Repressions in the USSR: socio-political meaning. Post-war repressions of the USSR post-war years 1945 1953 political repression

The Great Patriotic War ended in victory, which the Soviet people had been trying to achieve for four years. Men fought at the front, women worked on collective farms, in military factories - in a word, they provided the rear. However, the euphoria caused by the long-awaited victory was replaced by a feeling of hopelessness. Continuous hard work, hunger, Stalinist repressions, renewed with renewed vigor - these phenomena darkened the post-war years.

In the history of the USSR, the term "cold war" is encountered. Used in relation to the period of military, ideological and economic confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States. It begins in 1946, that is, in the post-war years. The USSR emerged victorious from World War II, but, unlike the United States, it had a long road to recovery.

Construction

According to the plan of the fourth five-year plan, the implementation of which began in the USSR in the post-war years, it was necessary, first of all, to restore the cities destroyed by the fascist troops. More than 1.5 thousand settlements have been affected in four years. Young people were rapidly gaining various construction specialties. However, there was not enough manpower - the war claimed the lives of more than 25 million Soviet citizens.

Overtime work was canceled to restore normal work. Annual paid holidays were introduced. The working day now lasted eight hours. Peaceful construction in the USSR in the postwar years was headed by the Council of Ministers.

Industry

Plants, factories, destroyed during the Second World War, were actively restored in the post-war years. In the USSR, by the end of the forties, old enterprises started working. New ones were also built. The post-war period in the USSR is 1945-1953, that is, it begins after the end of the Second World War. It ends with the death of Stalin.

The restoration of industry after the war took place rapidly, partly due to the high working capacity of the Soviet people. The citizens of the USSR were convinced that they were living well, much better than the Americans living in conditions of decaying capitalism. This was facilitated by the Iron Curtain, which isolated the country culturally and ideologically from the rest of the world for forty years.

They worked a lot, but their life did not get easier. In the USSR in 1945-1953, there was a rapid development of three industries: missile, radar, nuclear. Most of the resources were spent on the construction of enterprises that belonged to these areas.

Agriculture

The first post-war years were terrible for the residents. In 1946, the country was gripped by famine caused by destruction and drought. A particularly difficult situation was observed in Ukraine, in Moldova, in the right-bank regions of the lower Volga region and in the North Caucasus. New collective farms were created throughout the country.

In order to strengthen the spirit of Soviet citizens, directors commissioned by officials shot a huge number of films about the happy life of collective farmers. These films were widely popular, they were watched with admiration even by those who knew what a collective farm really was.

In the villages, people worked from dawn to dawn, while living in poverty. That is why later, in the fifties, young people left the villages, went to cities, where life was at least a little easier.

Standard of living

In the post-war years, people suffered from hunger. In 1947, most of the goods were still in short supply. The hunger resumed. The prices for ration goods were raised. Yet, over the course of five years, starting in 1948, food gradually became cheaper. This somewhat improved the standard of living of Soviet citizens. In 1952, the price of bread became 39% lower than in 1947, the price of milk - 70%.

The availability of essential commodities didn't make life much easier ordinary people, but, being under the Iron Curtain, most of them easily believed in the illusory idea of better country in the world.

Until 1955, Soviet citizens were convinced: in victory in the Great Patriotic War they owe it to Stalin. But this situation was not observed throughout. In those regions that were annexed to the Soviet Union after the war, there were far fewer conscientious citizens, for example, in the Baltic States and Western Ukraine, where anti-Soviet organizations appeared in the 40s.

Friendly states

After the end of the war, the communists came to power in countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic. The USSR has established diplomatic relations with these states. At the same time, the conflict with the West has escalated.

According to the 1945 treaty, the USSR was transferred to Transcarpathia. The Soviet-Polish border has changed. Many former citizens of other states, for example, Poland, lived on the territory after the end of the war. With this country, the Soviet Union concluded an agreement on the exchange of the population. Poles living in the USSR now had the opportunity to return to their homeland. Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians could leave Poland. It is noteworthy that at the end of the forties, only about 500 thousand people returned to the USSR. To Poland - twice as many.

Criminal situation

In the postwar years in the USSR, law enforcement agencies launched a serious struggle against banditry. 1946 saw the peak of crime. During this year, about 30 thousand armed robberies were recorded.

To fight the rampant crime, new employees, as a rule, former front-line soldiers, were admitted to the ranks of the militia. It turned out to be not so easy to restore peace to Soviet citizens, especially in Ukraine and the Baltic States, where the criminal situation was most depressing. In Stalin's years, a fierce struggle was fought not only with the "enemies of the people", but also with ordinary robbers. From January 1945 to December 1946, more than three and a half thousand bandit organizations were liquidated.

Repression

Back in the early twenties, many representatives of the intelligentsia left the country. They knew about the fate of those who did not have time to escape from Soviet Russia. Nevertheless, in the late forties, some accepted the offer to return to their homeland. Russian nobles were returning home. But already to another country. Many were sent immediately upon returning to the Stalinist camps.

In the post-war years it reached its climax. Pests, dissidents and other "enemies of the people" were placed in the camps. The fate of the soldiers and officers who were surrounded during the war years was sad. At best, they spent several years in the camps, up to which they debunked the cult of Stalin. But many were shot. In addition, the conditions in the camps were such that only the young and healthy could endure them.

In the postwar years, Marshal Georgy Zhukov became one of the most respected people in the country. His popularity irritated Stalin. However, he did not dare to put the national hero behind bars. Zhukov was known not only in the USSR, but also abroad. The leader knew how to create uncomfortable conditions in other ways. In 1946, the "Aviator Case" was fabricated. Zhukov was removed from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces and sent to Odessa. Several generals close to the marshal were arrested.

Culture

In 1946, the struggle against Western influence began. It was expressed in the popularization of domestic culture and the prohibition of everything foreign. Soviet writers, artists and directors were persecuted.

In the forties, as already mentioned, a huge number of war films were shot. These paintings were heavily censored. The heroes were created according to a template, the plot was built according to a clear scheme. Music was also strictly controlled. Only compositions praising Stalin and a happy Soviet life were sounded. This did not influence the development of Russian culture in the best way.

The science

The development of genetics began in the thirties. In the post-war period, this science found itself in exile. Trofim Lysenko, a Soviet biologist and agronomist, became the main participant in the attack on geneticists. In August 1948, academicians who made a significant contribution to the development of Russian science lost the opportunity to engage in research activities.

The victory over Nazi Germany gave the Soviet Union hope for better life, the weakening of the press of the totalitarian state, which influenced the individual, as well as the liberalization of the country's economic, political and cultural life. This was facilitated by the revision of the value system associated with the horrors of war and familiarity with the Western way of life.

However, the Stalinist system only got stronger during the hard times, because the people linked two concepts - "Stalin" and "victory" together.

Period 1945-1953 went down in history under the name of late Stalinism, when in political life there was an increase in the repressive role of the state during formal democratization political system.

For Stalin and the state as a whole, the main task was to transfer the country to a peaceful track.

Demobilization, relocation

Already on June 23, 1945, in accordance with the law on demobilization, soldiers of the older age group began to return to the country. At the end of the war, 11.3 million people served in the USSR Armed Forces. But they also found themselves abroad:

• 4.5 million soldiers in the armies of other countries;
• 5.6 million citizens deported for forced labor in Germany and other European states.

At the same time, there were 4 million prisoners of war on the territory of the USSR who needed repatriation. 2.5 million soldiers and 1.9 million civilians ended up in concentration camps, where they could not bear the severity of their stay and died. The exchange of citizens continued until 1953. As a result, 5.4 million people returned to the country, but 451 thousand turned out to be defectors for fear of persecution by the authorities.

Restoring the national economy

During the discussions 1945 -1946. discussed two ways of the recovery period, presented in the table:

Stalin's point of view won out. The country, which lost a third of its national wealth, recovered its economy during the 4th five-year plan (1945-1950), although Western experts believed it would take at least 20 years. By 1950, the following tasks had been completed:

The demilitarization of the economy was carried out, including the abolition of some military commissariats (1946-1947).

Enterprises in the occupied territory were restored, first of all - the coal and metallurgical industries, power plants. Dneproges gave the first current in 1947.

New enterprises in the field of defense have been built. In 1954, the world's first nuclear power plant appeared (Obninsk, 1954). The invention of atomic weapons in 1949 brought the Soviet Union to the position of the 2nd superpower.

The restoration of the pre-war level was achieved already in 1947.

Agricultural recovery

If heavy industry developed rapidly and by 1950 exceeded the 1940 level by 20%, then light industry and agriculture did not cope with the tasks set. This developmental imbalance was aggravated by the famine of 1946-1947, which claimed the lives of 1 million people in Ukraine, Moldova and part of the territories of the RSFSR. Over the years of the five-year plan:

• Non-economic coercion of peasants has intensified, the number of which has decreased by 9.2 million people.
• The purchase prices for agricultural products were reduced, which put the village in unequal conditions.
• The consolidation of collective farms took place.
• The process of dispossession of kulaks has come to an end in Belarus, the Baltic states, Western Ukraine, and Moldavia.

Monetary reform

Among the measures to normalize life - the abolition of strict labor discipline, the rationing system, etc. - the monetary reform of 1947 occupies a special place. The population had accumulated financial resources that were not provided with goods. In December 1947, they were exchanged at a ratio of 10: 1, which essentially led to the confiscation of savings. The winners were those who kept their deposits in savings banks. Amounts up to 3 thousand were exchanged at the rate: 1: 1. The money supply was reduced by 3.5 times.

Strengthening the regime and reforming the political system

Purpose: strengthening the Stalinist regime with the formal democratization of society.

Increased repression

In 46-48 years. there was a "tightening of screws" in relation to the creative intelligentsia. The real persecution of M. Zoshchenko and A. Akhmatova began. The Central Committee of the CPSU (b) adopted a number of resolutions in the field of theater, music and cinema, which provided for administrative intervention in culture. The most sensational in the last years of Stalin's rule were the repressions against the party elite of Leningrad and doctors.

"Leningradskoe Delo"

It began in January 1949 after an anonymous report of vote rigging during the elections to the Leningrad Regional Committee and the City Party Committee. Several lawsuits were fabricated. Not only local party leaders were persecuted, but also those promoted from Leningrad to Moscow and other territories. As a result:

• More than 2 thousand people were removed from their posts.
• Convicted - 214.
• Sentenced to be shot - 23.

Among those subjected to repressions were: N. Voznesensky, who headed the State Planning Committee, A. Kuznetsov, secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), M. Rodionov, who headed the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR and others. Subsequently, they will all be rehabilitated.

"Doctors' case"

The campaign against prominent figures in medicine was launched in 1948, after the death of A. Zhdanov, who allegedly died due to an erroneous diagnosis. The repression took on a mass character in 1953 and was clearly anti-Semitic. In the 50s. Arrests of doctors who were responsible for providing assistance to the highest leaders of the USSR began to be carried out. The case was fabricated due to the aggravation of the struggle for power in a united campaign against "cosmopolitanism" - contempt for Russian culture on the part of the Jews. On January 13, 1953, Pravda reported on the "poisoners", but after the death of the leader, all those arrested were acquitted and released.

Problems in the country

Ideology

From the middle of 1946, an offensive began against the influence of the "West" on Russian culture. The country returned to party-political control and the restoration of the "iron curtain", being isolated from the rest of the world. This was especially facilitated by the unfolding struggle against "cosmopolitanism" since 1948.

At the center of communist ideology is Stalin, whose cult reached its climax in 1949, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the leader. The term "partisanship" appeared, which was also applied to science. In research papers, Stalin's works were cited, he and the party leadership took part in scientific discussions, which led to the emergence of "pseudoscience" and pseudoscientists - T. Lysenko, O. Lepeshinskaya, N. Marr and others.

Internal party struggle

In the postwar years, the balance of power in the Politburo changed: the positions of the “Leningrad group” - A. Zhdanov, A. Kuznetsov, N. Voznesensky, M. Rodionov - were strengthened. In parallel, G. Malenkov, V. Molotov, K. Voroshilov, L. Kaganovich and A. Mikoyan became less authoritative. However, the position of the “Leningraders” was not stable because of their proposals to strengthen the position of the RSFSR, to transfer its government to Leningrad, etc. After G. Malenkov was appointed secretary of the Central Committee and the death of A. Zhdanov, the defeat of the Leningraders became a foregone conclusion, which ended “ Leningrad affair". On a number of issues, they were supported by A. Mikoyan and V. Molotov, which practically led to the leveling of their influence on political life.

But the positions of G. Malenkov, N. Bulganin, L. Beria became convincing again. In December 1949 N. Khrushchev was elected secretary of the Central Committee, and L. Beria was connected with a group accused of creating a Mingrelian organization, the purpose of which was to secede Georgia from the USSR. On the night of March 1, 1953, Stalin suffered a stroke. Shortly before his death, he was elected head of government, K. Voroshilov - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. In the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee - L. Beria, V. Molotov, N. Bulganin, L. Kaganovich and others.

Stalin's foreign policy in 1945-1953

After the victory of the allies, the USSR became one of the leaders of world civilization, which was expressed in obtaining a seat in the UN as a permanent member of the Security Council. However, the country's new position strengthened its territorial claims and revived the idea of ​​a world revolution. This led to a bipolar world. The diagram shows that by 1947 Europe was divided into allies of the USSR and allies of the United States, between whom the Cold War began. It culminated in the years 1949-1950. And the most serious clash is the military conflict in Korea.

Results of Stalin's rule

On the blood and enthusiasm of tens of millions of people, the second most powerful world power was created. But the Soviet faced two problems, raised by the capitalist West, which he could not cope with:

• In the field of economics, there has been a technological gap with the leading European countries, where the next stage of the scientific and technological revolution has begun.
• There has been a lag in social and political life. The USSR could not keep up with the rise in the standard of living in the West, accompanied by the expansion of democratic rights and freedoms.

If the system is unable to respond to the challenge of the time, it will surely enter a period of crisis and decay.

Consequences for the country of late Stalinism

• The lack of legislatively enshrined mechanisms for the transfer of supreme power caused its protracted crisis.
• The end of the repression did not mean the destruction of the political and economic system based on the leadership of the country by the party nomenklatura and over-centralization of power. It will last until the 80s. XX century.
• The term "Stalinism" will appear in 1989 in one of the legislative acts and will remain in the historical literature to characterize the period of government. I. Stalin.

Used Books:

1. Ostrovsky V.P., Utkin A.I. History of Russia. XX century. 11 cl. M, "Bustard", 1995
2. We are going to communism - on Sat. Children's encyclopedia vol. 9. M, "Education", 1969, p. 163-166.

Bulletin of the Chelyabinsk State University. 2012. No. 7 (261). History. Issue 49.S. 80-83.

A. B. Tsfasman

POSTWARE REPRESSIONS OF STALINISM IN THE USSR AND "CLEANING." In the GDR (1949-1953)

The article examines the influence of the repressive campaigns of Stalinism in the USSR in the first post-war years on the repressive policy and personnel "purges" in the GDR in the period up to 1953: the persecution of the leaders of the so-called "bourgeois" parties, adherents of social democratic politics, as well as real and imaginary oppositionists in the SED under the banner of the struggle against "Titoism", "agents of imperialism" and "international Zionism." There are similar and special features of this policy in both countries.

Key words: Stalinism, repression, "purges", the struggle against "cosmopolitanism" and "Zionism", the Soviet military administration in Germany (SVAG), the SED, the USSR, the GDR.

Immediately after the end of the Second World

During the war, the repressive policy of Stalinism in the USSR entered a new stage. The mechanism of repression, which did not know a respite during the years of the anti-fascist war, continued to gain momentum. The unfolding aggressive ideological campaigns and new waves of "study", repression and "cleansing" took on a total character. We will confine ourselves to reminding only the most important of them.

Persecution of prisoners of war who returned to their homeland, cruel treatment of resettled peoples (Germans, Chechens, Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, etc.), mass deportations of "class alien elements" from the territories annexed to the USSR on the eve and after the war.

A sharp tightening of control over the country's intellectual life, including fiction, music, theater, cinema, social and exact sciences, biology, etc.

New "cleansing" of the party-state apparatus, accompanied by the physical elimination of functionaries of various levels, including the highest (N. Voznesensky, A. Kuznetsov, M. Rodionov, etc.).

Measures to destroy Jewish culture, accompanied by the murder of an outstanding actor S. Mikhoels (1948), the arrest and then execution in 1952 of the leadership of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, the liquidation of Jewish theaters, publishing houses, persecution and execution of Jewish cultural figures in the center and in the field, persecution to Judaism, etc.

The campaign of struggle against the "rootless cosmopolitans", which began in January 1949 and aimed at ousting the faces of the Jewish

origin from various spheres of culture and science. An echo of this campaign was the almost universal removal of persons of Jewish origin from the leadership of large industrial enterprises.

The Doctors' Case (January-March 1953), which became the apogee of the anti-Jewish policy of Stalinism, which threatened with unpredictable and dangerous consequences. Their approach was halted by Stalin's death on March 5, 1953.1

The repressive policy of Stalinism also spread in the countries of Eastern Europe dependent on the USSR, where a system of state power similar to the Soviet one was established. This also applied to East Germany, and then to the GDR.

During the period when East Germany was under the direct control of the Soviet military administration in Germany (SVAG) (in 1945-1949), representatives of the Soviet highest political bodies, represented by the political departments of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and punitive bodies in the form of units, acted on its territory. state security - NKVD. Control of the Soviet political and punitive bodies was carried out in the first years of the "sovereign" existence of the GDR (from October 1949) 2.

Already in the first post-war years, the Soviet occupation authorities managed to saturate the newly formed bodies of justice and law and order with committed communists and transfer the Soviet judicial and legal system to German soil. This deprived the judicial branch of independence from political power and made it an obedient instrument of the latter3.

East Germany in the early post-war years (1945-1949) and in the early years of the GDR (1949-1953) also went through a series of campaigns and "purges". Already within the framework of the measures for denazification, which took place until August

1948, and under its cover, a "purge" of German society was carried out not only from active Nazis, but also from those who were or could become critical of the USSR, the SMAG or the new authorities imposed by them (locally and in the lands )4. Among them were many leaders and ordinary adherents of the so-called "petty-bourgeois" parties - the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD), the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), as well as some public and religious organizations5.

The next campaign of "purges" was associated with the struggle of the communists for dominance in the Socialist Unified Party of Germany (SED), created in April 1946 on a parity basis with the Social Democrats. The instruments of internal party “cleansing” were not only ideological and political “revelations”, but also the Central Party Control Commission, the CPCK, created on the Bolshevik model in September 1948, headed by the faithful Stalinist Hermann Matern. This campaign included: ousting from the party the so-called "ti-toists", that is, the actual adherents of Germany's previously declared special path to socialism; "Trotskyists", that is, former members of left-communist groups (the Communist Party of Germany - opposition, the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany), who have been critical of Stalinism since the pre-war years6. But the main spearhead of the "purges" at this stage was directed against those former Social Democrats who opposed the Stalinization of the SED. They were designated as Schumacherleute (people committed to the leader of the West German Social Democracy Kurt Schumacher), as "agents of the capitalist West", etc. They were expelled from their posts, forced to flee to the West, arrested or deported to the USSR 2,600 functionaries and active members of the SED , not counting the many thousands of rank-and-file members who left the "party of the working class" 7. The result of these "purges" was the transformation

The SED into a “party of a new type,” that is, a party of the Bolshevik, Stalinist model8.

The process of Stalinization of the SED continued even when, after the creation of the GDR (October 1949), it became the state-forming party. The III Congress of the SED (July 1950) brought its organizational structure closer to the CPSU (b): instead of the Board (Vorstand "a), the Central Committee and the Politburo were formed, a permanent Secretariat headed by the Secretary General was introduced. The previous principle of parity was consigned to oblivion: in all governing structures, former communists absolutely prevailed, and the most important post of General Secretary was taken by the "faithful Stalinist" Walter Ulbricht9.

The new stage of "purges" was accompanied by the ousting from the leadership of the SED of those communists who were in exile in the West during the Nazi years. It was determined by two circumstances. First, the desire of the "Moscow" group led by Ulbricht to push their "Western" rivals out of power. Secondly, by the initiatives of the Soviet "competent authorities", which sought to extend to the European countries of "people's democracies" the struggle unfolded in the USSR against the "cosmopolitans" and "agents of Zionism".

In September 1949, Colonel-General I.A. - the authorized NKVD - MGB in Germany and the Deputy Chief of the SVAG, sent two directives to Ulbricht. In one of them, he proposed creating a special committee within the CPKK, which was supposed to investigate the connections of the German communists who were in the West during the Nazi years with Noel Field, a Jew by birth who, during the war, was the head of one of the charitable organizations to provide material assistance to the German refugees in southern France and Switzerland. Arrested in May 1949 in Prague, Field was assigned the role of head of a large spy conspiracy. Another directive Serov proposed to remove from all important party and government posts persons who were during the Nazi dictatorship in the West or in Yugoslavia and therefore could be recruited as agents

"Imperialists", "Zionists" and "Titoists". Serov gave Ulbricht a list of former "Western émigrés" suspected of espionage 10.

1949 The head of the CPKK Matern sent an order to the party control commissions of the lands to check all responsible workers, paying special attention to former Western immigrants of Jewish origin for their connections with the "Zionist movement", with the American secret services and with the "Trotskyist-Jewish movement" 11 ...

The "search for enemies" campaign began.

A wave of total checks, which engulfed thousands of SED functionaries, led to numerous dismissals, expulsions from the party and arrests. People of Jewish origin were particularly affected, despite the fact that they have long since lost their ties with Jewry. Among them were high-ranking functionaries: Leopold Bauer and Bruno Goldhamer, sentenced to death by a Soviet military court, replaced by 25 years in camps in Siberia (released in 1955-1956); Lex Ende and Rudolf Feist-man, who did not survive the purge, and many other lower-level functionaries12. Persons of non-Jewish origin were also victims of persecution. Paul Merker, listed on Serov's list, was expelled from the Politburo and from the party, whom some top functionaries viewed as an alternative to Ulbricht.

The repressive machine was gaining momentum. Moscow “directors” were preparing a show trial in Budapest, known as the “Raik trial”. It was planned to involve Prague and Warsaw. East Berlin was also preparing to participate in it. As the main accused from him, Alexander Abush, a prominent figure of the KKE and the SED (member of the Central Committee secretariat), a Jew by birth, who was in France and Mexico during the Nazi years, was supposed to appear. The well-known book "The False Path of One Nation" (1945) belonged to him.

However, soon the leadership of the SED was able to realize the inappropriateness of inciting anti-Semitic passions in the country, which had only recently survived Hitler's anti-Semitism. Raik's trial, which ended in December 1951, dispensed with the East Berlin component.

dying. And Abush was soon returned to social and political activity.

In the next trial in Prague - the Slansky case (1951-1952) - East Berlin participation was also envisaged. As part of the cleansing of the "Zionists", new layoffs took place: for example, Gerhard Eisler (brother of the well-known communist of the early 1920s Ruth Fischer and composer Hans Eisler) was released from the duties of the head of the information department under the government of the GDR as a "Western emigrant"; The famous writer Arnold Zweig, who was in Palestine during the Nazi years, lost his post as president of the German Academy of Arts14.

But the main participation was envisaged in something else - in presenting a major political figure as the leader of the "Zionist conspiracy", but that this figure this time would be of non-Jewish origin. And the choice fell on the already defeated Merker.

Paul Merker (b. 1894) is a veteran of the communist movement (a member of the KKE since 1920), who was still part of the Telman leadership core (a member of the Central Committee and Politburo). During the years of the Nazi dictatorship, he was first in Germany underground (until 1937), then in exile in France and (since 1942) in Mexico. Here he headed the Latin American committee of the Free Germany movement and edited the magazine of the same name, published the book “Germany - to be or not to be” (1944/45). Upon his return to Germany in 1946, he became a member of the Board of the SED, and then the Central Committee and the Politburo. Removed from all posts and expelled from the party in 1950, he was arrested at the end of November 1952. During the investigation (it is noteworthy that the interrogation was conducted by Soviet and German investigators), he was accused of adherence to Zionism on the grounds that in the emigrant years he communicated with "Zionists" (meaning Jews), that in emigration and upon his return to Germany he spoke of guilt the German people in front of the Jews, demanded the return of the property taken from them by the Nazis and considered Zionism as a "national Jewish movement" 15.

However, the "Slansky affair" ended (December 3, 1952) without Merker. The “doctors' case” that broke out in the USSR at the beginning of 1953 died out with the death of Stalin. The charge of Zionism against Merker was dropped. But Ulbricht pos-

which was shaken as a result of the events of June 17, 1953, but after the fall of Beria in the USSR and the "purge" of the Politburo carried out by him, Ulbricht, 16 there were some calculations. Merker was released only in 1956.

But that was already a different era.

And in conclusion - short comparative conclusions.

The most important impulses for the wave of post-war repressions in the USSR were the new forced ideologization of the regime in the spirit of great-power chauvinism and anti-Westernism, intensified by the outbreak of the Cold War. Under the slogans of the struggle against "cosmopolitanism" and "Zionism" as "agents of imperialism", aggressive ideological campaigns and new repressive actions and "purges" were unfolded. They were due to the nature of the Stalinist totalitarian regime, which needed, in the name of preserving the autocracy of the dictator, in periodic “cheering” of society and “weeding” of the nomenklatura bureaucracy. The nature and scale of the post-war ideological and repressive campaigns reflected the stagnation of the regime and the very personality of the leader.

In East Germany, repressive campaigns and personnel "purges" were determined mainly by the needs of the formation of a totalitarian-communist

th regime, which at the same time was in a certain dependence on the Stalinist one. The "purges", carried out under the guise of denazification, were aimed at weakening the class-political opponents. The first "purges" within the Bolshevized SED were aimed at getting rid of the social democratic and other ideological and political baggage. The subsequent party "cleansing" was determined by the struggle of the "Moscow" group of communists, supported by the Kremlin, for dominance in the SED. In the course of this struggle, the accusations of the communists, who were in exile in the West, of links with Zionism were widely used. However, anti-Zionism in the SED was, first, a consequence of Soviet imposition; secondly, it has not acquired an openly anti-Semitic character; unlike the USSR and some other Eastern European countries, state anti-Semitism in the GDR did not merge with the “popular” one.

Thus, the “purge” campaigns in East Germany, for all its dependence on Moscow, were not always a mirror image of what was happening in the USSR.

Notes (edit)

1 See: Kostyrchenko, G.V. Stalin's Secret Policy. M., 2001.S. 276-281.

2 See: Semiryaga, M. I. How We Ruled Germany. M., 1995; Deutschland unter allier-ter Besatzung 1945-1949 / 1955. Berlin, 1999; Naimark, N. Die Russen in Deutschland: Die so-wjetische Besatzungszone 1945 bis 1949. Berlin, 1999.

3 Wentker, H. Justitz in der SBZ / DDR 19451953. Munchen, 2001.

4 See: History of Germany. T. 2. Kemerovo, 2005. S. 315-316; Sowjetische Speziallager in Deutschland 1945 bis 1950 / hg. von Sergej Mi-ronenko u. a. Berlin, 1998.

5 Burgerliche Parteien in der SBZ / DDR. 1945 bis 1953 / hg. von Jurgen Frohlich. Koln, 1995.

6 Bergmann, Theodor. "Gegen den Strom". Die Geschichte der Kommunistischen Partei - Opposition. Hamburg 1987 S. 337.

7 Ausgeschaltet! Sozialdemokraten in der Sowje-tischen Besatzungszone und in der DDR. Bonn, 1996.

8 Der Stalinismus in der KPD und SEP. Berlin, 1991. S. 116; Malyicha, Andreas. Partei von Stalins Gnaden? Die Entwicklung der SED zur Partei neues Typs in der Jaren 1946 bis 1950.Berlin, 1996.

9 Podewin, Norbert. Walter Ulbricht. Eine neue Biographie. Berlin, 1995. S. 201-202.

10 KeBler, Mario. Die SED und die Juden - zwi-schen Repression und Toleranz. Berlin, 1995. S. 67-68.

11 Ebenda. S. 68.

12 The anti-Semitic component of party “purges” is described in the book: KeB-ler, Mario (Hg). Arbeiterbewegung und Antise-mitismus. Bonn, 1993. S. 111, 126 u. a.

13 Podewin, Norbert. Walter Ulbricht. S. 241.

14 KeBler, Mario. Die SED und die Juden ... S. 92-93; 180, 196.

15 For details see: Paul Merker in den Fangen der Sicherheitsorgane Stalins und Ulbrichts. Berlin, 1995.

16 Podewin, Norbert. Walter Ulbricht. S. 263266.

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Mass repressions in the USSR were carried out in the period 1927 - 1953. These repressions are directly associated with the name of Joseph Stalin, who during these years was in charge of the country. Social and political persecution in the USSR began after the end of the last stage of the civil war. These phenomena began to gain momentum in the second half of the 30s and did not slow down during the Second World War, as well as after its end. Today we will talk about what constituted social and political repression. Soviet Union, consider what phenomena lie at the heart of those events, as well as what consequences this led to.

They say: an entire people cannot be suppressed endlessly. Lie! Can! We see how our people have become devastated, run wild, and indifference has descended on them not only to the fate of the country, not only to the fate of a neighbor, but even to our own fate and the fate of children. Indifference, the last salutary reaction of the body, has become our defining feature. ... That is why the popularity of vodka is unprecedented even on a Russian scale. This is a terrible indifference, when a person sees his life not chipped, not with a broken corner, but so hopelessly fragmented, so disgusting up and down that it is still worth living for the sake of alcoholic oblivion. Now, if vodka were banned, we would immediately have a revolution.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Reasons for repression:

• Forcing the population to work on a non-economic basis. There was a lot of work to be done in the country, but there was not enough money for everything. Ideology shaped new thinking and perception, and also had to motivate people to work practically for free.
• Strengthening personal power. For the new ideology, an idol was needed, a person who is unquestioningly trusted. After the assassination of Lenin, this post was vacant. Stalin had to take this place.
• Strengthening the exhaustion of a totalitarian society.

If you try to find the beginning of repression in the union, then the starting point, of course, should be 1927. This year was marked by the fact that mass executions began to take place in the country, with the so-called pests, as well as saboteurs. The motive of these events should be sought in the relationship between the USSR and Great Britain. Thus, at the beginning of 1927, the Soviet Union became involved in a major international scandal, when the country was openly accused of trying to transfer the hotbed of the Soviet revolution to London. In response to these events, Great Britain severed all relations with the USSR, both political and economic. Domestically, this step was presented as a preparation by London new wave intervention. At one of the party meetings, Stalin declared that the country "needs to destroy all remnants of imperialism and all supporters of the White Guard movement." Stalin had an excellent reason for this on June 7, 1927. On this day, the political representative of the USSR, Voikov, was killed in Poland.

As a result, terror began. For example, on the night of June 10, 20 people were shot, who contacted the empire. These were representatives of ancient noble families. All in all, in June 27, more than 9 thousand people were arrested, who were accused of high treason, aiding imperialism and other things that sound menacing, but are very difficult to prove. Most of those arrested were sent to prisons.

Pest control

After that, a number of major cases began in the USSR, which were aimed at combating sabotage and sabotage. The wave of these repressions was based on the fact that in most of the large companies that worked within the Soviet Union, senior positions were occupied by immigrants from imperial Russia. Of course, most of these people did not feel sympathy for the new government. Therefore, the Soviet regime was looking for pretexts by which this intelligentsia could be removed from leading posts and, if possible, destroyed. The problem was that it needed a solid and legal basis. Such grounds were found in a number of lawsuits that swept through the Soviet Union in the 1920s.

Among the most striking examples of such cases are the following:

• Shakhty business. In 1928, repressions in the USSR affected miners from Donbass. A show trial was made out of this case. The entire leadership of Donbass, as well as 53 engineers, were accused of espionage activities with an attempt to sabotage the new state. As a result of the proceedings, 3 people were shot, 4 were acquitted, the rest received prison term from 1 to 10 years old. It was a precedent - society enthusiastically accepted the repressions against the enemies of the people ... In 2000, the Russian prosecutor's office rehabilitated all the participants in the Shakhty case, in view of the absence of corpus delicti.
• Pulkovo case. In June 1936, a large solar eclipse should have been visible on the territory of the USSR. Pulkovo Observatory appealed to the world community to attract personnel to study this phenomenon, as well as to obtain the necessary foreign equipment. As a result, the organization was accused of espionage ties. The number of victims is classified.
• The case of the industrial party. Those accused in this case were those whom the Soviet government called bourgeois. This process took place in 1930. The defendants were accused of trying to disrupt industrialization in the country.
• The case of the peasant party. The Socialist-Revolutionary organization is widely known under the name of the Chayanov and Kondratyev group. In 1930, representatives of this organization were accused of trying to disrupt industrialization and interfering in agricultural affairs.
• Union Bureau. The Union Bureau case was opened in 1931. The defendants were representatives of the Mensheviks. They were accused of undermining the creation and implementation economic activity within the country, as well as in relations with foreign intelligence.

At that moment, a massive ideological struggle was taking place in the USSR. The new regime tried with all its might to explain its position to the population, as well as to justify its actions. But Stalin understood that ideology alone could not establish order in the country and could not allow him to retain power. Therefore, along with ideology, repressions began in the USSR. Above, we have already given some examples of cases from which the repression began. These cases have at all times raised big questions, and today, when the documents on many of them have been declassified, it becomes absolutely clear that most of the accusations were unfounded. It is no coincidence that the Russian prosecutor's office, having examined the documents of the Shakhtinsky case, rehabilitated all the participants in the process. And this despite the fact that in 1928 no one from the party leadership of the country had a thought about the innocence of these people. Why did this happen? This was due to the fact that under the guise of repression, as a rule, everyone who did not agree with the new regime was destroyed.

The events of the 20s were just the beginning, the main events were ahead.

Socio-political meaning of mass repressions

A new massive wave of repression inside the country unfolded in the early 1930s. At that moment, the struggle began not only with political competitors, but also with the so-called kulaks. In fact, a new blow by the Soviet regime against the rich began, and this blow caught not only wealthy people, but also the middle peasants and even the poor. Dekulakization was one of the stages in delivering this blow. Within the framework of this material, we will not dwell on the issues of dispossession of kulaks, since this issue has already been studied in detail in the corresponding article on the site.

Party composition and governing bodies in repression

A new wave of political repression in the USSR began at the end of 1934. At that point in time, there was a significant change in the structure of the administrative apparatus within the country. In particular, on July 10, 1934, the special services were reorganized. On this day, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR was created. This department is known under the acronym NKVD. The structure of this unit included such services as:

• Main Department of State Security. It was one of the main bodies that dealt with almost all matters.
• Main Directorate of Workers 'and Peasants' Militia. This is an analogue of the modern police, with all functions and responsibilities.
• Main Directorate of the Border Service. The department was engaged in border and customs affairs.
• Main administration of camps. This administration is widely known today under the abbreviation GULAG.
• Main fire department.

In addition, in November 1934, a special department was created, which was named "Special meeting". This department received broad powers to combat the enemies of the people. In fact, this department could, without the presence of the accused, the prosecutor and the lawyer, send people into exile or to the Gulag for up to 5 years. Of course, this applied only to the enemies of the people, but the problem is that no one really knew how to define this enemy. That is why the Special Meeting had unique functions, since any person could be declared an enemy of the people. Any person could be sent into exile on one simple suspicion for 5 years.

Mass repressions in the USSR

The events of December 1, 1934 became the reason for massive repressions. Then Sergei Mironovich Kirov was killed in Leningrad. As a result of these events, a special procedure for court proceedings was approved in the country. In fact, we are talking about expedited court proceedings. All cases where people were accused of terrorism and complicity in terrorism were transferred under a simplified system of proceedings. Again, the problem was that almost all people who fell under repression belonged to this category. Above, we have already talked about a number of high-profile cases that characterize the repression in the USSR, where it is clearly seen that all people, in one way or another, were accused of complicity in terrorism. The specificity of the simplified system of proceedings was that the sentence had to be delivered within 10 days. The accused received a summons the day before the trial. The trial itself took place without the participation of prosecutors and lawyers. At the conclusion of the proceedings, any requests for clemency were prohibited. If in the course of the proceedings a person was sentenced to be shot, then this measure of punishment was executed immediately.

Political repression, party purge

Stalin organized active repression within the Bolshevik party itself. One of the illustrative examples of the repressions that affected the Bolsheviks happened on January 14, 1936. On this day, the replacement of party documents was announced. This step has been discussed for a long time and was not a surprise. But when the documents were replaced, new certificates were given not to all party members, but only to those who "earned trust." Thus began the purge of the party. If you believe the official data, then when new party documents were issued, 18% of the Bolsheviks were expelled from the party. These were the people to whom repression was applied, first of all. And this we are talking about only one of the waves of these cleansing. In total, the cleaning of the party was carried out in several stages:

• In 1933. 250 people were expelled from the party's top leadership.
• In 1934-1935, 20 thousand people were expelled from the Bolshevik party.

Stalin actively destroyed people who could claim power, who possessed power. To demonstrate this fact, it is only necessary to say that of all the members of the Politburo of 1917, only Stalin survived after the purge (4 members were shot, and Trotsky was expelled from the party and expelled from the country). There were 6 members of the Politburo at that time. In the interval between the revolution and the death of Lenin, a new Politburo of 7 people was assembled. By the end of the purge, only Molotov and Kalinin survived. In 1934, the next congress of the party of the CPSU (b) took place. The congress was attended by 1,934 people. 1108 of them were arrested. Most were shot.

The assassination of Kirov exacerbated the wave of repressions, and Stalin himself appealed to the party members about the need for the final extermination of all enemies of the people. As a result, changes were made to the criminal code of the USSR. These changes stipulated that all cases of political prisoners were considered on an expedited basis without the lawyers of prosecutors within 10 days. The executions were carried out immediately. In 1936, a political trial took place over the opposition. In fact, Lenin's closest associates, Zinoviev and Kamenev, were in the dock. They were accused of the murder of Kirov, as well as an attempt on Stalin's life. A new stage of political repression began against the Leninist guard. This time Bukharin was subjected to repression, as well as the head of the government Rykov. The socio-political meaning of repression in this sense was associated with the strengthening of the personality cult.

Repression in the army

Since June 1937, the repressions in the USSR have affected the army. In June, the first trial took place against the high command of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), including the commander-in-chief, Marshal Tukhachevsky. The army leadership was accused of attempting a coup d'état. According to the prosecutors, the coup was to take place on May 15, 1937. The accused were found guilty and most of them were shot. Tukhachevsky was also shot.

An interesting fact is that out of 8 members of the trial, who sentenced Tukhachevsky to death, later five were themselves repressed and shot. However, from that time on, repressions began in the army, which affected the entire leadership team. As a result of such events, 3 marshals of the Soviet Union, 3 commander of the 1st rank, 10 commanders of the 2nd rank, 50 corps commanders, 154 division commanders, 16 army commissars, 25 corps commissars, 58 division commissars, 401 regimental commanders were repressed. In total, 40 thousand people were subjected to repression in the Red Army. It was 40 thousand army leaders. As a result, more than 90% of the command staff were destroyed.

Increased repression

Beginning in 1937, the wave of repressions in the USSR began to intensify. The reason was the order No. 00447 of the NKVD of the USSR dated July 30, 1937. This document also stated the immediate repression of all anti-Soviet elements, namely:

• Former fists. All those whom the Soviet government called kulaks, but who escaped punishment, or were in labor settlements or in exile, were subject to repression.
• All representatives of religion. Anyone who has anything to do with religion was subject to repression.
• Participants in anti-Soviet actions. Everyone who ever spoke actively or passively against the Soviet regime was involved in such participants. In fact, those who did not support the new government belonged to this category.
• Anti-Soviet politicians. Within the country, all who were not part of the Bolshevik party were called anti-Soviet politicians.
• White Guards.
• People with a criminal record. People with a criminal record were automatically considered enemies of the Soviet regime.

• Hostile elements. Any person who was called a hostile element was sentenced to death.
• Inactive items. The rest, who were not sentenced to death, were sent to camps or prisons for a term of 8 to 10 years.

All cases were now considered in an even more accelerated mode, where most cases were considered en masse. According to the same order of the NKVD, repressions were applied not only to the convicts, but also to their families. In particular, the following measures of punishment were applied to the families of the repressed:

• Families of those repressed for active anti-Soviet actions. All members of such families went to camps and labor camps.
• Families of the repressed, who lived in the border zone, were subject to resettlement inland. Often special settlements were formed for them.
• A family of repressed people who lived in large cities of the USSR. Such people were also resettled inland.

In 1940, a secret department of the NKVD was created. This department was engaged in the destruction of political opponents of the Soviet regime, located abroad. The first victim of this department was Trotsky, who was killed in Mexico in August 1940. Later, this secret department was engaged in the destruction of members of the White Guard movement, as well as representatives of the imperialist emigration of Russia.

In the future, the repressions continued, although their main events had already passed. In fact, the repressions in the USSR continued until 1953.

The results of the repressions

In total, from 1930 to 1953, 3 million 800 thousand people were repressed on charges of counter-revolution. Of these, 749 421 people were shot ... And this is only according to official information ... And how many more people died without trial and investigation, whose names are not included in the list?