On November 22, 1963, US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The event shocked the entire world and elicited waves of sympathy on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The generally positive attitude in the USSR towards the young American president was finally solidified after the publication in Pravda on June 11,ContinueContinue reading “1963: A Cold War Stand-Down: Top Secret Documents on Kremlin Response to JFK Assassination”
Tag Archives: Khrushchev
1962: Lies about Stalin-Era Illegal Executions Come Back to Haunt the KGB
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”
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”
1955: Soviet Scientists Float Idea of Launching an Artificial Earth Satellite by 1958 to Leadership
We all know the rest of the story. Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union in early October, 1957, thanks to a plucky team of scientists and Khrushchev’s desire to beat the Americans. On 5 August 1955, eminent Soviet scientists Mikhail Khrunichev, Vasiliy Ryabikov, and Sergey Korolev wrote a second letter to Soviet leaders KhrushchevContinueContinue reading “1955: Soviet Scientists Float Idea of Launching an Artificial Earth Satellite by 1958 to Leadership”
On This Date: 1942 Message on Red Army Cowardice on the Stalingrad Front
In a 1942 message written to the Military Councils of the Armies of the Stalingrad Front, Commander of Troops General-Lieutenant Vasiliy Gordov voiced his frustrations over the fact that individual soldiers, and sometimes even entire units, were known to retreat from battle without authorization, only to face no punishment from higher headquarters. Pointing out thatContinueContinue reading “On This Date: 1942 Message on Red Army Cowardice on the Stalingrad Front”
Alarmed by Nuclear Lag, Soviet Ukrainian Physicist Requests Funding for US-Built Cyclotron (1944)
In early 1944, the President of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Science Akademik A.A. Bogomolets sent a Secret letter to then-Chair of the Council of the People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR Nikita Khrushchev, asking him to look into the possibility of not only procuring a cyclotron laboratory to hasten the Soviet Union’s lagging explorationContinueContinue reading “Alarmed by Nuclear Lag, Soviet Ukrainian Physicist Requests Funding for US-Built Cyclotron (1944)”
1955 Top Secret Soviet Documents on Plans to Repatriate WW2 POWs
The following set of documents wас published in the book “Военнопленные в СССР 1939-1956” [‘Prisoners of War in the USSR 1939-1956’], a joint venture of the Volgograd State Institute’s Scientific Research Institute of Problems of the Economic History of the 20th Century, the Russian Federal Archive Service, the Russian Federation State Archive, and the StorageContinueContinue reading “1955 Top Secret Soviet Documents on Plans to Repatriate WW2 POWs”
Cuban Missile Crisis, Document 37
3 November 1962 / Record of a conversation between A.I Mikoyan and Fidel Castro Record of a conversation between First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A.I. Mikoyan and Prime Minister of the Cuban Revolutionary Government Fidel Castro 3 November 1962 Today a two-hour conversation took place between ComradeContinueContinue reading “Cuban Missile Crisis, Document 37”
Cuban Missile Crisis, Document 36
2 November 1962 / Enciphered cable from Alekseyev on Fidel Castro’s letter TOP SECRET Reproduction prohibited Copy No. 12 5962 23/X/62 Enciphered Cable [Translator’s note: Distribution for this cable is as follows: Brezhnev, Voronov, Kirilenko, Kozlov, Kosygin, Kuusinen, Mikoyan, Podgornyy, Polyanskiy, Suslov, Khrushchev, Khrushchev, Shvernik, Grishin, Rashidov, Mazurov, Mzhavanadze, Shcherbitskiy, Demichev, Ilyevich, Ponomarev, Shelepin, Gromyko,ContinueContinue reading “Cuban Missile Crisis, Document 36”
Cuban Missile Crisis, Document 32
29 October 1962 / Enciphered cable from Havana, from Alekseyev on his conversation with Fidel Castro TOP SECRET Reproduction prohibited Copy No. 12 6216/sh 30/X/62 Enciphered Cable [Translator’s note: Distribution for this cable is as follows: Brezhnev, Voronov, Kirilenko, Kozlov, Kosygin, Kuusinen, Mikoyan, Podgornyy, Polyanskiy, Suslov, Khrushchev, Khrushchev, Shvernik, Grishin, Rashidov, Mazurov, Mzhavanadze, Shcherbitskiy, Demichev,ContinueContinue reading “Cuban Missile Crisis, Document 32”
Translating History 