Repressive Practices of the Stalinist Regime in the 1930s against the German National Minority (on the Documents of the State Archives of Zhytomyr Region)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The purpose of the work is to reveal the forms and methods of the Stalinist regime’s repressive policy in the 1930s towards national minorities, in particular, Germans, on the documents stored in the State Archives of Zhytomyr Region. On the example of specific archival and investigative files of repressed residents of German colonies in the Zhytomyr Region, to show the methods used by investigators of the ОDPU-NKVS to create fake counter-revolutionary organizations in order to discredit and physically destroy the most active representatives of the local German community. The research methodology is based on the use of general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, specification, comparison and generalization) and a number of specific historical methods, such as historical-comparative, typological, systematic and narrative. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the introduction of new archival documents into scientific circulation, supplementing the already known information about the so-called German fascist military insurgent organization with new facts that prove the fake nature of its existence. For the first time, materials have been published that demonstrate an undeniable connection between the implementation by the Bolshevik authorities of the so-called «kulak» and «German» operations in the Zhytomyr Region, in particular, by falsifying cases of «German counterrevolutionary organizations» by ОDPU-NKVS investigators. The prospect of further research lies in a broader consideration of the topic of Stalinist repressions in the Zhytomyr Region through the prism of their national orientation. Conclusions. Residents of the German colonies of the Zhytomyr Region were among the victims of Stalin’s repressions of the 1930s. On the basis of criminal cases fabricated by the ОDPU-NKVS, Soviet Germans were accused of espionage and counterrevolutionary activities and arrested as members of anti-Soviet organizations, the most powerful of which, according to the security forces, was the German Fascist Military Insurgent Organization. Our study provides grounds for highlighting the criteria for the selection of potential victims of repression in the Zhytomyr Region by the security forces of the Stalinist regime. References: 1. Aisfeld, A. & Serdiuk, N. (Comps.); Aisfeld, A. et al (Eds.) (2018). «Velykyi teror» v Ukraini : nimetska operatsiia. 1937–1938 rr. [The «Great terror» in Ukraine : the German operation. 1937–1938]. Kyiv. 1245 s. [in Ukrainian].2. Bazhan, O. (2020). «Natsionalni» operatsii NKVS na Kyivshchyni u 1937–1938 rr. : mekhanizmy realizatsii ta statystyka [«National» operations in Kyiv region in 1937–1938 : realization mechanisms and statistics]. 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Source: Archivi Ukraїni
Author: Halyna Starodubets
Institution: Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University
Language: English
Topic: Soviet and Russian History
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4409620473