Who was rehabilitated after Stalin's death and what happened to them at large

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The flywheel of Stalin's repressions swept across the country. The fact that after his death the prisoners of the camps were freed did not mean that they could return to normal life. Rehabilitation of yesterday's convicts took place in several stages and dragged on for decades. A certain category of prisoners was not able to find freedom at all. By what criteria were prisoners selected for amnesty and what happened to them at large?

In the history of the country, no leader, be it Tsarist, Soviet or Russian, has initiated such a large-scale amnesty as the one that took place after Stalin's death. It is generally accepted that it did not affect political prisoners. However, everyone who was sentenced to less than five years received freedom. Including those who were called "political". Of course, they were in the minority, but, as they say, the process has begun.

It is believed that Beria planned to hold a further large-scale amnesty separately for political prisoners. His plans were not destined to come true, they were subsequently implemented by Nikita Khrushchev. But this gives reason not to call the 1953 amnesty exclusively criminal.

In addition, according to the amnesty decree, prisoners serving sentences for banditry and premeditated murder did not receive the right to be released. On the other hand, such criminals often received lighter sentences only because the law enforcement agency failed to collect the necessary evidence base. Moreover, this practice is widespread not only in the post-Soviet space. Suffice it to recall that Al Capone was not imprisoned for murders, but for tax debts.

Although inveterate criminals were also released (due to the imperfection of the judicial and criminal system), those who served time for "three ears of wheat" were also able to return home.

Manual amnesty

If everything was supposed to go smoothly on paper, then life has made its own adjustments. Prisoners who did not fall under the amnesty literally flooded the prosecutor's office with complaints. Now newspapers and other periodicals were brought to the camps, thanks to which news of the progress of the amnesty reached even faster. Changes have begun within the camp system as well. They removed the bars from the windows, did not close the doors at night.

In response to a huge number of complaints, Khrushchev was asked to create a special commission to consider cases of rehabilitation. High-ranking officials and law enforcement officers had to quickly make bold decisions.

However, it was still not possible to give answers promptly. The camps did not receive answers to inquiries for a long time. In addition, the heads of the camps included in the lists of amnestied those whom they wanted to get rid of as quickly as possible: people with disabilities, diseases, brawlers and squabbers. Often cases were reviewed at the place of conviction, and not where the case materials were stored, this added confusion and confusion.

The commission ceased to exist in 1955. Of the 450 thousand cases opened for counter-revolutionary crimes, only 153.5 thousand were terminated. More than 14 thousand people were rehabilitated. More than 180 thousand people were denied amnesty and a reconsideration of the case, their punishment was left unchanged. At the same time, the number of political prisoners decreased, if in 1955 there were more than 300 thousand, then a year later a little more than 110 thousand. By this time, many prisoners had already come to the end of their term of imprisonment.

Thaw and new amnesties

The so-called Khrushchev thaw led to a reassessment of values and getting rid of the Stalinist past would have been impossible without getting rid of the cult of his personality. It is difficult to imagine how the rehabilitation of the repressed would have proceeded with a further positive attitude towards Stalin. Rather, one was impossible without the other. The famous report by Khrushchev, which became a turning point in the history of the country, played a significant role in the rehabilitation of political prisoners.

Most likely, the central office was dissatisfied with the work of the previous commission. Spot checks were carried out, which revealed that some of the refusals were unreasonable. Khrushchev personally proposed the creation of new commissions, and without law enforcement agencies. Decisions on prisoners were to be made locally, the commission worked with visits to places of detention. It was believed that law enforcement officers and the KGB, who were part of the first commission, covered up shortcomings in business.

The work of such a commission was more effective, since they had the opportunity to communicate with the prisoners, familiarized themselves with the materials of his case. In addition, this commission received more detailed instructions, which it followed. This also yielded tangible results. For example, Article 58.10 (counter-revolutionary agitation and propaganda) was not considered aggravating. The commission, delving into the case, never ceased to be surprised that the sentences were not related to the crimes, and were unjustifiably harsh.

Initially, the cases of traitors to the Motherland, spies, terrorists and punishers (those who sided with the Germans during the war) were not subject to revision. But the members of the commission, seeing the scale of the falsifications, realized that they needed to be revised as well.

Bakhish Bekhtiyev - Lieutenant Colonel, participant of the Victory Parade, was sentenced to 25 years. Such a severe punishment was given to him for what he dared to say that the Generalissimo should have been given not to Stalin, but to Zhukov. The commission was extremely surprised by the behavior of the lieutenant colonel. The former soldier, almost in tears, convinced the audience that he had no thoughts against the Soviet regime.

This commission considered more than 170 thousand cases, as a result, more than one hundred thousand people were released, 3 thousand were fully rehabilitated, more than 17 thousand convicts received a reduction in the term of imprisonment.

Rehabilitation after amnesty

It was not enough just to be released; it was still necessary to rejoin Soviet society. And to do this after a long imprisonment and oblivion was extremely difficult. The state provided the rehabilitated with a certain amount of support: compensation, housing, pensions. But this was not the most important thing. Everything was done to make society's attitude towards former political prisoners not just loyal, but respectful. However, how effective it was is another story.

Through films and literature, their image rose, he appeared almost a hero, a fighter against the system and oppression, almost a war veteran. Such "warm" moods did not soar in the country for a long time.

In 1956, in Poland and Hungary, the Soviet government made the Soviet government think and take a closer look at citizens of a certain category. Former prisoners of the Gulag again came under the scrutiny of law enforcement agencies. More than a hundred people from the national underground of Ukraine were hidden behind bars. All of them were previously amnestied.

Just as it was impossible to return the lost years of life to people, so it was impossible to make up for all the moral suffering and missed opportunities with rehabilitation. In addition, often virtually everything existed only on paper. Compensation for the rehabilitated was in the amount of two monthly salaries based on the size of the salary at the time of arrest. It was possible to stand in line for housing, in case of loss of working capacity to receive a pension.

However, not everyone could get even these meager benefits. And the former "enemies of the people" continued to be bullied by yesterday's neighbors and fellow villagers. Well, let it be that such behavior was not encouraged by the state. Not all of the rehabilitated were able to return to their homeland, rarely when they were returned to the confiscated property and housing. The apartments they received as people on the waiting list were much smaller and worse than those once taken away.

Conventionally, all those rehabilitated during the Soviet era can be divided into three groups. These are those who were deported by administrative order. In fact, they were not rehabilitated, but pardoned. The second group, the most massive, is those who were amnestied and subsequently rehabilitated. They received scanty compensation and negligible opportunities for social adaptation. However, the Soviet government preferred to call it the loud word "rehabilitation".

There is also a third, very small group of prisoners, mostly former party or state leaders. They got the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves at work, received better living conditions (apartments, summer cottages) and other privileges.

For the majority, however, adaptation to ordinary life was difficult, if not painful. Most of them could not count on a good job and an apartment. More often than not, the people around them reacted wary to them. Still, the person was convicted, it is not entirely clear what article he was serving. In addition, he spent a certain amount of time with real criminals. Who knows what's on his mind?

Most of them have not been able to get rid of the stigma “enemy of the people”, their broken families and family ties have not been restored. Many even spent their entire youth in prisons, and did not have a family or any support. Some have lost loved ones who were also serving sentences. The law on rehabilitation, adopted only in 1991, defined a system of benefits for the rehabilitated. However, this law also did not provide for adequate payments, although the list of social support measures was expanded.

Rehabilitation stages

Rehabilitation of victims of Stalin's political repression began immediately after his death. And we can say that it has not been completed to this day. The very concept of "rehabilitation" in this application began to be used in the 50s, when those who got into the camps due to stupidity and negligence began to go free.

However, in fact, it was an amnesty - the release of the prisoner ahead of time. The so-called legal rehabilitation began a little later. The cases were reviewed, it was admitted that the criminal case was opened in error, and the once convicted person was found not guilty. He was given a corresponding certificate.

However, the communists also gave a great role to party rehabilitation. Many of those released wanted to reinstate themselves in the party after receiving a certificate of innocence. How active this process was can be judged by the very modest figure of 30 thousand people rehabilitated by the party in 1956-1961.

By the beginning of the 60s, rehabilitation processes began to decline. The tasks that Khrushchev set for himself in undertaking all this were completed. In particular, everyone was clearly shown the new government in the country, its loyalty, democracy and justice. This was enough to make it clear that the Stalinist past was over.

The amnesty was supposed to increase the authority of the party. Stalin was identified as guilty of everything that was happening, who allegedly alone represented the power in the country. This theory helped to remove responsibility from the party and shift it completely to Comrade Stalin.

The rehabilitation of the first stage was haphazard. For example, since 1939, the relatives of those who were shot were often informed that their relatives had been sentenced for a long time without the right to correspond. However, when all the terms of imprisonment passed, the relatives began to write letters, send inquiries and demand information about the fate of their loved one. Then it was decided to inform them about the death of a loved one, allegedly from an illness. At the same time, the date of death was indicated false.

After another decade, relatives again began sending massive requests to the camps when an amnesty began in the country. Apparently, some did not lose hope that a loved one would return. At the same time, the Central Committee of the CPSU issues an official permission that relatives can be issued a certificate of death with the false date of death that was previously communicated to them orally. More than 250 thousand of such certificates were issued from 1955 to 1962!

In 1963, certificates were allowed to issue correct, with the correct date of death. Only in the column "cause of death" there was a dash. An indication of the actual reason for the "shooting" would lead to a decrease in the party's authority in society.

This decision perfectly characterizes the entire Khrushchev rehabilitation. Truth and justice were handed out strictly and dosed. And not everyone. Khrushchev, conducting de-Stalinization, was most afraid of undermining the foundations of power. A very thin line, when yesterday's party leader is the personification of evil, and the party itself is good and good. Hence such a haphazard rehabilitation.

It would be too risky to reconsider the most high-profile cases, such as "Shakhtinskoye", "Great Moscow Trials", the cases over Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin. They have already managed to gain a foothold in the subcortex of the population as indicative. There was no question of overestimating collectivization and the Red Terror in general.

It can hardly be said that Khrushchev's hopes were justified, the rehabilitation he started was too half-hearted. This could not but catch the eye of the population of the Soviet Union. After Khrushchev left, rehabilitation proceeded on its own without the previous pathos, demonstrative scope and political significance. Public perception is also changing. Often becoming the subject of controversy between supporters of Stalin and his opponents, rehabilitation as a process remains a hot topic.

In an era when glasnost and publicity have become the norm, the topic of victims of political repression is again becoming a topic of discussion. At the end of the 80s, an association of young activists emerged who advocated the creation of a memorial complex to the victims of Stalin's repressions. Similar movements are beginning to appear in the regions. These public organizations also include former prisoners, they also create their own associations.

The state provides feasible support. For example, a special commission is being created, which was supposed to study archival materials and prepare documents for the construction of a monument. In 1989, by a decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, all extrajudicial decisions were canceled. According to this document, many accusations have become invalid.

However, in this case, punishers, traitors to the homeland, falsifiers of criminal cases could not count on rehabilitation and the removal of all charges. Thanks to this decree, more than 800 thousand people were rehabilitated at once.

After the adoption of this document, local authorities could not refuse requests to erect monuments to victims of political repression. However, the Decree did not regulate social support measures in any way.

The echo of repression does not subside, despite the time. Unsuccessful attempts to rehabilitate and provide social support to victims are unlikely to return faith and a sense of justice to the innocent convicts, those whose life fell into the flywheel and was destroyed in it.