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[NKVD AND GULAG SYSTEM] Zaria Vostoka [i.e. Dawn of the East] No. 291 for 1937

Tbilisi: Zarya Vostoka, 1937. Item #1866

4 pp.: ill. 67,5x43 cm. Copy folded in four, small tears along folds and on edges, a small hole in p. 3-4 (text is affected), otherwise good.

A special issue of the Transcaucasian ideological newspaper “Zarya Vostoka” dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Cheka–OGPU–NKVD.
“Zarya Vostoka” as the organ of the Central and Tbilisi Committees of the Communist Party had been published since 1922. In 1991, the periodical changed the title for “Svobodnaia Gruziia” [Free Georgia], printed in Russian as previously. The publication was ceased in 2011.
The issue promoted the work of individuals who in history are strongly associated with Communist secret police and the concept of the Great Terror. It features portraits of N. Ezhov, L. Beria, S. Goglidze and F. Dzerzhinsky, also a group photo of party leaders, taken by F. Kislov. He was one of Stalin’s favorite photographers. The edition lists NKVD members awarded the Order of Lenin. Among them are organizers and executors of mass repressions: B. Berman, V. Karutsky, E. Krivets, G. Lupekin, V. Blokhin, P. Maggo and others. A significant part of them were repressed in 1938–1940.
The issue published a resolution on convening the first session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. During the Purges, execution lists were compiled by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In particular, there is a note about the execution of a counter-revolutionary group led by A. Enukidze. Being an “old Bokshevik” and a member of governing bodies, Enukidze was blamed as the linchpin of the “Kremlin affair” (preparations for assassination attempt on Stalin). Also, the high skill of NKVD espionage is lauded, mentioning the identification of “Trotskyist-Rykovian-Bukharinist agents” in Soviet society and public trials (Shakhty case, Industrial Party case, etc.).
Unlike parade photobooks, this newspaper directly testified that the Moscow-Volga canal was built by prisoners. In the text, Dzerzhinsky was thanked for the creation of re-educating colonies for prisoners in the 1920s. The Moscow-Volga Canal was declared as one of such projects. Apart from it, the periodical contains texts devoted to the construction of the Karymskoe-Khabarovsk railroad by “voluntary workers of Dalstroy” and Zemo-Avchala colony for street children and young criminals. A group photo of children is supplemented.

Not found in Worldcat.

Price: $550.00