preview

Joseph Stalin Genocide

Good Essays
Open Document

Joseph Stalin’s Genocide: 50 Million Deaths

From 1919 to 1953 when Stalin died about 50 million lives were taken in the Gulags of Russia (“Videofact”). In total there were 53 Gulags and 423 labor camps (“Gulag”). Stalin was considered one of the most feared dictators because of his secret police and the Gulags. During a series of interviews in 1996, a Soviet veteran who lived in Minsk claimed to have seen a U.S. POW in May or June 1953. The POW was a Korean War F-86D pilot whose plane had been forced to land, The pilot landed his plane undamaged, was then captured, and his aircraft was taken to Moscow. According to the witness who served in An Dun, North Korea, from December 1952 through February 1954 the pilot was sent to Moscow the …show more content…

Stalin’s genocide covers 6 of the 8 stages of genocide. First is Classification. Stalin marked farmers and the rich with 25 acres or more as the “Kulaks” (“NKVD”). Second is Dehumanization. When the, prisoners were at the gulags they were worked like dogs. An average prisoner would work 12-14 hours a day in the freezing cold temperatures (“Hillinger”). Third is Organization. Stalin made the NKVD to use to his advantage against anyone who opposed him (“NKVD”). Fourth is Polarization. Stalin ordered the NKVD to kill leaders of his past party the Bolsheviks (“NKVD”). He also ordered for the killing of military and industrial leaders. Fifth is Extermination. The NKVD would go around just killing whoever they wanted to (“NKVD”). The secret police were strict; they would put someone in prison for 10 years just for stealing a loaf of bread (“NKVD”). If anyone were to talk against Stalin and the NKVD were to find out, you would be shot on the spot (“NKVD”). Sixth is Denial. When Stalin died the secret police fled from the gulags and camps (“Gulag”). The NKVD soon turned into another secret police organization and the gulags were forgotten.(“NKVD”). Throughout Stalin’s rule the people were always going against Stalin whether it was stealing or escaping prison like Stalin had before he came into power.

My father was the son of Polish immigrants, born in Massachusetts in 1913. In 1926, after years of working in America, my grandfather purchased land in Eastern Poland and

Get Access