Political isolators are special prisons in Soviet Russia and the USSR intended for holding SRs , Mensheviks , Zionists and anarchists , as well as members of the internal party opposition . They were created in 1921 in the GPU system under the NKVD of the RSFSR . On November 11, 1935, all the NKVD political isolators (before the formation of the NKVD of the USSR — the OGPU political isolators) were renamed NKVD prisons by order of the NKVD No. 00403. [one]
History
In early 1921, the Vladimir Central was turned into a provincial special-purpose insulator - a political isolator. [2] There were also Verkhneuralsky , Suzdal , Tobolsk , Chelyabinsk and Yaroslavl political isolators . [3] On May 14, 1925, “in order to unite all political isolators under the unified leadership of the OGPU”, the Verkhneuralsky, Suzdal, Tobolsk, Chelyabinsk, and Yaroslavl political isolators were subordinated to the Prison Department of the OGPU [4] .
The regime of detention in political isolators was quite preferential until the mid-30s, which was also associated with the activities of Pompolit . In the years 1923-25, the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were kept, also on favorable terms, in the Solovetsky special purpose camp (in the Savvateevsky monastery).
March 2, 1937 People's Commissar of Internal Affairs N. Yezhov at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) said:
| It seemed to us, and it seems to everyone, perfectly legitimate that the sworn enemies of the people condemned to serve imprisonment — Trotskyites , Zinovievites , rightists — they are serving a prison sentence. But in reality, none of the convicts carried the essence of prison punishment. The NKVD system has special type prisons or political isolators. These political isolators, I can say without exaggeration, are more like forced rest homes than prisons. Such political isolators are available in Suzdal, Chelyabinsk and in a number of other places. The internal detention of criminals convicted is such that they communicate closely with each other, have the opportunity to discuss their issues, develop plans for their anti-Soviet activities. Moreover, inter-prison communication in the isolation ward was completely legalized. People gathered quite openly. The prison administration gave each prisoner a questionnaire to send to the center. They bothered to develop such a questionnaire: “1. Is it respected among the prison staff or not? (Laughter.) 2. Is a party leader or middle peasant? 3. In the struggle for the regime, is it the initiator, always supporting the protests, hesitating or adjoining the protests? ”So, as you see, the questions themselves suggest the possibility of gathering as a prisoner in a collective -“ does he have authority in the collective or not? ” Convicts were given the right to use unlimited literature, paper, writing materials. All you want. Along with government rations, all prisoners had the opportunity to receive products from the will in any quantity and any assortment, including vodka. In many cases, those arrested were given the opportunity to serve their sentences with their wives. (Laughter. Molotov . In any case, we did not sit like that before.) So, I. N. Smirnov served his sentence with his wife Korob. Even the novels were tied up there in the isolation ward. Such an affair began with one Social Revolutionary and Rogacheva - this is the sister of Nikolaev , the killer of Kirov . They applied for permission to Comrade Molchanov’s secret political department to get married, they were allowed to, they got married, they were brought into one cell, their child was born and they lived together until the last months. Allowed, as I said, to transmit alcohol. For example, N.I. Smirnov, who regularly drank a glass of vodka. And here is what they write after the examination about the Suzdal prison: “The cameras are large and bright, with flowers on the windows. There are family rooms ... (Reads.) ... daily walks of prisoners of men and women for 3 hours. "(Laughter. Beria . Rest house.) However, comrades, these conditions did not satisfy the prisoners and they systematically demanded that" Relief of the unbearable regime, ”which they arranged. They dealt with these requirements literally every day and in response to this they received relief from even this regime ... ... On October 16, 1934, the secret-political department instructed the General Directorate of Camps to ensure that all former members of anti-Soviet political parties establish a stronger ration in comparison with the general ration that exists for prisoners in the camps. That is, in the camps there was a double ration, the so-called political ration and ration, which was received by all prisoners. (A voice from a place. Is it for their special merits to the Soviet regime? Kosior . They should have been given half of this ration.) So, comrades, the demands of the prisoners were satisfied, what came to the curious. Prisoners in the Chelyabinsk political prison played volleyball. Incidentally, there were sports grounds where they played volleyball, croquet, and tennis. So, they played volleyball, and when the ball jumped over the wall to another courtyard or to the street, the duty officer who was on duty had to run after the ball. Once the duty officer refused, then the prisoners complained to the secret political department and immediately received an order from the assistant chief of the secret political department that the duty officer was obliged to pass the ball. (Noise in the hall.) ... [5] |
After that, the political isolators were turned into special prisons, the regime in which was sharply tightened. Many prisoners of political isolators were shot.
Notes
- ↑ GULAG (General Directorate of Camps) 1917-1960 / Ed. A. N. Yakovleva ; comp. A.I. Kokurin, N.V. Petrov; scientific ed. V. N. Shostakovsky; International Fund "Democracy" (Alexander N. Yakovlev Foundation). - M.: Mainland, 2000 .-- 888 p. - (Russia. 20th century. Documents: the series was founded in 1997 / under the general editorship of academician A. N. Yakovlev). - 3000 copies. ISBN 5-85646-046-4
- ↑ Vladimir Prison and Political Repression (Unavailable link) . Date of treatment March 3, 2010. Archived January 31, 2013.
- ↑ The system of places of detention in the RSFSR and the USSR
- ↑ The system of places of detention in the RSFSR and the USSR, CA FSB. F. 2. Op. 8. D. 104. L. 27-28.
- ↑ Materials of the February-March plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1937)
See also
- Special Purpose Insulator