Responsibility For The Apparatus Of Terror Flashcards
What did gulag prisoners commonly say about Stalin and their situation?
If only Stalin knew their situation, he would put an end to it
NAIVE
Who created the gulag system?
Who was responsible for its growth?
Lenin
Stalin- his actions from 1928
What was Stalin particularly interested in, terror wise?
It’s application
EVIDENCE OF STALIN’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR TERROR
What did Stalin do to death warrants?
Personally signed them
Often added comments on lists of those arrested:
- asking for more names
- adding names of his choosing
EVIDENCE OF STALIN’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR TERROR
Quotas?
He gave the NKVD their quotas to meet.
If they were not met, the local NKVD officer was expected to ass their own name to the list.
EVIDENCE OF STALIN’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR TERROR
Terror accompanied Stalin’s policies and was often an essential part of them.
Explain
Collectivisation— rapid— Kulaks and opponents swept away
Five-Year Plans— unrealistic targets— pressure on officials to explain a failure to meet: often essential for their own personal survival to label saboteurs
EVIDENCE OF STALIN’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR TERROR
Which historian suggested that the terror expansion during the 30s
was due to a demand for slave labour
to ensure the Five-Year Plan targets were met?
Explain argument
Ivan Chukhin
- Forced labour = key part in prestige projects
- Some of the Soviet Union’s TOP geologists were arrested on the eve of a camp being set up to exploit oil reserves in the Komi republic. Coincidence?
When were some of the Soviet Union’s top geologists arrested?
Where were the reserves?
The eve of a camp being set up to exploit oil reserves
Komi Republic
EVIDENCE OF STALIN’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR TERROR
He set the parameters for the purges:
Explain.
Death of Kirov —> Great Purge of the Party
Dismissal of Yezhov —> signal to slow down purges
Death of Stalin —> dismantling of gulag system, reduction in terror
EVIDENCE OF STALIN’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR TERROR
Many aspects of the terror reflect Stalin’s paranoid personality…
Explain
Kirov assassination — exacerbated his paranoia
1953 doctors plot — stemmed from anti semetic views // suspicion kremlin doctors were trying to kill him
EVIDENCE THAT Y, Y, B PLAYED A ROLE IN INFLUENCING TERROR
They all became powerful leaders of the secret police DUE to their willingness to follow Stalin’s wishes— expand
- They all had sadistic tendencies— little/no moral conscience about using terror/torture
- owed their position to Stalin— Y&Y both dismissed, B didn’t survive long without Stalin
EVIDENCE THAT Y, Y, B were functionaries
Did they have much impact on targets of the terror?
No.
These were determined by Stalin. His policy, his personality.
EVIDENCE THAT Y, Y, B PLAYED A ROLE IN INFLUENCING TERROR
Who did they add to death lists, that suggests they had some impact on the targets of terror?
Those that stood in their way
EVIDENCE THAT Y, Y, B PLAYED A ROLE IN INFLUENCING TERROR
Career advancements
1) Yagoda used his influence to enhance his NKVD career
2) Yezhov advanced his career by undermining Yagoda
3) Beria advanced his career by undermining Yezhov.
EVIDENCE THAT Y, Y, B PLAYED A ROLE IN INFLUENCING TERROR:
They did have influence on the IMPLEMENTATION OF TERROR and OPERATION OF THE GULAG:
Yagoda example?
Gulag was expanded so greatly under him that struggled to cope with the increase of inmates (due to collectivisation)
