The Leningrad affair, purges and Doctors Plot Flashcards
Why was Stalin careful to prevent politicians with a power base in Leningrad from becoming too powerful?
as it was the former capital of Russia
There was many reasons why Zhandov was pushed aside in 1948, but what was a main reason?
his power-base in Leningrad
Why did Stalin resent Leningrad after the war?
because of the pride it took from its heroic role in the great siege of 1941-44
How did Stalin follow up the removal and death of Zhdanov in 1949?
he purged Leningrad Party
What year did Stalin purge the Leningrad party?
1949
How did the Leningrad affair escalate?
from purging those in senior posts to a major purge of all leading officials
Who organised the accusations against the Leningrad officials in 1949?
Beria and Malenkov
When were the Leningrad officials purged?
1950
By 1950 how many officials from Leningrad had been dismissed from their posts, exiled and replaced with pro-Stalin communists?
over 2000
What was Leningrad declared after the war?
a hero city for lasting the long siege
Why did Stalin resent the fact that Leningrad was held to be the hero city after the war?
as the view of many in Leningrad was that it was the great victory of the defenders of the city, not the USSR as a whole who had largely left them to their own devices.
What was the first major purge since the Party purge in 1938?
the Leningrad affair of 1949
In reality, the Leningraders were never a direct poltcial threat to Stalin, but what was his default approach regardles?
to set rival elements within the regime against each other
What was the purge after the Leningrad affair?
the Mingrelian Case of 1951
What year was the Mingrelian Case which was the next purge after the Leningrad affair of 1949?
1951
What was the Mingrelian Case (Purge) of 1951?
this targeted Party officials in Georgia who were accused of collaboration with Western Powers and suppressed non-Russian nationalities
Why was it significant that the Mingrelians were accused of collaboration with Western Powers in 1951 and purged?
as they were followers of Beria, and was himself of Mingrelian origin
The Mingrelian case rumbled on until when?
1952, and continued into 1953
What purpose did the Mingrelian case serve?
to limit the power of Beria who was of Mingrelian origin
How did the Mingrelian purge of 1951 have anti-Semitic overtones?
because the Mingrelians were charged with having conspire with Jewish plotters
How in 1952 was anti-Seminitism a driving force in the most menacing purge of Stalin’s last years (which purge)?
in the Doctors Plot
What had triggered the Doctors Plot in 1952?
a revealed conspiracy by a female doctors who wrote to Stalin that the Jewish doctors who treated Zhdanov in 1948 used sloppy methods contributing to his death
What year was the Doctors Plot?
1952
How did Stalin use the evidence of the female doctor who accused Zhdanov’s doctors of sloppy methods contributing to his death in 1948?
he used this to make an issue of anti-ZIonsm (against Jewish state of Israel) claiming that Jewish doctors were in the pay of Israel and the US to abuse their positions to harm the USSR
Who was mysteriously killed in a car crash in 1948, almost certainly arranged by the secret police?
director of a Jewish theatre in Moscow
what happened to the director of a Jewish theatre in Moscow in 1948?
he was mysteriously killed in a car crash, almost certainly arranged by the secret police
The Jewish wives of which 2 party officials were arrested in 1949?
Molotov and Kalinin
What year were the Jewish wives of Molotov and Kalinin arrested?
1949
What was the Doctors Plot of 1952 an excuse for?
for political action against the Party
Who was the Minister of State Security whom Stalin threatened to execute if he did not obtain confessions for the Doctors Plot 1952?
Ignatiev
How many were arrested in the Doctors Plot purge 1952?
hundreds were arrested, and thousands of Jews were rounded up and deported to gulags
How many senior Jewish doctors were condemned to death as a result of the Doctors Plot 1952 but survived due to Stalins death?
9
By 1953 what had Stalin done?
he paralysed the Soviet Union, a country waiting for one ma to die in order to allow any hope of change
