Bazhan Oleg

«National» Operations in Kyiv Region in 1937–1938: Realization Mechanisms and Statistics

Section: State terror of the soviet era

Abstract: The article aims to highlight the process of preparation and realization the series of «linear» punitive actions (German, Polish, Romanian, Harbin, Latvian, Greek, Bulgarian, Iranian, Chinese, Jewish, Czech) in Kyiv region in the days of Great Terror, to analyze the technology of «seizure» of a non-national element from the Soviet society, the nature of the accusations of citizens of foreign origin. Methodology and methods. To achieve the goal of the survey, the author used special historical methods, in addition to general scientific ones (system analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction). The processing of archival materials is carried out due to the methods of source analysis – verification and classification of sources, establishing the place and time of document origin. The method of generalization and systematization and the statistical-analytical method were used to determine the dynamics of repressive actions in Kyiv region. Conclusions. The «national» operations of the NKVD were a vital component of the Great Terror in the Kyiv region in 1937–1938. The top party and Soviet leaders sanctioned repression on the national ground. Lineal punitive actions against people of German, Polish, Latvian, Iranian, Greek, and Afghan nationalities were based on organizational and administrative documents of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks and the NKVD of the USSR. The point of repression was aimed at representatives of particular titular nations of the state’s adjacent to the USSR, who lived in the Kyiv region. At the same time, the victims of national operations were locals who had relatives in these countries and were in correspondence with them. Sentences for «national» operations were adopted by the commission of the NKVD and the Prosecutor of the USSR («dvoika»), a special meeting of the NKVD of the USSR and special «troika’s». The «national» operations of the NKVD during the Great Terror in the Kyiv region could be named «ethnic cleansings» and covered 11 national groups: Poles, Germans, Jews, Latvians, Romanians, Czechs, Bulgarians, Greeks, Moldovans, Armenians, and Chinese.

Keywords: «national operations», NKVD, the Great Terror, Kyiv region.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/vuchk2020.01.005     Citation

• Bazhan Oleg (Institute of the History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, bazhanclio@ukr. net) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2328-4512

Cite:
Bazhan Oleg (2020). «National» Operations in Kyiv Region in 1937–1938: Realization Mechanisms and Statistics. From archives of VUChK–GPU–NKVD–KGB, ( 1 (53)) 5-48. (In Ukrainian). doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/vuchk2020.01.005

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