Statistics of losses in the USSR (on the topic "repression in the USSR"). The scale of Stalin's repressions - exact figures

Stalin was the greatest tyrant of all times. Stalin destroyed his people on an unimaginable scale - from 10 to 110 million people were thrown into camps, where they were shot or died in inhumane conditions.

Examples of use

“Professor Kurganov indirectly calculated that from 1917 to 1959 only from internal war the Soviet regime against its people, that is, from their destruction by famine, collectivization, exile of peasants to extermination, prisons, camps, simple executions. - This is the only reason why we died. Along with our civil war, 66 million people... According to his calculations, we lost in World War II from neglect. 44 million people are harmed by its sloppy conduct! So, in total we lost from the socialist system - 110 million people!”

Reality

Igor Pykhalov

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 the works of accusers “ totalitarian regime”, citing astronomical multi-million dollar figures of those shot 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, higher authorities state power and government bodies of the USSR (TsGAOR USSR), several thousand storage units of documents related to the activities of the Gulag have been 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-Stalinist epithets and curtsies addressed to Solzhenitsyn and Co., and 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 people 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, sentenced: 2,900,000 people - by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas and the Special Conference and 877,000 people - by courts, military tribunals, the Special Board 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 some of them 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).

However, those who are accustomed to taking the opuses of Solzhenitsyn and others like him for Scripture, often even direct references to archival documents are not convincing. » These are NKVD documents, and therefore they are falsified.- they say. - Where did the numbers given in them come from?».

At the liar's contest

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

Interesting article? Tell your friends:

Due to the fact that a memo to Khrushchev on the number of convicted people from 1921 to 1953 has once again come to light, I cannot ignore the topic of repression.

The memo itself and, most importantly, the information it contains, became known to many people interested in politics for quite a long time. The note contains absolutely accurate numbers of repressed citizens. Of course, these numbers are not small and they will frighten and terrify a person who knows the topic. But as you know, everything is learned by comparison. This is what we will do, we will compare.

Those who have not yet managed to remember the exact numbers of repressions by heart - you now have such an opportunity.

So, from 1921 to 1953, 642,980 people were executed; 765,180 people were exiled

Placed in detention - 2,369,220 people.

Total - 3,777,380

Anyone who dares to say a figure even somewhat large about the scale of repression is blatantly and shamelessly lying. Many people have questions: why are the numbers so large? Well, let's figure it out.

Amnesty of the Provisional Government.

One of the reasons why so many people were repressed by the Soviet government was the general amnesty of the provisional government. And to be more precise, Kerensky. You don’t have to go far to find this data, you don’t have to rummage through the archives, just open Wikipedia and type “Provisional Government”:

A general political amnesty has been declared in Russia, and the prison terms of persons held in custody under court sentences for general criminal offenses have been reduced by half. About 90 thousand prisoners were released, among whom were thousands of thieves and raiders, popularly nicknamed “Kerensky’s chicks” (Wiki).

On March 6, the Provisional Government adopted a Decree on political amnesty. In total, as a result of the amnesty, more than 88 thousand prisoners were released, of which 67.8 thousand were convicted of criminal offenses. As a result of the amnesty, the total number of prisoners from March 1 to April 1, 1917 was reduced by 75%.

On March 17, 1917, the Provisional Government issued a Resolution “On easing the fate of persons who have committed criminal offenses,” i.e. on amnesty for those convicted of ordinary crimes. However, only those convicts who expressed their readiness to serve their Motherland on the battlefield were subject to amnesty.

The Provisional Government's hopes of recruiting prisoners into the army did not materialize, and many of those released fled from their units when possible. - Source

Thus, a huge number of criminals, thieves, murderers and other antisocial elements were released, which in the future will have to be dealt with directly Soviet power. What can we say about the fact that all the exiled people who were not in prison quickly fled all over Russia after the amnesty.

Civil war.

There is nothing more terrible in the History of people and civilization than civil war.

A war in which brother goes against brother and son against father. When citizens of one country, subjects of one state kill each other on the basis of political and ideological differences.

We still haven't recovered from this civil war, let alone the state of society right after the civil war ended. And the realities of such events are such that after a civil war, in any democratic country peace - the winning side will repress the losing one.

For the simple reason that in order for society to continue to develop, it must be holistic, unified, it must look forward to a bright future, and not engage in self-destruction. It is for this reason that those who have not accepted defeat, those who have not accepted the new order, those who continue direct or hidden opposition, those who continue to incite hatred and encourage people to fight - are subject to destruction.

Here you have political repression and persecution of the church. But not because pluralism of opinions is impermissible, but because these people actively participated in the civil war and did not stop their “struggle” after its end. This is another reason why so many people ended up in the Gulags.

Relative numbers.

And now, we come to the most interesting thing, to comparison and the transition from absolute numbers to relative numbers.

Population of the USSR in 1920 - 137,727,000 people Population of the USSR in 1951 - 182,321,000 people

An increase of 44,594,000 people despite the civil and second world war, which claimed far more lives than the repressions.

On average, we get that the population of the USSR in the period from 1921 to 1951 was 160 million people.

In total, 3,777,380 people were convicted in the USSR, which is two percent (2%) of the total average population of the country, 2% - in 30 years!!! Divide 2 by 30, it turns out that per year, 0.06% of the total population was repressed. This despite civil war and the fight against fascist accomplices (collaborators, traitors and traitors who sided with Hitler) after the Great Patriotic War.

This means that every year 99.94% of law-abiding citizens of our Motherland quietly worked, worked, studied, received treatment, gave birth to children, invented, rested, and so on. In general, we lived the most normal human life.

Half the country was sitting. Half the country was guarded.

Well, the last and most important thing. Many people like to say that we supposedly sat half a third of the country, guarded a third of the country, and knocked on a third of the country. And the fact that in the memo only counter-revolutionary fighters are indicated, but if you add up the number of those who were imprisoned for political reasons and those who were imprisoned for criminal reasons, the numbers will be generally terrible.

Yes, the numbers are scary until you compare them with anything. Here is a table that shows the total number of prisoners, both repressed and criminals, both in prisons and in camps. And their comparison with the total number of prisoners in other countries

According to this table, it turns out that on average, in the Stalinist USSR there were 583 prisoners (both criminal and repressive) per 100,000 free people.

In the early 90s, at the height of crime in our country, only in criminal cases, without political repression, there were 647 prisoners per 100,000 free people.

The table shows the United States during the Clinton era. Quite calm years even before the global financial crisis, and even then, it turned out that in the United States there were 626 people imprisoned per 100 available.

I decided to do a little digging into modern numbers. According to WikiNews, there are currently 2,085,620 prisoners in the United States, which is 714 prisoners per 100,000.

And in Putin’s stable Russia, the number of prisoners has sharply decreased compared to the dashing 90s, and now we have 532 prisoners per 100,000.

The scale of Stalin's repressions - exact figures

At the liar's contest

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 include 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 TV 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 not!

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 the data available in 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 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 all the bread and even water), as a result of such 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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Stalin's order Mironin Sigismund Sigismundovich

How many people were repressed?

“Repression” is punitive measures taken by government agencies. This is according to the explanatory dictionary. In Stalin's time, they were used as punishment for what they had done, and not as a punishment adequate to the gravity of the crime.

How many people were repressed? Anti-Stalinists are still trumpeting about tens of millions of people executed. But let's see how justified this opinion is. When analyzing this issue, it is useful to know the population of the USSR. For information: in 1926 the USSR had 147 million inhabitants, in 1937 - 162 million, and in 1939 - 170.5 million.

According to Yu. Zhukov, the victims were not tens of millions, but one and a half million. This opinion is confirmed by the doctor's data historical sciences Zemskova. At the same time, according to Zhukov, he checked and double-checked the documents a hundred times; they were analyzed by his colleagues from other countries. The results of studies on the number of repressed people, carried out based on archival data of the CPSU Central Committee by Zemskov, Dugin and Klevnik, began to appear in scientific journals since 1990. These results completely contradicted the statements of the “free press” - they say that the number of victims would exceed all expectations. However, the reports were published in hard-to-find scientific journals, virtually unknown to the vast majority of society.

For a long time, these figures were completely hushed up by “democrats” and “liberals.” Books by these researchers have appeared today. The reports became known in the West as a result of collaboration between researchers various countries and refuted the inventions of early Sovietologists - such as Conquest. For example, it was established that in 1939 the total number of prisoners was close to 2 million. Of these, 454 thousand were convicted of political crimes. But not 9 million, as R. Conquest claims. There were 160 thousand who died in labor camps from 1937 to 1939, and not 3 million, as R. Conquest claims. In 1950, there were 578 thousand political prisoners in labor camps, but not 12 million.

Contrary to popular belief, the bulk of those convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes were in the Gulag camps not in 1937–1938, but during and after the war. For example, there were 104,826 such convicts in the camps in 1937, and 185,324 in 1938. I. Pykhalov convincingly proved that during the entire period of Stalin’s reign, the number of prisoners simultaneously imprisoned never exceeded 2 million 760 thousand (naturally, not counting German, Japanese and other prisoners of war). He clearly demonstrated that the mortality rate in the camps was relatively low.

Yes, at the peak moments of history, especially after the war, about 1.8 million people were in prisons and camps of the USSR, which amounted to a little more than one percent: in other words, every hundredth citizen was imprisoned. Let me note that today in the “citadel of democracy” - the USA - almost every 100th American (more than 2 million people) is also behind bars. By the way, every 88th Svidomo now sits in “democratic and free” Ukraine.

The most interesting thing is that before today in fact, the only source on the number of those executed and repressed in 1937 and 1938. is the “Certificate of the special department of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs on the number of those arrested and convicted by the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD of the USSR in 1921–1953,” which is dated December 11, 1953. The certificate was signed by the acting. the head of the 1st special department, Colonel Pavlov (the 1st special department was the accounting and archival department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). In 1937, 353,074 people were sentenced to death, in 1938 - 328,618. About one hundred thousand people were sentenced to death in all other years from 1918 to 1953 - of which the absolute majority were during the war years. These figures are used by serious scientists, “memorial” activists, and even such outright traitors to Russia as academician. A. N. Yakovlev comrades.

In February 1954, Rudenko et al., in a memo addressed to Khrushchev, named the number of 642,980 people sentenced to capital punishment (CM) for the period from 1921 to February 1954. This number has already entered the history books and has not yet been disputed by anyone. The collection “Military Historical Archive” (number 4 (64) for 2005) provides data that in 1937–1938, 1,355,196 people were convicted by all types of judicial bodies, of which 681,692 were sentenced to military violence. the number tended to increase. Already in 1956, the Ministry of Internal Affairs certificate listed 688,238 people executed (not sentenced to military punishment, but executed) from among those arrested on charges of anti-Soviet activity in the period 1935–1940 alone. In the same year, Pospelov's commission put the number at 688,503 executed during the same period. In 1963, in the report of the Shvernik commission, another larger number- 748,146 sentenced to VMN for the period 1935–1953, of which 631,897 were in 1937–1938. by decision of extrajudicial authorities. In 1988, a certificate from the USSR KGB presented to Gorbachev listed 786,098 people executed in 1930–1955. Finally, in 1992, signed by the head of the department of registration and archival forms of the IBRF for 1917–1990. information was reported on 827,995 people sentenced to VMN for state and similar crimes.

Although the above numbers seem to be accepted by most researchers, doubts remain about their accuracy. A. Reznikova tried to analyze 52 publications containing information about prisoners in 24 regions of Russia. The sample included 41 Books of Memory from the Library of the Moscow Scientific Information and Educational Center "Memorial", 7 books from the State Public Historical Library and 4 books from the State Public Library named after. Lenin. And I found that in total 275,134 people were included in these memory books.

Let me give a long quote from an article by P. Krasnov, who analyzes the figures of repression.

“According to a certificate provided by the Prosecutor General of the USSR Rudenko, the number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes for the period from 1921 to February 1, 1954 by the OGPU Collegium, the NKVD troikas, the Special Meeting, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals was 3,777,380 people , including capital punishment - 642,980. Zemskov gives slightly different numbers, but they do not fundamentally change the picture: “In total, there were 1,850,258 prisoners in camps, colonies and prisons by 1940... There were about 667 thousand." As a starting point, he apparently took Beria’s certificate presented to Stalin, so the number is given with an accuracy of one person, and “about 667,000” is a number rounded with incomprehensible precision. Apparently, these are simply rounded data from Rudenko, which relate to the entire period 1921–1954, or include data on criminals who are recorded as criminal. The statistical assessments that I carried out showed that Rudenko’s numbers are closer to reality, and Zemskov’s data are overestimated by about 30–40%, especially in the number of people executed, but I repeat, this does not change the essence of the matter at all. The significant discrepancy in the data of Zemskov and Rudenko (approximately 200–300 thousand) in the number of those arrested may occur because a significant number of cases were revised after the appointment of Lavrentiy Beria to the post of People's Commissar. Up to 300 thousand people were released from places of detention and temporary detention (the exact number is still unknown). It’s just that Zemskov considers them victims of repression, but Rudenko does not. Moreover, Zemskov considers “repressed” everyone who has ever been arrested by state security agencies (including the Cheka after the revolution), even if he was released shortly after that, as Zemskov himself directly states. Thus, the victims include several tens of thousands of tsarist officers, whom the Bolsheviks initially released on the “officer’s word of honor” not to fight against Soviet power. It is known that then the “noble gentlemen” immediately broke the “officer’s word”, which they did not hesitate to declare publicly.

Please note that I use the word “convicted” and not “repressed”, because the word “repressed” implies a person innocently punished.”

P. Krasnov also writes: “At the end of the 80s, by order of Gorbachev, a “rehabilitation commission” was created, which in an expanded form continued its work in “democratic Russia”. Over the decade and a half of her work, she rehabilitated 120 thousand people, working with extreme bias - even obvious criminals were rehabilitated. The attempt to rehabilitate Vlasov, which failed only because of the massive indignation of veterans, speaks volumes. Excuse me, where are the “millions of victims”? The mountain gave birth to a mouse."

Further, P. Krasnov very convincingly refutes the fictitious figures of repression by using common sense. I quote his text in its entirety. Judge for yourself. He writes: “Where did such an incredible number of prisoners come from? After all, 40 million prisoners are the population of the then Ukraine and Belarus taken together, or the entire population of France, or all urban population USSR of those years. The fact of the arrest and transportation of thousands of Ingush and Chechens was noted by contemporaries of the deportation as a shocking event, and this is understandable. Why was the arrest and transportation of many times more people not noted by eyewitnesses? During the famous “evacuation to the east” in 41–42. 10 million people were transported to the rear. The evacuees lived in schools, temporary shelters, wherever. All the older generations remember this fact. It was 10 million, what about 40 and even more so 50, 60 and so on? Almost all eyewitnesses of those years note the massive movement and work of captured Germans on construction sites; they could not be ignored. People still remember that, for example, “this road was built by captured Germans.” There were about 3 million prisoners on the territory of the USSR - this is a lot, and it is impossible not to notice the fact of the activities of such a large number of people. What can we say about the number of “prisoners,” which is approximately 10–20 times greater? Only that the very fact of moving and working on construction sites of such an incredible number of prisoners should simply shock the population of the USSR. This fact would be passed on from mouth to mouth even after decades. Was it? No.

How to transport such a huge number of people off-road to remote areas, and what type of transport available in those years was used? Large-scale construction of roads in Siberia and the North began much later. Moving huge multi-million (!) masses of people across the taiga and without roads is generally unrealistic - there is no way to supply them during a multi-day journey.

Where were the prisoners housed? It is assumed that in the barracks, hardly anyone will build skyscrapers for prisoners in the taiga. However, even a large barracks cannot accommodate more people than an ordinary five-story building, so multi-storey buildings and are building, and 40 million is 10 cities the size of Moscow at that time. Traces of gigantic settlements would inevitably remain.

Where are they? Nowhere. If such a number of prisoners are scattered across a huge number of small camps located in inaccessible, sparsely populated areas, then it will be impossible to supply them. In addition, transport costs, taking into account off-road conditions, will become unimaginable. If they are placed close to roads and large populated areas, then the entire population of the country will immediately become aware of the huge number of prisoners. In fact, around cities there should be a large number of very specific structures that are impossible to miss or confuse with anything else.

The famous White Sea Canal was built by 150 thousand prisoners, the Kirov hydroelectric complex - 90,000. The whole country knew that these objects were built by prisoners. And these numbers are nothing compared to the tens of millions. Tens of millions of “prisoner slaves” must have left behind truly cyclopean buildings. Where are these structures and what are they called? Questions that will not be answered can be continued.

How were such huge masses of people supplied in remote, difficult areas? Even if we assume that the prisoners were fed according to standards besieged Leningrad, this means that to supply prisoners a minimum of 5 million kilograms of bread per day is needed - 5000 tons. And this is assuming that the guards do not eat anything, do not drink anything and do not need weapons or uniforms at all.

Probably everyone has seen photographs of the famous Road of Life - one and a half and three-ton trucks go in an endless line one after another - practically the only vehicle of those years outside railways(it makes no sense to consider horses as a vehicle for such transportation). The population of besieged Leningrad was about 2 million people. The road across Lake Ladoga is approximately 60 kilometers, but delivering goods even over such a short distance has become a serious problem. And the point here is not the German bombing - the Germans did not manage to interrupt supplies for a day. The trouble is that throughput the country road (which, in essence, was the Road of Life) is small. How do proponents of the “mass repression” hypothesis imagine supplying 10–20 cities the size of Leningrad, located hundreds and thousands of kilometers from the nearest roads?

How were the products of the labor of so many prisoners exported, and what type of transport available at that time was used for this? You don't have to wait for answers - there won't be any.

Where were the detainees housed? Detainees are rarely held together with those serving sentences; there are special pre-trial detention centers for this purpose. It is impossible to keep arrested people in ordinary buildings - they need special conditions Consequently, large numbers of investigative prisons, each designed to accommodate tens of thousands of prisoners, had to be built in every city. These must have been structures of monstrous size, because even the famous Butyrka housed a maximum of 7,000 prisoners. Even if we assume that the population of the USSR was struck by sudden blindness and did not notice the construction of giant prisons, then a prison is a thing that cannot be hidden and cannot be quietly converted into other buildings. Where did they go after Stalin? After Pinochet's coup, 30 thousand arrested had to be placed in stadiums. By the way, the very fact of this was immediately noticed by the whole world. What can we say about millions?

To the question “where are the mass graves of the innocently killed, in which millions of people are buried?” you will not hear any intelligible answer at all. After perestroika propaganda, it would be natural to open secret places of mass burial of millions of victims; obelisks and monuments should have been installed in these places, but there is no trace of any of this. Please note that the burial in Babi Yar is now known to the whole world and the whole of Ukraine immediately learned about this fact of mass extermination of Soviet people by the Nazis. According to various estimates, from seventy to two hundred thousand people were killed there. It is clear that if it was not possible to hide the fact of the execution and burial of such a scale, what can we say about numbers 50-100 times larger?

I will add from myself. So far, despite all the efforts of current liberals, burials of this scale have not been found.

Chapter 2 So how many were there? It would seem that the question is quite strange. The number of tanks in the USSR and Germany as of June 22, 1941 has long been known to everyone interested. But why go far - our first chapter began with these numbers. 24,000 and 3300. However, let's try to dig