Potapova Natalia A.,
Independent Researcher, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2019-1-6
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. The aim of the article is to identify the characteristics of the “Harbinian” operation in the Krasnoyarsk territory and to identify the specifics of the operation in the region. The article is based on the records of the Commission of the NKVD and the Public prosecutor of the USSR, the records of the Special Troikas and departmental records management of the NKVD in Krasnoyarsk region. Krasnoyarsk territory, Chita and Novosibirsk region have been leaders in the number of victims, repressed under the “Harbinian” operation. In the Krasnoyarsk territory 1 753 people were arrested, of which 1 596 people were sentenced to death, 140 people were sentenced to 10 years of labor camps. The calculations showed that the proportion of persons who had been repressed by “Harbinian” line in the Krasnoyarsk region was 26 % of the total number of repressed for “National” Operations. From September, 1937 to August, 1938 indictments were imposed by the Commission of the NKVD and the Public prosecutor of the USSR in Moscow. Since September, 1937, the punitive powers were entrusted to the Special Troikas, which stopped their work since November 13, 1938. Not only former employees of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER, KVZhD) and re-emigrants from China, but also representatives of the Chinese, Korean, Greeks, Iranians diasporas, the Russian-speaking population from Mongolia and Tuva, kulaks and Cossacks were accused as Japanese spies in the Krasnoyarsk territory. The share of former employees of the CER and re-emigrants from China was about 27 % from the total number of repressed by order No. 00593 in the Krasnoyarsk. About 23 %) of all those convicted by the order No. 00593 in the region were the Chinese. By order No. 00593 about 14 % Koreans were arrested. About 2,2 % of so called “mongolists” (i.e. those sent by prisoner transport from Mongolia or defectors of Soviet-Mongolian boarder) and “tuvinian” (i.e. those sent by prisoner transport from Tuva or defectors of Soviet-Tuvinian boarder) were arrested in the Krasnoyarsk territory. Most of them were Russian White Guards. 554 dispossessed peasants and Cossacks were arrested to the “Harbinian” operation, which amounted to 32 % of the total number of repressed. The massive inclusion of former kulaks and Cossacks who were sent to the region in the first half of the 1930s, mainly from the Chita region, is the main feature of the “Harbinian” operation in the region.
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
Links: Issue 1 2019
Keywords: Iskitim Town; Siberian village; origin of the town; proto-urban settlements; settlement dynamics; demographic dynamics