The Yezhovschina

Question 1

From when did the Yesovshchina begin?

Answer 1

July 1937

Question 2

Who replaced Yagoda as head of the Secret police in 1936?

Answer 2

Nikolai Yezhov

Question 3

What was implemented that started the Mass purges?

Answer 3

NKVD Order 00447

Question 4

When was the NKVD Order 00447?

Answer 4

30 July 1937

Question 5

What did the NVKD Order 00447 mean, and set up

Answer 5

meant no central control, outlined quota system for every Region of USSR and anti-soviet elements

Question 6

What were those arrested be swiftly sentenced by?

Answer 6

NKVD ‘Troikas’ - three-man panels

Question 7

How many people had been arrested and sent to gulag within a month of Order 00447?

Answer 7

100,000 arrested,
14,000 sent to gulag

Question 8

How many had been sentenced and executed by 1938 due to the NKVD Order 00447?

Answer 8

575,000 people sentenced,
258,000 executed

Question 9

Who did the NKVD target?

Answer 9

people considered to be dangerous to the regime,
former party members of other parties,

Question 10

What led to people being arrested randomly by the NKVD?

Answer 10

pressure to meet and exceed quotas - NKVD picked names out of telephone directories

Question 11

what were people encouraged to do by the NKVD?

Answer 11

root out ‘hidden enemies’ - friends and family members in the hope of saving themselves

Question 12

Who was targeted in the 17 Jan 1937 Show trial?

Answer 12

17 senior party members - Radek and Sokolnikov

13 sentenced to death, accused of plotting with Trotsky

Question 13

Why did Stalin fear a military uprising?

Answer 13

several officers caught in show trials - could lead others to rebel

Question 14

How did Stalin react to his fears of a military uprising?

Answer 14

Show trial on Marhal Tukhachevsky and 7 other military commanders

Question 15

When was the Military purge, what was the outcome?

Answer 15

May-June 1937, 7 top military commanders executed

Question 16

What followed the Military show trials?

Answer 16

the ‘Great Purge’ of the Red Army

Question 17

How many red army leaders were sacked between 1937 and 1939?

Answer 17

30,000

Question 18

What was the reason given for the military purge?

Answer 18

a ‘military-fascist’ plot with Germany and Japan

Question 19

How amny people were shot for refusing to approve execution of colleagues?

Answer 19

74 military officials

Question 20

Who was targeted in the 21, march 1938 show trial?

Answer 20

Bukharin, Rykov and 19 others.

Question 21

Who committed suicide before being put on trial?

Answer 21

Tomsky :(

Question 22

What charge did Bukharin, Rykov and 19 others face?

Answer 22

plot to overthrow Stalin on orders of Germany and Japan

Question 23

How far did the Gulag population increase from 1935-1938

Answer 23

from 800,000 in 1935
between 5.5-9.5 million in 1938

Question 24

How much higher were Mortality rates?

Answer 24

4-6x higher

Question 25

Who was Stalin suspicious of?

Answer 25

National minorities - koreans in east, Germans in Volga region

Question 26

Why did Stalin deport the Korean minority?

Answer 26

Due to threat of war with Japan in 1937

Question 27

How many Volga Germans were deported to Serbia and Central Asia in 1941?

Answer 27

400,000

Question 28

How many Jews were incorporated into the USSR in 1939-40?

Answer 28

2 million - following invasion of Eastern Poland and Baltic republics

Question 29

Why did the pace of purges slow after 1938?

Answer 29

Yzhovshchina had destabilised the state and economy, stalin blamed Yezhov

Question 30

What did Stalin declare at the 18th Party Congress?

Answer 30

that ‘mass cleansings’ were no longer needed

Question 31

When was Yezhov secretly tried and executed?

Answer 31

1940

Question 32

Who replaced Yezhov?

Answer 32

Lavrentii Beria

Question 33

When was Trotsky murdered by Ramon Mercado?

Answer 33

August 1940, in Mexico City

Question 34

How could Stalin be deemed as responsible for the Terror?

Answer 34

the Suicide of his wife in 1932 could have triggered it,
his paranoia, personally responsible for promoting purges

Question 35

How could Bolshevik leaders be blamed for the terror?

Answer 35

they had always used terror - used to defend revolution.
Stalin simply escalated this

Question 36

how could party officials be responsible?

Answer 36

over-zealous local officials - some promoted terror knowing they’d get away with it

Question 37

How could ordinary individuals be blamed for the terror?

Answer 37

escalated out of control as denunciations were prevalent

Question 38

650,000 people were executed from 1937-38 under what source?

Answer 38

figures released by KGB in 1995

Question 39

How were families of those punished also punished?

Answer 39

lost jobs, evicted from homes - sent to gulag or exiled
‘a member of the family of a traitor to the Motherland’
‘a child of an enemy of the people.

Question 40

How many party members were expelled between 1936 and 1938?

Answer 40

850,000

Question 41

What % of the Party had joined before 1920 by 1939?

Answer 41

only 10%

Question 42

How did the Red Army grow after the purges lost 23,000 officers?

Answer 42

1 milion 1936 - 5 million 1941

Question 43

What could be said about Stalins position after the purges?

Answer 43

he was in a position of supreme power