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”
Tag Archives: Soviet Union
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”
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: Robbery, Murder, and Rape – More Bad News for Voroshilov, Downplayed as “Negative Incidents”
Whew. At some point, one would think Voroshilov would stop reading the incoming reports from the Ukrainian and Belorussian Fronts regarding out-of-control Red Army troops committing grievous crimes “against the backdrop of the excellent political and moral state of the units.” This time, a Top Secret report from the Office of the Chief Military ProsecutorContinueContinue reading “1939: Robbery, Murder, and Rape – More Bad News for Voroshilov, Downplayed as “Negative Incidents””
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: Voroshilov Issues Slaps on the Wrist for Negligence that Led to the Death of Four Soviet Airmen
Disclaimer: The central photo of this image was created with AI. On September 22, 1939, four Soviet Polikarpov I-15 biplane fighters from the 35th Fighter Aviation Regiment crashed near Sinyavka, Belarus, shortly after taking off from Nabushevo airfield. The flight of six I-15s and one I-16 was ordered to redeploy to Baranavichy during the SovietContinueContinue reading “1939: Voroshilov Issues Slaps on the Wrist for Negligence that Led to the Death of Four Soviet Airmen”
October 1940: Soviet Patent on Creation of Atomic Bomb Mocked and Rejected by Soviet Defense Engineers
In October 1940, two young Soviet physicists named Viktor Maslov and Vladimir Shpinel, working at the Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology (UFTI) in Kharkiv, submitted a revolutionary invention claim titled “On the Use of Uranium as an Explosive and Toxic Agent.” This proposal would come to be recognized as the first valid technical designContinueContinue reading “October 1940: Soviet Patent on Creation of Atomic Bomb Mocked and Rejected by Soviet Defense Engineers”
1942: Roosevelt Willing to Sacrifice 120,000 Troops in “Second Dunkirk” to Help Soviets, Churchill Outraged
In 1942, the situation for the Soviet Union in the war against Nazi Germany took a dramatic turn for the worse. Soviet troops suffered defeats in Crimea and near Kharkov. German forces began a rapid advance westward, moving toward the shores of the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus region. Given the situation, the USSR beganContinueContinue reading “1942: Roosevelt Willing to Sacrifice 120,000 Troops in “Second Dunkirk” to Help Soviets, Churchill Outraged”
1945: Stalin Reads Britain’s Top Secret Plans to Neutralize Worldwide Soviet Threat
When published in June 1945, the Joint Intelligence Sub-Committee (JIC) paper on “British Empire Security” was the talk of the town (London, that is). The 68-page Top Secret document, written as the war in the Pacific still raged on,provided a security roadmap for the United Kingdom for the period 1955-1960, identifying potential threats to theContinueContinue reading “1945: Stalin Reads Britain’s Top Secret Plans to Neutralize Worldwide Soviet Threat”
1942: Nazi Propaganda School in Wustrow for Soviet POWs With Promise of Ukrainian Independence
In recent days, the FSB archives for the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic have declassified excerpts of documents which shed light on the operations of Nazi propaganda schools for Soviet prisoners of war. Among the papers are interrogation transcripts from 1944–1947, in which former trainees describe in detail how they were taught to hate the SovietContinueContinue reading “1942: Nazi Propaganda School in Wustrow for Soviet POWs With Promise of Ukrainian Independence”
