High Stalinist Terror 1939-1953 Flashcards
Why did Stalin purge the military intelligence community?
He blamed them for not alerting him to Germany’s plan to invade Russia
Why did Stalin have to stop purging the Red Army?
Russia needed all the military experience available to fight Hitler
What happened to political prisoners in regions under threat from invasion?
they were executed
What happened to the people of Chechnya?
Beria ordered that all 460,000 Chechans were to be moved withn 7 days. Bad weather made this impossible, so all Chechan people who had not been moved were locked into stables and burned alive
How many PoWs returned to the USSR from German captivity?
1.5 million
What happened to Soviet PoWs upon their return?
they were immediately interrogated and exiled
Why were PoWs sent to labour camps?
they were guilty of disobeying Stalin’s direct order not to allow themselves to be captured
Why were Jews targeted?
Stalin believed that Jews were fundamentally cosmopolitan and had more loyalty to fellow Jews than they did to Russia
Evidence of the purge of Jews
in 1945, 12% of senior managers jewish, this had fallen to 4% in 1951
What happened to Jews in sensitive areas such as diplomacy and military?
they were all removed
What did Staline take care to do regarding Leningrad politicans?
prevent them from becoming to powerful
Why did Stalin not trust politicans from Leningrad?
- Trotsky had been prominent their and Zinoviev had controlled the Leningrad party until he was replaced by Kirov. Zhdanov had been powerful there.
- Stalin resented the pride Leningrad trook from its role regarding the great seige of 1941-44
Who was Nikolai Voznessenski?
an economic expert who was a rising star in the Politburo
What happened in the Leningrad affair?
Attacks on Voznesenski to a major purge of leading officals. All were executed in 1950, by which time over 2000 officals had been replaced by pro stalinist
Who organised the Leningrad affair?
Malenkov and Beria
