The article deals with the results of the work of the Special Troika of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, which carried out the repressive functions of the “national” operations during the phase of the Big Terror in the fall of 1938.
Authors:
Natalia Anatolievna Potapova Institute of History SB RAS, Russia, Novosibirsk; https:// publons.com/researcher/3880329//; skna17talya@mail.ru
Alexei Andreyevich Babii Krasnoyarsk Historical-Educational and Human Rights Society “Memorial”, Russia, Krasnoyarsk
The main focus is the number of prisoners convicted by this extra-judicial body. The work is based on NKVD record keeping documents, including decisions of the Krasnoyarsk krai Special Troika. The analysis of the Protocols of the Special Troika and archival and investigative cases showed that in the region in the autumn of 1938 1894 people were sentenced to the highest punishment, including 1690 people, but in fact less than 1% of the execution sentences confirmed by the regional extra-judicial instance were carried out. Such situation was typical not only for Krasnoyarsk region, but also for other regions of the USSR. The conclusion is made that one of the reasons for “mercy” was the order of the NKVD of the USSR # 00762 of November 26, 1938 which ordered to stop prosecuting the punitive actions of the Big Terror, and recommended transferring unprosecuted cases to the courts. The persons sentenced on the last day of mass repressions were to be released; the bodies of NKVD were forbidden to execute the sentences pronounced by the Special Troika after November 15, 1938. A subsequent explanation of December 22, 1938 by the Commissar of Internal Affairs L. P. Beria obliged security officers to consider null and void all death sentences of extra-judicial instances not executed before November 17.
The full article can be read in full in the Vestnik of Kemerovo State University. https://memorial.krsk.ru/Articles/2021/2021Babiy1.pdf