Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar

Vaksberg, Vyshinsky, pp. 290, 353. Rape: Djilas, pp. 93, 108–9; Djilas, Wartime, pp. 428–9. Maxim and Ivy Litvinov: see John Carswell, The Exile: The Life of Ivy Litvinov, pp. 130–7.

Khrushchev, Glasnost, p. 28. Mikoyan, p. 318.

RGASPI 558.11.769.173, Stalin to Molotov, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Mikoyan 31 Mar. 1937. Tucker, Power, p. 416. Stepan Mikoyan.

MR, p. 254. Mikoyan, pp. 318, 552. Kaganovich, pp. 27, 28, 30, 45–7. Yury Zhdanov. Maya Kavtaradze. Medvedev, p. 325.

Faith and thought: Vyshinsky and “You lost faith”: RGASPI 558.2.155.104–7. “Holy fear” death for thoughts and the clans: Getty, pp. 486–7. Holy Fear: Tucker, Power, pp. 482–4. Toasts/kin/Mikoyan wit: Dmitrov diary, 7 Nov. 1937. Beria to A. A. Yepishev, quoted in Volkogonov, p. 279. RGASPI 558.11.725.1–2, K. Gai to Stalin and reply 25 Mar. 1937. Colonel Starinov learned during an NKVD interrogation that many of the arrested soldiers were accused of “lack of faith in the power of the socialist state.” Starinov in Bialer (ed.), p. 71. Killing sect: Jansen-Petrov, p. 65. “Brilliant politician of Italian…”: Ehrenburg, Eve of War, p. 306. Bukharin to Stalin, 10 Dec. 1937, Getty, p. 557.

22: BLOODY SHIRTSLEEVES

Torture: Jansen-Petrov, p. 111, citing APRF 3.24.413.5.122, “Beat, beat,” M. I. Baranov. “Prison or hotel,” Jansen-Petrov, p. 111, citing Reabilitatsiya, p. 258. Blood specks: Shepilov, “Vospominaniia,” Voprosy Istorii, no. 4, 1998, p. 6. Order to torture: Petrov-Jansen, pp. 10–11. Rossiiskaya Gazeta, 19 Apr. 1996. IA, 1998. Order on torture: 20 Jan. 1939, Conquest, Terror, p. 206. Tucker, Power, p. 467. Kaganovich told Khrushchev “we signed everything.” Khrushchev, Glasnost , p. 136. GARF 8131.32.3289.117–8, the investigations by Rudenko into methods of interrogators Vlodzirmirsky, Rodos, Shvartsman, Goglidze etc., 22 Mar. 1955. Since the Yezhov generation did not describe their tortures, this account is based on Beria’s men. Execution place and burial: Nikita Petrov. Jansen-Petrov, p. 188. Account of Yezhov’s execution by N. P. Afanesev in Ushakov and Stukalov, pp. 74–5. On torture of Old Bolsheviks: Kaganovich, pp. 138–9. Molotov on Rudzutak’s torture, MR, pp. 274–5, and “Politburo gangsters,” MR, p. 240. Stalin told many jokes about torture and interrogations: this is from Sergo Kavtaradze’s unpublished memoirs, p. 74. Another version, Svetlana, OOY, p. 333. Molotov’s mask: Mikoyan, pp. 321–7.

RGASPI 558.11.756.109–6, Krilov to Stalin 26 May 1937. Another the same month denounces spies and Enemies in the Foreign Commissariat. RGASPI 558.11.727.86, Dmitrov to Stalin 15 May 1937. “Group faithful to himself”: Stalin to Liushkov on Vareikis’s clique in Far East: Alvin D. Coox, “The Lesser of Two Hells: NKVD General GS Lyushkov’s Defection to Japan 1938–45,” Slavic Military Studies; vol. 11, no. 3, Sept. 1998, pp. 145–86.

RGASPI 558.11.806.122, Semyushkin to Stalin 28 May 1937. Stalin usually ordered Yezhov “Check” or “Look into it.” Denunciations: Voroshilov at RGVA 4.19.14.1–74. Meeting of Supreme Military Council, 16 May 1939. Yakovlev in Bialer (ed.), pp. 88, 102.

Gramophone scandal: RGASPI 558.11.1082.1–18.

RGASPI 558.11.756.109–16, Krilov to Stalin 26 May 1937. Another the same month denounces spies and Enemies in the Foreign Commissariat. RGASPI 558.11.727.86, Dmitrov to Stalin 15 May 1937.

RGASPI 558.11.818.35–43, P. V. Tiulenev to Stalin 30 Mar. 1938.

RGASPI 558.11.132.137–40, P. T. Nikolaenko to Stalin 17 Sept. 1937. RGASPI 558.11.132.36, Stalin to Comrade Kudriavtsev 27 Sept. 1937. Tucker, Power, pp. 459–61. KR I, pp. 114–5; Khrushchev, Glasnost, p. 32.

Khrushchev terror: KR I, pp. 113, 129–36. MR, pp. 295–7. Izvestiya TsK KPSS, 2, 1989. Istochnik, 1, 1995. Vladimir Naumov in Taubman, pp. 88–90; Yury Shapoval in Taubman, pp. 19–25.

Zhdanov on Enemies: A. S. Yakovlev, Tsel zhizni, p. 17. On Komsomol Case: Mgeladze, pp. 170–3. Kuznetsov in Bialer (ed.), p. 96. Khlevniuk, Circle, pp. 210–11; Tucker, Power, pp. 470–9. Beria, pp. 80–5. Lakoba family tortured: see S. Lakoba, Ocherki po politicheskoy istorii Abkhazii. Beria’s personal use of torture: GARF 8131.32.3289.117–8. The investigations by Rudenko into methods of interrogators Vlodzirmirsky, Rodos, Shvartsman, Goglidze, Tsanava etc., 22 March 1955. Djafar Bagirov in Azerbaijan also did not require replacement. Arresting the wrong people: see Andreyev: RGASPI 73.2.19.27, Andreyev to Stalin 18 Aug. 1937. Plus Malenkov denounced: Khrushchev defends Malenkov: Elena Zubkova in Taubman, p. 75.

Yakovlev, Tsel zhizni, p. 18: letter to Yezhov, 15 June 1937, on arrests of members of All-Union Scientific Research Institute and officials in Vneshtorg (Foreign Trade Commissariat). Arrests in Vneshtorg: Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism, p. 45. See Katyn later. Mikoyan on purges: p. 583. Stepan M. p. 197. Mikoyan to Kaganovich letter: 17 Sept. 1936, quoted in Miklos Kun, Stalin: An Unknown Portrait, pp. 295–6. Mikoyan in Armenia: Tucker, Power, p. 488. Beria, p. 84. Mikoyan was accompanied by Malenkov. “My father saved people”: Natalya Andreyeva. Natasha Lopatina: story of her grandfather, Ivan Konstantinovich Mikhailov and K. E. Voroshilov. Kaganovich, p. 89.

On tour: Medvedev, p. 248. More examples of Kaganovich: RGASPI 17.21.3966–4092. Easter, p. 157. Yakovlev, Century, p. 18, Mikoyan to Yezhov 15 June on pp. 15–19.

Andreyev’s epic slaughter: RGASPI 73.3.45, 138, notes Oct. 1937. 73.2.19, Andreyev to Zhdanov 6 Jan. 1937. 73.2.19.2, Andreyev to Stalin 12 Apr. 1937, Voronezh. 73.2.19, Andreyev to Stalin 20 July 1937, Saratov. 73.2.19.3, Andreyev to Stalin 4 June 1937, Cheliabinsk. 73.2.19.12, Andreyev to Stalin 21 July 1937, Saratov. 73.2.19.16, Andreyev to Stalin and Stalin orders shooting of MTS workers, 28 July 1937. 73.2.19.19, Andreyev to Stalin 1 Aug. 1937. 73.2.19.22, Andreyev to Stalin 1 Aug. 1937, Saratov. 73.2.19.27, Andreyev to Stalin 18 Aug. 1937, Kuibyshev. 73.2.19.34–36, Andreyev to Stalin 17–18 Sept. 1937, Tashkent. 73.2.19.44, Stalin, Molotov to Andreyev 20 Sept. 1937: “You can arrest him.” 73.2.45.54, Andreyev to Stalin: “Ikramov arrested,” 21–22 Sept. 1937, Tashkent, 73.2.45.58, Stalin and Molotov to Andreyev 22 Sept. 1937. 73.2.45.72 and 73, Stalin to Andreyev: “Act according to your consideration and situation,” 26 Sept. 1937 and (74) Andreyev’s reply to Stalin 27 Sept. 1937; Bokhara (79–84). 73.2.45.86, Stalin to Andreyev in Stalinabad, 29 Sept. 1937. 73.2.45.101, Stalin to Andreyev on NKVD officer, 4 Oct. 1937. 73.3.45.87–101, Andreyev to Stalin and Stalin orders: “Remove Ashurov,” 2–4 Oct. 1937, Stalinabad. 73.2.45.105, Andreyev to Stalin, 5 Nov. 1937, Archangel and Voronezh: “Going to Rostov.” 73.2.45.113, Andreyev to Stalin 15 Nov. 1937, Rostov. 73.2.45.119–26, Andreyev to Stalin and Malenkov 18 Nov. 1937, Krasnodar, Kuban. “I’m heading to Ordzhonikidze Region.”

Malenkov: Chadaev in Kumanev (ed.), p. 429. Interviews Igor Malenkov and Volya Malenkova. Zubok, pp. 141–3. Svetlana OOY, p. 358. Mikoyan, pp. 566, 586. Sergo B, p. 161. Malenkov-type: Kaganovich Perepiska, p. 609. RGASPI 558.11.762, 1a, Stalin to Malenkov 22 Nov. 1938: arrest. His role as a secret persecutor emerges in the appeal to Stalin of Lenin’s old secretary, Stasova, who told how Malenkov had accused her of giving money to Trotskyites but ignored evidence of her innocence. Stalin protected her. RGASPI 558.11.805.11, Stasova to Stalin 17 May 1938. On Malenkov in the Purge: Parrish, “Yezhov,” p. 90. Beria, p. 85. Khlevniuk, Circle, pp. 264–6. Mikoyan, p. 320. Leonid Redens tells of Vasily Stalin’s testimony of Malenkov’s role. D. N. Sukhanov, Memoirs. Inseparables: Sergo B, p. 36. Khrushchev defends Malenkov: Zubkova in Taubman, p. 75. Humour: Sergo B, p. 162, and see also Parrott, Serpent and Nightingale, p. 65. Djilas, p. 108: “under rolls… moved another man, lively and adept.”

Yuri Shapoval in Taubman, pp. 12–13. Kaganovich advised him to keep quiet, then told Stalin.

MR, p. 254; Russian version, pp. 393, 413–4. Mikoyan, p. 556. Sergo Mikoyan: father fanatic. Kaganovich: “Did we permit distortions, outrages, crimes? We did… I am responsible politically”: Kaganovich at June 1957 Plenum: RGASPI 17.3.153; see Kaganovich, pp. 35–7.

Sergo B, p. 157.

RGASPI 558.11.737.86, I. Ivanov, ex-Secretary Kursk Obkom to Stalin 21 Feb. 1937. On CC arrests, 70 arrested 15: Molotov in Getty, p. 467.