Mass operations of the NKVD

National operations of the NKVD

The operations of this type in this period targeted "foreign" ethnicities (ethnicities with cross-border ties to foreign nation-states), unlike nationally targeted repressions during World War II. According to historian Oleg Khlevniuk, Stalin became concerned about rearguard uprisings that were seen in the Spanish Civil War and believed that "nationalities of foreign governments" posed a threat in border regions, even if they were Soviet citizens whose ancestors had sometimes lived decades or centuries in the areas controlled by the Soviet Union.

Minutes of the January 31, 1938 Politburo meeting list the following ethnicities against which NKVD operations were to be continued: Poles, Latvians, Germans, Estonians, Finns, Greeks, Iranians, Harbinites, Chinese, and Romanians. It was also suggested to carry out similar NKVD operations against Bulgarians and Macedonians.

From August 1937 to October 1938, 353,513 people were arrested and 247,157 were shot in the national operations of NKVD. It is estimated that this would make up 34% of the total victims of the Great Purge.

• Polish Operation of the NKVD ~111,091 killed
  • NKVD Order No. 00485
• German Operation of the NKVD ~41,898 killed
• Greek Operation of the NKVD 20,000—50,000 killed or disappeared
• Latvian Operation of the NKVD 16,573 killed
• Korean Operation of the NKVD ~40,000 killed
• Chinese Operation of the NKVD 3,932 killed
• Estonian Operation of the NKVD 4,672 killed
• Finnish Operation of the NKVD 8,000–25,000 killed or disappeared
• Harbin Operation of the NKVD ~30,992 Harbin Russians were killed

Other

• NKVD Order No. 00447, an operation to repress ex-kulaks, criminals, and other anti-Soviet "elements"
• Family members of traitors to the Motherland

Rollback

On November 17, 1938 a joint decree No. 81 of Sovnarkom USSR and Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Decree about Arrests, Prosecutor Supervision and Course of Investigation and the subsequent order of the NKVD undersigned by Lavrentiy Beria canceled most of NKVD orders of mass type (but not all, see, e.g., NKVD Order No. 00689) and suspended implementation of death sentences, signifying the end of the Great Purge ("Yezhovshchina").

Notes

References

References

1. [[Vadim Rogovin]] "The Party of the Executed" (1997) {{ISBN. 5-85272-026-7, [http://web.mit.edu/fjk/Public/Rogovin/volume5/i.html Chapter 1: "Mass Operations"] {{in lang. ru
2. (15 April 2019). "The NKVD Mass Secret National Operations (August 1937 - November 1938) {{!}} Sciences Po Mass Violence and Resistance - Research Network".
3. Werth, Nicolas. (2010). "The NKVD Mass Secret National Operations (August 1937 – November 1938)". Mass Violence & Résistance.
4. [https://docs.historyrussia.org/ru/nodes/171971-vypiska-iz-protokola-zasedaniya-politbyuro-tsk-vkp-b-o-prodlenii-operatsii-protiv-polyakov-latyshey-nemtsev-estontsev-finnov-grekov-irantsev-harbintsev-kitaytsev-i-rumyn-31-yanvarya-1938-g#mode/inspect/page/1/zoom/4 Выписка из протокола заседания Политбюро ЦК ВКП(б) о продлении операции против поляков, латышей, немцев, эстонцев, финнов, греков, иранцев, харбинцев, китайцев и румын. 31 января 1938 г.]
5. (2017). "Ethnic and Religious Minorities in Stalin's Soviet Union: New Dimensions of Research". Södertörn Academic Studies.
6. Eric J. Schmaltz. "Soviet "Paradise" Revisited: Genocide, Dissent, Memory and Denial". GRHS Heritage Society.
7. Н.Охотин, А.Рогинский, Москва. Из истории "немецкой операции" НКВД 1937-1938 гг.[http://www.memo.ru/history/nem/Chapter2.htm Chapter 2]
8. Will Englund. (November 12, 2012). "Greeks of the steppe". The Washington Post.
9. Agtzidis, Vlasis. (1991). "The Persecution of Pontic Greeks in the Soviet Union". [[Journal of Refugee Studies]].
10. Björn M. Felder: Lettland im Zweiten Weltkrieg. p. 72.
11. Pohl, J. Otto (1999), Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937-1949, Greenwood, page 13-14
12. Yin. (2016). "苏联处置远东华人问题的历史考察(1937—1938)". Institute of Modern History, [[Chinese Academy of Social Sciences]].
13. Werth, Nicolas. (2010-05-20). "The NKVD Mass Secret National Operations (August 1937 – November 1938)".
14. Torvinen, Pekka. (2021-01-27). "Stalinin vainoissa kuolleiden tai kadonneiden suomalaisten vaiheiden selvittämistä jatketaan".
15. (August 2014). "Ukraine: Secret service publishes Stalin files". BBC News.
16. (2006). "The Tragedy of the Russian village: Collectivization and Dekulakization: Documents and Materials: Vol.5: 1937-1939: Part 2.1938-1939". ROSSPEN.
17. Snyder, Timothy. (2012). "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin". Basic Books.