Synopses & Reviews
The British, Irish, Russian, American, German, and Austrian contributors examine the intricate nature of the mass repression unleashed by the Stalinist leader of the USSR during 1937-38. The first part of the collection deals with annihilation policies against the Soviet elite and the Communist International. The second section of the volume looks at mass operations of the secret police (NKVD) against social outcasts, Poles and other 'hostile' ethnic groups. The final section comprises micro-studies about targeted victim groups among the general population.
Review
"These excellent contributions not only increase our understanding of the events as a whole; they also provide new details that will surprise even some specialists...[Stalin's Terror] provides fresh perspectives and important new factual evidence on one of the most barbaric episodes of the twentieth century, and will benefit anyone interested in modern Russian or European history."-- J. Arch Getty, University of California
About the Author
Barry McLoughlin is part-time Lecturer at Vienna University.
Kevin McDermott is Senior Lecturer in History at Sheffield Hallam University.
Table of Contents
Rethinking Stalinist Terror--B. McLoughlin & K. McDermott *
Part I: The Politics of Repression * Party and NKVD: Power Relationships in the Years of the Great Terror--O. Khlevniuk * Ezhov's Scenario for the Great Terror and the Falsified Record of the Third Moscow Show Trial--W. Hedeler * Dimitrov, the Comintern and Stalinist Repression--F. Firsov *
Part II: The Police and Mass Repression * Social Disorder, Mass Repression and the NKVD During the 1930s--D. Shearer * Mass Operations of the NKVD, 1937-38: A Survey--B.McLoughlin * The 'Polish' Operation of the NKVD, 1937-38--N. Petrov & A. Roginskii *
Part III: Victim Studies * Foreign Communists and the Mechanisms of Soviet Cadre Formation in the USSE--B. Unfried * Stalinist Terror in the Moscow District of Kuntsevo, 1937-38--A. Vatlin & N. Musienko * The Fictitious "Hitler-Jugend" Conspiracy of the Moscow NKVD--H. Schafranek & N. Musienko * Terror Against Foreign Workers in the Moscow
Elektrozavod Plant, 1937-38--S. Zhuravlev