Misplaced Pages

#929070

91-573: Portrayed as a " dekulakization " campaign, the operation was intended to facilitate collectivisation and to eliminate the support base for the armed resistance of the Forest Brothers against the illegal Soviet occupation . The deportation fulfilled its purposes: by the end of 1949, 93% of farms in Latvia and 80% of the farms in Estonia were collectivized. In Lithuania, progress was slower and

182-479: A British historian and author, wrote in his book Reflections on a Ravaged Century that Mikhoels "was clubbed to death at Belorussia's KGB dacha in January 1948 under the supervision of Stalin's Deputy Minister of State Security, Sergei Ogoltsov." According to some sources Ogoltsov was picked for the operation personally by Joseph Stalin . For successful execution of the operation he was awarded his third Order of

273-630: A class and replace their production with the production of kolkhozes and sovkhozes ." The Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) formalized the decision in a resolution titled "On measures for the elimination of kulak households in districts of comprehensive collectivization " on 30 January 1930. All kulaks were assigned to one of three categories: Those kulaks that were sent to Siberia and other unpopulated areas performed hard labor working in camps that would produce lumber, gold, coal and many other resources that

364-482: A kulak revolt in the Penza region. Lenin sent several other telegrams to Penza demanding harsher measures in order to fight the kulaks, kulak-supporting peasants and Left SR insurrectionists. Joseph Stalin announced the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class " on 27 December 1929. Stalin had said: "Now we have the opportunity to carry out a resolute offensive against the kulaks, break their resistance, eliminate them as

455-569: A large number of people (according to the official statistics 77,791 persons) accused of nationalism and banditry, along with their family members from Western Ukraine. In May 1948 he was the general coordinator for operation Spring (in Russian Vesna ) in Lithuanian SSR , deporting, according to the official statistics, 39,482 people, along with their family members, accused of nationalism, banditry and being kulaks . In 1949 he

546-599: A liquidation effort was launched, and it lasted the entire decade. In the Soviet Union, the term "liquidation" referred to a strategy of removing the Soviet government's adversaries, such as political rivals, intellectuals, and affluent people. The New Economic Policy (NEP), which was implemented by the Soviet secret police known as the Cheka, gave rise to the phrase "liquidation" in the early 1920s. The liquidation campaign

637-481: A number of additional groups during the liquidation campaign in addition to the kulaks, including former Tsarist regime members, bourgeois intellectuals, and other organizations seen as state adversaries. Depending on the objective and the time period, the campaign's scope and the number of victims varied, but it is obvious that the liquidation campaign was a harsh and repressive measure that resulted in considerable suffering and death. The program of removing opponents of

728-539: A peasant family of Russian ethnicity. In 1916 he graduated from a two-class primary school and continued his training as an apprentice of a parish clerk in the villages of Ukolovo and Prigorod. In October 1917 he became secretary of the parish executive committee, a post he held until joining the state security system in May 1918. In 1919 he joined the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) . In 1925 he

819-610: A reserve of 1,907 families above the quota. Overall, due to the lack of time, the files on deportees were often incomplete or incorrect. Therefore, from April to June, retrospective corrections were made – new files were added for people deported but not on deportee lists and files of those who escaped deportations were removed. Due to the immense scale of the Operation Priboi, which spanned three Soviet republics, considerable resources were needed. MGB needed to assemble personnel, transport vehicles, and communication equipment all

910-631: A result of the NKVD's use of violence and repression, which had a significant effect on Soviet society. In Russia and other former Soviet governments, these policies and practices have left a lasting legacy. In February 1928, the Pravda newspaper published for the first time materials that claimed to expose the kulaks ; they described widespread domination by the rich peasantry in the countryside and invasion by kulaks of Communist party cells. Expropriation of grain stocks from kulaks and middle-class peasants

1001-566: A result of the frequent forced hard labor they were required to undertake in the factories or the fields. The secret police were crucial in enforcing Soviet government objectives during the dekulakization program in the Soviet Union. Kulaks and their families were subject to arrest, deportation, and execution by the secret police known as the NKVD. The NKVD was granted the authority to track down and assassinate kulaks, and they were allowed to use force and brutality to do so. Mass deportations and arrests of kulaks and their families were carried out by

SECTION 10

#1732794145930

1092-503: A threat to the collectivization of agriculture, during the most intense era of liquidation, which took place in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Millions of kulaks and their families were deported to remote regions of the Soviet Union as a result of the liquidation campaign against the kulaks, which also drove the collectivization of agriculture. An estimated 5   million people died as a result of this strategy, either through starvation, disease, or violence. The Soviet authorities targeted

1183-429: Is my last word." The official goal of kulak liquidation came without precise instructions, and encouraged local leaders to take radical action, which resulted in physical elimination. The campaign to liquidate the kulaks as a class constituted the main part of Stalin's social engineering policies in the early 1930s. Dekulakization had a significant impact on the Soviet Union, both in the short and long term. Some of

1274-539: The Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union scheduled the deportation between 20 and 25 March, but the start of the operation was delayed to the early morning of 25 March. Operatives were deployed to the countryside starting 21 March. A deportation of a family was carried out by a small nine–ten-man operative team, which included three USSR MGB agents (" troika "), two republican Destruction Battalion soldiers and four or five local Communist Party activists who were armed by

1365-763: The Martens Clause and the principles of the Nuremberg Charter , the European Court of Human Rights has held that the March deportation constituted a crime against humanity . Collectivisation in the Baltic states was introduced in early 1947, but the progress was slow. Despite new heavy taxes on farmers and intense propaganda, only about 3% of farms in Lithuania and Estonia joined kolkhozes by

1456-524: The Ministry of State Security (MGB) was responsible for gathering the deportees and transporting them to the designated railway stations; the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) was responsible for the transportation to the forced settlements , provision of employment at the destination, and continued surveillance and administration; Ministry of Finance was to allocate sufficient funds (5.60 rubles per person per day of travel); Ministry of Communications

1547-682: The invasion of Poland and accused of activities against the Communist movement in Poland, but pardoned in August 1941. However, in December 1941 they were again detained with no reason given for their arrest. In December 1941 they were sentenced to death behind their back as traitors. Ehrlich managed to commit suicide in prison in May 1942 but Alter was executed in February 1943. An official report to

1638-454: The 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s, was a crucial component of the Soviet Union's endeavor to achieve complete control over all facets of society. Although it is difficult to assess the scope of the campaign and the number of casualties, historians estimate that tens of thousands of individuals were put to death or imprisoned during this time. The Soviet government targeted the so-called "kulaks" or wealthy peasant farmers, who were viewed as

1729-774: The 1930s in Ukraine among various NKVD border units, he joined the NKVD administration in Leningrad in 1939. For the next few years he spent time in Leningrad and Kuibyshev until he was made the Commissar of State Security of the Kazakh SSR in 1944. While at this position, Ogoltsov participated in the deportation of many Soviet peoples to the Kazakh SSR. From 1945 he served as the Deputy Minister of State Security of

1820-526: The Council of Ministers, but due to the tight deadline and top secret nature of the task, local MGB offices compiled their own lists of kulaks. This caused much confusion during the operation. Local MGB offices would prepare summary certificates for each family and send them for approval to the republican MGB office. For example, by 14 March, Estonian MGB approved summary certificates for 9,407 families (3,824 kulaks and 5,583 nationalists and bandits) which created

1911-754: The Deputy People's Commissar of the NKVD Vsevolod Merkulov on the execution of Alter, signed by Ogoltsov, has been preserved. As the Deputy Minister of State Security of the USSR (1946–1951) Ogoltsov was the ministry level coordinator of several mass deportations in the Soviet Union. In October 1947 he and the Ukrainian Minister of State Security Sergei Savchenko coordinated operation West (in Russian Zapad ), removing

SECTION 20

#1732794145930

2002-605: The German occupation, there were many contradictory cases where Communist activists were deported but Nazi collaborators were not. This led to widespread confusion and uncertainty as to what offenses warranted deportation and what actions could guarantee safety. Deportees often blamed local informants of MGB who, they believed, acted out of petty revenge or greed, but Estonian researchers found that deportee lists were compiled with minimal local input. List of kulaks were to be prepared by local executive committees and officially approved by

2093-734: The Head of Main Intelligence Directorate of the MVD. His final position was as the First Deputy Minister of State Security. In early 1920s Ogoltsov coordinated the operations against Ukrainian nationalists and anarchists, including the units of Nestor Makhno , in Poltava Governorate . His strategy was simple: a number of people from villages supporting the counter-revolutionaries were taken hostage and if

2184-697: The Inspector for the Special Branch 14 Infantry Corps based in Kiev . His command was continually transferred in the 1930s to different units within Ukraine, including the 22nd Volochisskogo NKVD border unit, the 26th NKVD border detachment in Odessa , and the 27th NKVD border unit in Sevastopol. He was promoted to the commander officer of the 27th Crimean NKVD border group in 1936. After spending most of

2275-650: The MGB troops while Lieutenant General Sergei Ogoltsov , Deputy Minister of MGB, was in charge of the overall MGB role in the deportation. Burmak set up his headquarters in Riga . The success of the operation depended on its suddenness to prevent mass panic, escape attempts, or retaliations by the Forest Brothers. Therefore, secrecy was of paramount importance. Special MGB representatives were dispatched to various local offices of MGB to form operative staff that would select

2366-478: The MGB. Since the operatives were assembled from other parts of the Soviet Union, they were not familiar with local geography and that became a frequent reason for the failure to deport the designated family. Care was taken to ensure that each operative team included at least one member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or Komsomol to act as an ideological supervisors of the team. Recruitment of

2457-588: The Operation Priboi (approx. 3,000 people) and another mass deportation known as Operation Osen in late 1951 (more than 20,000 people). The additional troops brought for the operation left Latvia and Estonia on 3–8 April. By a decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet , orders and medals for the successful completion of Operation Priboi were to be granted. 75 people were awarded the Order of

2548-628: The Poor were created to represent poor peasants, which played an important role in the actions against the kulaks, and led the process of redistribution of confiscated lands, inventory, and food surpluses from the kulaks. This launched the beginning of a great crusade against grain speculators and kulaks. Before being dismissed in December 1918, the Committees of the Poor had confiscated 50 million hectares of kulak land. Vladimir Lenin's Hanging Order , dated 11 August 1918, commanded hangings in response to

2639-571: The Red Banner , their names published in Pravda on 25 August 1949. On 26 August, Pravda published the names of 17 people awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War , First Class for courage and heroism displayed during the operation. The deportees were exiled "for eternity" and no right of return to their home, with the penalty of twenty years of hard labour for attempted escapes. 138 new commandantures were set up to monitor

2730-494: The Red Banner . When Lavrenti Beria came to power in 1953 and revised the antisemitic policies of Stalin's last years, Ogoltsov was arrested due to his involvement in Mikhoels' murder and stripped of the order awarded to him in 1948. After Stalin's death, Ogoltsov was removed from his position as the First Deputy Minister of State Security by Beria and arrested on 3 April 1953 for the murder of Solomon Mikhoels . Soon after Beria

2821-675: The Right deviators." In 1928, the Right Opposition of the All-Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was still trying to support the prosperous peasantry and soften the struggle against the kulaks. In particular, Alexei Rykov , criticizing the policy of dekulakization and "methods of war communism", declared that an attack on the kulaks should be carried out but not by methods of so-called dekulakization. He argued against taking action against individual farming in

Operation Priboi - Misplaced Pages Continue

2912-721: The Soviet Union , the decision was made to carry out the deportations. On 29 January, the top secret decision No. 390-138 ss was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union , approving the deportation of kulaks, nationalists, bandits (i.e. Forest Brothers ), their supporters and families from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The decision specified deportee quotas for each republic: 8,500 families or 25,500 people from Lithuania, 13,000 families or 39,000 people from Latvia, and 7,500 families or 22,500 people from Estonia. Lists of kulaks to be deported were to be compiled by each republic and approved by each republic's Council of Ministers. It also listed responsibilities of each Soviet ministry:

3003-490: The Soviet Union needed for its rapid industrialization plans. In fact, a high-ranking member of the OGPU (the secret police) shared his vision for a new penal system that would establish villages in the northern Soviet Union that could specialize in extracting natural resources and help Stalin's industrialization. An OGPU secret-police functionary, Yefim Yevdokimov (1891–1939), played a major role in organizing and supervising

3094-408: The Soviet Union to take part in the operation. They arrived to the republics between 10 and 15 March. They were not told of their actual mission until later and their arrival was explained as a military exercise. An additional 5,025 submachine guns and 1,900 rifles were brought in to ensure that the operatives were sufficiently armed. Telecommunications was a vital component to ensure smooth running of

3185-562: The Soviet authorities as a potential threat to the collectivization process, and they believed that separating children from their parents would weaken the kulaks' resistance. When children were committed to orphanages or other institutions, they were frequently taken away from their family, subjected to harsh living conditions, and frequently neglected or abused. The Soviet Union's 1930s dekulakization efforts had an impact on millions of individuals, including women. If they were married to or related to kulaks, women were seen as potential enemies of

3276-484: The Soviet leadership, such as political rivals, intellectuals, and affluent people, was referred to as "liquidation" by the Soviet authorities. The word is an English translation of the Russian verb likvidirovat , which meaning "to liquidate" or "to eliminate." The phrase was not specifically applied to Soviet politics in its earlier usage; rather, it referred to the act of removing barriers or resolving issues. However,

3367-535: The Soviets organized another large deportation known as Operation Osen in late 1951. The deportations were for "eternity" with no way to return. During the de-Stalinization and Khrushchev Thaw , deportees were gradually released and some of them managed to return, though many of their descendants still live in Siberian towns and villages to this day. As the general situation in the Soviet Union had improved since

3458-553: The USSR (until 1946 Deputy People's Commissar of State Security). In 1951 Ogoltsov was appointed the 1st Deputy Minister of State Security of the USSR. Joseph Stalin then nominated Ogoltsov for Minister of State Security after the removal of Vsevolod Nikolayevich Merkulov , but he initially refused, citing a lack of knowledge and experience. In 1952 Ogoltsov served as the Minister of Public Security in Uzbekistan and then became

3549-441: The USSR. He thought they were trying to bring down the Soviet regime. Based on accounts of kulak opposition to collectivization, this suspicion was formed. Stalin despised the kulaks because he perceived them as a threat to his political objectives, a representation of the previous order, and a possible Soviet enemy. Millions of people were arrested, deported, and put to death as a result of his severe and merciless tactics regarding

3640-665: The age of 16. Kruglov , the USSR Interior Minister, reported to Stalin on May 18 that 2,850 were "decrepit solitary old people", 1,785 children without parents to support them, and 146 disabled. About 15% of the deportees were over the age of 60. There were people of very old age; for example, a 95-year-old woman was deported from Švenčionys District , Lithuania. The deportation was a shock to Estonian and Latvian societies. The rate of collectivisation jumped from 8% to 64% from 20 March to 20 April in Estonia and from 11% to more than 50% from 12 March to 9 April in Latvia. By

3731-546: The border of the Baltic Republics in advance so as not to raise suspicion and sent in at the start of the operation. The preparation on the MVD side was slower. USSR MVD order No. 00225 instructing various branches of MVD to prepare for the deportation and to assist the MGB was issued only on 12 March. Six months later, an internal review commission criticized the delay. Special representatives of MVD arrived to local districts only on 18–22 March. The original order by

Operation Priboi - Misplaced Pages Continue

3822-463: The camps. Millions of kulaks and their families are thought to have been affected by these measures. In November 1917, at a meeting of delegates of the committees of poor peasants, Vladimir Lenin announced a new policy to eliminate what were believed to be wealthy Soviet peasants, known as kulaks : "If the kulaks remain untouched, if we don't defeat the freeloaders, the czar and the capitalist will inevitably return." In July 1918, Committees of

3913-470: The dekulakization effort, they had to deal with a variety of difficulties, such as losing their belongings and being separated from their families, as well as the danger of violence and forced labor. Women encountered several difficulties during the dekulakization drive, including the loss of their homes and possessions, being cut off from their family, and the danger of physical and sexual violence. Many of them experienced starvation, sickness, and tiredness as

4004-399: The deportees and compile a file on each family. The information was gathered from many different sources, including republican MGB files on "nationalists", local MGB files on "bandits" (i.e. Forest Brothers), local executive committee files and tax records on "kulaks", border guard and navy files on emigrants. Since there was not enough time to investigate people's attitudes or activities during

4095-419: The deportees, censor their mail, and prevent escapes. Deportees were not permitted to leave their designated area and were required to report to the local MVD commandant once a month, failure of which was a punishable offense. The deportees were generally given jobs in kolkhozes and sovkhozes , with a small handful employed in forestry and manufacturing. Living conditions varied greatly by destination, but there

4186-521: The end of 1948. Borrowing from the collectivisation experiences of the early 1930s, kulaks were named as the primary obstacle and became targets of repressions. It is unclear when the idea of a mass deportation was advanced. On 18 January 1949, leaders of all three Baltic republics were called to report to Joseph Stalin . That day, during a session of the Politburo of the Communist Party of

4277-471: The end of the war, this mass deportation did not result in as many casualties as previous deportations , with a reported mortality rate of less than 15 percent. Due to the high death rate of deportees during the first few years of their Siberian exile, caused by the failure of Soviet authorities to provide suitable living conditions at the destinations, whether through neglect or premeditation, some sources consider these deportations an act of genocide . Based on

4368-483: The end of the year, 80% Estonian and 93% Latvian farms joined kolkhozes . In Lithuania, which had the stronger Forest Brother movement and already experienced a mass deportation in May 1948 ( Operation Vesna ), the impact was not as great and the collectivisation rate was 62% by the end of 1949. Therefore, the Soviets organized another large deportation from Lithuania in April 1949 specifically targeting those who had escaped

4459-476: The evening of 30 March. Not only the stations, but also the railways were patrolled. In Estonia, the patrols were attacked in three separate incidents. One of these incidents near Püssi resulted in the derailment of three railway cars on March 27. The patrols, among other things, picked up letters thrown out the train window by the deportees. The letters would usually inform about the deportation, send farewells to relatives and homeland, complain about conditions on

4550-472: The furious enemies of socialism. We must destroy them, don't take them to the kolkhoz , you must take away their property, their inventory." The letter of the Red Army soldier of the 28th Artillery Regiment became widely known: "The last bread is taken away, the Red Army family is not considered. Although you are my dad, I do not believe you. I'm glad that you had a good lesson. Sell bread, carry surplus – this

4641-467: The gathering of deportee family members, friends, or onlookers. MVD also recruited informants from among the deportees and placed people categorized as flight risk under heavier guard. The train cars were mostly standard 20-ton freight cars ( Russian : Нормальный товарный вагон ) with no amenities. The cars, on average, fit 35 people and their baggage which means about 0.5 square metres (5.4 sq ft) of space per person. The last train left Lithuania in

SECTION 50

#1732794145930

4732-412: The household taking inventory of the confiscated property while soldiers escorted the deportees to the train stations. The activists were also important in explaining who was deported and why. Since these were locals, they were often familiar to the deportees and these activists, not the unknown soldiers, became the face and name of the deportations creating social tensions. On average, each operative team

4823-420: The kulaks as a class " on 27 December 1929, portraying kulaks as class enemies of the Soviet Union. More than 1.8   million peasants were deported in 1930–1931. The campaign had the stated purpose of fighting counter-revolution and of building socialism in the countryside. This policy, carried out simultaneously with collectivization in the Soviet Union , effectively brought all agriculture and all

4914-404: The kulaks as a class constituted the main part of Stalin's social engineering policies in the early 1930s. Liquidation was a term used to describe a Soviet government policy of eradicating political adversaries, intellectuals, and rich persons. The Cheka, the secret police of the Soviet Union, carried out this program through arrests, executions, and other types of repression. Early in the 1920s,

5005-431: The kulaks as a class, the resistance of this class must be smashed in open battle and it must be deprived of the productive sources of its existence and development (free use of land, instruments of production, land-renting, right to hire labour, etc.). That is a turn towards the policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class. Without it, talk about ousting the kulaks as a class is empty prattle, acceptable and profitable only to

5096-425: The kulaks were a part of a larger effort to end private land ownership and centralize agricultural output under state control, which had significant repercussions for Soviet society and the peasantry. Children were among the millions of people who were impacted by the Soviet Union's 1930s dekulakization initiatives. Families in their entirety, including children of all ages, were frequently deported to distant parts of

5187-511: The kulaks were viewed as a representation of the previous, pre-revolutionary order by Stalin and other Soviet officials. The Bolsheviks considered the kulaks as a barrier to the socialist revolution while simultaneously seeing the peasants as a potentially revolutionary force. In order to create his socialist society, Stalin needed to get rid of the Kulaks because they were similar to capitalists. The kulaks were seen by Stalin as potential enemies of

5278-521: The kulaks. His adversary, Leon Trotsky , condemned the "liquidation of the kulaks" in 1930 as a "monstrosity" and had urged the Politbureau during the intra-party struggle to raise taxation on wealthier farmers and encourage farm labourers along with poor peasants to form collective farms on a voluntary basis with state resources allocated to agricultural machinery, fertilizers , credit and agronomic assistance. Stalin's classification of kulaks

5369-582: The labourers in Soviet Russia under state control. The kulaks were a group of affluent peasants who owned land and had workers working for them. They posed a danger to Stalin's collectivization efforts, which sought to end private land ownership and centralize agricultural production under state supervision. In order to do this, Stalin took a number of harsh actions against the kulaks. Many of them were imprisoned, deported, and forced to work in prison camps. Others perished in executions or while traveling to

5460-508: The local Communist Party activists by partorgs was the last step. Since they needed to assemble a large force in a very short time, they used various excuses (such as discussion of spring sowing or cinema viewing) to call meetings of the Party or Komsomol . The activists were taken to the deportations directly from these meetings; others not selected for the operation were detained to preserve secrecy until its completion. The activists stayed in

5551-519: The main effects were: The "liquidation of kulaks as a class" was the name of a Soviet policy enforced in 1930–1931 for forced, uncompensated alienation of property (expropriation) from portions of the peasantry and isolation of victims from such actions by way of their forceful deportation from their place of residence. The official goal of kulak liquidation came without precise instructions, and encouraged local leaders to take radical action, which resulted in physical elimination. The campaign to liquidate

SECTION 60

#1732794145930

5642-541: The nation or sent to camps for forced labor. Children were "put into homes or orphanages and separated from their families as part of the dekulakization policies in the Soviet Union during the 1930s," according to historian Lynne Viola. These measures aimed to reduce kulak family resistance and enhance agricultural production under state supervision. Millions of individuals, including kids of all ages, were consequently subjected to forced labor, deportation, and other types of punishment. Children from kulak families were seen by

5733-628: The next five years. From June 1920 he held various security posts in Poltava Governorate , becoming by the end of the year deputy head of the department combating banditry. In January 1921 he was appointed the head of Cheka in Lokhvytsky Uyezd and in 1922, after Cheka had been renamed the State Political Directorate (GPU), one of the plenipotentiaries in Poltava Governorate. In 1923, Ogoltsov became

5824-683: The operation, thus the MGB commandeered all civilian telephone exchanges for the duration and brought in an extra 2,210 MGB communications personnel. 4,437 freight railway cars were delivered. A total of 8,422 trucks were organised. 5,010 civilian trucks were commandeered and the remaining vehicles were military origin, including 1,202 imported from the Leningrad Military District , 210 from the Byelorussian Military District and 700 from Internal Troops. These additional vehicles were stationed just outside

5915-426: The phrase came to be linked with the oppressive and murderous practices of the Soviet secret police, known as the Cheka, in the setting of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's liquidation had a wide-ranging effect and serious repercussions for both the nation and its citizens. In Russia and other former Soviet governments, the consequences of these policies are still felt today. (wrote in corresponding number to match

6006-524: The reference/citation) Works Cited Sergei Ogoltsov Sergei Ivanovich Ogoltsov ( Russian : Сергей Иванович Огольцов ; 29 August 1900 – 30 December 1976 ) was a Soviet state security official who served as a Deputy Minister of State Security from 1946 to 1953. Sergei Ivanovich Ogoltsov was born on 29 August 1900 in Kanino village in Sapozhkovsky Uyezd of Ryazan Governorate in

6097-505: The round-up of kulaks and their mass executions. Stalin had a number of issues with the kulaks. First, he considered the kulaks to be a danger to his collectivization principles. Collectivization aimed to end private land ownership and put agricultural production under government and peasant control. Stalin wanted to collectivize society, but the kulaks were seen as a hurdle because they held substantial amounts of land and employed laborers, making them resistant to collectivization. Second,

6188-464: The secret police, frequently without cause or due process. The Gulag, a system of forced labor camps founded by the NKVD, was where many kulaks were transported to work in perilous circumstances. Numerous captives suffered from starvation, illness, and torture in the notoriously cruel camps. The secret police's contribution to the dekulakization effort had a considerable impact on the Soviet government's policies and procedures. Millions of people died as

6279-450: The situation, or did not have their items with them. Property left behind was transferred to kolkhozes or sold to cover state expenses. Where available, the ownership of real estate and land was restored to the deportees and their heirs after the dissolution of the Soviet Union . Unlike the June deportation in 1941, the families deported in 1949 were not separated. People were transported to

6370-474: The state since they were assumed to be complicit with their husbands or male relatives. Because of this, they were frequently singled out by the government for arrest, deportation, and jail. Women were targeted by the campaign, according to historian Lynne Viola, who notes that they were "kulaks ' " spouses, mothers, and sisters. Women were frequently treated harshly, including being arrested and deported, because they were seen as possible kulak conspirators. During

6461-564: The train stations by various means—horse carts, trucks, or cargo ships (from the Estonian islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa ). As the people had already experienced mass deportations, they knew the signs (such as arrival of fresh troops and vehicles) and attempted to hide. Therefore, the Soviets set up ambushes, tracked down and interrogated relatives, and carried out mass identity documents checks, among other measures. Against regulations, MGB operatives would deliver children without parents to

6552-479: The train stations hoping that the parents would voluntarily show up. Not all fugitives were caught by such measures and later, in Lithuania, smaller actions and deportations were organized to locate those that escaped the first Operation Priboi in March. Once loaded onto the trains, the deportees became the responsibility of the MVD. The loading stations needed special supervision and security to prevent escapes therefore they were, if possible, away from towns to prevent

6643-487: The train, and express anti-Soviet feelings. On average, the train ride lasted about two weeks, but could take almost a month. For example, a train left Võru on March 29 and arrived to Makaryevo station in Svirsk on April 22. According to an MVD report from 30 May, from Estonian deportees, 45 people died en route and 62 were removed from the trains due to medical conditions. Some 72% of deportees were women and children under

6734-458: The village, the productivity of which was two times lower than in European countries. He believed that the most important task of the party was the development of the individual farming of peasants with the help of the government. The government increasingly noticed an open and resolute protest among the poor against the well-to-do middle peasants. The growing discontent of the poor peasants

6825-517: The villagers refused to reveal the locations of counter-revolutionary units, the hostages were executed. The discovered units were completely annihilated as Ogoltsov had given a command not to take any prisoners in armed combat. As the head of NKVD in Kuybyshev Ogoltsov was in charge of execution of a Polish-Jewish social and political activist Victor Alter . Alter and his colleague Henryk Ehrlich had been arrested already in 1939 after

6916-502: The while keeping the operation secret. MGB also needed to draw up plans for where the operative groups to be deployed and how the deportees to be transported to the railway stations. Local MGB officials, who numbered 634 in Estonia, were not sufficient and 1,193 MGB operatives from other parts of the Soviet Union were transferred to Estonia alone. In addition to the troops already stationed in Latvia and Estonia, an additional 8,850 soldiers were deployed to Estonia and Latvia from other parts of

7007-495: Was apparently very effective in finding "counter-revolutionary literature" during his search and seizure operations and soon his name was brought to the attention of Cheka top executives. In April 1920 he was transferred to Moscow , where he served as a commissar of search and seizure under direct supervision of Felix Dzerzhinsky 's first deputy Ivan Ksenofontov . In May he was part of the team of security officers who accompanied Dzerzhinsky to Ukraine , where Ogoltsov remained for

7098-498: Was assigned three to four specific families they needed to deport. After locating the assigned farm, the team was to search the premises, identify all residents, and complete their files. The families were allowed to pack some of their personal belongings (clothes, dishes, agricultural tools, domestic utensils) and food. Official instructions allotted up to 1,500 kilograms (3,300 lb) per family, but many did not pack sufficient supplies as they were given little time, were disoriented by

7189-513: Was based on a number of directives that the Soviet government had issued in the early 1930s. These decrees classified kulaks into three groups based on their financial status and support for collectivism: Local government representatives and party leaders had wide latitude in deciding whose kulaks belonged in which category. This frequently resulted in the arbitrary and unfair treatment of peasants, with many of them being labeled as kulaks due to their income or social standing. The actions taken against

7280-612: Was buried at the Vagankovo Cemetery in Moscow . In the last 15 years of his career in state security Ogoltsov held the following military ranks: During his career in state security Ogoltsov was awarded the following state decorations: Russian journalist Leonid Mlechin has written about Ogoltsov in his book History of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Career and Destiny . He writes: "Of all

7371-443: Was called a "temporary emergency measure"; temporary emergency measures turned into a policy of "eliminating the kulaks as a class" by the 1930s. Sociologist Michael Mann described the Soviet attempt to collectivize and liquidate perceived class enemies as fitting his proposed category of classicide . The party's appeal to the policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class had been formulated by Stalin, who stated: "In order to oust

7462-517: Was directed at those who were thought to pose a threat to the Soviet government's attempt to consolidate its control, such as former Tsarist regime members, bourgeois intellectuals, and other deemed adversaries of the state. The liquidation campaign, which included arrests, executions, and other acts of repression, was part of a larger initiative to quell dissent and solidify the Soviet Communist Party's power. The liquidation campaign

7553-696: Was housing shortage almost everywhere. Deportees lived in barracks, farm sheds, mud huts, or became tenants of locals. The conditions were also very dependent on how many working-age people there were in a family as bread was allotted based on workdays, not headcount. Some relatives from home were able to send food packages that alleviated the worst hunger. By 31 December 1950, 4,123 or 4.5% of the deportees died, including 2,080 children. During this same period, 903 children were born into exile. Dekulakization Dekulakization ( Russian : раскулачивание , romanized :  raskulachivaniye ; Ukrainian : розкуркулення , romanized :  rozkurkulennya )

7644-595: Was in charge of operation Breaking Wave (in Russian Priboy ) directed against the three Baltic republics of the USSR – Estonian SSR , Latvian SSR and Lithuanian SSR. The deportations took place simultaneously in all three Soviet republics on 25 March 1949 and resulted in total of 94,775 people removed from these territories. In the same role he also coordinated the murder of Jewish actor and producer Solomon Mikhoels in 1948 in Minsk, Belarus . Robert Conquest ,

7735-558: Was largely focused on the political opponents of the Bolshevik government in the early years of the Soviet Union. The campaign's objectives, however, changed in the late 1920s to include perceived adversaries of the Soviet economy, such as the so-called "kulaks" or prosperous peasant farmers. The drive to eliminate the kulaks was a component of a larger collectivization strategy that attempted to centralize agricultural output under state control. The liquidation campaign, which lasted through

7826-413: Was reinforced by the famine in the countryside. The Bolsheviks preferred to blame the "rural counterrevolution" of the kulaks, intending to aggravate the attitude of the people towards the party: "We must repulse the kulak ideology coming in the letters from the village. The main advantage of the kulak is bread embarrassments." Red Army peasants sent letters supporting anti-kulak ideology: "The kulaks are

7917-531: Was removed from power Ogoltsov was released on 6 August 1953 and appointed to the personnel department of the Ministry of State Security. However, already in January 1954 he was retired from active duty. On 14 February 1958 he was also excluded from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for fabricating cases against professors in Leningrad universities in 1940s. On 8 June 1959 he was stripped of his rank and all state decorations. He died on 30 December 1976 and

8008-637: Was sent to study in the Higher Border Guard School of the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) that he graduated in 1927. Just 17 years old, he started his career in Cheka , working from May to October 1918 as a secretary of a bureau combating profiteering. In October 1918 he was promoted to an investigator and in March 1919 became the deputy head of a bureau combating counter-revolution. In June 1919 he

8099-417: Was the Soviet campaign of political repressions , including arrests , deportations , or executions of millions of supposed kulaks ( wealthy peasants ) and their families. Redistribution of farmland started in 1917 and lasted until 1933, but was most active in the 1929–1932 period of the first five-year plan . To facilitate the expropriations of farmland, the Soviet government announced the "liquidation of

8190-510: Was to provide the railway stock cars ; Ministries of Trade and Health were to provide food and health care en route to the destination. Given just two months for preparations, the various agencies began marshaling resources. On 28 February 1949, Viktor Abakumov , the minister of MGB, signed the USSR MGB order No. 0068 for the preparation and execution of the mass deportations. Lieutenant General Pyotr Burmak  [ ru ] commanded

8281-722: Was transferred from the Sapozhkovsky Uyezd office to the Ryazan Governorate office, where he advanced fast – from operative commissar of search and seizure to the head of weaponry bureau to the assistant of the Cheka plenipotentiary in Ranenburgsky Uyezd . He also participated in combat activities against the units of the Cossack general Konstantin Mamontov . Although Ogoltsov could barely read, he

#929070