On 6 March 1953, a massive warm front struck otherwise icy northern Europe, and wound its way east- and westward, eventually circling the globe. The reason for the warmer than normal air temperatures was the massive sigh of relief simultaneously exhaled from the entire population of the Soviet Union upon learning that Josef Stalin wasContinueContinue reading “1962: Lies about Stalin-Era Illegal Executions Come Back to Haunt the KGB”
Category Archives: Terror
Census Takers Executed by Soviet Authorities in 1938 for Unwittingly Revealing Millions of Ukrainians Were Lost to the Holdomor
Hopes were certainly high when Stalin declared a census be taken in 1937 across the entire Soviet Union. As the illustration above shows, gigantic success was anticipated for socialism in the USSR. But as the results started rolling in, Soviet leadership was in for a few surprises. One of the questions asked was whether orContinueContinue reading “Census Takers Executed by Soviet Authorities in 1938 for Unwittingly Revealing Millions of Ukrainians Were Lost to the Holdomor”
1940: Kickoff of Soviet Country-Wide Repressions Against Lithuanian Opposition Leaders
The following is a translation of the four-page Top Secret covert activity plan of the Lithuanian Department of State Security, dated 7 July 1940, calling for the arrest and elimination of the leadership of “anti-state” parties. This would be the first of a series of repressive activities by Soviet internal affairs and state security agenciesContinueContinue reading “1940: Kickoff of Soviet Country-Wide Repressions Against Lithuanian Opposition Leaders”
Soviet Georgians React to Secret Speech Denouncement of Stalin’s Cult of Personality, 1956
Shortly after midnight on 25 February 1956, Nikita Khrushchev was yielded the floor at a closed session of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and he had a few things he wanted to get off his chest. For the next four hours, Khrushchev described and denounced the harsh repressions andContinueContinue reading “Soviet Georgians React to Secret Speech Denouncement of Stalin’s Cult of Personality, 1956”
Moldova Announces Complete Declassified Deportation Archive to be Made Public in July
The popular Moldovan news website Point.md today cited reporting from tv8.md on the declassification of tens of thousands of files on Moldovan citizens deported, most significantly from the Stalin era. Because the website’s report is currently only available in Romanian and Russian, we have taken it upon ourselves to provide an English translation for thoseContinueContinue reading “Moldova Announces Complete Declassified Deportation Archive to be Made Public in July”
Soviet Persecution of Family of Executed Ukrainian Writer Hnat Khotkevych
Please note: The English translation of Ukrainian names and placenames in declassified Russian-language material uses Russian spelling conventions rather than Ukrainian. This is not done with any intent to disrespect the Ukrainian language or people, but is merely a translation convention for historical documents of this sort. The following background information was translated from theContinueContinue reading “Soviet Persecution of Family of Executed Ukrainian Writer Hnat Khotkevych”
Two Thousand Cases of Cannibalism During the Holodomor: Ukrainian MVD Presents Interactive Map Based on Declassified Documents
On Holodomor Remembrance Day, Interior Minister Igor Klimenko spoke about a unique map created based on Soviet-era criminal cases, visually presenting data on cannibalism cases in 1932–1933. Details were provided by Channel 24, quoting Igor Klimenko. Reading the data is quite difficult, but necessary. This is how we can learn our true history. It isContinueContinue reading “Two Thousand Cases of Cannibalism During the Holodomor: Ukrainian MVD Presents Interactive Map Based on Declassified Documents”
Letter from Wife of People’s Artist of Ukraine Oleksandr Kurbas to Soviet Authorities in Hopes of Learning his Fate, ca. 1954
The following is a copy of an undated letter to the Prosecutor General of the USSR Rudenko from People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR and UZ SSR Valentina Chistyakova with a request to provide information about her husband Oleksandr Kurbas, who was sentenced in 1934 to 5 years of imprisonment, information about his whereabouts, andContinueContinue reading “Letter from Wife of People’s Artist of Ukraine Oleksandr Kurbas to Soviet Authorities in Hopes of Learning his Fate, ca. 1954”
Ukrainians React to Stalin’s Death in a Way that Attracts the Attention of State Security
Source: Istorychna Pravda, “How Ukrainians Reacted to Stalin’s Death. Declassified Special Notifications of the MGB” On Friday, 5 March 1953, the newspaper Pravda published the following sensational piece of news: “On March 5, at 9:50 in the evening, after a serious illness, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of the SSRContinueContinue reading “Ukrainians React to Stalin’s Death in a Way that Attracts the Attention of State Security”
Beria’s Son Petitions CPSU and KGB Leadership for Return of Confiscated Goods, Academic Title, and State Decorations
By 1965, Sergo Beria had lived with his KGB-assigned new last name ‘Gegechkori’ (his mother’s maiden name) for a decade. He’d also found himself, in his words, unaware that he had been stripped of his academic credentials, and that his discharge from the Soviet Army had been accompanied with a demotion down to the lowestContinueContinue reading “Beria’s Son Petitions CPSU and KGB Leadership for Return of Confiscated Goods, Academic Title, and State Decorations”
Translating History 