[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.]
Moscow residents legally residing in the capital and arrested in the street by random police patrols represent, however, only a minority of the cases of deportation judged abusive. The majority concern persons who were temporarily staying in the capital or passing through it, and who had usually been arrested in train stations, despite all the certificates and other attestations that had been given them by their government office, their company, or their kolkhoz. Among the cases considered “particularly representative” are the following:
Sergei Andreivich Voronine, “railway mechanic, employed in the 13th section of the Leningrad-Moscow railway, arrested in the Moscow train station as he was passing through the capital on his way back from his annual holiday and with his travel order properly certified.”
Feodosii Mikhailovich Artiukh, “born 1912, kolkhozian in the Lenin Kolkhoz, in the town of Teplovka, Prilutskii district, Ukraine Soviet Socialist Republic. Sent by his kolkhoz, along with three other kolkhozians, to buy bread in Moscow. All four were arrested as they got off the train. The three other kolkhozians, all from the same village – Mikhail Komskii, Ivan Volotskii, and Ivan Tikhenko – died on the island of Nazino. When they arrested the four kolkhozians, the transportation police refused to even glance at the kolkhoz’s attestations certifying that F. M. Artiukh and his three companions were duly mandated.”*
Rakhametzianova, “12 years old, does not speak Russian. Was in transit in Moscow. Her mother left her alone in the station while she went to try to buy bread. The girl was arrested by the police as a young vagabond and deported alone to Narym.”
Nikolay Iakovlevich Mosalikin, “candidate for membership in the Party since 1932, team leader in the kolkhoz of the village of Nevedomyi Kolodets, in the Belgorod region. Sent on a mission by his kolkhoz to buy bread in Moscow. Arrested as he got off the train. Had all his certificates in order. The police refused to look at them. Deported to Narym.”
*Galina Georguievna Gorbunova, “wife of the reserve commander of the cruiser Aurora, arrested while she was passing through a Moscow train station on her way home to Leningrad, and while she was pregnant. Had with her all her papers and her train ticket for Leningrad. Gave birth on the island of Nazino.”*
Source:
Werth, Nicolas. “In the Tomsk Transit Camp.” Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag. Princeton University Press, 2007. 115-16. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Danilov and Krasilnikov, Spetzpereselentsy v Zapadnoi Sibiri, vol. 3, pp. 89-100.
If you enjoy this type of content, please consider donating to my Patreon!
No comments, yet...