northern Parts in 1936
At the beginning of 1936, central authorities adopted a project of agricultural development of the northern regions developed by West Siberian authorities. In addition to economic measures, the project included socio-political measures, in particular, “purges” in collective farms in order to identify and eliminate “anti-Soviet elements”.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Laperdin V.B. “Purge” in Collective Farms of West Siberian Region’s Northern Parts in 1936 // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 4. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-04.pdf
Prehistory of the Great Terror
S.A. Krasilnikov
R.I. Eiche and his March Plenum (Novosibirsk, March 16–18, 1937)
The February-March Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks entered the history of not only the party but also the country as a whole marking the beginning of large-scale state terror against all sectors of society. Tensions in the upper echelons of power inevitably shifted to the regional level.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Krasilnikov S.A. R.I. Eiche and his March Plenum (Novosibirsk, March 16–18, 1937) // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 5. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-05.pdf
Mass Operations of the NKVD in 1937–1938
N.A. Potapova
The “Harbinian Operation” of the USSR NKVD (September 1937 – November 1938) in the Krasnoyarsk Territory: General and Special in the Organization and Conduct of Repressive Campaign
The article is devoted to carrying out “Harbinian” repression campaign in the Krasnoyarsk territory. The campaign was carried out among the national operations of the Great Terror to identify and expose the Japanese spies among former workers of the Chinese Eastern Railway and re-emigrants from China.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Potapova N.A. The “Harbinian Operation” of the USSR NKVD (September 1937 – November 1938) in the Krasnoyarsk Territory: General and Special in the Organization and Conduct of Repressive Campaign // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 6. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-06.pdf
Mass Operations of the NKVD in 1937–1938
A.S. Zhanbosinova
Boris Chirkov and Lev Zalin: on the Biography of the NKVD Leaders of the Kazakh SSR
The article is devoted to the problem of political repression in Kazakhstan during the years of the NKVD mass operations in 1937–1938. The history of political repression consists of two parts: the former includes the perpetrators of terror, the latter - its victims.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Zhanbosinova A.S. Boris Chirkov and Lev Zalin: on the Biography of the NKVD Leaders of the Kazakh SSR // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 7. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-07.pdf
Mass Operations of the NKVD in 1937–1938
N.N. Ablazhey
Deportations From the USSR During the Period of the Great Terror
The article is devoted to the analysis of deportation practices in the USSR during the period of the Great Terror. A study of the departmental paper work of the NKVD and the materials of extrajudicial instances leads to the conclusion that during these years such kind of punishment as deportation from the country was widely used against foreigners.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Ablazhey N.N. Deportations From the USSR During the Period of the Great Terror // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 8. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-08.pdf
Mass Operations of the NKVD in 1937–1938
A.S. Zhanbosinova, N.A. Potapova
Scale and Regional Features of “National” Operations in the Kazakh SSR
The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the “national” operations of 1937–1938 in the Kazakh SSR. The “linear” actions of the Great Terror took second place in the statistics of the NKVD, after the “kulak” repressive action realized on the basis of the order of the NKVD of the USSR No 00447 dated July 30, 1937.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Zhanbosinova A.S., Potapova N.A. Scale and Regional Features of “National” Operations in the Kazakh SSR // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 9. [Available online:] http://http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-09.pdf
New research methods for political repression
E.M. Mishina
Application of Statistical Methods and GIS Technologies in the Study of Political Repression
The article deals with studies which used database technologies and statistical methods in order to study the social portrait of terror victims in different regions. The author gives a brief overview of such works and notes that, in contrast to collectivization and mass operations of 1937–1938, for the period from the murder of S.M. Kirov until the start of the Great Terror almost no research has been done at the regional level.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Mishina E.M. Application of Statistical Methods and GIS Technologies in the Study of Political Repression // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 10. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-10.pdf
New research methods for political repression
N.V. Kudenko
Implementing Database Technologies for the Analysis of Record-Keeping Documentation From the Period of the Great Terror – Protocols of the Militia Troikas (On the Materials of Altai Krai)
The article discusses the practice of using database technology to study an important source on the history of “the Great Terror” and the activities of extrajudicial bodies of mass repression - triplets of the NKVD and the police of the Altai Territory.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Kudenko N.V. Implementing Database Technologies for the Analysis of Record-Keeping Documentation From the Period of the Great Terror – Protocols of the Militia Troikas (On the Materials of Altai Krai) // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 11. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-11.pdf
New research methods for political repression
E.M. Mishina
Preserving of Memory About Political Terror in the USSR in Public Space: “OpenList” Project
The article highlights the principles of work of the public project “Open List” – a database of political terror victims in the USSR from 1917 to 1991, built on the basis of the MediaWiki engine.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Mishina E.M. Preserving of Memory About Political Terror in the USSR in Public Space: “OpenList” Project // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3).Article 12. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-12.pdf
Documents
A.G. Teplyakov
M.P. Schrader’s Memories “Life of the Officer of Secret Police”
The first part of extensive memoirs of a prominent security officer M.P. Shreyder (1902–1978) “Life of the officer of secret police” is published. These memoirs are known to the general reader by a large fragment published in 1995 as a separate book relating to events of the 1930th years.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Teplyakov A.G. M.P. Schrader’s Memories “Life of the Officer of Secret Police” // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 13. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-13.pdf
Documents
V.I. Isaev, D.Yu. Mikheev
Attempt to Brake the Repressive Machine: the Impact of Instructions of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) and the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR Dated May 8, 1933 on the Work of the Judicial Authorities of Siberia
Published documents are extracted from the files of the archival fund of the West Siberian regional court for 1934–1935.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Isaev V.I., Mikheev D.Y. Attempt to Brake the Repressive Machine: the Impact of Instructions of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) and the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR Dated May 8, 1933 on the Work of the Judicial Authorities of Siberia // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 14. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-14.pdf
Documents
A.I. Savin
“Consider Absolutely Unallowable to Use Names of the Enemies of the People of the USSR”. Considering the “Purges” of the Libraries and Geographical Maps in the USSR During the Second Half of the 1930s
The article introduces into scientific circulation several, previously unknown to the researchers, documents, considering the matters of the purge of names of the “enemies of the people” – repressed representatives of the Soviet party and state elite – from the libraries books and toponymic landscape of the Soviet Union.
Publishing: 26/02/2019
How to cite: Savin A.I. “Consider Absolutely Unallowable to Use Names of the Enemies of the People of the USSR”. Considering the “Purges” of the Libraries and Geographical Maps in the USSR During the Second Half of the 1930s // Historical Courier, 2019, # 1 (3). Article 15. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-1-15.pdf