Saturday, September 24, 2022

Data on the amount of people convicted by the troikas of Ukraine from 19 September, 1937 to 29 October, 1937 (Reference of the 1st Special Department of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR dated October 31, 1938)

From September 19, 1937 to October 29, 1937, the Special Troikas of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR convicted a total of 30,031 people for anti-Soviet crimes. Of these, 24,985 people were to be shot, and 5,046 were to be imprisoned in camps. 

The following is a table created by me based on an NKVD reference dated 31 October, 1938 on the composition of the victims.


 



Espionage Group TOTAL 1st category 2nd category
Polish intelligence 15,873 13,667 2,206
German intelligence 8,718 7,233 1,485
Romanian intelligence 1,614 1,144 470
Bulgarian intelligence 1,124 842 282
Greek intelligence 534 428 106
Japanese intelligence 464 350 114
Czech intelligence 233 188 45
Latvian intelligence 215 134 81
English intelligence 136 121 15
Iranian intelligence 60 35 25
French intelligence 59 51 8
Italian intelligence 56 40 16
Estonian intelligence 36 29 7
Finnish intelligence 36 27 9
Turkish intelligence 22 12 10
Lithuanian intelligence 20 12 8
Hungarian intelligence 14 11 3
Yugoslav intelligence 9 2 7
American intelligence 8 6 2
Rovsov operation 679 572 107
Various espionage 121 81 40


Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Sven-Eric Holstrom's lie about evidence for the Yezhov conspiracy

In his review of Grover Furr's book Khrushchev Lied for the journal Socialism and Democracy Sven-Eric Holstrom says the following:

It is worth noting that  the vast majority of the death sentences occurred during the so-called “yezhovshina” in 1937-38, and there is now good evidence that NKVD head Nikolai Yezhov acted behind the back of the Soviet government in order to turn people against the regime. See Mark Jansen & Nikita Petrov, Stalinskii pitomets – Nikolai Yezhov, Moscow 2008, 367-79. When Yezhov himself was executed, Stalin claimed, in a private conversation with aircraft designer Aleksandr Yakovlev, that it was because he had killed a lot of innocent people (Aleksandr Yakovlev, Tsel' Zhizni. Zapiski Aviakonstruktora, Moscow 1973, 267).

https://dev.sd.brechtforum.net/issue/59/khrushchev-lied


I decided to investigate Holstrom's alleged "good evidence" that Yezhov was the one responsible for the purges and that he was working against the USSR.

First off, it's funny how they cite Mark Jansen and Nikita Petrov, because both of them are known as being the authors of one of the biggest biographies of Yezhov called Stalin's Loyal Executioner: People's Commissar Nikolai Ezhov, 1895-1940. Notice how they call Yezhov "Stalin's Loyal Executioner". So clearly, they believe that Yezhov was loyal to Stalinism and that he was acting on behalf of Stalin, and are clearly unconvinced by any claims that Yezhov was actually an anti-Soviet and that he was solely responsible for the purges rather than Stalin. Anyways, I digress.

But it took about 2 seconds of investigation to expose Holstrom's lie. 

Looking at his source, he literally just cites the interrogation protocol of Yezhov where he confesses to being a part of the anti-Soviet conspiracy and that the mass operations were on behalf of the anti-Soviet organization. That's it. Keep in mind that Holstrom claimed that there is "good evidence" that Yezhov was a conspirator. 

As someone who has at least basic knowledge of the history of the USSR under Stalin, Holstrom should know better than to go and unironically cite purge era confessions as evidence of conspiracies. There's multiple reasons why this is not "good evidence" of Yezhov being a conspirator. 

1. There is no external evidence corroborating Yezhov's confession (afaik). There is no evidence at all from the archives of Germany, Japan, or any other country (like correspondance and stuff) proving that Yezhov had connections with foreign intelligence. Files from the Amt Ausland Abwehr (the German military intelligence agency) have been available since the 1940s, and there is no evidence of a conspiracy involving Yezhov (or those charged in the Moscow Trials while we're at it). All the evidence shows that Yezhov was a loyal Stalinist. 

2. While they may have small bits and pieces of truth in them, confessions from the time of the Great Purge are extremely unreliable, especially the ones where people confess to being Trotskyist terrorists, foreign agents, saboteurs, etc. This is mainly because we have extensive evidence proving that confessions from this time were forced and extracted through torture:

Again about the Stalinist deniers: yes, the Moscow trials were staged, duh.

One of Stalin's orders for beatings of individuals during the Great Purge

Iordan Terziev's horrifying testimony of NKVD torture

Appeals from victims and their families (contains complaints about torture)

Chekist reports (contains complaints about torture)

"Letters to the authorities" Letters from the NKVD (contains complaints about torture)

Stalin's "torture telegram"

And there is plenty more evidence out there. Simply put, it's almost certain that Yezhov was either tortured to confess to these things or was threatened with torture if he did not confess. 

Keep in mind that Holstrom claimed that he had "good evidence" of the Yezhov conspiracy, yet he clearly doesn't; all he has is confessions. No documents, no correspondance, none of that. Just confessions. 

Plus, Holstrom ignores all the evidence we have that Stalin was both involved in the Great Purge and actively tried to keep it going:

СТАЛИНСКИЙ ПЛАН ПО УНИЧТОЖЕНИЮ НАРОДА: Подготовка и реализация приказа НКВД № 00447 «Об операции по репрессированию бывших кулаков, уголовников и других антисоветских элементов» (contains hundreds of documents between Stalin and local secretaries of regions and territories on purge matters)

ЛУБЯНКА: Сталин и Главное управление госбезопасности НКВД (correspondance between Stalin and the NKVD, including signed documents on purge matters between Yezhov and Stalin.)

Stalin's Shooting Lists


So I stand that Yezhov was not working behind the back of the USSR; rather, he was working for Stalin's interests in launching mass repression, and there is actual no evidence that he was working for anti-Soviet or foreign intelligence agencies.


Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Data on the mortality of special settlers of deported nationalities as of October 1, 1948

The following is a table by me on deaths of special settlements among deported nationalities, as of 1 October 1948.

This information comes from a Soviet document dated 14 January 1949, entitled, "On the presence and movement of evacuees (as of October 1, 1948)". It can be found in: СТАЛИНСКИЕ ДЕПОРТАЦИИ. 1928–1953, Часть 3. ЭТНИЧЕСКИЕ ДЕПОРТАЦИИ ПЕРИОДА ВЕЛИКОЙ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОЙ ВОЙНЫ (22 июня 1941 — 9 мая 1945), Document No. 204. It can be found on Alexander Yakovlev's website here.

Data on mortality of Special Settlers
Deported Nationality  Amount deported and arrived later Births Deaths Releases In a special settlement as of 1 October 1948
Crimeans (Tatars and others) 227,457 6,564 44,887  3,531  185,603
Kalmyks 90,940 2,702 16,594  1,364  74,918
Chechens, Ingush, Karachays, and Balkars 578,527 28,120 146,892  7,018  452,737
Turks, Kurds, and Hemshils 
94,669 2,873 15,432  2,175  80,935
Germans 1,070,021  25,792 45,275  37,784  1,012,754
Total  2,061,659  66,051  269,080  51,872  1,806,947

(Source: https://www.alexanderyakovlev.org/fond/issues-doc/1022615)

There are a couple of things that can be said about this data.

1. This supports the claims of mass death in special settlements, which have been denied by some. Grover Furr completely ignores all deaths in settlement in his interview (refuted by me here) where he focuses only on the transit numbers. 

2. Notice how, for all of the ethnicities, there were far more deaths than births, and a general population decrease. This is interesting, because Furr claimed in the same interview above:
In the case of the Chechen-Ingush and the Crimean Tatars, collaboration with the Nazis was massive, involving most of the population. To try to isolate and punish “only the guilty” would have been to split the nation up. This would probably have destroyed the nation and there would have been very few young men for the young women to marry. Instead, the national group was kept together, and their population grew.

This data clearly disproves this assertion. This is coming from Soviet records, and according to the data, there were 6,564 births among the Crimean Tatars compared to 44,887 deaths; a rougly 1 to 7 ratio of births vs deaths (from rounding 6.83 up). We don't have figures, at least in this document, for the Chechens and Ingush solely, but among the Chechens, Ingush, Karachays, and Balkars, according to the data, there were 28,120 births compared to 146,892 deaths; a roughly 1 to 5 ratio of births vs deaths (from rounding 5.22 down). 


Friday, July 29, 2022

NKVD Gas Vans: Myth or Reality?

Gas vans are trucks equipped with a mobile gas chamber, most commonly used for murder. They are well-known for their well-documented usage by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust

That said, there are allegations that the NKVD used gas vans during the Great Purge. Wikipedia claims:

During the Great Purge, Soviet NKVD used gas vans for killing prisoners.[1] 

But is this actually true? Did the NKVD really use gas vans during the Great Purge? This post will be examining the claims of NKVD gas van usage.

Sources on gas vans

Isai Davidovich Berg (1905-1939) was an NKVD officer responsible for executions at Butovo firing range between December 1937 and August 1938. 

Berg was arrested on 4 August, 1938, and he was interrogated by an NKVD officer named Titelman from the day of his arrest. Until December, none of his interrogation protocols were recorded (keep this in mind). Titelmen was soon arrested and Berg's new interrogator was Safranov, who allegedly beat Berg multiple times[2]. Berg was charged with participating in a counter-revolutionary organization and being a part of an armed insurrection, and shot on 7 March 1939. Now, how is this relevant to gas vans?

Testimony of former NKVD investigator Nikolai Kharitonov

According to Kharitonov, Berg was responsible for murder by gassing of prisoners at Butovo. He testified this in a rehibilitation hearing in 1956.
When it came to Berg's participation in a conspiratorial counter-revolutionary organization, I had my doubts. But at the same time from Berg's case files and from the talks among the UNKVD MO co-workers, as well as from Berg's confessions I formed an opinion that he was one of the organizers and practical performers of the grossest violations of the socialist law [...] With his participation certain vehicles were created, the so-called dushegubki [gas vans]. In these vehicles the prisoners, those sentenced to death penalty, were transported to the place of execution and on the way were poisoned with gas... I think Berg himself admitted it during the investigation.  
Question to Kharitonov: What you have told about dushegubki cannot be seen in the case files. How can you explain this? 
Answer: As far as I remember, in the interrogation protocols of Berg the facts of the violation of the socialist law were represented, also recorded was his testimony about asphyxiation with gas of those sentenced to death. I remember that during one interrogation Berg admitted to having implemented the executions with the help of a car (dushegubka), explaining that he was following the orders of the UNKVD MO leadership and that without this it was impossible to implement so many shootings of prisoners who had been sentenced by three troikas at once. From the stories [that came up] during Berg's interrogations and from the talks among the UNKVD MO co-workers it was known that the execution procedure organized by Berg was ghoulish: the prisoners sentenced to death were completely undressed, tied, gagged and thrown into the car. Their property was being stolen under Berg's guidance.[3]

The problem with Kharitonov's testimony is that it's hearsay; the protocols of Berg's interrogation in 1938 no longer exist, so there is no way of proving beyond this testimony that Berg actually admitted to using gas vans. 

However, just because the testimony is hearsay doesn't mean it isn't historically valuable; while direct eyewitness testimonies are stronger than hearsay reports, hearsay reports are still not totally worthless in history. This is especially the case when Kharitonov had no reason to lie.

Furthermore, if Berg did confess to this, the fact of him being tortured during his interrogation does not mean that his testimony is false. This is for 2 reasons; first off, Berg was not sentenced for using gas vans, he was sentenced for alleged counter-revolutionary activities. Secondly, and most importantly, the Soviets never forced people to confess about using gas vans of all things. They forced people to confess about claims of things like sabotage, wrecking, Trotskyism, being a foreign agent, etc; never gas vans. So if Berg did confess to this as Kharitonov claimed, he was probably telling the truth.

Testimony of Fjodor Tchesnokov

Three members of Berg's execution team were interviewed on gas vans. Witnesses Viktorov and Shinin both denied the existence of gas vans. However, witness Fjodor Tchesnokov affirmed their existence.

I know that special cars were made in order to transport prisoners to the place of execution. These cars were fitted with special plugs with the help of which one could let the gas into the body of the car. It was done for safety reasons during the transportation of prisoners to the place of execution, that is, in case of a riot in the car. Whether this method was used for pacification of the prisoners is not known to me.[4]

The problem with Tchesnokov's testimony is that it's vague; it doesn't specifically state that gas vans were used for murder. Nevertheless, it agrees that there were gas vans at Butovo firing range. And the fact that Tchesnokov was both an eyewitness and had no reason to lie about gas vans shows that his testimony is historically trustworthy, though it cannot be used in support of MURDER by gas vans, only their existence. 

Archaeology of Butovo

Tomas Kizny points to archaeological excavations at Butovo showing that, of 59 corpses exhumed, only 4 were shot in the head. He therefore concludes that at least some of these corpses were gassed.[5]

Conclusion

While both testimonies are not strong evidence alone - one being hearsay and the other being vague about murder - they are both still independent sources that corroborate eachother. They both agree that there were gas vans (whether they were used for murder or not) at Butovo firing range. Neither men had any reason to lie. The archaeology of some of the corpses at Butovo also can't be ignored.

Therefore, I conclude that there was (MOST LIKELY) limited use of gas vans at Butovo by Berg for murder. It's not 100% certain, but from a historical standpoint, it is most likely true. 

But ONLY at Butovo. Holocaust deniers have made somewhat of a big deal about Soviet gas vans, with our very favorite civil debater, Fritz Berg, saying:
More than likely, the Soviet allegations of gas trucks are truly based on the Soviets' own mass murder technology to which they simply added Diesel engines to make them seem more sinister and, most of all, more German.[6]

This is just ridiculous. The evidence is completely insufficient to claim that use of gas vans was WIDESPREAD among the NKVD. There are no documents about gas vans, nor are there any direct eyewitness testimonies describing murder. The evidence barely exists to even declare Soviet gas vans a historical fact (but it nevertheless exists). 

This is especially true in the fact that Fritz cited a TV documentary where a former KGB officer says that gas vans were used at Butovo by Isai Berg. To him, one statement by a guy in a TV documentary is enough evidence to prove that Soviet gas vans not only existed but were widespread. Yet he ignores the overwhelming evidence proving that Nazi gas vans were used during the Holocaust beyond any doubt. Sergey Romanov excellently exposed the ridiculous hypocrisy of deniers on gas vans in one of his blog posts


Sources

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_van

[2]: http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2016/01/a-study-in-hypocrisy-revisionist.html

[3]: История Бутовского Полигона. 1934–1936. Часть 2. - История - АРХИВ - Русская Стратегия, http://rys-strategia.ru/publ/1-1-0-211.

[4]: Ibid

[5]: Tomasz Kizny, Dominique Roynette. La grande terreur en URSS 1937–1938. Lausanne: Éd. Noir sur Blanc, 2013, p. 236.

[6]: Friedrich Berg, ‘The Diesel Gas Chambers: Myth within a Myth,’ in G. Rudolf (ed.), Dissecting the Holocaust, pp.435-469; this is an updated and slightly expanded version of Berg’s original article, ‘The Diesel Gas Chambers – Myth Within a Myth,’ The Journal of Historical Review, Vol. 5 No. 1 (1984), pp.15-46.


Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Iordan Terziev's horrifying testimony of NKVD torture

Iordan Terziev (aka Yardon Atanasov) was a Bulgarian politician, born in 1900. He was in the Communist Party of Bulgaria from 1922-1926, and later in the Communist Party of Argentina. He emigrated to the USSR in 1930, and attended the Institute of Red Professors until 1936. Then, apparently being sent - along with Ivan Piperkov and Piotr Stanev - by Yezhov personally, he was professor in the Agrarian Institute in Ashkabad, Turkmenistan. On February 6, 1938, he was arrested, and repeatedly urged to confess during his interrogation, until his case was closed and he was released on April 25, 1939.

This is his testimony of what happened to him, in a letter to the leader of the Comintern of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

What you are about to read is, in my opinion, one of the most horrifying accounts of NKVD interrogation during the Great Purge. That said, here is the letter:

Letter from I. Terziev to Dimitrov and Kolarov describing his arrest and the methods of investigation.

 

To the leader of the Comintern and the Bulgarian Communist Party

-- Georgy Dimitrov and Vasil Kolarov.

From Terziev, I. T. (Yanko Atanasov).

Dear comrades,

On 6 February 1938, I was arrested for no reason by NKVD organs and, after spending 15 months in the Ashkhabad prison, was released on 25 April 1939. After my release, I learned that almost all of the Bulgarian émigrés had been arrested and were still held in prisons and camps. I do not know whether you are aware of all the reasons that led the [Bulgarian] émigrés to this tragic situation, therefore I will tell you everything that happened to me. Because, even if it is not typical for all the arrested émigrés, it is typical for the comrades whom I got to know during the investigation: those comrades who are still [being held] in prisons and camps.

In Ashkhabad (Turkmenia), I worked along with Ivan Piperkov and Piotr Stanev. We were instructors in the CC of the Communist Party of Turkmenia, sent personally by Ezhov. Georgy Tsanev worked as a woodworker, and I [worked] as a head of section of the social sciences in an institute. I was sent there in accordance with a directive of the CC VKP(b), which was signed personally by A. A. Andreev.

Our party papers and travel documents indicated that we were important party members. However, in early November 1937, Iv. Piperkov and Georgy Tsanov were arrested. 20 days later, Piotr Stanev was also arrested. Immediately after their arrest, I wrote to the section, via c. Anton Ivanov, describing everything that had happened and, a month after their arrest, I went to the Turkmenian NKVD to inquire about the reasons for arresting the comrades in question. I was received by an investigator named Erastenko, to whom I described all the activities of the comrades in Bulgaria and expressed my opinion that the NKVD made a mistake by arresting them. In addition, I presented written references for the comrades with whom I worked in Bulgaria, and declared that I was only fulfilling my party duty and wanted to assist the organs in clarifying the question of Bulgarians in Turkmenia. Erastenko told me that I was vouching for them in vain, since they had already confessed of espionage…

Soon after that, I was also arrested and sent to the Ashkhabad prison. There I met many party activists, soldiers, doctors, etc. When I said that I was Bulgarian, those arrested told me: “You, com. Terziev, will be a Bulgarian spy, and, if you want to save your skin, [you have to] recruit as many accessories as you can and confess immediately. Otherwise, you are dead.” The slogan “recruit as many as you can” was promoted by the Turkmenian Trotskyists, in particular by the old Trotskyist Rubinstein, a member of the CC of the party, and the director of a chemical plant in Kara-Bugas, Tol. Around this slogan, a sharp ideological struggle went on between the Trotskyists and the loyal party members. Using this slogan, the Trotskyists managed to deliver a heavy blow both to the party and the NKVD, since many of the arrested gave in to this provocation, and especially to the prosecutors. As a result of this provocation, one arrested [person] dragged down with him dozens of innocent and honest party members and non-party Bolsheviks. I simply can not describe this issue more specifically, but I urge you to pay  special attention to it, because the roots of the problem are in Moscow -- this slogan was implemented in an organized manner everywhere.

My case was investigated by Lieutenant Kovalevsky. On 9 February, he called me in for interrogation. His first question was, “By whom, when and how were you recruited [to work] for foreign intelligence?” Then he continued: “The prosecution possesses reliable information that you are the IKR spy. Confess by yourself, because voluntary confession will lighten your penalty. Your fate was sealed before your arrest, and keep in mind that, if you do not confess, you will be shot.” I told him that I had no idea about this work. He then made me sit on a “stool,” on which it was absolutely impossible to sit. I spent three days, without being able to move, on this stool; my limbs swelled, I felt particularly strong, dull pains in my legs. Along with the physical suffering, I was insulted with refined obscenities. Not only was my honor as a communist and a man outraged, but also the honor of my deceased parents. On 13. II-39, they started beating me. I was beaten by the investigator Kovalevsky and his assistant who, in addition to regular beatings, struck me several times in the back of my head. I do not remember what they did to me afterwards, but when I recovered, I felt a strong pain in the eyes. As a result of the shock, my eyes hemorraged. At present, the treatment can only localize the disease, but, as doctors told me, I will never regain normal sight.

After these physical and moral treatments, and after a long “rest,” the investigator again summoned me to an interrogation and subjected me to new tortures. [I] was standing on my knees with hands raised up, while the investigator opened a book and read a number of Bulgarian names, of which I remember Grancharov, Dr. Maksimov, Novakov, Nikolov, etc. He characterized them as Trotskyists and asked if I knew them. I answered that I knew them as loyal communists. After that I was beaten again.

It is hard to describe what I lived through in those days, but I felt that I was fading away, that I would die in a NKVD dungeon. A person commits suicide only under extreme psychological conditions, which I reached twice. However, the investigators must have been watching my feelings and intentions. They used to guard me particularly closely, so I could not approach the window or the stairs. I decided to break my head against the wall, but when I started doing it, I was caught by two investigators. They must have been frightened by my terrible act and started to calm me down saying that I should not torment myself, that there was a way out, I only had to agree to write something. I objected saying indicating that I could not invent crimes and attribute them to myself because that would mean misleading the party and the government and thus actually help the enemies. Kovalevsky told me several times: “Regarding the truthfulness of the testimony, we warn only the witnesses. But you have to provide the testimony of a spy, remember that.”

I could not stand on my knees anymore, and I asked [them] to give me some rest, after which I would testify. With a bloody head and tormented body, I was returned to the prison [cell] for a rest. After several hours, I was again taken for interrogation. I decided to ruin myself, but not to permit additional victims, and, if I could not hold this line, to mention comrades who were not in the Soviet Union or who had already been arrested.

I started to write a confession that I was an agent of French intelligence, but my investigator, after having read it, told me that it was no good, that I had to write something more intelligent if I wanted to avoid tortures.

They made me stand on my knees again, however this time, they put six-sided pencils under my knees. One can only stand [the pain] for a maximum of 4-5 hours, after which he passes out. After this procedure, the following day I became a German spy. My confession, in short, consisted of the following:

I supposedly had met, through one comrade, a woman who, in turn, led me to a worker in the German embassy, to whom: 1) I provided information about the political émigrés [and] the moods among them, about who was coming to the USSR and who was going back; 2) On his orders, following special plans, I prepared to sabotage factories in case of a war. In this confession, I included, as the members of the espionage group, Dustabanov, Kiskinov and Iv. Sterev. In late February, I signed the final examination record. However, the next day, during the night I was brought [back] to my investigator and the head of the NKVD’s III department, [a man] named Bolshakov, who started to swear at me and said: “We will liquidate all of you political émigrés.” He was dissatisfied with my confession because I recruited too few people. He ordered the physical tortures to continue. Then I declared to him that being a foreigner, I can give valuable testimony, but for several reasons, could only do so before the Narkom, and they, in the interests of investigation, would have to let me see him. He agreed.

Three or four days after this conversation, in early March, I was called for questioning. My investigator repeated again a series of physical tortures, this time in a more disgusting form. I could not stand it, and started to write new confession, this time as an agent of Bulgarian counterintelligence. I decided to involve in the espionage organization people who had been compromised in the movement, or those representing no special interest [to the movement]. My confession can be reduced to the following: 1) That in 1925, Dustabanov accidentally introduced me to P. Topalov, to whom I expressed my disillusionment with the revolution. Topalov promised me rehabilitation by the Bulgarian government if I agreed to provide information about the émigrés. 2) [That] Topalov and I supposedly named those émigrés  who returned to Bulgaria and who later were shot by the Bulgarian government. 3) That we engaged in provocation in Constantinopole throughout the whole period. 4) That, through Todor Lukanov and Georgy Popov, we conducted sabotage activities in the Narkomvneshtorg and in Tsentrosoiuz. 5) That Topalov and I stole some central archive [Tsentro-Arkhiv] documents that compromised a number of bourgeois parties in Bulgaria.

I signed this confession on 21. III-38. In early April 1938, I was again interrogated and made sign a new examination record which included, besides those first records, the following paragraphs:

1) That I was supposedly connected with the Popov-Tanev group, and that I rehabilitated them in the émigré circles, and that we supposedly carried on a struggle against c.c. G. Dimitrov and V. Kolarov.

2) That Topalov supposedly told me that the Plenipotentiary Minister in Moscow, Antonov, was connected with the German counterintelligence.

Having signed this confession, I waited every night for 5 months for them to shoot me.

I retracted my confession on 20 September 1938 and again on 19 October. The last time, my retraction was documented, and the “conditions” under which this confession was given were noted. I repeated this retraction in front of other investigators.

5 more months passed, and only on 1 April was I summoned for questioning by my first investigator, Kovalevsky. He composed a detailed examination record, refuting the records of 21. III and 5. IV-38. After that I was called 3 times to the military procurator who questioned me in detail about the methods of investigation, and what I knew about the escape from “St. Anastasia.” I answered that c. G. Dimitrov characterized this escape as a CPB affair. On 25. IV-38, I was summoned to a Commission where they asked me who in the Comintern knew me. After that, they told me that I was free and could appeal to the Comintern or CC VKP(b). 

As to the other Ashkhabad comrades, I learned that Georgy Tsanev confessed to being a member of some terrorist group which sought to murder c. G. Dimitrov. He was sentenced to 8 years and exiled.

In October 1938, Professor Dziakovsky from the Med[ical] Institute was transferred to my cellHe told me that Ivan Piperkov had been  subjected to terrible beating. He confessed to being agent provocateur. After he recovered, he was transferred from a common cell to solitary confinement.

On 1 April 1939, during the interrogation, investigator Kovalevsky let me read one page from Iv. Piperkov’s testimony. It said that, in Odessa in 1926, Iv. Piperkov had organized a counterrevolutionary group consisting of Iv. Piperkov, Boyan Atanasov, Vasili Ivanov, Yakim Ivanov, Terziev, V. Novakov, Stoenchev, K. Nikolov, Stareishinsky, Dr. Maksimov and a number of other comrades. I thoroughly refuted that statement in order to rehabilitate comrades. Judging from the investigator’s behavior, I understood that Piperkov was alive.

I could not learn anything specific about Peter Stanev. In prison they said that he he had been shot.

I have described to you, very objectively, the procedures and methods of the investigation of my case. I declare before you that I have never been a member of any oppositional groups, never shared anti-party views, but in spite of this, they attempted to turn me into the enemy of the party and a fascist hero.

The opinion of some comrades who think that the NKVD does not arrest those non-guilty is wrong. In prisons, I met many innocent comrades.

Besides the Boikovtsevs, Zlatorovtsevs and some other types, Bulgarian p[olitical] emigres, and the p[olitical] emigres in the USSR in general, are the victims of a planned and broad provocation undertaken by Trotskyists and [agents of] foreign counterintelligence in the NKVD apparatus. It would be interesting to know about the role played here by the Bulgarian Trotskyists and sectarians, many of whom worked for the NKVD officially or non-officially.

These arrests had as a goal the political degeneration of the émigrés, the compromising of the CC VKP(b) and c. Stalin personally, [as well as of] the Comintern and c. Dimitrov personally. Many of the arrested shared the opinion that everything that was going on in the country was sanctioned by c. c. Stalin and Dimitrov.

In addition, there was created in the party a certain psychosis against foreigners. The word “vigilance” was substituted for “mistrust,” which has nothing to do with the revolutionary vigilance. As a result of this psychosis and the false denunciations, many political émigrés were imprisoned.

Bulgarian political émigrés were educated ideologically in Bulgaria under your direct guidance. Under your guidance, these émigrés offered examples of selflessness and heroism. [Events in] Spain have once again verified the remarkable qualities of Bulgarian communists.

Ideologically, our emigres have never been with the Boikovtsy and Iskrovtsy, except for a few petty-bourgeois types and comrades who incidentally lost their way. The Bulgarian political emigration has a great respect for the party’s past and for its founders.

You have to do everything possible to save the people, because without your active involvement in this question, the émigrés will not be freed and will vanish in the camps. The cadres, which you have been creating for decades, will vanish.

Nalchik,

5. VIII – 1939.

With fraternal greetings,

P. Terziev (Ya. Atanasov).

(Enemies within the Gates? The Comintern and the Stalinist Repression, 1934-1939 by William J. Chase, Document 65)

Unfortunately, Terziev's experience is not the only one of torture during the Great Purge, as there is clear evidence of extensive torture by the NKVD. 


One of Stalin's orders for beatings of individuals during the Great Purge

There are at least 2 records in which Stalin orders the torture of specific individuals. I will be discussing one of them here. (The other can be found here).

On 13 September 1937 Stalin gave instructions on multiple issues including arrests and interrogation. In this, he ordered:
Beat Unshlikht because he did not extradite Poland's agents in the regions (Orenburg, Novosibirsk, etc.)[1].

This was an order to beat Iosif Unshlikht , a Soviet government official who was Polish. 

Unshlikht was arrested on 11 June 1937 and accused by Yezhov of being a leader of the (non-existent) Polish Military Organization[2]. 

He was beat and tortured (as evidenced by this document); according to Alexander Yakovlev, "during the interrogations, he withstood all the torture and beatings and refused all charges."[3]. 

Unshlikht was sentenced to death on 28 June 1938, and shot either the same day or on 29 June. He was rehabilitated in 1956[4].

Sources

[1]: https://www.alexanderyakovlev.org/fond/issues-doc/61181

[2]: Petrov, Nikita, and Jansen, Marc. Stalin's Loyal Executioner: People's Commissar Nikolai Ezhov, 1895-1940. United States, Hoover Institution Press, 2013. p. 76-77

[3]: See footnote on document of source 1

[4]: http://1937god.info/node/1599


Thursday, January 20, 2022

Problems in the "Germans did the Katyn Massacre" Theory; Part 1: Lack of German documents

If the Germans truly did the Katyn Massacre like Katyn revisionists argue, it would be reasonable for there to be contemporary German documents (such as a German Einsatzgruppen report) which discuss the mass murder of Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn forest and the other prison camps.

After all, the Germans documented mass shootings they actually did. 

Take the Babi Yar Massacre as an example of this.

On the 2nd of October, 1941, an activity report of the Reich Security Main Office reported that:

On 29 and 30 September 1941, 33,771 Jews were executed in Kiev by Sonderkommando 4a in collaboration with the group staff and two commandos of  Police Regiment South.

 


(Metzner, Hans. “Evidence on the Babi Yar Massacre 29 & 30 September 1941: Contemporary Sources.”, 6 Mar. 2017, holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2017/03/evidence-on-babi-yar-massacre-29-30.html. Document 7) 

Other German documents related to the Babi Yar Massacre

Another example of German documentation of mass shootings is Operational Situation Report No. 80 by Einsatzgruppe C on 11 September 1941:

...in the course of 3 days 23,600 Jews were shot in Kamenets-Podolsk by a Commando of the Higher SS and Police Leader ["South"]...


 

(https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/germanReports.asp?cid=278&site_id=288)

Other German documents related to the Kamenets-Podolsk Massacre 

There is also the infamous Jager Report, a 9 page German document which reports on the mass executions of about 137,000 people (mostly Jews) in the Baltics during Operation Barbarossa.

(I will not be showing pictures of the Jager Report as that would probably make this post too long, but for a source for the Jager Report see https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/document/DocJager.htm.)


As is clearly demonstrated by the above documents, the Germans documented the mass executions they committed on the Eastern Front.

That being said, how much documentary evidence for the Germans committing the Katyn Massacre is there?

None at all.

There are no reports by the Einsatzgruppen, Waffen-SS, Wehrmacht, or any other Nazi organization about the mass execution of 22,000 Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn Forest, or any of the other prison camps. 

This presents a massive challenge to the "Germans did it" theory. If the Germans truly did commit the massacre, there would be at least 1 document proving that they did.

But, there is none.


Data on the amount of people convicted by the troikas of Ukraine from 19 September, 1937 to 29 October, 1937 (Reference of the 1st Special Department of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR dated October 31, 1938)

From September 19, 1937 to October 29, 1937, the Special Troikas of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR convicted a total of 30,031 people for ant...