The results of Stalin's rule speak for themselves. In order to devalue them, to form a negative assessment of the Stalin era in the public consciousness, fighters against totalitarianism, willy-nilly, have to escalate the horrors, attributing monstrous atrocities to Stalin.
At the liar's competition
In an accusatory rage, the writers of anti-Stalin horror stories seem to be competing to see who can tell the biggest lies, vying with each other to name the astronomical numbers of those killed at the hands of the “bloody tyrant.” Against their background, dissident Roy Medvedev, who limited himself to a “modest” figure of 40 million, looks like some kind of black sheep, a model of moderation and conscientiousness:
"Thus, total number According to my calculations, the victims of Stalinism reach approximately 40 million people.”
And in fact, it is undignified. Another dissident, the son of the repressed Trotskyist revolutionary A.V. Antonov-Ovseenko, without a shadow of embarrassment, names twice the figure:
“These calculations are very, very approximate, but I am sure of one thing: the Stalinist regime bled the people dry, destroying more than 80 million of its best sons.”
Professional “rehabilitators” led by former member The Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee A. N. Yakovlev is already talking about 100 million:
“According to the most conservative estimates of rehabilitation commission specialists, our country lost about 100 million people during the years of Stalin’s rule. This number includes not only the repressed themselves, but also members of their families doomed to death and even children who could have been born, but were never born.”
However, according to Yakovlev, the notorious 100 million includes not only direct “victims of the regime,” but also unborn children. But the writer Igor Bunich without hesitation claims that all these “100 million people were mercilessly exterminated.”
However, this is not the limit. The absolute record was set by Boris Nemtsov, who announced on November 7, 2003 in the “Freedom of Speech” program on the NTV channel about 150 million people allegedly lost Russian state after 1917.
Who are these fantastically ridiculous figures, eagerly replicated by the Russian and foreign media, intended for? For those who have forgotten how to think for themselves, who are accustomed to uncritically accepting on faith any nonsense coming from television screens.
It’s easy to see the absurdity of the multimillion-dollar numbers of “victims of repression.” It is enough to open any demographic directory and, picking up a calculator, make simple calculations. For those who are too lazy to do this, I will give a small illustrative example.
According to the population census conducted in January 1959, the population of the USSR was 208,827 thousand people. By the end of 1913, 159,153 thousand people lived within the same borders. It is easy to calculate that the average annual population growth of our country in the period from 1914 to 1959 was 0.60%.
Now let's see how the population of England, France and Germany grew in those same years - countries that also took an active part in both world wars.
So, the rate of population growth in the Stalinist USSR turned out to be almost one and a half times higher than in Western “democracies,” although for these states we excluded the extremely unfavorable demographic years of the 1st World War. Could this have happened if the “bloody Stalinist regime” had destroyed 150 million or at least 40 million inhabitants of our country? Of course no!
Archival documents say
To find out the true number of those executed under Stalin, it is not at all necessary to engage in fortune telling on coffee grounds. It is enough to familiarize yourself with the declassified documents. The most famous of them is a memo addressed to N. S. Khrushchev dated February 1, 1954:
"To the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee
Comrade Khrushchev N.S.
In connection with signals received by the CPSU Central Committee from a number of individuals about illegal convictions for counter-revolutionary crimes in past years by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, and the Special Meeting. By the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals and in accordance with your instructions on the need to review the cases of persons convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes and currently held in camps and prisons, we report:
According to data available from the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, for the period from 1921 to the present, 3,777,380 people were convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, the Special Conference, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals, including:
Of the total number of those arrested, approximately, 2,900,000 people were convicted by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas and the Special Conference, and 877,000 people were convicted by courts, military tribunals, the Special Collegium and the Military Collegium.
…
Prosecutor General R. Rudenko
Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov
Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin"
As is clear from the document, in total, from 1921 to the beginning of 1954, on political charges, 642,980 people were sentenced to death, 2,369,220 to imprisonment, and 765,180 to exile. However, there are more detailed data on the number of those convicted
Thus, between 1921 and 1953, 815,639 people were sentenced to death. In total, in 1918–1953, 4,308,487 people were brought to criminal liability in cases of state security agencies, of which 835,194 were sentenced to capital punishment.
So, there were slightly more “repressed” than indicated in the report dated February 1, 1954. However, the difference is not too great - the numbers are of the same order.
In addition, it is quite possible that among those who received sentences on political charges there were a fair number of criminals. On one of the certificates stored in the archives, on the basis of which the above table was compiled, there is a pencil note:
“Total convicts for 1921–1938. - 2,944,879 people, of which 30% (1,062 thousand) are criminals"
In this case total“victims of repression” does not exceed three million. However, to finally clarify this issue, additional work with sources is necessary.
It should also be borne in mind that not all sentences were carried out. For example, of the 76 death sentences handed down by the Tyumen District Court in the first half of 1929, by January 1930, 46 had been changed or overturned by higher authorities, and of the remaining, only nine were carried out.
From July 15, 1939 to April 20, 1940, 201 prisoners were sentenced to capital punishment for disorganizing camp life and production. However, then for some of them the death penalty was replaced by imprisonment for terms of 10 to 15 years.
In 1934, there were 3,849 prisoners in NKVD camps who were sentenced to death and commuted to imprisonment. In 1935 there were 5671 such prisoners, in 1936 - 7303, in 1937 - 6239, in 1938 - 5926, in 1939 - 3425, in 1940 - 4037 people.
Number of prisoners
At first, the number of prisoners in forced labor camps (ITL) was relatively small. So, on January 1, 1930, it amounted to 179,000 people, on January 1, 1931 - 212,000, on January 1, 1932 - 268,700, on January 1, 1933 - 334,300, on January 1, 1934 - 510 307 people.
In addition to the ITL, there were correctional labor colonies (CLCs), where those sentenced to short terms were sent. Until the fall of 1938, the penitentiary complexes, together with the prisons, were subordinate to the Department of Places of Detention (OMP) of the NKVD of the USSR. Therefore, for the years 1935–1938, only joint statistics have been found so far. Since 1939, penal colonies were under the jurisdiction of the Gulag, and prisons were under the jurisdiction of the Main Prison Directorate (GTU) of the NKVD of the USSR.
How much can you trust these numbers? All of them are taken from the internal reports of the NKVD - secret documents not intended for publication. In addition, these summary figures are quite consistent with the initial reports; they can be broken down monthly, as well as by individual camps:
Let us now calculate the number of prisoners per capita. On January 1, 1941, as can be seen from the table above, the total number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,400,422 people. The exact population of the USSR at this time is unknown, but is usually estimated at 190–195 million.
Thus, we get from 1230 to 1260 prisoners for every 100 thousand population. On January 1, 1950, the number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,760,095 people - the maximum figure for the entire period of Stalin's reign. The population of the USSR at this time numbered 178 million 547 thousand. We get 1546 prisoners per 100 thousand population, 1.54%. This is the highest figure ever.
Let's calculate a similar indicator for the modern United States. Currently, there are two types of places of deprivation of liberty: jail - an approximate analogue of our temporary detention centers, in which those under investigation are kept, as well as convicts serving short sentences, and prison - the prison itself. At the end of 1999, there were 1,366,721 people in prisons and 687,973 in jails (see the website of the Bureau of Legal Statistics of the US Department of Justice), which gives a total of 2,054,694. The population of the United States at the end of 1999 was approximately 275 million Therefore, we get 747 prisoners per 100 thousand population.
Yes, half as much as Stalin, but not ten times. It’s somehow undignified for a power that has taken upon itself the protection of “human rights” on a global scale.
Moreover, this is a comparison of the peak number of prisoners in the Stalinist USSR, which was also due first to the civil and then the Great Patriotic War. And among the so-called "victims" political repression"there will be a fair share of supporters white movement, collaborators, Hitler's accomplices, members of the ROA, policemen, not to mention ordinary criminals.
There are calculations that compare the average number of prisoners over a period of several years.
Data on the number of prisoners in Stalin's USSR exactly coincide with the above. According to these data, it turns out that on average for the period from 1930 to 1940, there were 583 prisoners per 100,000 people, or 0.58%. Which is significantly less than the same figure in Russia and the USA in the 90s.
What is the total number of people who were imprisoned under Stalin? Of course, if you take a table with the annual number of prisoners and sum up the rows, as many anti-Sovietists do, the result will be incorrect, since most of them were sentenced to more than a year. Therefore, it should be assessed not by the amount of those imprisoned, but by the amount of those convicted, which was given above.
How many of the prisoners were “political”?
As we see, until 1942, the “repressed” made up no more than a third of the prisoners held in the Gulag camps. And only then their share increased, receiving a worthy “replenishment” in the person of Vlasovites, policemen, elders and other “fighters against communist tyranny.” The percentage of “political” in correctional labor colonies was even smaller.
Prisoner mortality
Available archival documents make it possible to illuminate this issue.
In 1931, 7,283 people died in the ITL (3.03% of the average annual number), in 1932 - 13,197 (4.38%), in 1933 - 67,297 (15.94%), in 1934 - 26,295 prisoners (4.26%).
For 1953, data is provided for the first three months.
As we see, mortality in places of detention (especially in prisons) did not reach those fantastic values that denouncers like to talk about. But still its level is quite high. It increases especially strongly in the first years of the war. As was stated in the certificate of mortality according to the NKVD OITK for 1941, compiled by the acting. Head of the Sanitary Department of the Gulag NKVD I.K. Zitserman:
Basically, mortality began to increase sharply from September 1941, mainly due to the transfer of convicts from units located in the front-line areas: from the BBK and Vytegorlag to the OITK of the Vologda and Omsk regions, from the OITK of the Moldavian SSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Leningrad region. in OITK Kirov, Molotov and Sverdlovsk regions. As a rule, a significant part of the journey of several hundred kilometers before loading into wagons was carried out on foot. Along the way, they were not at all provided with the minimum necessary food products (they did not receive enough bread and even water); as a result of this confinement, the prisoners suffered severe exhaustion, a very large % of vitamin deficiency diseases, in particular pellagra, which caused significant mortality along the route and along arrival at the relevant OITK, which were not prepared for reception significant amount replenishments. At the same time, the introduction of reduced food standards by 25–30% (order No. 648 and 0437) with an extended working day to 12 hours, and often the absence of basic food products, even at reduced standards, could not but affect the increase in morbidity and mortality
However, since 1944, mortality has decreased significantly. By the beginning of the 1950s, in camps and colonies it fell below 1%, and in prisons - below 0.5% per year.
Special camps
Let's say a few words about the notorious Special Camps (special camps), created in accordance with Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 416-159ss of February 21, 1948. These camps (as well as the Special Prisons that already existed by that time) were supposed to concentrate all those sentenced to imprisonment for espionage, sabotage, terrorism, as well as Trotskyists, right-wingers, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, nationalists, white emigrants, members of anti-Soviet organizations and groups and “individuals who pose a danger due to their anti-Soviet connections.” Prisoners of special prisons were to be used for hard physical work.
As we see, the mortality rate of prisoners in special detention centers was only slightly higher than the mortality rate in ordinary correctional labor camps. Contrary to popular belief, the special camps were not “death camps” in which the elite of the dissident intelligentsia were supposedly exterminated; moreover, the largest contingent of their inhabitants were “nationalists” - the forest brothers and their accomplices.
Notes:
1. Medvedev R. A. Tragic statistics // Arguments and facts. 1989, February 4–10. No. 5(434). P. 6. The well-known researcher of repression statistics V.N. Zemskov claims that Roy Medvedev immediately renounced his article: “Roy Medvedev himself even before the publication of my articles (meaning Zemskov’s articles in “Arguments and Facts” starting with no. 38 for 1989. - I.P.) placed in one of the issues of “Arguments and Facts” for 1989 an explanation that his article in No. 5 for the same year is invalid. Mr. Maksudov is probably not entirely aware of this story, otherwise he would hardly have undertaken to defend calculations that are far from the truth, which their author himself, having realized his mistake, publicly renounced” (Zemskov V.N. On the issue of the scale of repression in THE USSR // Sociological research. 1995. No. 9. P. 121). However, in reality, Roy Medvedev did not even think of disavowing his publication. In No. 11 (440) for March 18–24, 1989, his answers to questions from a correspondent of “Arguments and Facts” were published, in which, confirming the “facts” stated in the previous article, Medvedev simply clarified that responsibility for the repressions was not all communist party in general, but only its leadership.
2. Antonov-Ovseenko A.V. Stalin without a mask. M., 1990. P. 506.
3. Mikhailova N. Underpants of counter-revolution // Premier. Vologda, 2002, July 24–30. No. 28(254). P. 10.
4. Bunich I. Sword of the President. M., 2004. P. 235.
5. Population of the countries of the world / Ed. B. Ts. Urlanis. M., 1974. P. 23.
6. Ibid. P. 26.
7. GARF. F.R-9401. Op.2. D.450. L.30–65. Quote by: Dugin A.N. Stalinism: legends and facts // Word. 1990. No. 7. P. 26.
8. Mozokhin O. B. Cheka-OGPU Punishing sword of the dictatorship of the proletariat. M., 2004. P. 167.
9. Ibid. P. 169
10. GARF. F.R-9401. Op.1. D.4157. L.202. Quote by: Popov V.P. State terror in Soviet Russia. 1923–1953: sources and their interpretation // Domestic archives. 1992. No. 2. P. 29.
11. About the work of the Tyumen District Court. Resolution of the Presidium Supreme Court RSFSR dated January 18, 1930 // Arbitrage practice RSFSR. 1930, February 28. No. 3. P. 4.
12. Zemskov V. N. GULAG (historical and sociological aspect) // Sociological studies. 1991. No. 6. P. 15.
13. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D. 1155. L.7.
14. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D. 1155. L.1.
15. Number of prisoners in the correctional labor camp: 1935–1948 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.2; 1949 - Ibid. D.1319. L.2; 1950 - Ibid. L.5; 1951 - Ibid. L.8; 1952 - Ibid. L.11; 1953 - Ibid. L. 17.
In penal colonies and prisons (average for the month of January):. 1935 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L. 17; 1936 - Ibid. L.ZO; 1937 - Ibid. L.41; 1938 -Ibid. L.47.
In the ITK: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1145. L.2ob; 1940 - Ibid. D.1155. L.30; 1941 - Ibid. L.34; 1942 - Ibid. L.38; 1943 - Ibid. L.42; 1944 - Ibid. L.76; 1945 - Ibid. L.77; 1946 - Ibid. L.78; 1947 - Ibid. L.79; 1948 - Ibid. L.80; 1949 - Ibid. D.1319. L.Z; 1950 - Ibid. L.6; 1951 - Ibid. L.9; 1952 - Ibid. L. 14; 1953 - Ibid. L. 19.
In prisons: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1145. L.1ob; 1940 - GARF. F.R-9413. Op.1. D.6. L.67; 1941 - Ibid. L. 126; 1942 - Ibid. L.197; 1943 - Ibid. D.48. L.1; 1944 - Ibid. L.133; 1945 - Ibid. D.62. L.1; 1946 - Ibid. L. 107; 1947 - Ibid. L.216; 1948 - Ibid. D.91. L.1; 1949 - Ibid. L.64; 1950 - Ibid. L.123; 1951 - Ibid. L. 175; 1952 - Ibid. L.224; 1953 - Ibid. D.162.L.2ob.
16. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.20–22.
17. Population of the countries of the world / Ed. B. Ts. Urlaisa. M., 1974. P. 23.
18. http://lenin-kerrigan.livejournal.com/518795.html | https://de.wikinews.org/wiki/Die_meisten_Gefangenen_weltweit_leben_in_US-Gef%C3%A4ngnissen
19. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D. 1155. L.3.
20. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.26–27.
21. Dugin A. Stalinism: legends and facts // Slovo. 1990. No. 7. P. 5.
22. Zemskov V. N. GULAG (historical and sociological aspect) // Sociological studies. 1991. No. 7. pp. 10–11.
23. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L.1.
24. Ibid. L.53.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid. D. 1155. L.2.
27. Mortality in ITL: 1935–1947 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.2; 1948 - Ibid. D. 1190. L.36, 36v.; 1949 - Ibid. D. 1319. L.2, 2v.; 1950 - Ibid. L.5, 5v.; 1951 - Ibid. L.8, 8v.; 1952 - Ibid. L.11, 11v.; 1953 - Ibid. L. 17.
Penal colonies and prisons: 1935–1036 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L.52; 1937 - Ibid. L.44; 1938 - Ibid. L.50.
ITK: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L.60; 1940 - Ibid. L.70; 1941 - Ibid. D.2784. L.4ob, 6; 1942 - Ibid. L.21; 1943 - Ibid. D.2796. L.99; 1944 - Ibid. D.1155. L.76, 76ob.; 1945 - Ibid. L.77, 77ob.; 1946 - Ibid. L.78, 78ob.; 1947 - Ibid. L.79, 79ob.; 1948 - Ibid. L.80: 80rpm; 1949 - Ibid. D.1319. L.3, 3v.; 1950 - Ibid. L.6, 6v.; 1951 - Ibid. L.9, 9v.; 1952 - Ibid. L.14, 14v.; 1953 - Ibid. L.19, 19v.
Prisons: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9413. Op.1. D.11. L.1ob.; 1940 - Ibid. L.2ob.; 1941 - Ibid. L. Goiter; 1942 - Ibid. L.4ob.; 1943 -Ibid., L.5ob.; 1944 - Ibid. L.6ob.; 1945 - Ibid. D.10. L.118, 120, 122, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133; 1946 - Ibid. D.11. L.8ob.; 1947 - Ibid. L.9ob.; 1948 - Ibid. L.10ob.; 1949 - Ibid. L.11ob.; 1950 - Ibid. L.12ob.; 1951 - Ibid. L.1 3v.; 1952 - Ibid. D.118. L.238, 248, 258, 268, 278, 288, 298, 308, 318, 326ob., 328ob.; D.162. L.2ob.; 1953 - Ibid. D.162. L.4v., 6v., 8v.
28. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1.D.1181.L.1.
29. System of forced labor camps in the USSR, 1923–1960: Directory. M., 1998. P. 52.
30. Dugin A. N. Unknown GULAG: Documents and facts. M.: Nauka, 1999. P. 47.
31. 1952 - GARF.F.R-9414. Op.1.D.1319. L.11, 11 vol. 13, 13v.; 1953 - Ibid. L. 18.
The scale of Stalin's repressions - exact figures
At the liar's competition
In an accusatory rage, the writers of anti-Stalin horror stories seem to be competing to see who can tell the biggest lies, vying with each other to name the astronomical numbers of those killed at the hands of the “bloody tyrant.” Against their background, a dissident Roy Medvedev, who limited himself to a “modest” figure of 40 million, looks like some kind of black sheep, a model of moderation and conscientiousness:
“Thus, the total number of victims of Stalinism reaches, according to my calculations, a figure of approximately 40 million people».
And in fact, it is undignified. Another dissident, son of a repressed Trotskyist revolutionary A. V. Antonov-Ovseenko, without a shadow of embarrassment, names twice the figure:
“These calculations are very, very approximate, but I am sure of one thing: the Stalinist regime bled the people, destroying more than 80 million his best sons."
Professional “rehabilitators” led by a former member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee A. N. Yakovlev are already talking about 100 million:
“According to the most conservative estimates of the specialists of the rehabilitation commission, our country lost about 100 million Human. This number includes not only the repressed themselves, but also members of their families doomed to death and even children who could have been born, but were never born.”
However, according to version Yakovleva the notorious 100 million includes not only direct “victims of the regime”, but also unborn children. But the writer Igor Bunich without hesitation claims that all these “100 million people were mercilessly exterminated.”
However, this is not the limit. The absolute record was set by Boris Nemtsov, who announced on November 7, 2003 in the “Freedom of Speech” program on the NTV channel about 150 million people allegedly lost by the Russian state after 1917.
Who are these fantastically ridiculous figures, eagerly replicated by the Russian and foreign media, intended for? For those who have forgotten how to think for themselves, who are accustomed to uncritically accepting on faith any nonsense coming from television screens.
It’s easy to see the absurdity of the multimillion-dollar numbers of “victims of repression.” It is enough to open any demographic directory and, picking up a calculator, make simple calculations. For those who are too lazy to do this, I will give a small illustrative example.
According to the population census conducted in January 1959, the population of the USSR was 208,827 thousand people. By the end of 1913, 159,153 thousand people lived within the same borders. It is easy to calculate that the average annual population growth of our country in the period from 1914 to 1959 was 0.60%.
Now let's see how the population of England, France and Germany grew in the same years - countries that also took an active part in both world wars.
So, the rate of population growth in the Stalinist USSR turned out to be almost one and a half times higher than in Western “democracies,” although for these states we excluded the extremely unfavorable demographic years of the 1st World War. Could this have happened if the “bloody Stalinist regime” had destroyed 150 million or at least 40 million residents of our country? Of course no!
Archival documents say
To find out the true number of those executed during Stalin, it is absolutely not necessary to engage in fortune telling on coffee grounds. It is enough to familiarize yourself with the declassified documents. The most famous of them is the memo addressed to N. S. Khrushcheva dated February 1, 1954:
Comrade Khrushchev N.S.
In connection with signals received by the CPSU Central Committee from a number of individuals about illegal convictions for counter-revolutionary crimes in past years by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, and the Special Meeting. By the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals and in accordance with your instructions on the need to review the cases of persons convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes and currently held in camps and prisons, we report:
According to data available from the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, for the period from 1921 to the present time, people were convicted for counter-revolutionary crimes by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, the Special Meeting, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals. 3 777 380 people, including:
to VMN – 642 980 Human,
Of the total number of those arrested, approximately the following were convicted: 2 900 000 people - the Collegium of the OGPU, the troikas of the NKVD and the Special Meeting and 877 000 people – courts, military tribunals, the Special Board and the Military Board.
Prosecutor General R. Rudenko
Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov
Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin"
As is clear from the document, in total from 1921 to the beginning of 1954, people were sentenced to death on political charges. 642 980 person, to imprisonment - 2 369 220 , to link – 765 180 .
However, there are more detailed data on the number of those sentenced to death for counter-revolutionary and other especially dangerous state crimes
Thus, for the years 1921-1953 they were sentenced to death 815 639 Human. In total, in the years 1918-1953, people were brought to criminal liability in cases of state security agencies 4 308 487 person of whom 835 194 sentenced to death.
So, there were slightly more “repressed” than indicated in the report dated February 1, 1954. However, the difference is not too great - the numbers are of the same order.
In addition, it is quite possible that among those who received sentences on political charges there were a fair number of criminals. On one of the certificates stored in the archives, on the basis of which the above table was compiled, there is a pencil note:
“Total convicts for 1921-1938. – 2 944 879 people, of which 30 % (1062 thousand) – criminals»
In this case, the total number of “victims of repression” does not exceed three million. However, to finally clarify this issue, additional work with sources is necessary.
It should also be borne in mind that not all sentences were carried out. For example, of the 76 death sentences handed down by the Tyumen District Court in the first half of 1929, by January 1930, 46 had been changed or overturned by higher authorities, and of the remaining, only nine were carried out.
From July 15, 1939 to April 20, 1940, 201 prisoners were sentenced to capital punishment for disorganizing camp life and production. However, then for some of them the death penalty was replaced by imprisonment for terms of 10 to 15 years.
In 1934, there were 3,849 prisoners in NKVD camps who were sentenced to death and commuted to imprisonment. In 1935 there were 5671 such prisoners, in 1936 – 7303, in 1937 – 6239, in 1938 – 5926, in 1939 – 3425, in 1940 – 4037 people.
Number of prisoners
At first, the number of prisoners in forced labor camps (ITL) was relatively small. So, on January 1, 1930, it amounted to 179,000 people, on January 1, 1931 - 212,000, on January 1, 1932 - 268,700, on January 1, 1933 - 334,300, on January 1, 1934 - 510 307 people.
In addition to the ITL, there were correctional labor colonies (CLCs), where those sentenced to short terms were sent. Until the fall of 1938, the penitentiary complexes, together with the prisons, were subordinate to the Department of Places of Detention (OMP) of the NKVD of the USSR. Therefore, for the years 1935-1938, only joint statistics have been found so far. Since 1939, penal colonies were under the jurisdiction of the Gulag, and prisons were under the jurisdiction of the Main Prison Directorate (GTU) of the NKVD of the USSR.
How much can you trust these numbers? All of them are taken from the internal reports of the NKVD - secret documents not intended for publication. In addition, these summary figures are quite consistent with the initial reports; they can be broken down monthly, as well as by individual camps:
Let us now calculate the number of prisoners per capita. On January 1, 1941, as can be seen from the table above, the total number of prisoners in the USSR was 2 400 422 person. The exact population of the USSR at this time is unknown, but is usually estimated at 190-195 million.
Thus, we get from 1230 to 1260 prisoners for every 100 thousand population. On January 1, 1950, the number of prisoners in the USSR was 2 760 095 people – the maximum figure for the entire period of Stalin’s reign. The population of the USSR at this time numbered 178 million 547 thousand. We get 1546 prisoners per 100 thousand population, 1.54%. This is the highest figure ever.
Let's calculate a similar indicator for the modern United States. Currently, there are two types of places of deprivation of liberty: jail - an approximate analogue of our temporary detention centers, in which those under investigation are kept, as well as convicts serving short sentences, and prison - the prison itself. At the end of 1999, there were 1,366,721 people in prisons and 687,973 in jails (see the website of the Bureau of Legal Statistics of the US Department of Justice), for a total of 2,054,694. The population of the United States at the end of 1999 was approximately 275 million Therefore, we get 747 prisoners per 100 thousand population.
Yes, half as much as Stalin, but not ten times. It’s somehow undignified for a power that has taken upon itself the protection of “human rights” on a global scale.
Moreover, this is a comparison of the peak number of prisoners in the Stalinist USSR, which was also caused first by the civil and then by the Great Patriotic War. And among the so-called “victims of political repression” there will be a fair share of supporters of the white movement, collaborators, Hitler’s accomplices, members of the ROA, policemen, not to mention ordinary criminals.
There are calculations that compare the average number of prisoners over a period of several years.
The data on the number of prisoners in the Stalinist USSR exactly coincides with the above. According to these data, it turns out that on average for the period from 1930 to 1940, there were 583 prisoners per 100,000 people, or 0.58%. Which is significantly less than the same figure in Russia and the USA in the 90s.
What is the total number of people who were imprisoned under Stalin? Of course, if you take a table with the annual number of prisoners and sum up the rows, as many anti-Sovietists do, the result will be incorrect, since most of them were sentenced to more than a year. Therefore, it should be assessed not by the amount of those imprisoned, but by the amount of those convicted, which was given above.
How many of the prisoners were “political”?
As we see, until 1942, the “repressed” made up no more than a third of the prisoners held in the Gulag camps. And only then their share increased, receiving a worthy “replenishment” in the person of Vlasovites, policemen, elders and other “fighters against communist tyranny.” The percentage of “political” in correctional labor colonies was even smaller.
Prisoner mortality
Available archival documents make it possible to illuminate this issue. In 1931, 7,283 people died in the ITL (3.03% of the average annual number), in 1932 - 13,197 (4.38%), in 1933 - 67,297 (15.94%), in 1934 – 26,295 prisoners (4.26%).
For 1953, data is provided for the first three months.
As we see, mortality in places of detention (especially in prisons) did not reach those fantastic values that denouncers like to talk about. But still its level is quite high. It increases especially strongly in the first years of the war. As was stated in the certificate of mortality according to the NKVD OITK for 1941, compiled by the acting. Head of the Sanitary Department of the Gulag NKVD I. K. Zitserman:
Basically, mortality began to increase sharply from September 1941, mainly due to the transfer of convicts from units located in the front-line areas: from the BBK and Vytegorlag to the OITK of the Vologda and Omsk regions, from the OITK of the Moldavian SSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Leningrad region. in OITK Kirov, Molotov and Sverdlovsk regions. As a rule, a significant part of the journey of several hundred kilometers before loading into wagons was carried out on foot. Along the way, they were not at all provided with the minimum necessary food products (they did not receive enough bread and even water); as a result of this confinement, the prisoners suffered severe exhaustion, a very large % of vitamin deficiency diseases, in particular pellagra, which caused significant mortality along the route and along arrival at the respective OITKs, which were not prepared to receive a significant number of replenishments. At the same time, the introduction of reduced food standards by 25–30% (order No. 648 and 0437) with an extended working day to 12 hours, and often the absence of basic food products, even at reduced standards, could not but affect the increase in morbidity and mortality
However, since 1944, mortality has decreased significantly. By the beginning of the 1950s, in camps and colonies it fell below 1%, and in prisons - below 0.5% per year.
Special camps
Let's say a few words about the notorious Special Camps (special camps), created in accordance with Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 416-159ss of February 21, 1948. These camps (as well as the Special Prisons that already existed by that time) were supposed to concentrate all those sentenced to imprisonment for espionage, sabotage, terrorism, as well as Trotskyists, right-wingers, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, nationalists, white emigrants, members of anti-Soviet organizations and groups and “individuals who pose a danger due to their anti-Soviet connections.” Prisoners of special prisons were to be used for hard physical work.
As we see, the mortality rate of prisoners in special detention centers was only slightly higher than the mortality rate in ordinary correctional labor camps. Contrary to popular belief, the special camps were not “death camps” in which the elite of the dissident intelligentsia were supposedly exterminated; moreover, the largest contingent of their inhabitants were “nationalists” - the forest brothers and their accomplices.
1937 "Stalin's repressions" The Great Lie of the 20th Century.
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The history of Russia, like other former post-Soviet republics in the period from 1928 to 1953, is called the “era of Stalin.” He is positioned as a wise ruler, a brilliant statesman, acting on the basis of “expediency.” In reality, he was driven by completely different motives.
Talking about the beginning political career leader who became a tyrant, such authors bashfully hush up one indisputable fact: Stalin was a repeat offender with seven “walks.” Robbery and violence were the main form of his social activity in his youth. Repression became an integral part of the government course he pursued.
Lenin received a worthy successor in his person. “Having creatively developed his teaching,” Joseph Vissarionovich came to the conclusion that the country should be ruled by methods of terror, constantly instilling fear in his fellow citizens.
A generation of people whose lips can speak the truth about Stalin’s repressions is leaving... Are not newfangled articles whitening the dictator a spit on their suffering, on their broken lives...
The leader who sanctioned torture
As you know, Joseph Vissarionovich personally signed execution lists for 400,000 people. In addition, Stalin tightened the repression as much as possible, authorizing the use of torture during interrogations. It was they who were given the green light to complete chaos in the dungeons. He was directly related to the notorious telegram of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated January 10, 1939, which literally gave the punitive authorities a free hand.
Creativity in introducing torture
Let us recall excerpts from a letter from Corps Commander Lisovsky, a leader bullied by the satraps...
"...A ten-day assembly-line interrogation with a brutal, vicious beating and no opportunity to sleep. Then - a twenty-day punishment cell. Next - forced to sit with your hands raised up, and also stand bent over with your head hidden under the table, for 7-8 hours..."
The detainees' desire to prove their innocence and their failure to sign fabricated charges led to increased torture and beatings. The social status of the detainees did not play a role. Let us remember that Robert Eiche, a candidate member of the Central Committee, had his spine broken during interrogation, and Marshal Blucher in Lefortovo prison died from beatings during interrogation.
Leader's motivation
The number of victims of Stalin's repressions was calculated not in tens or hundreds of thousands, but in seven million who died of starvation and four million who were arrested (general statistics will be presented below). The number of those executed alone was about 800 thousand people...
How did Stalin motivate his actions, immensely striving for the Olympus of power?
What does Anatoly Rybakov write about this in “Children of Arbat”? Analyzing Stalin's personality, he shares his judgments with us. “The ruler whom the people love is weak because his power is based on the emotions of other people. It's another matter when people are afraid of him! Then the power of the ruler depends on himself. This is a strong ruler! Hence the leader’s credo - to inspire love through fear!
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin took steps adequate to this idea. Repression became his main competitive tool in his political career.
The beginning of revolutionary activity
Joseph Vissarionovich became interested in revolutionary ideas at the age of 26 after meeting V.I. Lenin. He was engaged in robbery of funds for the party treasury. Fate sent him 7 exiles to Siberia. Stalin was distinguished by pragmatism, prudence, unscrupulousness in means, harshness towards people, and egocentrism from a young age. Repressions against financial institutions - robberies and violence - were his. Then the future leader of the party participated in the Civil War.
Stalin in the Central Committee
In 1922, Joseph Vissarionovich received the long-awaited opportunity career growth. The ill and weakening Vladimir Ilyich introduces him, along with Kamenev and Zinoviev, to the Central Committee of the party. In this way, Lenin creates a political counterbalance to Leon Trotsky, who really aspires to leadership.
Stalin simultaneously heads two party structures: the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee and the Secretariat. In this post, he brilliantly studied the art of party behind-the-scenes intrigue, which later came in handy in his fight against competitors.
Positioning of Stalin in the system of red terror
The machine of red terror was launched even before Stalin came to the Central Committee.
09/05/1918 The Council of People's Commissars issues the Resolution “On Red Terror”. The body for its implementation, called the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK), operated under the Council of People's Commissars from December 7, 1917.
The reason for this radicalization of domestic politics was the murder of M. Uritsky, chairman of the St. Petersburg Cheka, and the assassination attempt on V. Lenin by Fanny Kaplan, acting from the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Both events occurred on August 30, 1918. Already this year, the Cheka launched a wave of repression.
According to statistical information, 21,988 people were arrested and imprisoned; 3061 hostages taken; 5544 were shot, 1791 were imprisoned in concentration camps.
By the time Stalin came to the Central Committee, gendarmes, police officers, tsarist officials, entrepreneurs, and landowners had already been repressed. First of all, the blow was dealt to the classes that are the support of the monarchical structure of society. However, having “creatively developed the teachings of Lenin,” Joseph Vissarionovich outlined new main directions of terror. In particular, a course was taken to destroy the social base of the village - agricultural entrepreneurs.
Stalin since 1928 - ideologist of violence
It was Stalin who turned repression into the main instrument of domestic policy, which he justified theoretically.
His concept of intensifying the class struggle formally becomes the theoretical basis for the constant escalation of violence by the authorities state power. The country shuddered when it was first voiced by Joseph Vissarionovich at the July Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1928. From that time on, he actually became the leader of the Party, the inspirer and ideologist of violence. The tyrant declared war on his own people.
Hidden by slogans, the real meaning of Stalinism manifests itself in the unrestrained pursuit of power. Its essence is shown by the classic - George Orwell. The Englishman made it very clear that power for this ruler was not a means, but a goal. Dictatorship was no longer perceived by him as a defense of the revolution. The revolution became a means to establish a personal, unlimited dictatorship.
Joseph Vissarionovich in 1928-1930. began by initiating the fabrication by the OGPU of a number of public trials that plunged the country into an atmosphere of shock and fear. Thus, the cult of Stalin’s personality began its formation with trials and the instillation of terror throughout society... Mass repressions were accompanied by public recognition of those who committed non-existent crimes as “enemies of the people.” People were brutally tortured to sign charges fabricated by the investigation. The brutal dictatorship imitated class struggle, cynically violating the Constitution and all norms of universal morality...
Three global trials were falsified: the “Union Bureau Case” (putting managers at risk); “The Case of the Industrial Party” (the sabotage of the Western powers regarding the economy of the USSR was imitated); “The Case of the Labor Peasant Party” (obvious falsification of damage to the seed fund and delays in mechanization). Moreover, they were all united into a single cause in order to create the appearance of a single conspiracy against Soviet power and provide scope for further falsifications of the OGPU - NKVD organs.
As a result, the entire economic management of the national economy was replaced from old “specialists” to “new personnel”, ready to work according to the instructions of the “leader”.
Through the lips of Stalin, who ensured that the state apparatus was loyal to repression through the trials, the Party’s unshakable determination was further expressed: to displace and ruin thousands of entrepreneurs - industrialists, traders, small and medium-sized ones; to ruin the basis of agricultural production - the wealthy peasantry (indiscriminately calling them “kulaks”). At the same time, the new voluntarist party position was masked by “the will of the poorest strata of workers and peasants.”
Behind the scenes, parallel to this “general line,” the “father of peoples” consistently, with the help of provocations and false testimony, began to implement the line of eliminating his party competitors for supreme state power (Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev).
Forced collectivization
The truth about Stalin's repressions of the period 1928-1932. indicates that the main object of repression was the main social base of the village - an effective agricultural producer. The goal is clear: the entire peasant country (and in fact at that time they were Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic and Transcaucasian republics) was supposed to, under the pressure of repression, turn from a self-sufficient economic complex into an obedient donor for the implementation of Stalin’s plans for industrialization and maintenance of hypertrophied power structures.
In order to clearly identify the object of his repressions, Stalin resorted to an obvious ideological forgery. Economically and socially unjustifiably, he achieved that party ideologists obedient to him singled out a normal self-supporting (profit-making) producer into a separate “class of kulaks” - the target of a new blow. Under the ideological leadership of Joseph Vissarionovich, a plan was developed for the destruction of the social foundations of the village that had developed over centuries, the destruction of the rural community - the Resolution “On the liquidation of ... kulak farms” dated January 30, 1930.
The Red Terror has come to the village. Peasants who fundamentally disagreed with collectivization were subjected to Stalin's “troika” trials, which in most cases ended with executions. Less active “kulaks”, as well as “kulak families” (the category of which could include any persons subjectively defined as a “rural asset”) were subjected to forcible confiscation of property and eviction. A body for permanent operational management of the eviction was created - a secret operational department under the leadership of Efim Evdokimov.
Migrants to the extreme regions of the North, victims of Stalin's repressions, were previously identified on a list in the Volga region, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Siberia, and the Urals.
In 1930-1931 1.8 million were evicted, and in 1932-1940. - 0.49 million people.
Organization of hunger
However, executions, ruin and eviction in the 30s of the last century are not all of Stalin’s repressions. A brief listing of them should be supplemented by the organization of famine. Its real reason was the inadequate approach of Joseph Vissarionovich personally to insufficient grain procurements in 1932. Why was the plan fulfilled by only 15-20%? The main reason there was a bad harvest.
His subjectively developed plan for industrialization was under threat. It would be reasonable to reduce the plans by 30%, postpone them, and first stimulate the agricultural producer and wait for a harvest year... Stalin did not want to wait, he demanded immediate provision of food to the bloated security forces and new gigantic construction projects - Donbass, Kuzbass. The leader made a decision to confiscate grain intended for sowing and consumption from the peasants.
On October 22, 1932, two emergency commissions under the leadership of the odious personalities Lazar Kaganovich and Vyacheslav Molotov launched a misanthropic campaign of “fight against the fists” to confiscate grain, which was accompanied by violence, quick-to-death troika courts and the eviction of wealthy agricultural producers to the Far North. It was genocide...
It is noteworthy that the cruelty of the satraps was actually initiated and not stopped by Joseph Vissarionovich himself.
Well-known fact: correspondence between Sholokhov and Stalin
Mass repressions of Stalin in 1932 -1933. have documentary evidence. M.A. Sholokhov, the author of “The Quiet Don,” addressed the leader, defending his fellow countrymen, with letters exposing lawlessness during the confiscation of grain. The famous resident of the village of Veshenskaya presented the facts in detail, indicating the villages, the names of the victims and their tormentors. The abuse and violence against the peasants is horrifying: brutal beatings, breaking out joints, partial strangulation, mock executions, eviction from houses... In his response Letter, Joseph Vissarionovich only partially agreed with Sholokhov. The real position of the leader is visible in the lines where he calls the peasants saboteurs, “secretly” trying to disrupt the food supply...
This voluntaristic approach caused famine in the Volga region, Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Siberia, and the Urals. A special Statement of the Russian State Duma published in April 2008 revealed previously classified statistics to the public (previously, propaganda did its best to hide these repressions of Stalin.)
How many people died from hunger in the above regions? The figure established by the State Duma commission is terrifying: more than 7 million.
Other areas of pre-war Stalinist terror
Let's also consider three more areas of Stalin's terror, and in the table below we present each of them in more detail.
With the sanctions of Joseph Vissarionovich, a policy was also pursued to suppress freedom of conscience. A citizen of the Land of Soviets had to read the newspaper Pravda, and not go to church...
Hundreds of thousands of families of previously productive peasants, fearing dispossession and exile to the North, became an army supporting the country's gigantic construction projects. In order to limit their rights and make them manipulable, it was at that time that passporting of the population in cities was carried out. Only 27 million people received passports. The peasants (still the majority of the population) remained without passports, did not enjoy the full scope of civil rights (freedom to choose a place of residence, freedom to choose a job) and were “tied” to the collective farm at their place of residence with prerequisite fulfillment of workday norms.
Antisocial policies were accompanied by the destruction of families and an increase in the number of street children. This phenomenon has become so widespread that the state was forced to respond to it. With Stalin's sanction, the Politburo of the Country of Soviets issued one of the most inhumane regulations - punitive towards children.
The anti-religious offensive as of 04/01/1936 led to a reduction Orthodox churches up to 28%, mosques - up to 32% of their pre-revolutionary number. The number of clergy decreased from 112.6 thousand to 17.8 thousand.
For repressive purposes, passportization of the urban population was carried out. More than 385 thousand people did not receive passports and were forced to leave the cities. 22.7 thousand people were arrested.
One of Stalin’s most cynical crimes is his authorization of the secret Politburo resolution of 04/07/1935, which allows teenagers from 12 years of age to be brought to trial and determines their punishment up to capital punishment. In 1936 alone, 125 thousand children were placed in NKVD colonies. As of April 1, 1939, 10 thousand children were exiled to the Gulag system.
Great Terror
The state flywheel of terror was gaining momentum... The power of Joseph Vissarionovich, starting in 1937, as a result of repressions over the entire society, became comprehensive. However, their biggest leap was just ahead. In addition to the final and already physical reprisal against former colleagues According to the party - Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev - mass “cleansing of the state apparatus” was carried out.
Terror has reached unprecedented proportions. The OGPU (from 1938 - the NKVD) responded to all complaints and anonymous letters. A person’s life was ruined for one carelessly dropped word... Even the Stalinist elite were repressed - statesmen: Kosior, Eikhe, Postyshev, Goloshchekin, Vareikis; military leaders Blucher, Tukhachevsky; security officers Yagoda, Yezhov.
On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, leading military personnel were shot on trumped-up cases “under an anti-Soviet conspiracy”: 19 qualified corps-level commanders - divisions with combat experience. The cadres who replaced them did not adequately master operational and tactical art.
It was not only the shopfront facades of Soviet cities that were characterized by the personality cult of Stalin. The repressions of the “leader of the peoples” gave rise to a monstrous system of Gulag camps, providing the Land of Soviets with free labor, mercilessly exploited labor resources to extract the wealth of the underdeveloped regions of the Far North and Central Asia.
The dynamics of the increase in those kept in camps and labor colonies is impressive: in 1932 there were 140 thousand prisoners, and in 1941 - about 1.9 million.
In particular, ironically, the prisoners of Kolyma mined 35% of the Union's gold, while living in terrible conditions. Let us list the main camps included in the Gulag system: Solovetsky (45 thousand prisoners), logging camps - Svirlag and Temnikovo (43 and 35 thousand, respectively); oil and coal production - Ukhtapechlag (51 thousand); chemical industry - Bereznyakov and Solikamsk (63 thousand); development of the steppes - Karaganda camp (30 thousand); construction of the Volga-Moscow canal (196 thousand); construction of the BAM (260 thousand); gold mining in Kolyma (138 thousand); Nickel mining in Norilsk (70 thousand).
Basically, people arrived in the Gulag system in a typical way: after a night arrest and an unfair, biased trial. And although this system was created under Lenin, it was under Stalin that political prisoners began to enter it en masse after mass trials: “enemies of the people” - kulaks (essentially effective agricultural producers), and even entire evicted nationalities. The majority served sentences from 10 to 25 years under Article 58. The investigation process involved torture and the breaking of the will of the convicted person.
In the case of the resettlement of kulaks and small nations, the train with prisoners stopped right in the taiga or in the steppe and the convicts built a camp and a special purpose prison (TON) for themselves. Since 1930, the labor of prisoners was mercilessly exploited to fulfill five-year plans - 12-14 hours a day. Tens of thousands of people died from overwork, poor nutrition, and poor medical care.
Instead of a conclusion
The years of Stalin's repressions - from 1928 to 1953. - changed the atmosphere in a society that has ceased to believe in justice and is under pressure constant fear. Since 1918, people were accused and shot by revolutionary military tribunals. The inhumane system developed... The Tribunal became the Cheka, then the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, then the OGPU, then the NKVD. Executions under Article 58 were in effect until 1947, and then Stalin replaced them with 25 years in camps.
In total, about 800 thousand people were shot.
Moral and physical torture of the entire population of the country, in fact, lawlessness and arbitrariness, was carried out in the name of the workers' and peasants' power, the revolution.
The powerless people were terrorized by the Stalinist system constantly and methodically. The process of restoring justice began with the 20th Congress of the CPSU.
When I die, a lot of rubbish will be placed on my grave, but the wind of time will mercilessly sweep it away.
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Brief summary of the myth:
Stalin was the greatest tyrant of all times. Stalin destroyed his people on an unimaginable scale - from 10 to 100 million people were thrown into camps, where they were shot or died in inhumane conditions.
Reality:
What was the scale of the “Stalinist repressions”?
Almost all publications addressing the issue of the number of repressed people can be classified into two groups. The first of them includes works by denouncers of the “totalitarian regime”, citing astronomical multi-million dollar figures of those executed and imprisoned. At the same time, “truth seekers” persistently try not to notice archival data, including published ones, pretending that they do not exist. To justify their figures, they either refer to each other, or simply limit themselves to phrases like: “according to my calculations,” “I am convinced,” etc.
However, any conscientious researcher who begins to study this problem quickly discovers that in addition to “eyewitness memories” there are a lot of documentary sources: "In the funds of the Central state archive October revolution, supreme bodies of state power and government bodies of the USSR (TsGAOR USSR), several thousand units of storage of documents related to the activities of the Gulag were identified"
Having studied archival documents, such a researcher is surprised to see that the scale of repression that we “know” about thanks to the media is not only at odds with reality, but is inflated tenfold. After this, he finds himself in a painful dilemma: professional ethics demands to publish the data found, on the other hand, so as not to be branded as a defender of Stalin. The result is usually some kind of “compromise” publication, containing both a standard set of anti-Stalin epithets and curtsies addressed to Solzhenitsyn and Co., as well as information about the number of repressed people, which, unlike publications from the first group, is not taken out of thin air and not pulled out of thin air , and are confirmed by documents from the archives.
How much has been repressed?
February 1, 1954
To the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Comrade N. S. Khrushchev.
In connection with signals received by the Central Committee of the CPSU from a number of persons about illegal convictions for counter-revolutionary crimes in past years by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, the Special Meeting, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals and in accordance with your instructions on the need to review the cases of persons convicted for counter-revolutionary crimes and currently held in camps and prisons, we report: from 1921 to the present time, 3,777,380 people were sentenced for counter-revolutionary crimes, including 642,980 people to VMN, to detention in camps and prisons for a term of 25 years and below - 2,369,220, into exile and deportation - 765,180 people.Of the total number of convicts, approximately, 2,900,000 people were convicted by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas and the Special Conference, and 877,000 people were convicted by courts, military tribunals, the Special Collegium and the Military Collegium.
... It should be noted that, created on the basis of the Resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of November 5, 1934, by the Special Meeting of the NKVD of the USSR, which existed until September 1, 1953, 442,531 people were sentenced, including 10,101 people to VMN, to imprisonment - 360,921 people, to exile and deportation (within the country) - 57,539 people and to other measures of punishment (counting the time spent in custody, deportation abroad, compulsory treatment) - 3,970 people...
Prosecutor General R. Rudenko
Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov
Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin
So, as is clear from the above document, in total from 1921 to the beginning of 1954, people were sentenced to death on political charges. 642.980 person, to imprisonment - 2.369.220 , to link – 765.180 . It should also be borne in mind that not all sentences were carried out. For example, from July 15, 1939 to April 20, 1940, 201 prisoners were sentenced to capital punishment for disorganizing camp life and production, but then for some of them the death penalty was replaced by imprisonment for terms of 10 to 15 years. In 1934, the camps housed 3,849 prisoners sentenced to capital punishment with a substitute for imprisonment, in 1935 - 5,671, in 1936 - 7,303, in 1937 - 6,239, in 1938 - 5,926, in 1939 - 3,425, in 1940 - 4,037.
Number of prisoners
« Are you sure that the information in this memo is true?“, - a skeptical reader will exclaim, who, thanks to many years of brainwashing, firmly “knows” about millions of people shot and tens of millions sent to camps. Well, let’s turn to more detailed statistics, especially since, contrary to the assurances of dedicated “fighters against totalitarianism,” such data is not only available in the archives, but has also been published several times.
Let's start with data on the number of prisoners in the Gulag camps. Let me remind you that those sentenced to a term of more than 3 years, as a rule, served their sentences in correctional labor camps (ITL), and those sentenced to short terms - in correctional labor colonies (CPT).
Year | Prisoners |
---|---|
1930 | 179.000 |
1931 | 212.000 |
1932 | 268.700 |
1933 | 334.300 |
1934 | 510.307 |
1935 | 725.483 |
1936 | 839.406 |
1937 | 820.881 |
1938 | 996.367 |
1939 | 1.317.195 |
1940 | 1.344.408 |
1941 | 1.500.524 |
1942 | 1.415.596 |
1943 | 983.974 |
1944 | 663.594 |
1945 | 715.505 |
1946 | 746.871 |
1947 | 808.839 |
1948 | 1.108.057 |
1949 | 1.216.361 |
1950 | 1.416.300 |
1951 | 1.533.767 |
1952 | 1.711.202 |
1953 | 1.727.970 |
However, those who are accustomed to taking the opuses of Solzhenitsyn and others like him for Holy Bible, often even direct references to archival documents are not convincing. " These are NKVD documents, and therefore they are falsified.- they declare. – Where did the numbers given in them come from?».
Well, especially for these incredulous gentlemen, I’ll give a couple specific examples, where “these numbers” come from. So, the year is 1935:
NKVD camps, their economic specialization and number of prisoners
as of January 11, 1935
Camp | Economic specialization | Number conclusion |
Dmitrovlag | Construction of the Moscow-Volga Canal | 192.649|
Bamlag | Construction of the second tracks of the Trans-Baikal and Ussuri railways and the Baikal-Amur Mainline | 153.547|
Belomoro-Baltic- ski plant | Construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal | 66.444|
Siblag | Construction of Gorno-Shorskaya railway; coal mining in the mines of Kuzbass; construction of the Chuisky and Usinsky tracts; provision of labor to the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant, Novsibles, etc.; own pig farms | 61.251|
Dallag (later Vladivostoklag) | Construction of the Volochaevka-Komsomolsk railway; coal mining at the Artem and Raichikha mines; construction of the Sedan water pipeline and oil storage tanks of Benzostroy; construction work of “Dalpromstroy”, “Reserves Committee”, aircraft building No. 126; fisheries | 60.417|
Svirlag | Harvesting firewood and commercial timber for Leningrad | 40.032|
Sevvostlag | Trust "Dalstroy", work in Kolyma | 36.010|
Temlag, Mordov- Russian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic | Harvesting firewood and industrial timber for Moscow | 33.048|
Central Asian camp (Sazlag) | Providing labor to Tekstilstroy, Chirchikstroy, Shakhrudstroy, Khazarbakhstroy, Chuisky Novlubtrest, and the Pakhta-Aral state farm; own cotton farms | 26.829|
Karaganda camp (Karlag) | Livestock farms | 25.109|
Ukhtpechlag | Works of the Ukhto-Pechora Trust: mining of coal, oil, asphalt, radium, etc. | 20.656|
Prorvlag (later - Astrakhanlag) | Fishing industry | 10.583|
Sarovsky NKVD camp | Logging and sawmilling | 3.337|
Vaygach | Mining of zinc, lead, platinum spar | 1.209|
Okhunlag | Road construction | 722|
on the way to the camps | 9.756 | |
Total | 741.599 |
Four years later:
Camp | Conclusion |
Bamlag (BAM route) | 262.194 |
Sevvostlag (Magadan) | 138.170 |
Belbaltlag (Karelian ASSR) | 86.567 |
Volgolag (Uglich-Rybinsk region) | 74.576 |
Dallag (Primorsky Territory) | 64.249 |
Siblag (Novosibirsk region) | 46.382 |
Ushosdorlag ( Far East) | 36.948 |
Samarlag (Kuibyshev region) | 36.761 |
Karlag (Karaganda region) | 35.072 |
Sazlag (Uzbek SSR) | 34.240 |
Usollag (Molotov region) | 32.714 |
Kargopollag (Arkhangelsk region) | 30.069 |
Sevzheldorlag (Komi ASSR and Arkhangelsk region) | 29.405 |
Yagrinlag (Arkhangelsk region) | 27.680 |
Vyazemlag (Smolensk region) | 27.470 |
Ukhtimlag (Komi ASSR) | 27.006 |
Sevurallag (Sverdlovsk region) | 26.963 |
Lokchimlag (Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) | 26.242 |
Temlag (Mordovian ASSR) | 22.821 |
Ivdellag (Sverdlovsk region) | 20.162 |
Vorkutlag (Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) | 17.923 |
Soroklag (Arkhangelsk region) | 17.458 |
Vyatlag (Kirov region) | 16.854 |
Oneglag (Arkhangelsk region) | 16.733 |
Unjlag (Gorky region) | 16.469 |
Kraslag ( Krasnoyarsk region) | 15.233 |
Taishetlag (Irkutsk region) | 14.365 |
Ustvymlag (Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) | 11.974 |
Thomasinlag (Novosibirsk region) | 11.890 |
Gorno-Shorsk ITL ( Altai region) | 11.670 |
Norillag (Krasnoyarsk Territory) | 11.560 |
Kuloylag (Arkhangelsk region) | 10.642 |
Raichichlag ( Khabarovsk region) | 8.711 |
Arkhbumlag (Arkhangelsk region) | 7.900 |
Luga camp (Leningrad region) | 6.174 |
Bukachachlag (Chita region) | 5.945 |
Prorvlag (Lower Volga) | 4.877 |
Likovlag (Moscow region) | 4.556 |
South Harbor (Moscow region) | 4.376 |
Stalin station (Moscow region) | 2.727 |
Dmitrovsky Mechanical Plant (Moscow region) | 2.273 |
Construction No. 211 (Ukrainian SSR) | 1.911 |
Transit prisoners | 9.283 |
Total | 1.317.195 |
However, as I wrote above, in addition to the ITL there were also ITCs - corrective labor colonies. Until the fall of 1938, they, together with the prisons, were subordinate to the Department of Places of Detention (OMP) of the NKVD. Therefore, for the years 1935–1938 we have so far been able to find only joint statistics:
Since 1939, penitentiary colonies were under the jurisdiction of the Gulag, and prisons were under the jurisdiction of the Main Prison Directorate (GTU) of the NKVD.
Number of prisoners in prisons
Year | 1st of January | January | March | May | July | September | December |
1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 | 352.508 186.278 470.693 268.532 237.534 151.296 275.510 245.146 293.135 280.374 | 350.538 178.258 401.146 229.217 201.547 170.767 267.885 191.930 259.078 349.035 228.258 | 186.278 434.871 247.404 221.669 171.708 272.486 235.092 290.984 284.642 230.614 |
The information in the table is given for the middle of each month. In addition, again for particularly stubborn anti-Stalinists, a separate column provides information for January 1 of each year (highlighted in red), taken from an article by A. Kokurin posted on the Memorial website. This article, among other things, contains links to specific archival documents. In addition, those interested can read an article by the same author in the magazine “Military Historical Archive”.
Now we can compile a summary table of the number of prisoners in the USSR under Stalin:
It cannot be said that these figures are some kind of revelation. Since 1990, this type of data has been presented in a number of publications. Thus, in an article by L. Ivashov and A. Emelin, published in 1991, it is stated that the total number of prisoners in camps and colonies is 1.03. 1940 was 1.668.200 people, as of June 22, 1941 – 2.3 million; as of July 1, 1944 – 1.2 million .
V. Nekrasov in his book “Thirteen “Iron” People’s Commissars” reports that “in places of deprivation of liberty” in 1933 there were 334 thousand prisoners, in 1934 - 510 thousand, in 1935 - 991 thousand, in 1936 - 1296 thousand; on December 21, 1944 in camps and colonies - 1.450.000 ; on March 24, 1953 in the same place - 2.526.402 .
According to A. Kokurin and N. Petrov (especially significant, since both authors are associated with the Memorial society, and N. Petrov is even an employee of Memorial), as of 1.07. 1944 in the camps and colonies of the NKVD there were about 1.2 million prisoners, and in NKVD prisons on the same date - 204.290 . As of 12/30. 1945 in the NKVD forced labor camps there were about 640 thousand prisoners, in correctional labor colonies - about 730 thousand, in prisons - about 250 thousand, in the bullpen – about 38 thousand, in juvenile colonies - about 21 thousand, in special camps and NKVD prisons in Germany - about 84 thousand .
Finally, here is data on the number of prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty, subordinate territorial authorities Gulag, taken directly from the already mentioned Memorial website:
January 1935 January 1937 1.01.1939 1.01.1941 1.01.1945 1.01.1949 1.01.1953 | 307.093 375.376 381.581 434.624 745.171 1.139.874 741.643 |
So, let's summarize - during the entire period of Stalin's reign, the number of prisoners simultaneously in prison never exceeded 2 million 760 thousand (naturally, not counting German, Japanese and other prisoners of war). Thus, there can be no talk of any “tens of millions of Gulag prisoners.”
Let us now calculate the number of prisoners per capita. On January 1, 1941, as can be seen from the table above, the total number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,400,422 people. The exact population of the USSR at this time is unknown, but is usually estimated at 190–195 million. Thus we get from 1230 to 1260 prisoners for every 100 thousand population. In January 1950, the number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,760,095 people - the maximum figure for the entire period of Stalin's reign. The population of the USSR at this time numbered 178 million 547 thousand. We get 1546
Now let's calculate a similar indicator for the modern United States. Currently, there are two types of prisons: jail- an approximate analogue of our temporary detention facilities, in jail those under investigation are held, and those sentenced to short terms are also serving their sentences, and prison- the prison itself. So, at the end of 1999 in prisons 1,366,721 people were held in jails– 687,973 (see: Bureau of Legal Statistics website), which gives a total of 2,054,694. The population of the United States at the end of 1999 was approximately 275 million (see: US population), therefore, we get 747 prisoners per 100 thousand population.
Yes, half as much as Stalin, but not ten times. It’s somehow undignified for a power that has taken upon itself to “protect human rights” on a global scale. And if we take into account the growth rate of this indicator - when this article was first published, it was (as of mid-1998) 693 prisoners per 100 thousand American population, 1990–1998. average annual increase in the number of inhabitants jails – 4,9%, prisons- 6.9%, then, you see, in ten years the overseas friends of our domestic Stalin-haters will catch up and overtake the Stalinist USSR.
By the way, in one Internet discussion an objection was raised - they say that these figures include all arrested Americans, including those who were detained for several days. Let me emphasize once again: by the end of 1999, there were more than 2 million prisoners who are serving time or are in pre-trial detention. As for the arrests, they were made in 1998 14.5 million(see: FBI report).
Now a few words about the total number of people who were imprisoned under Stalin. Of course, if you take the table above and add up the rows, the result will be incorrect, since most of the Gulag prisoners were sentenced to more than a year. However, to a certain extent, the following note allows us to estimate the number of those who went through the Gulag:
To the head of the Gulag of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major General Egorov S.E.
In total, 11 million units of archival materials are stored in the Gulag units, of which 9.5 million are the personal files of prisoners.
Head of the Gulag Secretariat of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs
Major Podymov
How many of the prisoners were “political”
It is fundamentally wrong to believe that the majority of those imprisoned under Stalin were “victims of political repression”:
Number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary and other especially dangerous state crimes
Year | highest measure | camps, colonies and prisons | link and expulsion | other measures | Total convicted |
1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 | 9701 1962 414 2550 2433 990 2363 869 2109 20201 10651 2728 2154 2056 1229 1118 353074 328618 2552 1649 8011 23278 3579 3029 4252 2896 1105 – 8 475 1609 1612 198 | 21724||||
Total | 799455 | 2634397 413512 215942 4060306
By “other measures” we mean credit for time spent in custody, forced treatment and deportation abroad. For 1953, information is provided only for the first half of the year.
From this table it follows that there were slightly more “repressed” than indicated in the above report addressed to Khrushchev - 799,455 sentenced to capital punishment instead of 642,980 and 2,634,397 sentenced to imprisonment instead of 2,369,220. However, this difference is relatively small - the numbers are of the same order.
In addition, there is one more point - it is very possible that a fair number of criminals have been squeezed into the table above. The fact is that on one of the certificates stored in the archives, on the basis of which this table was compiled, there is a pencil note: “Total convicts for 1921–1938. – 2944879 people, of which 30% (1062 thousand) are criminals". In this case, the total number of “repressed” does not exceed 3 million. However, to finally clarify this issue, additional work with sources is necessary.
Let's now see what percentage the “repressed” made up of the total number of inhabitants of the Gulag:
Composition of the NKVD Gulag camps for
Year | quantity | % to all composition of the camps |
1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 | 135.190 118.256 105.849 104.826 185.324 454.432 444.999 420.293 407.988 345.397 268.861 289.351 333.883 427.653 416.156 420.696 578.912* 475.976 480.766 465.256 | 26.5 16.3 12.6 12.6 18.6 34.5 33.1 28.7 29.6 35.6 40.7 41.2 59.2 54.3 38.0 34.9 22.7 31.0 28.1 26.9 |
* In camps and colonies.
Let us now consider in more detail the composition of the inhabitants of the Gulag at some moments of its existence.
Composition of prisoners in correctional labor camps for the crimes charged
(as of April 1, 1940)
Charged crimes | Number | % |
Counter-revolutionary crimes including: Trotskyists, Zinovievites, rightists treason terror sabotage espionage sabotage leaders of counter-revolutionary organizations anti-Soviet agitation other counter-revolutionary crimes family members of traitors to the Motherland without instructions | 417381
17621 | 32,87
|
Particularly dangerous crimes against the order of government including: banditry and robbery defectors other crimes | 46374
29514 | 3,65
|
Other crimes against management order including: hooliganism speculation violation of the passport law other crimes | 182421
90291 | 14,37
|
Theft of social property (law of August 7, 1932) Crimes against the person Property crimes Socially harmful and socially dangerous element Military crimes Other crimes No instructions | 23549 96193 66708 152096 220835 11067 41706 11455 | 1,85|
Total | 1269785 | 100,00
REFERENCE
on the number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes and banditry,
held in camps and colonies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as of July 1, 1946.
By the nature of the crime | In the camps | % | In the colonies | % | Total | % |
Total presence of convicts | 616.731 | 100 755.255 100 1.371.986100 | ||||
Of these, for criminal offenses, including: Treason to the Motherland (Article 58-1) Espionage (58-6) Terrorism Sabotage (58-7) Sabotage (58-9) Kr sabotage (58-14) Participation in a/c conspiracy (58–2, 3, 4, 5, 11) Anti-Soviet agitation (58-10) Polit. bandit. (58–2, 5, 9) Illegal border crossing Smuggling Family members of traitors to the Motherland Socially dangerous elements | 354.568
137.463 | 57,5
37,6
14,8 |
Head of the Gulag Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Aleshinsky
Pom. Head of the Gulag Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Yatsevich
Composition of Gulag prisoners by nature of crimes
(as of January 1, 1951)
Crimes | Total | incl. in the camps | incl. in the colonies |
Counter-revolutionary crimes Treason to the Motherland (Article 58-1a, b) Espionage (Art. 58-1a, b, 6; Art. 193-24) Terror (v.58-8) Terrorist intent Sabotage (v.58-9) Sabotage (vv.58-7) Counter-revolutionary sabotage (except for convicted for refusing to work in the camps and running away) (Article 58-14) Counter-revolutionary sabotage (for refusal from work in the camp) (vv.58-14) Counter-revolutionary sabotage (for escaping from places of detention) (Article 58-14) Participation in anti-Soviet conspiracies, anti-Soviet organizations and groups (Article 58, paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5, 11) Anti-Soviet agitation (Articles 58–10, 59-7) Insurgency and political banditry (Article 58, paragraph 2; 59, paragraphs 2, 3, 3 b) Members of the families of traitors to the Motherland (Article 58-1c) Socially dangerous element Other counter-revolutionary crimes Total number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes | 334538 18337 7515 2329 3250 1165 46582 | ||
Criminal offenses Theft of social property (Decree of August 7, 1932) According to the Decree of June 4, 1947 “On strengthening security personal property of citizens" According to the Decree of June 4, 1947 “On criminal liability for theft of state and public property" Speculation committed outside of prison Banditry and armed robbery (Articles 59–3, 167), committed while serving a sentence not in places of detention Intentional murders (Articles 136, 137, 138) committed in places of detention Illegal border crossing (Articles 59–10, 84) Smuggling activities (Articles 59–9, 83) Cattle theft (Article 166) Repeat offenders (Article 162-c) Property crimes (Articles 162-178) Hooliganism (Article 74 and Decree of August 10, 1940) Violation of the law on passporting (Article 192-a) For escapes from places of detention, exile and deportation (Article 82) For unauthorized departure (escape) from places of mandatory settlements (Decree of November 26, 1948) For harboring evicted people who fled from places compulsory settlement, or complicity Socially harmful element Desertion (Article 193-7) Self-mutilation (art. 193-12) Looting (v.193-27) Other military crimes (Article 193, except paragraphs 7, 12, 17, 24, 27) Illegal possession of weapons (Article 182) Official and economic crimes (Article 59-3c, 109–121, 193 paragraphs 17, 18) According to the Decree of June 26, 1940 (unauthorized departure from enterprises and institutions and absenteeism) According to the Decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (except those listed above) Other criminal offenses Total criminal convictions | 72293 637055 3635 1021 19648 35518 | ||
Total: | 2528146 | 1533767 994379
Thus, among the prisoners held in the Gulag camps, the majority were criminals, and the “repressed”, as a rule, were less than 1/3. The exception is the years 1944–1948, when this category received worthy additions in the form of Vlasovites, policemen, elders and other “fighters against communist tyranny.” The percentage of “political” ones in correctional labor colonies was even smaller.
Mortality among prisoners
Available archival documents make it possible to illuminate this issue.
Mortality of prisoners in Gulag camps
Year | Average quantity prisoners | Died | % |
1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 | 240.350 301.500 422.304 617.895 782.445 830.144 908.624 1.156.781 1.330.802 1.422.466 1.458.060 1.199.785 823.784 689.550 658.202 704.868 958.448 1.316.331 1.475.034 1.622.485 1.719.586 | 7283
I have not yet found data for 1948.
Mortality of prisoners in prisons
Year | Average quantity prisoners | Died | % |
1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 | 269.393 328.486 369.613 253.033 194.415 213.403 260.328 269.141 286.755 255.711 214.896 181.712 158.647 | 7036
The average number of prisoners is taken as the arithmetic mean between the figures for January 1 and December 31.
Mortality in the colonies on the eve of the war was lower than in the camps. For example, in 1939 it was 2.30%
Mortality of prisoners in Gulag colonies
Thus, as the facts show, contrary to the assurances of the “accusers,” the mortality rate of prisoners under Stalin was kept at a very low level. However, during the war the situation of Gulag prisoners worsened. Nutritional standards were significantly reduced, which immediately led to a sharp increase in mortality. By 1944, the food standards for Gulag prisoners were slightly increased: for bread - by 12%, for cereals - 24%, for meat and fish - 40%, for fats - 28% and for vegetables - by 22%, after which the mortality rate began to decrease noticeably . But even after this, their calorie content remained approximately 30% lower than pre-war nutrition standards.
However, even in the most difficult years of 1942 and 1943, the mortality rate of prisoners was about 20% per year in camps and about 10% per year in prisons, and not 10% per month, as A. Solzhenitsyn, for example, claims. By the beginning of the 50s, in camps and colonies it fell below 1% per year, and in prisons - below 0.5%.
In conclusion, a few words should be said about the notorious Special camps (special camps), created in accordance with Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 416-159ss of February 21, 1948. These camps (as well as the Special prisons that already existed by that time) were supposed to concentrate all those sentenced to imprisonment for espionage, sabotage, terrorism, as well as Trotskyists, right-wingers, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, nationalists, white emigrants, members of anti-Soviet organizations and groups and “persons who pose a danger due to their anti-Soviet connections.” Prisoners of special guards were to be used for hard physical work.
Reference
on the presence of a special contingent held in special camps on January 1, 1952.
№№ | Name special camps | Spi- they | Diver- santa | Ter- ror | Trots- cysts | Pra- high | Men- sheviks | Social Revolutionaries | Anar- hists | National nalists | White- emig- welts | Participant antisov. org. | Dangerous elem. | Total |
1 | Mineral | 4012 | 284 | 1020 | 347 | 7 | 36 | 63 | 23 | 11688 | 46 | 4398 | 8367 | 30292 |
2 | Mountain | 1884 | 237 | 606 | 84 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 9546 | 24 | 2542 | 5279 | 20218 |
3 | Dubravny | 1088 | 397 | 699 | 278 | 5 | 51 | 70 | 16 | 7068 | 223 | 4708 | 9632 | 24235 |
4 | Stepnoy | 1460 | 229 | 714 | 62 | – | 16 | 4 | 3 | 10682 | 42 | 3067 | 6209 | 22488 |
5 | Coastal | 2954 | 559 | 1266 | 109 | 6 | – | 5 | – | 13574 | 11 | 3142 | 10363 | 31989 |
6 | River | 2539 | 480 | 1429 | 164 | – | 2 | 2 | 8 | 14683 | 43 | 2292 | 13617 | 35459 |
7 | Ozerny | 2350 | 671 | 1527 | 198 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 7625 | 379 | 5105 | 14441 | 32342 |
8 | Sandy | 2008 | 688 | 1203 | 211 | 4 | 23 | 20 | 9 | 13987 | 116 | 8014 | 12571 | 38854 |
9 | Kamyshevy | 174 | 118 | 471 | 57 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3973 | 5 | 558 | 2890 | 8251 |
Total | 18475 | 3663 | 8935 | 1510 | 41 | 140 | 190 | 69 | 93026 | 884 | 33826 | 83369 | 244128 |
Deputy Head of the 2nd Department of the 2nd Directorate of the Gulag, Major Maslov
The mortality rate of prisoners in special prisons can be judged from the following document:
№№ p.p. | Camp name | For cr. crime | For criminal crime | Total | Died in IV sq. 1950 | Released |
1 | Mineral | 30235 | 2678 | 32913 | 91 | 479 |
2 | Mountain | 15072 | 10 | 15082 | 26 | 1 |
3 | Dubravny | |||||
4 | Stepnoy | 18056 | 516 | 18572 | 124 | 131 |
5 | Coastal | 24676 | 194 | 24870 | No | No |
6 | River | 15653 | 301 | 15954 | 25 | No |
7 | Ozerny | 27432 | 2961 | 30393 | 162 | 206 |
8 | Sandy | 20988 | 182 | 21170 | 24 | 21 |
9 | Lugovoy | 9611 | 429 | 10040 | 35 | 15 |
As can be seen from the table, in the 8 special camps for which information is given, out of 168,994 prisoners in the fourth quarter of 1950, 487 (0.29%) died, which, in annual terms, corresponds to 1.15%. That is, only slightly more than in ordinary camps. Contrary to popular belief, the special camps were not “death camps” in which dissident intellectuals were supposedly exterminated, and the most numerous contingent of their inhabitants were “nationalists” - the forest brothers and their accomplices.
A. Dugin. Stalinism: legends and facts // Slovo. 1990, No. 7.° C.24.
3. V. N. Zemskov. GULAG (historical and sociological aspect) // Sociological studies. 1991, No. 6.° C.15.
4. V. N. Zemskov. Prisoners in the 1930s: socio-demographic problems // National history. 1997, No. 4.° C.67.
5. A. Dugin. Stalinism: legends and facts // Slovo. 1990, No. 7.° C.23; archival
At the liar's competition
Archival documents say
"To the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee
Comrade Khrushchev N.S.
…
Prosecutor General R. Rudenko
Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov
Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin"
Number of prisoners
Prisoner mortality
Special camps
Notes:
6. Ibid. P. 26.
9. Ibid. P. 169
24. Ibid. L.53.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid. D. 1155. L.2.
Repression
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