Stalin to aircraft designer Yakovlev, quoted in MR, p. 262.
RGASPI 558.11.698.33, Aronstam to Stalin and Stalin’s reply 7 May 1937. RGASPI 558.11.773.94, Mekhlis to Stalin 13 Jan. 1936 or possibly 1937. RGASPI 588.2.156.43, warning to Vyshinsky. Jansen-Petrov, p. 124, quoted Suvenirov, Tragedia RKKA, p. 23. On drunkenness: FSB 3-os.6.1.265–70. Frinovsky and Efimov interrogations, N-15301.7.193–4, in Jansen-Petrov, p. 124. Drunken executioners: Peter Deriabin, Inside Stalin’s Kremlin, p. 42. Parrish, “Yezhov,” pp. 71–7. Yezhov feels Stalin’s dissatisfaction: Jansen-Petrov, p. 143, quoting APRF 7458.3.158–62, Yezhov to Stalin. Even the brutal Beria had at times suffered from the nervous stress of a life in permanent paranoia: “I can’t argue with everyone throughout my lifetime… it will ruin my nerves… I feel I cannot go on much longer,” he had written earlier in the thirties, Beria, p. 40, L. P. Beria to Ordzhonikidze.
“Stalinodar”: Jansen-Petrov, p. 117. Parrish, “Yezhov,” pp. 78–88. Slutsky: Jansen-Petrov, p. 230, quotes FSB case of Frinovsky N-15301.3.117–23. Orlov’s account of this is essentially accurate.
Liushkov: Jansen-Petrov, pp. 144–5. Yezhov’s unsent letter to Stalin: APRF 57.1.265.16–26. Coox, “Lesser of Two Hells,” pp. 145–86; Coox “L’affaire Liushkov: Anatomy of a Defector,” Soviet Studies, pp. 145–86; vol. 8, no. 3, 1967, pp. 405–20.
Yury Zhdanov. Volya Malenkova. See also Andrei Malenkov, O moem otse Georgii Malenkove. M. Ebon, Malenkov, pp. 38–9. Starkov, “Narkom Yezhov” in Gerry/Manning (eds.), pp. 35–7. Blinking in light: Leonid Redens. Rees, p. 197. Yezhov and Polish spy and Orlov: Jansen-Petrov, pp. 147, quoting FSB 3-os.6.1.350. Uspensky, tracks covered Jansen-Petrov, p. 148, in FSB 3-os.6.1.350 and FSB 3os.6.3.316. Stalin death list signed 20 Aug. 1938: APRF 3.24.417.248–53.
Beria and Yezhov: Khrushchev quoted, Jansen-Petrov, p. 157. Beria, pp. 53, 87–91. Jansen-Petrov, pp. 149–57. V. A. Donskoi proposed Beria. Starkov, “Narkom Yezhov” in Getty/Manning (eds.), pp. 38–9. Voenno-Istoricheskii Zhurnal (henceforth VIZh), July 1989, Oct. 1991. Beria personal role in torture: GARF 8131.32.3289.117–18. The investigations by Rudeko into methods of interrogators, 22 Mar. 1955. V. F. Nekrazov, Beria: Konets karieri, pp. 374–5. B. S. Popov and V. G. Oppokov, “Berievshchina,” VIZh, 3, 1990, pp. 81–90.
IBM or GM: Martha Peshkova. V. I. Novikov quoted in Nekrasov, Konets karieri, pp. 229–37. Romanov quoted in Sergo B, p. 245. Y. Cohen, “Des lettres comme action: Stalin au debut des années rente vu depuis les fonds Kaganovich” in Cahiers du Monde russe , vol. 38, no. 3, July–Sept. 1997, pp. 307–345. RGASPI 82.2.897.32, Beria to Molotov 26 Feb. 1940. Beria, pp. 195, 174. “Bull nerves”: interview Nikolai Baibakov. Tireless, clever: “An interview with VM Molotov,” Literaturuli Sakhartvelo, 27 Oct. 1989, in Beria, pp. 195–274.
Kill best friend: GARF 7523.85.236.17–23, Tsanava, 24 Mar. 1955. Fear and enthusiasm: Sudoplatov, p. 186. “Idolized”—Krotkov quoted in Beria, p. 203. “Camp dust”: Beria A fair , p. 5. King: KR I, p. 125. Interview with Alyosha Mirtskhulava. Cosiness with wife, Mexican bandits: Martha Peshkova. Worshipped Stalin: Sergo B, pp. 144–5. Richardson, Long Shadow, p. 158. Clear pince-nez: Golovanov in MR, p. 343. Artyom Sergeev.
Candide Charkviani at Beria’s when Stalin arrived: interview Gela Charkviani. Sergo B, p. 34. Mikoyan, p. 33.
RGASPI 82.2.897.12–13, Vyshinsky to Stalin and Molotov and Molotov to Vyshinsky, n.d. Volya Malenkova. Martha Peshkova. Kira Alliluyeva. Sudoplatov, pp. 39–40. Beria, pp. 87–91. Polianski, p. 190. KR I, pp. 118–9. Jansen-Petrov, pp. 154–9.
Khlevniuk, Circle, pp. 240–5. Volkogonov, p. 338.
RGVA 9.29.390.275, Mekhlis to Stalin and Voroshilov, 23 Aug. 1938. Mekhlis, pp. 103–4, 107. Mekhlis’s role: Voprosy istorii. no. 10, 1998, p. 78. Coox, “Liushkov,” pp. 145–86. Mekhlis was accompanied by Yezhov’s deputy, Frinovsky. “Appoint commission to investigate the Lenin Academy… if any of the Tolmachev grouping are still there, remove them down to the last one.” Mekhlis, 5 July 1938. Volkogonov, p. 368. Mekhlis to Stalin 20 Nov. 1938, Mekhlis, p. 102; on Blyukher, p. 106. War and Blyukher: Volkogonov, p. 328. Mekhlis, p. 124. Spahr, p. 186. M. V. Zakharov, Generalnyi shtab v predvoennye gody, pp. 137–42. Kaganovich, p. 30. Roy Medvedev, “Joseph Stalin and Joseph Apanasenko: The Far Eastern Front during WW2” in Neizvestnyi Stalin.
S. Fedoseev, “Favorit Yezhova,” Sovershenno Sekretno 9, 1996. Jansen-Petrov, pp. 150–6, quoting FSB 3-os.6.3.367, Frinovsky Case N-15301.2.32; Frinovsky N-15301.7.195; Dagin in FSB 3.6.3.259, 323; Evdokimov in FSB 3.6.4.403 and FSB 3.6.3.261.
26: THE TRAGEDY AND DEPRAVITY OF THE YEZHOVS
V. D. Uspenski, Tainy Sovetnik Vozhdia. Lesser Terror, pp. 4–6. Jansen-Petrov, pp. 153, 159, 166–7. Shentalinsky, “Okhota,” pp. 70–96.
Molotov’s face like a mask: Mikoyan, pp. 321–7. Molotov, claims to have saved Tevosian, MR, p. 294.
Khlevniuk, Circle, pp. 224–30. Parrish, “Yezhov,” pp. 78–89. Sudoplatov, p. 43.
Family tragedy of Yezhov: Jansen-Petrov, pp. 121–4; Briukhanov and Shoshkov, p. 124; Starkov, “Narkom Yezhov,” Getty/Manning (eds.), pp. 34–5. Kamov, “Smert Nikolaia Yezhova,” pp. 41–3. Vasily Grossman, Mama, pp. 8–15. Simon Uritsky’s interrogation quoted in KGB Lit. Archive, p. 56. Polianski, pp. 190–7.
On Beria and Stalin’s plan to use Yevgenia against Yezhov: Politicheskii Dnevnik, vol. 2, Amsterdam, 1975, p. 136. Kamov, “ Smert Nikolaia Yezhova,” pp. 41–3. Yezhova to Stalin: APRF 45.1.729.96, quoted in Jansen-Petrov, pp. 166–8. Polianski, p. 190. Briukhanov and Shoshkov, pp. 122–3. KGB Lit. Archive, p. 42. Yezhova to Stalin, APRF 45.1.729.100, quoted in Jansen-Petrov, p. 169. Stalin, Kaganovich and Molotov distance themselves from Yezhov and Terror: RGASPI 17.3.1002.37. On “troikas”: Moskovskie Novosti, 21 June 1992, quoted in Getty, p. 531. RGASPI 17.3.1003.85–7.
Jansen-Petrov, p. 164. IA, 1995: 5–6, p. 24. Testimony of I. Dementev in FSB 3-os-6.3.257; APRF 3.24.375.120; testimony of Yezhov in FSB 3-os.6.3.332–333; both quoted in Jansen-Petrov p. 170–2. Shentalinsky, “Okhota,” p. 179. The autopsy that described her as a “woman of 34, of medium height, well-developed physique” reveals that she died of Luminal poisoning. Parrish, “Yezhov,” p. 101. Polianski, p. 190. Beria, p. 250. Yezhov’s brother was shot. KR I, p. 115–20. Pirozhkova, p. 105.
Jansen-Petrov, p. 164, orgies and oral sex, p. 173, God’s will, p. 174, and “plague ridden,” p. 202. Gay sex with Dementev, FSB 3-os.6.1 and 6.3. Sex with Konstantinov and wife: FSB 3-os.6.3.247–52, all quoted in Jansen-Petrov, pp. 172–3. Khlevniuk, Circle, pp. 224–30. Parrish, Yezhov, p. 89. VIZh, 2, 1993. IA 1998. Getty, pp. 528–39. RGASPI 17.3.1003.34 and 17.3.1004.11.
Parrish, “Yezhov,” Testimony of Zimin, chief of Lefortovo, and prison doctor Rozenblum in 1956, quoted in Vaksberg, Vyshinsky, p. 118. Working with Beria and Yezhov: Dmitrov diary, 24/25 Nov. 1938. Beria personally arrested the head of Komsomol, A. V. Kosarev, on 29 November, an act of vengeance for insults. Mgeladze, pp. 168–73: Mgeladze told Stalin the full story of Beria’s vindictive destruction of Kosarev after the war. Yet the Kosarev Case had been bubbling for some time: see RGASPI 558.11.725.160, Gorshenin to Stalin 13 July 1937. Larina, pp. 186–200. On Beria’s men: Beria, pp. 90–4. Sergo B, pp. 179–80. Interviews Martha Peshkova, Gela Charkviani, Eka Rapava, Maya Kavtaradze, Nina Rukhadze, Nadya Dekanozova, Alyosha Mirtskhulava, Nikita Petrov. On Kobulov’s shame: Elena Durden-Smith. See also: Lesser Terror; Parrish, “Yezhov”; Petrov and Scorkin.