According to very recent reporting, Hungary will release thousands of secret agent and informant files from the socialist era on November 4. The following is translated from a 30 Septembner 2026 Russian-language news article. Researchers claim that virtually every resident of Hungary will be able to find the names of relatives or acquaintances in theseContinueContinue reading “Difficult Converations Ahead – Hungary Prepares for Explosive Release of Declassified Archives”
Tag Archives: politics
1943: Killing Kommissar Kube, Hitler’s Man in Occupied Belarus
Wilhelm Kube was not a nice man, but the same could be said of so many others before and after him who donned the swastika armband. He is the author of the infamous quote, “What plague and syphilis are to humanity, are Jews to the white race.” That should be proof enough of the sortContinueContinue reading “1943: Killing Kommissar Kube, Hitler’s Man in Occupied Belarus”
1937: NKVD’s Ethnic Cleansing of Soviet Poles Begins
On August 20, 1937, the NKVD’s “Polish Operation” began. It was one of many “national operations” carried out during the Great Terror, targeting ethnic Poles who were Soviet citizens, as well as anyone else who might have had some connection to Poland. It was initiated by Secret NKVD Order No. 00485, dated August 9, 1937,ContinueContinue reading “1937: NKVD’s Ethnic Cleansing of Soviet Poles Begins”
1955: Zhukov Advises CPSU on Soviet Troop Withdrawal from Austria, Bolsters the Warsaw Pact
On 15 May 1955, the Austrian State Treaty was signed, thereby re-establishing Austria as a free, independent, and democratic sovereign state after World War II. The treaty was signed by the Allied occupying powers (the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France) and the Austrian government, and officially ended the joint foreignContinueContinue reading “1955: Zhukov Advises CPSU on Soviet Troop Withdrawal from Austria, Bolsters the Warsaw Pact”
Manuscripts Don’t Burn: The Secret 1926 Soviet Interrogations of Mikhail Bulgakov
By the mid-1920s, fledgling author Mikhail Bulgakov was already a marked man in the eyes of Soviet authorities due to his critical and satirical views of the Bolshevik regime. In April 1926, agents from the OGPU (the Soviet secret police and erstwhile precursor to the KGB) raided his Moscow apartment. During their search, the authoritiesContinueContinue reading “Manuscripts Don’t Burn: The Secret 1926 Soviet Interrogations of Mikhail Bulgakov”
1939: Voroshilov Excuses Soviet War Crimes Against Polish Civilians as a Misunderstanding
One runs out of words when trying to explain the thought process of a decorated Marshal of the Soviet Union dismissing the unlawful summary execution of at least nine Polish civilians as a “mistake and a misunderstanding” that took place against the backdrop of “combat operations and acute class struggle.” Another slap on the wrist,ContinueContinue reading “1939: Voroshilov Excuses Soviet War Crimes Against Polish Civilians as a Misunderstanding”
1939: Stalin’s Biggest Enemy During the Soviet Invasion of Poland Was the Red Army Itself
We can thank Carl von Clausewitz for the concept of the fog of war. But leave it to the Red Army to provide us with shining examples of the fog of logistics, which may have come close to derailing what otherwise should have been a walk-in-the-park invasion of Poland in 1939. Toss in a subsequentContinueContinue reading “1939: Stalin’s Biggest Enemy During the Soviet Invasion of Poland Was the Red Army Itself”
1939: Logistics and Carelessness Abound While Nazis and Red Army Collaborate to Slice Poland in Half
We’ve stumbled onto an unknown (to us) cache of thousands of classified documents held in the archives of the Lieutenant General Kazimierz Sosnkowski Military Historical Office dealing primarily with the challenges faced by Poland brought on by the USSR (invasion, annexation, authoritarian rule, oppression, etc.) from at least 1939 to 1955. It’s a fascinating collection,ContinueContinue reading “1939: Logistics and Carelessness Abound While Nazis and Red Army Collaborate to Slice Poland in Half”
1964: Japanese Delegation Visit Khrushchev in Sochi as Smokescreen Before His Ouster Ten Days Later
During his October 1964 vacation in Sochi, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev held a notable meeting with a visiting Japanese parliamentary delegation that ultimately became one of his very last diplomatic acts before being overthrown. While a similar meeting in September 1964 saw Khrushchev aggressively issuing nuclear warnings against China to a Japanese cohort, the OctoberContinueContinue reading “1964: Japanese Delegation Visit Khrushchev in Sochi as Smokescreen Before His Ouster Ten Days Later”
1943: Prince Nikolay Gagarin Returns Home from Fighting for the Nazis
The following translation is taken from a rather lengthy interrogation of Prince Nikolay Mikhaylovich Gagarin, a former Wehrmacht officer and commander of the 3rd squadron of the 600th Cossack division, who went over to the Smolensk partisans on June 9, 1943. The uniqueness of the document is that, to date, it is the only knownContinueContinue reading “1943: Prince Nikolay Gagarin Returns Home from Fighting for the Nazis”
