August 15, 1937

[Martin Antonenko]

The Book That Never Was Published ...

On August 15, 1937, the newly completed Moskva-Volga Canal is ceremoniously opened!



A fleet of festively decorated and fully manned steamers set off from Moscow to triumphantly sail the new waterway that connects the Soviet capital with all five seas surrounding the country.



The Soviet landlord Jossif Wissarionowitsch Stalin is personally present to take a look at the new technical marvel, accompanied by his closest collaborators Wjacheslaw Mikhailowitsch Molotov (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars / Head of Government), Kliment Jefremowitsch Woroshilow (for one and a half years successor to the People's Defense Nikolai Schwernik, shot as a "spy") and Nikolaj Iwanowitsch Jeshow, head of the Soviet secret police NKVD.





The whole country is celebrating!

The popular singer Lidija Ruslanowa erforms during a festive event in "Gorky Park" ...



... as well as the popular jester Mikhail Garkawi ...:



In the evening there is a big festive event at the Bolshoj Theatre ...



... and all sorts of other facilities all over the country.

"Moscow - a city by the sea" reads the headline of the party newspaper "Pravda" - and the article says: "The Bolsheviks have forced the Volga to reverse its course and have dug a new bed for it. The cool Volga waters are now flowing the Moskva River and refresh the capital's aquatic artery that flows past the Moscow Kremlin walls. "

80,000 prisoners from "re-education and corrective labor camps" (DmitLag) set up especially in the canal zone dug the new waterway in just four years, some with bare hands ...:















... they were under the supervision of the NKVD officer Matwej Davydowitsch Bermann (in the following picture he is in the centre) ...:



On the day of the opening, 50,000 of these prisoners are released for this solemn occasion, all of them "lighter cases" with prison terms of up to ten years. (Many will be arrested again in the following years).

In addition, the new technical marvel is to be celebrated as part of a splendid tome with leather binding and gilt-edged paper, which is to be sold in large numbers ...:



But only one copy is made by hand, presented to Stalin - and then one never hear about it again.


**continied next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Part II

Why was the superb illustrated book with hundreds of photos, drawings and statistics never published?

The answer is quick:

All whose achievements were to be recognized in the tome died shortly afterwards.

As "enemy of the people", "Trotskyist spy", "counterrevolutionary" or "saboteur" they ended up on the "conveyor belt" of the "Jeshowtschina", the "great terror".

The first two to get caught were the two chief planners and chief organizers of the Moscow-Volga Canal, Semjon Grigorjewitsch Firin ...



... and Sergej Pushitzkij...:



During the opening ceremony, you and your staff were on one of the festively decorated steamers ...



... when NKVD troops came on board at a stop on the ship and arrested the two of them and their employees, took them off board and took them in black limousines by the shortest route to the NKVD headquarters, the notorious "Lubjanka" ...:



There, brutal interrogations and continued torture awaited them until they signed the "confessions" presented to them and, if they were to be tried in public, had to memorize them.

Foreign observers of such show trials, such as Lion Feuchtwanger, were amazed that the defendants accused themselves of the worst crimes in a relaxed tone that reminded Feuchtwanger of a chat!

Well: The accused already knew at this point in time that they were already dead! A possible revocation of their "confessions" would have brought them only a brief interruption of their trials, new tortures in the Lubyanka and then the same verdict: death by shooting!

After the two bosses, their employees came on the "conveyor belt", including the entire collective of authors of the planned splendid illustrated book ...:

#

And then the employees of the staff, Stalin and his henchmen really did not forget anyone!

It even caught the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Youth Association, Aleksandr Kosarew ...



... he had done nothing but write a foreword for the planned book. He was shot on November 29, 1938.

Absolutely everyone could get onto this "conveyor belt" during the "Jeshowtschina era. Guilt or innocence did not matter!

Revolutionary leader Lenin had already given the direction in 1919 when he said: "Better to shoot a hundred innocent people than to let one guilty person live!"

And the "Father of the People" had made it clear in his "Principle Report" during the March plenary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party how he saw the matter:

Anyone who works badly is either a spy, a counter-revolutionary, an enemy of the people or a Trotskyist saboteur. And whoever works well is so too - he just disguises himself more ingeniously.

A vague suspicion, a thrown comment, a decade-old entry in some file, a name that appeared in some "confession", a superficial acquaintance with an "unmasked enemy of the people" or even living in the neighboring apartment of an accused was sufficient.

It must be seen as a miracle that the continually harassed and fearful population of the Soviet Union was able to achieve top technical achievements during the 30 years and only four years later the USSR had the industrial potential that Hitler's armed forces were entitled to keep!

The "great terror" cost the lives of 1.5 million people, plus around 45 percent of the entire officer corps of the Red Army as a result of the execution of Marshal Mikhail Nikolajewitsch Tukhachewskij in June 1937. The picture shows Tukhachevsky - already without rank insignia - in court at the moment of his conviction ...:


Immediately afterwards he was shot.

The "DmitLag" supervisor Matwej Davydowitsch Bermann (here next to Stalin) ...



... whose prisoners had built the Moskva-Volga Canal, by the way, also caught the "conveyor belt":

He was found guilty by the Military College of the Supreme Court of the USSR of leading a “right-wing terrorist and sabotage organization” and was shot dead on March 7, 1939 near Kommunarka.

And Staling's chief executioner did not survive the "Jeshowtschina" named after him: Nikolai Ivanovich Jeschow died on February 4, 1940 as an "enemy of the people" when he was shot in the neck.

It was after that deleted from the images of the history of the Soviet Union. He also disappeared overnight in the photo that shows him together with Stalin at the opening of the Moskva-Volga Canal ...:



Only the canal is still there today!

The following photo shows the lock where Stalin and his chief henchman were photographed in 1939 ...:

 

[Nap]

Hi Martin

That's some story ...no one escaped the so called justice of Stalins regime .......

Incredible how people lost favour and all trace of them was forgotten

Is the a single copy in the Russian archives ...Stalins copy perhaps


Fascinating stuff

Nap

 

[Airkid]

We saw the canal. Badly run down in places but still impressive. I guess it was easy to get this project done with that massive amount of "Free" labour on tap. Stalin's insecurity knew no boundaries - everyone was a suspect. How people like Zhukov, Khrushchev and others survived it all is anyone's guess.
Quality post today Martin, with some good pictures as usual.

Phil