[The following is a report that is representative of the practice of completely random detentions and kidnappings common in the Soviet Union, by its government, in the early 1930s. These almost always ended up in deportations, usually with thin or no reasoning at all, as part of the Soviet government’s goals of ridding their major cities and industrial centers of “parasitic elements.” More often than not, individuals were targeted simply to fill arbitrary quotas, even if the person had all their paperwork in order.]
During this period, being on the streets without your passport could have serious consequences. Witness the following cases, among a long list of similar examples:
V. Novolojilov, “Muscovite, stoker in the Kompressor factory, three-time award winner. Wife and child duly registered in Moscow. After work, he was preparing to go to the movies with his wife. While she was getting ready, he went out to buy cigarettes. Rounded up and deported.”
G. Nazin, “Muscovite, chief assistant in the fire brigade at the Bolshoi Theater, member of the Kremlin fire brigade. Rounded up in the street. The Kremlin pass Nazin showed the police was not taken into consideration.”
N. V. Voikin, “member of the Communist Youth since 1929, worker at the Krasnyi Tkatch (Red Weaver) Mill in Serpukhov. Member of the office of the Party cell in his workshop, candidate for the mill’s plenary committee. Three-time award winner. Arrested in the street as he was going to a soccer match. Had left his passport at home.”
Chmelev, “member of the Communist Youth since the beginning of 1933, worker in the Frounze Factory in Moscow, carpenter. Was supposed to receive his passport in two days. Had a receipt to this effect in proper form. Arrested in the street as he was returning home from work. The receipt was of no use.”
N. V. Chudkov, “member of the Communist Youth, assistant director of the Nejilrest Cooperative (Leninskii district, Moscow), has a brother who is a scholarship student at the Industrial Academy. Went to see the opera “The Queen of Spades” at the Bolshoi Theater. As he left the theater, he was arrested in Neglinnaia Street and deported to Nazino. Had left his passport at home.”
Pavel Alexeievich Tkachev, “had just joined the Communist Youth in March 1933, card. No. 1387815, and had paid his dues until August, a fact certified on the card that he had managed to retain. Tkachev was a resident of the orphanage run by the Central Executive Committee in Moscow, and was living in Pushinko for the summer. Tkachev and another resident of the orphanage, Vassiliev, had been told to collect all the wind instruments left in the orphanage buildings in Moscow in order to prepare for the concert on May 1. The administration had given them all the necessary documents, certificates, and attestations. As he was getting off the suburban train, Tkachev was arrested and deported. His Communist Youth card and other documents were of no help.”
Maslov, “Party member, worked in the Moscow gas plant. Had invited an engineer friend and his brother-in-law to his house for a drink. All three went out to buy snacks and were arrested by a police patrol at the food store. Had not taken their passports along. Were deported. The engineer and the brother-in-law died in Nazino. Maslov survived.”
Author’s Note:
The examples cited are drawn from Velichko’s letter to Stalin (published in Danilov and Krasilnikov, Spetzpereselentsy v Zapadnoi Sibiri, vol. 3, pp. 89-100) and the final report of the commission of inquiry headed by Kovalev (published in the same volume, pp. 100-16. Several of the Kovalev Commission’s interim reports are archived in TsA FSB, 2/11/763/180-208.
Source:
Werth, Nicolas. “In the Tomsk Transit Camp.” Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag. Princeton University Press, 2007. 113-15. Print.
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I think there are people in the US who'd like to do the same thing with non-whites.