However, signed confessions were considered useful tools as well. Why should men sign a confession knowing that it was probably nonsense and knowing that such a signing was almost like signing their own execution warrant.
Those who survived the NKVD prisons — and very few did — later wrote about the brutal regime they faced. Cells would be windowless and a very strong electric light bulb — which prisoners could not turn on or off — was left permanently on.
NKVD guards ensured prisoners were sleep deprived and exhausted when it came to their interrogation. A promise of better treatment was made to ensure the swift signature of a confession. If psychological torture did not work on a prisoner, then the NKVD turned to his family. In June , Stalin signed a decree that held the family of a prisoner as guilty as he was and that the family directed of course against the Old Guard was guilty in its own right. This law stated that children over the age of 12 could be executed for the crimes of their father.
Others faced the prospect of a sentence in the brutal gulags that were being built across the USSR. There were some prisoners who would not play along with the dangerous game played by the NKVD. A different approach was needed. The one the NKVD adopted was to get a prisoner to confess to crimes and to sign the required confession in return for a document that guaranteed their lives.
If all else failed then the victim was simply told that he would be executed without the formality of a trial. The show trials became just that — a show. For whatever reason, Stalin viewed these men as potential rivals and as such they had to go. Both these men were charged with plotting to kill Stalin. New Haven: Tale University Press, Kuromiya gives faces and names to statistics, humanizing those who were tragically affected by the Purge.
Can one retrieve their voices? Fitzpatrick, Sheila. Lebedev-Kumach, Vas. The following lyrics from an issue of Pravda in is an example of the propaganda the Communist party employed during the Great Purge. Lenoe, Matthew E. The Kirov Murder and Soviet History. This book by historian Matthew Lenoe assembles multiple investigations and official documents of the Kirov murder, which set the Great Purge in motion.
Conquest, Robert. Stalin and the Kirov Murder. It is an excellent source for basic background information on the subject. Accessed May 2, Nikolai Bukharin, member of the Soviet politburo and Central Commitee and editor-in-chief of Pravda newspaper was the central victim of the Moscow show trials.
The following transcript involves Bukharin defending his allegiance to the Soviet cause and his condemnation of terror. Let me relate to you how I explained this matter. Comrade Mikoian says the following: On the most basic question, he, Bukharin, has differences of opinion with the party: In essence, he stuck to his old positions. This is untrue. In no way have I stuck to my previous positions — not on industrialization, not on collectivization, [and] not on village restructuring in general.
But with regards to stimuli in agriculture, this question was not clear to me until the matter came round to the legislation on Soviet trade. I consider the entire problem, as a whole, was resolved after the introduction of laws on Soviet trade. Prior to this, this problem, very important but not all-embracing, was not clear to me. When this matter became pertinent to product turnover in [illegible] and Soviet….
I would like to make one more remark. I do bear responsibility for this. But the question involves the degree of responsibility; it is a matter of the quality of this responsibility.
I bear responsibility for this fact. However, it is necessary to establish the degree and nature of this responsibility. I am not shifting responsibility from myself; more than anyone else, I accept the gravity of this responsibility. Some claim the actions of Stalin were prompted by his desire to maintain authority as dictator. Others see it as his way to preserve, enhance and unify the Soviet Communist Party. The rise of Nazi power in Germany and militarists in Japan also posed a great danger to the U.
Many experts believe these threats further encouraged Stalin to carry out the purge in an effort to unite and strengthen his country. The first event of the Great Purge took place in with the assassination of Sergei Kirov, a prominent Bolshevik leader. Kirov was murdered at the Communist Party headquarters by a man named Leonid Nikolayev. Although his role is debated, many speculate that Stalin himself ordered the murder of Kirov.
The dictator began killing or imprisoning any suspected party dissenters, eventually eliminating all the original Bolsheviks that participated in the Russian Revolution of Among those purged were opposing members of the Communist Party, government officials, army officers and any accomplices. The trials, which became known as the Moscow Trials, were clearly staged events. The accused admitted to being traitors and spies. Later, historians learned that the defendants agreed to these forced confessions only after being interrogated, threatened and tortured.
Meanwhile, the Soviet secret police, known as NKVD, conducted three-member committees in the field to decide whether killings of other anti-Soviets were justified.
The accused were tried, found guilty on site and executed. The killing and imprisonment started with members of the Bolshevik party, political officials and military members.
Then the purge expanded to include peasants, ethnic minorities, artists, scientists, intellects, writers, foreigners and ordinary citizens. Essentially, no one was safe from danger. Convinced they were plotting a coup, Stalin had 30, members of the Red Army executed.
Experts estimate that 81 of the generals and admirals were executed. Stalin also signed a decree that made families liable for the crimes committed by a husband or father. This meant that children as young as 12 could be executed. Some victims claimed they would rather have been killed than sent to endure the torturous conditions at the infamous Gulag labor camps. Many who were sent to the Gulag camps were ultimately executed. Some experts believe the true death figure is at least twice as high.
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