The secret police were used during both Stalin and Hitler’s rule in order to carry out political repression and extermination, in addition to acquiring secret and possessing intelligence. Stalin used the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) to conduct purges of those suspected of harboring “anti-Soviet elements”, such as political opponents (Gellately 245). However, the NKVD was responsible for the arrests and exterminations that were often based on quotas by regions (Gellately 246). They also were an integral part of the exterminations of minorities later on during Stalin’s rule, targeting people and religions such as the Greek Orthodox, Poles and Germans. Similarly, Hitler used the Gestapo, a consolidation of police forces,
The Great Purges led to thousands of party members, military officials and civilians being executed or sent to the GULAGS. Whether the purges did remove enemies of Stalin is questionable, due to the fantastical. methods of the NKVD. The NKVD set quotas, and operated using public information to the public. By 1936 it is estimated 1 in 5 people were NKVD.
Prisoners and concentration camps A. The Gestapo and the Thought Police B. Disappearance and re-education of people C. Concentration and extermination camps
Following the beginning of the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union would start what would become two of the worst genocides in world history. These totalitarian governments would “welcome” people all across Europe into a new domain. A domain in which they would learn, in the utmost tragic manner, the astonishing capabilities that mankind possesses. Nazis and Soviets gradually acquired the ability to wipe millions of people from the face of the Earth. Throughout the war they would continue to kill millions of people, from both their home country and Europe. This was an effort to rid the Earth of people seen as unfit to live in their ideal society. These atrocities often went unacknowledged and forgotten by the rest of the world, leaving little hope for those who suffered. Yet optimism was not completely dead in the hearts of the few and the strong. Reading Man is Wolf to Man: Surviving the Gulag by Janusz Bardach and Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi help one capture this vivid sense of resistance toward the brutality of the German concentration and Soviet work camps. Both Bardach and Levi provide a commendable account of their long nightmarish experience including the impact it had on their lives and the lives of others. The willingness to survive was what drove these two men to achieve their goals and prevent their oppressors from achieving theirs. Even after surviving the camps, their mission continued on in hopes of spreading their story and preventing any future occurrence of such tragic events. “To have endurance to survive what left millions dead and millions more shattered in spirit is heroic enough. To gather the strength from that experience for a life devoted to caring for oth...
The Bolsheviks, the ruling party of the Soviet Union, was lead by the Lenin. When Lenin died in January of 1924, he left behind no clear successor, and vague indications of his intended plans for the Bolshevik party. A power struggle for control of the party ensued, one in which many historical figures arose. Within this plethora of names, two of the most important names in Soviet history arose, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin. As the power struggle continued, the mutual antagonism grew, resulting in a life or death struggle. Eventually, Stalin was able to seize power and exile Trotsky. The reason for Stalin's success over Trotsky can be seen in their respective methodologies. Initially, the two were both long-time Marxists, in great positions of power, and both had worked closely alongside Lenin. However, where Stalin was willing to abuse his powers within the state, Trotsky refused to abuse his power. Secondly, Trotsky arose on the scene of the power struggle much earlier than Stalin, and allowed Stalin to bide his time and attack at his convenience. Finally, Stalin chose his allies wisely, and when they no longer suited his needs, was able to drop them and ruin their reputations in so doing. Trotsky however, formed uneasy alliances with other party members, ones that questioned his reputation. In the end, Stalin was in a position of great authority and command, leaving Trotsky in a position of futility.
There have been many dictators through out history that have shaped the way we look at them now. Sometimes it’s the way that dictators came to power that people judge them on. Sometimes it’s how long they stayed in power, but it’s not just how long they stayed in power. It’s what they did to stay in power. These two men are some of the most infamous dictators for those reasons alone. These men are Joseph Stalin and Fidel Castro, and they played a huge part in shaping the way we look at dictators today.
The Schutzstaffel or SS was created in 1925 by the Nazi party to protect Adolf Hitler and other important Nazi leaders. Heinrich Himmler was appointed leader of the SS by Hitler in 1929. The SS were racial elites with profound loyalty to Hitler and the promotion of Germany. (SS, 2013) In order to become a member of the SS all candidates had to endure selections based on their racial ancestry and support of the Nazi party. In Nazi Germany the SS was responsible for security identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy and intelligent collection and analysis. (SS, 2013) They also were responsible for the concentration camp system and police forces. In 1939 the SS assumed the responsibility for “solving” the Jewish Question. (SS And The Holocaust, 2013) In the imminent invasion of the Soviet Union Hitler ordered the SS implementation of settlement plans and population policy in conquered Soviet territories. Special SS Einsatzgrupp...
Josef Stalin, a politician from the earliest beginnings of his life, strove to achieve a national sense of power during his reign over the citizens of Russia. Adolf Hitler, however, a born high school dropout somewhat longed for a place in life. He rather fell into his role as a politician, after his brief shortcomings in arts and sciences. These two individuals developed varying ideas to put their controlling minds to work to lead their political parties in the direction of total domination of the state.
The NKVD, transformed by Stalin from the original secret police set up in 1917 known as the Cheka, was a secret police service formed in 1934 with Genrikh Yagoda as executive until 1936. The NKVD was a law enforcement agency of the Soviet Union that had direct power over the Communist Party. This secret police organisation was no longer controlled by the party, but rather it controlled the party and only Stalin stood above it. Although the agency contained a regular, public police force of the USSR that included traffic police, firefighters and border guards, the agency ultimately directed mass executions that were not legally authorised, directed labour camps, inhibited resistance and were responsible for mass deportations to deserted regions. The main role of the NKVD was to enforce Stalinist policy, impacting society as people became frightened of the police, rather than feeling safe, until it dissolved in 1946.
Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt led the nation through the second world war. Roosevelt built a powerful wartime coalition with Britain and the Soviet Union, and led the U.S to victory against Nazi Germany. He was elected for presidency four times, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. His wartime efforts prepared the path for Harry Truman, to win the war against Japan four months after his death.
The Einsatzgruppen were called into service in1941 to rid the conquered lands of the Soviet Union of Jews, Romany, and anyone who the Nazis thought would be a problem. The Einsatzgruppen were used to humiliate and kill the undesirables of Eastern Europe. (Edeiken) The Einsatzgruppen were also used as criminal police of the ghettos where the Jews were alienated. The Einsatzgruppen also held random shootings in the middle of the street in the ghettos.
To understand the purges it is necessary know what the initial intentions of these actions were. According to the official party line given in the 1930's, Stalin wanted to use the "purges" (in Russian, chistki or "cleansings") to find out who was in the Party, and to strengthen it organizationally. The communists at the time (and even now) claim that the purges never included imprisonment (much less executions). The communists also claim that the purges rarely resulted in expulsion. Stalin officially said that the main focus of the purges was not aimed at rooting out opposition to himself, but rather at getting rid of the dissolute, drunks, careerists, and others who clearly had no place in the disciplined Communist party.
This essay will concentrate on the comparison and analysis of two communist figures: Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Party in China, and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. The main focus of this paper will be to explore each figure’s world view in depth and then compare and contrast by showing their differences and similarities.
The Gestapo, established in 1933, controlled originally by Georing and later in November 1934, was controlled under Himmler. The Gestapo’s job was to investigate and suppress all anti-state activities, and had a reputation of being very brutal and ruthless. It was not secret and was much feared. Terror atomised the nation, people thought the Gestapo was everywhere but in fact they were a very small number. The Gestapo controlled concentration camps.
From the 1920’s up until his death Joseph Stalin was the leader of Russia. What ensued under Stalin’s reign didn’t evoke emotions of love for country within the Russian people. Under Stalin the people lived in constant fear because of an epidemic within their own country, genocide of Stalin’s own people by Stalin himself. From 1934 up until 1939 a period of mass fear swept over Russia and at the helm Stalin with his (helpers?) of mass killings, the NKVD which are the internal police. Russia has always had a form ‘state security service’ commonly thought of now as “the secret police”, but in 1929 under the direction of Stalin the NKVD was formed and though it may have a new name it still held the infamous fear and practices of its predecessors, the GPU, The GUGB, and others. Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov was alive during this period of fear, and one of the books he wrote titled The Master and Margarita shares a lot more than one similarity with Stalin and his regime of fear. In fact it seems like the author created this book as a commentary of the times because of the way he writes ...
Adolf Hitler and Fidel Castro are two sing party state dictators that when you compare them you find out they are reasonably similar. For example they both used the weakness of their enemies, manipulating propaganda and the pandering to the sense of nationalism of the public to gain support. There are some notable differences between them though such as how Castro came into power with a revolution while Hitler didn’t. Hitler was part of Nazi Party while Castro didn’t have a party. It was just him and his supporters. This situation though calls for the comparison not between Hitler and Castro directly but one of the policies implemented by them to determine if in any ways these two dictators ruled their countries in the same way.