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"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic". Joseph Stalin
Main Points:
Summary:
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and murder in the Soviet Union arranged by Joseph Stalin from 1937 to 1938. It involved a large scale purge of the Communist Party and government officials, repression of peasants, Red Army leadership. Also it involves the persecution of unaffiliated persons, characterized by widespread police surveillance, widespread suspicion of "saboteurs", imprisonment, and arbitrary executions. Recent findings, a great number of accusations, notably those presented at the Moscow show trials, were based on forced confessions and on loose interpretations.
- Stalin feared being overthrown or having a counter-revolution; creates the Show Trials and Great Purge.
- The Show Trials were a series of trials in 1936 and 1937 in the Soviet Union which were the precursors to the Great Purge.
- The Moscow show trials, were based on forced confessions, often obtained by torture.
- People consider as a threat to the government was often put on trial "show trials" forced to admit they had done it under duress.
- In Russian historiography the period of the most intense purge, 1937–1938, is called Yezhovshchina after Nikolai Yezhov, the head of the Soviet secret police, NKVD.
Summary:
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and murder in the Soviet Union arranged by Joseph Stalin from 1937 to 1938. It involved a large scale purge of the Communist Party and government officials, repression of peasants, Red Army leadership. Also it involves the persecution of unaffiliated persons, characterized by widespread police surveillance, widespread suspicion of "saboteurs", imprisonment, and arbitrary executions. Recent findings, a great number of accusations, notably those presented at the Moscow show trials, were based on forced confessions and on loose interpretations.