As a policing force within the Soviet Union, how did the NKVD survive structurally in the face of such rapid purging by the state. Stalin removed all of the key actors within the military, but how did those in power in the NKVD manage to survive?
2007-12-05 03:23:43 · 5 answers · asked by skullpicker 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
Those who survived the NKVD purges 1936-1938 did so by chance. There is no observable pattern to the purging. Moreover those purged had no idea that Stalin was directing the purges as a matter of routine to eradicate any potential challenge to his power no matter how irrational those fears were. NKVD members thought if they were obedient they would recieve praise from the regime. Those arrested even wrote letters to Stalin 'informing' him of their plight.
The structure of the NKVD remained the same, those purges were simply replaced by younger more loyal footsoldier to conduct Stalin's policies. No level of the NKVD were unaffected. The leadership went from Yagoda to Yezhov to Beria. Stalin simply had quotas that needed filling, which he disguised by forced confessions of being 'trotskyite', boigoise or kulak conspirators.
2007-12-05 05:46:25 · answer #1 · answered by peaco1000 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the NKVD were Stalin's para-military own force that combined police work with military law enforcement,they had a totally free hand to enforce and purge to their hearts content,it was a force controlled by Stalin and carried out all of his orders without question and were responsible for a lot of civilian massacres plus the the executions of military leaders who questioned the regime of the day,all in all,not the type you want knocking your door at 3 in the morning
2007-12-05 05:13:23 · answer #2 · answered by the devil wears camo 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My history's a bit rusty, and I may of got the wrong of the stick, but wasn't it the NKVD doing the purging?
They were some of the closest people to Stalin, which helped keep it all together(for a short while).
Most of the senior figures ended up dead in the end (Yagoda,Yezhov ect.)
And I guess the neverending line of sucessors helped keep it stable...in a sort of sith 'master kills apprentice' sort of way.
I may of completely missed the boat.
2007-12-05 03:41:28 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the same thing is happennig in iraq, people are being executed by the americans and the killings blamed on sectarain violence, a lot of people have had knocks on thier door in the middle of the night and taken away by american death squads never to be seen again, why do you think those allied secret service police who were dressed as iraqis with thier faces covered were caught by a routine iraqi police stop,and the police discovered equipemnt used for assinations like rope, gags, iraqi ak 47, rpgs, this happened last year.
2007-12-05 17:52:22 · answer #4 · answered by 5 star 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They didn't, they took their share casualties as well, with Stalins paranoia, even being the head of the N.K.V.D. was no guarantee of survival
2007-12-05 07:28:44 · answer #5 · answered by conranger1 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋