Defense enterprises of Shostka during the years of the "Great Terror"

Abstract

The aim of the study is to clarify the historical circumstances under which political repressions unfolded at the Shostka defense plants in 1937-38. The article analyzes the directive documents of the authorities on the basis of which the repressions were carried out. The authors focus on the fabricated nature of the accusations and the methods used by the employees of the NKVD punitive system. The applied methods of analysis, comparison, generalization and systematization allow us to investigate the repressive nature of the totalitarian regime’s policy. The results of the study indicate that during the 1920s and 1930s, the defense enterprises of Shostka were in a state of reconstruction and changes in management, which negatively affected the efficiency of work and the quality of products. After the appearance of the secret order of the NKVD No. 00447 “On the repression of former kulaks, criminal criminals, and other anti-Soviet elements” of July 30, 1937, the largest mass operation of the “Great Terror” began. Problems in the activities of enterprises (often of an objective nature) became a reason for accusations of managers and engineering and technical workers in disrupting production tasks, espionage activities, “right-wing Trotskyism”, etc. It was established that the cases of “pests in production” were fabricated according to a scheme worked out since the early 1930s: first, the “leading core” of high-ranking officials of the relevant industry was identified, and then local cells were checked. The main stages and scales of repression at the Shostka defense plants were determined, the essence of the accusations against the managers and specialists of the enterprises was analyzed, the peculiarities of the work of the punitive bodies were analyzed, and the further fate of both the victims of repression and the perpetrators of terror was clarified. It was established that one of the consequences of the repression was the intensification of the atmosphere of fear and the complication of the moral and psychological state of both the employees of the enterprises and the residents of the city as a whole.

As a result of the research, the authors concluded that the "Shostka gunsmiths' case" was falsified and that further research was necessary to establish historical justice and rehabilitate the repressed.