Stalin's struggle with the "trophy players"
1) huge territories were occupied during the war, the main Soviet institutions were eliminated, the Nazis cooperated consciously with the local Nazi and collaborationist circles, and after the liberation of these areas, they had to restore order, de facto wage a new war with the Nazis;
2) a significant proportion of law enforcement and security personnel went to the front, many died, this weakened the law enforcement forces;
3) crime used the war, weakening law enforcement forces to strengthen its position;
4) war gave thugs a real battle weapon. It was easy to get, fields were littered with weapons and ammunition;
5) the authorities in the conditions of war, to somewhat alleviate the situation of the people, turned a blind eye to the development of the “gray market”, a “black market” appeared, where in most cases, in addition to trophy trade and product speculation, the gold and foreign exchange business flourished in bright colors.
For example, in May 1946, an operation was conducted by forces of the UMGB officers in the Moscow Region to eliminate four groups of 12 people related to buying gold and currency. During the search, the arrested persons ’apartments were seized of: gold coins of tsarist minting in the amount of 16 335 rubles, gold products with diamonds for 74 thousand rubles. total weight 14,7 kg, 5022 dollar, 120 pounds sterling, 304 thousand rubles. cash, bearer savings books with deposits on 105 thousand rubles, government bonds on 294 thousand rubles. In June 1946, during the operation “Predators”, officers of the MGB-MIA of Leningrad took in red-handed well-known currency dealers Miletin, Eydin and a secret group of gold-loaders headed by Chernigov and Rabinovich. The analysis conducted during the investigation showed that gold and currency were often purchased cheaply from the population, including from demobilized soldiers and officers of the Red Army.
Speculative dealers have chosen the state collective-farm trade since the war. Having documents (often fake) on contractual relations with collective farms, dealers opened their points in the markets, where they sold collective farm products at speculative prices. In addition to such “stationary workers”, various groups of so-called “procurers” acted in the Union, who were directly involved in buying grain at state prices and then selling it in regional centers at higher prices. According to the MIA-MGB, only in the first quarter of 1947 was a person 17784 prosecuted for speculation. At the same time 2932 of organized groups were revealed, from which during the search it was seized: 23743 rub. royal coinage coins, 4 kg of gold in bars, more than 19 million rubles. cash, manufactured goods worth more than 15 mln. rub. and 325 t. grocery products (from the book. "Moscow post-war. 1945-1947 years.");
5) the largest cities, such as Minsk, Kiev, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Sevastopol, Odessa, Novorossiysk, Voronezh, etc., were badly damaged. The total number of destroyed cities and large settlements was 1700 and more than 70 thousand villages and villages. 25 million people were left without a roof over their heads, which, in turn, led to overcrowding in the rear cities;
6) part of the industry was destroyed (32 thousand enterprises were destroyed), the demobilization of the army began. Soldiers and officers returned home with trophies, however, despite the shortage of workers, the ability to find work at the beginning of 1946 was not easy in a number of areas;
7) in addition, starting with 1946, a massive re-evacuation began in the country (during the war, more than 25 million people were evacuated to the east). Thus, war, devastation, migration, strengthened by the processes of mass demobilization and repatriation, led to an increase in criminal and organized crime in the economic sphere.
All this led to the "materialization" of the Soviet Union and threatened the collapse of the Soviet project. The “mercenary profit” became a characteristic feature of the post-war period. The growing demand for scarce goods led to the formation in Soviet society of “wealthy people” engaged in personal enrichment. The number of “wealthy people” included representatives of the generals, Soviet and party organs, who made a state of “righteous labor”, including during the distribution of “trophy property” obtained in the course of reparations.
The problem was that in many regions of the USSR, in addition to the growth of criminal offenses, there was a tendency for business executives to intertwine with crime. The criminal activity in the economic sphere has sharply increased: illegal entrepreneurial activity intersected with embezzlement of state and public property, various frauds, speculation in the system of trade and supply. Organized criminal groups acted in close cooperation with individual leaders and employees of trade and public catering enterprises. For example, only in one Ulyanovsk region. the criminal group, headed by the leaders of the regional food industry, was able to plunder food products in the amount of 2,7 million rubles.
It is clear that the Kremlin could not turn a blind eye to this situation, when the “defilement” of materialism was eating away at the elite of Soviet civilization — the top commanders of the armed forces serving the Soviet and party organs (as conceived by Stalin, they were to become the “order of the Swordsmen,” which would be an example for the whole people). Stalin himself set such an example, leaving nothing after himself, except for the superpower and the Soviet project, which gave a chance for a “bright future” not only to the peoples of Russian civilization, but to all humanity. It was impossible to close our eyes to the disintegration of the part of the Soviet elite, since the craving for the "golden calf" undermined all the foundations of the Soviet civilization, the essence of which was social justice, the rejection of the parasitism of a small social group over the whole people. Hence the “trophy case”, the “minor purge” of the party elite, the struggle against “cosmopolitanism”, etc.
So, in July 1946, the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) considered several cases of the secretaries of the territorial regional committees, in particular, the Irkutsk and Sverdlovsk regions. The Irkutsk case began with a letter from the authorized CPC to the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) in the Irkutsk Region comrade. Frolov, directed by 8 June 1946 in the CCP in the name of Shkiryatov. The letter said the abuse of executives of the Irkutsk region. In particular, there was an illegal expenditure of public funds for the evenings, the purchase of personal use of cars. “Some comrades, buying cars at low cost in the department of stock property of the East-Siberian Military District, resold them at higher prices. The head of the Glavmuk Trust ORS, T. Ponomarev, bought 2 vehicles for 17 thousand rubles, he sold one of them to the head of the Angarsk Shipping Company, Karamzin for 24 thousand rubles; deputy before regional executive committee comrade Kulikovsky bought 2 vehicles, of which one resold; the director of the power station, Gurevich, resold his car, resold his cars and other workers. By order of the secretary of the Irkutsk City Committee of the CPSU (b) t. Kobeleva, state-released products for children's institutions: butter, chocolate, sugar, cookies, etc. in the amount of 1 452 kg were distributed as gifts to the city executives. ”
Thus, the then executives showed typical for all times “elitism” and corruption. However, then they could be punished, and very strictly. In modern times for similar crimes usually get rid of reprimands.
It is worth noting that the tightening of penalties imposed by 4 Decrees of June 1947 for economic crimes (speculation, fraud, currency transactions, major embezzlement of state and cooperative ownership, mediation, giving and receiving bribes) 49,2% of the total. The decline in crime began in the middle of 1948. The death penalty was used extremely rarely even during large thefts during this period.
As part of the overall fight against abuse, some generals and officers were also hit. 29 November 1947. Minister of the Ministry of State Security Abakumov sends a lengthy report to Stalin informing about the negligent discharge of duties, the use of official position for personal gain by a number of senior officials of the SWAG during the period 1945-1946. The materials testified to the malicious theft of trophies, various violations in the "trophy cases" committed by both the army senior officers and the commanding staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs-MGB. It is worth noting that similar information was received by the Central Committee in the name of Stalin and in addition to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security in letters from servicemen and ordinary Soviet citizens.
Here is a typical example. "... This is what his subordinate lieutenant lieutenant Maximov told the chief of the district department of the MGB in Altmark Major Tolstoy in a letter to Stalin:" In May 1946 of the year, operatives of the district department of Altmark district discovered a warehouse with sugar of one retired military unit that left unknown What is the reason for the warehouse with the amount of sugar 36 tons. This sugar, on the orders of Major Tolstoy, was transported at night from the Gentin area to the mountains. Stendal. Since that time, Major Tolstoy began to dispose of this sugar as personal property. Part of the sugar - three tons, was handed over to the authorities so that no complaints would arise. About ten tons were handed out to the staff for silence. The rest of the sugar went to various geshefts with the Germans in favor of Major Tolstoy. He specifically 4 times seconded throughout the occupation zone of Germany, a civilian repatriated Nadezhdin Nicholas in order to Nadezhdin exchanged sugar and meat from the Germans on different rags, for Major Tolstoy. Spending, thus, also state gasoline. All traded things from the Germans for sugar and meat, Major Tolstoy sent to the Soviet Union to the place of residence of the mountains. Kharkiv with its orderly ml. serge. Mazharin, who serves only for this purpose with him, does not work anywhere, he goes on holiday 3 times to the Soviet Union a year. Then Major Tolstoy was in the 1946 year hidden from state subsidiary farming with the number of 160 sheep, about 30 cows and 4 pigs and various poultry, the local commandant's office knows this fact. This part-time farm was almost destroyed, part of the cattle went to the common boiler, and the majority was converted to various sausages, canned goods and sent to the Soviet Union in the mountains. Kharkiv, with its mother-in-law and various geshefts in favor of Major Tolstoy, when in the canteen the operational staff almost does not see fat, since Major Tolstoy for the 5 months has been removing fats from the main ration of employees, thereby sending 45 kilograms of oil he also sent to the mountains. Kharkov its mother-in-law. This communist does not hesitate to go into the apartment of the employees not to talk with their wives, but on the contrary, he goes into the apartments in order to take personal belongings from the employees in his favor and in favor of the newly arrived commander Lieutenant Colonel Denisenko. Seeing such actions of their boss, some employees embarked on the same path ... "(E. Zhirnov," Drinking and Doing Donutries "," Power ", No.49 (703) from 11.12.2006).
It must be said that all middle-level servicemen, “caught by the arms” at the trophy enrichment, were small figures. The military prosecutor's office looked at such cases "through the fingers", given the past military merits of one or another caught "burglar." Therefore, many of the military got off with a simple fright. But Stalin perceived this question a little differently. He looked wider. The point was not at all in the number of trophies, but in the fact that the enrichment (not always legal) of the generals through trophies, in fact, decomposed the army. And in the conditions of a general increase in crime, corruption in government and party structures, this threatened a future coup d'état that could destroy the entire Soviet project (as it happened in 1991 in the end).
Therefore, some generals and suffered so that others were discouraged. 6 December 1947 The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR I. V. Stalin (having studied the material submitted by Abakumov from November 29) instructs to arrest General G. A. Bezhanov. There was enough discrediting material against him. Bezhanov was a merchant by education, then he joined the ranks of the SC, he advanced along the state security line. During the war he was engaged in the organization of evacuation and supply. From 1943, he worked as the head of the NKGB office for the Stavropol Territory, from October 1944 the People's Commissar, from March 1946, the Minister of State Security of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and from May 1945, the head of the NKVD operational sector in Thuringia. Major-General Bezhanov, Minister of State Security of the Kabardian ASSR, was arrested on December 9, 10 in a trophy case and convicted by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of 1947 in October 17 of the year according to the CEC decree of 1951 in August 7 and Articles 1932-193 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR on a ZNUMX
This was followed by the arrest of the head of the operational sector of the federal state of Saxony, Major General S.A. Klepova on charges of abuse of power and use of office, followed by delivery under escort to Moscow. Klepov also served in the line of state security in rail transport. From November 1946 of the year - head of the Saxon operational sector of the Soviet military administration in Germany. Supervised the formation of a network of state security agencies in the occupied territory of Germany; enjoyed the patronage of the Deputy Commander in Chief of Civil Administration Affairs I.A. Serov. He turned out to be involved in large thefts of captured property. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Others followed. 31 January 1948 The MGB military counterintelligence authorities arrested the former chief of the Berlin Opersector, Major General A.M. Sidneva. In 1951, he was sentenced to forced treatment in a psychiatric hospital by a special meeting of the MGB of the USSR.
Obviously, Zhukov also indulged in trophies. But given his military merit, he got off with disgrace. As you know, one day 6 December 1947g. officers of the military counterintelligence arrested General Bazhanov and Lieutenant Colonel A.S. Symochkin (adjutant of Zhukov). Both the one and the other rather quickly and in detail explained to the investigators of the MGB various facts related to the activities of Zhukov as the Commander-in-Chief of the SVAG and his closest circle. 5 January 1948 Abakumov (according to Stalin's orders) ordered the MGB officers to conduct an unofficial search of Marshal Zhukov’s apartment in Moscow. They found a significant amount of value.
Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) A.A. Zhdanov instructed to double-check all the facts pointed out by Zhukov. At the same time, an inspection team of the IAM was sent to the Odessa VO, which revealed a number of “oversights and gaps” on the part of the OdVO commander. 20 January 1948 was issued by the Resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) "On Comrade Zhukov GK, Marshal of the Soviet Union." By its decree, the Central Committee "... issued to Comrade Zhukov the last warning, giving him the last time the opportunity to improve and become an honest party member worthy of the rank of commander." At the same time, Zhukov was released from the post of commander of the troops of the Odessa Military District. Zhukov was appointed commander of the Ural VO.
Thus, Stalin fought with high-ranking "trophy players", showing that he would not allow the decomposition of the army and the entire Soviet elite as a whole. I must say that this is one of the main reasons for the hatred of Stalin. He led the Red Empire to the future, "to the stars." And the representatives of the "elite" with the psychology of the bourgeois and the townspeople wanted to enrich themselves, because they were on the Olympus and wanted to use their position.
Therefore, during the Khrushchev "perestroika" and launched the myth that Stalin wanted to "dump" Zhukov, and Abakumov, on his instructions, came up with a "trophy case." This black myth is popular now. Stalin - a bloody "tyrant", opposed to the "genius commander", "knight" Zhukov. As a result, Zhukov got off with opal. And after Stalin’s removal, Khrushchev became an instrument in the struggle for power.
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