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Stalin's shooting lists

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April 1937 Leningrad list, signed by Stalin, Molotov and others

Stalin's shooting lists (Russian: Ста́линские расстре́льные спи́ски) were the lists of extrajudicially accused persons submitted to the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, after the endorsement by Joseph Stalin and other members of the Politburo, for issuing a verdict, typically execution by shooting, either by an individual or a firing squad.[1][2]

Official records put the total number of documented executions between 1937 and 1938 during the Soviet Great Purge at 681,692.[3] Of these, around 44,000 had their sentences personally approved by Stalin or his closest aides, with Stalin's initials appearing on 357 of the lists.[1]

The lists are currently held at the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation. They were published in March 2013.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Stalin’s secret kill lists. The Moscow News, 1 April 2013.
  2. ^ Biographer uncovers Stalin’s execution list. The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 Oct 1989.
  3. ^ Thurston, Robert W. (1998). Life and Terror in Stalin's Russia, 1934-1941. Yale University Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0300074420.
  4. ^ Polianski, Igor J. (January 2015). "Bolshevik Disease and Stalinist Terror: On the Historical Casuistry of Artificial Pneumothorax". Medical History. 59 (1): 32–43. doi:10.1017/mdh.2014.69. ISSN 0025-7273. PMC 4304549. PMID 25498436.