Correctional system during the Great Patriotic War. Organization of ITL in wartime conditions

Greetings comrades! I’m new to the business of searching for Red Army soldiers, where to look, where to turn, I don’t have the slightest idea yet, so I’m asking for advice and help from experts. As a matter of fact, the fate of Vladimir Anatolyevich Lomovtsev, born in 1907, served in the 1st battalion of the 10th Guards Red Banner Rifle Brigade is being established. Arrested on March 23, 1943 on suspicion of conducting anti-Soviet agitation among military personnel. After his conviction, his fate is lost to his relatives. How and where to start searching, tell me...
I am attaching a photo of the request ( poor quality, the phone was weak), which suggests contacting the GUID of the Ministry of Internal Affairs... I know that at one time a request was made there and the answer was that such information was not available... The wanted man is the great-grandfather of his wife, I would like to find out the fate of the relative.

Click to expand...

CONVICTED.
Tell me, where can I find the verdicts of pilots convicted during the Second World War?
Answer: Igor Ivanovich Ivlev » 22:21

Sentences are stored in the TsAMO RF in the documents of the corresponding military units - places of service of soldiers. Sometimes sentences can be found in political reports or in military unit orders.
Criminal cases are also in the TsAMO RF, if for some reason they were not confiscated or destroyed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You need to write requests to TsAMO, and to the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, and to the GIAC, ...
Answers are sent only to relatives!
Therefore, in your request you must indicate the degree of relationship with the convicted person!

For help and advice in writing a request, you can contact the prosecutor's office (military prosecutor's office) in your city.
The person you contact at the prosecutor's office (try to get a personal meeting) knows what requests should be made and to what authorities.
On your first visit, take with you documents and copies thereof confirming your relationship with the person whose file you want to view.
Directly write a request to the prosecutor's office with a request to familiarize yourself with the criminal case (in the sense that it will look like this - after your request, the criminal case will be sent to the military prosecutor's office... They will call you and you will read the case from them).
The case itself can be kept in TsAMO, in the FSB or in the Ministry of Internal Affairs (it all depends on the branch of the military in which the convicted person fought).

The practice of recruiting criminals into the army was used back in the 30s years XIX century in France. Then King Louis Philippe proposed forming special units to help the French soldiers in Algeria. The idea of ​​calling prisoners to the front was also used Soviet authorities during the Great Patriotic War. First of all, GULAG members were sent to the front. On July 12, 1941, the Presidium of the Supreme Light issued a decree “On the release from punishment of those convicted of certain categories of crimes.”

Those convicted of minor crimes and those convicted under the Decree of December 28, 1940, for violating discipline and leaving school without permission, received freedom. On November 24, 1941, the decree applied to former military personnel who committed minor crimes before the start of the war. All those released were sent to the front and, according to these decrees, more than 420 thousand fit for duty were mobilized. military service prisoners. Penal battalions appeared later and they did not concern former prisoners. Penalty battalions refer to order No. 227 “Not a step back!” 1942. The penal battalions proved their high combat effectiveness, but the “Russian kamikaze” battalions were quickly thinning out. In 1943, a turning point came in the war, and forces were needed to oppress the enemy. Then Joseph Stalin made a “brilliant” decision.

The decree of July 12, 1941 did not affect camp inmates who were serving sentences under Article 58 of the “political” article and “urkagans.” In 1943, the State Defense Committee issued special resolutions according to which more than 157 thousand prisoners were sent to the front. 10 percent of them went to penal battalions, and the rest joined the line units. Those convicted of “political” charges were deprived of the right to “atone with their blood before their homeland for their guilt” - thus, the Red Army lost the majority of conscientious soldiers. Only criminals and “domestic workers” could become frontline volunteers. The “thieves’ brotherhood” did not strive to go to the front, because it was shameful for a “thief in law” to serve in the army, take up arms and defend the state. Therefore, the army was replenished mainly by “household workers”.

Why did they go to the front?

Lev Razgon, a former Gulag prisoner, recalls: “The working day was set at ten, and for some enthusiasts at twelve. All weekends were cancelled. And of course, the most severe savings in the prisoner’s food were immediately introduced. Within two or three months the camps were filled with living skeletons.”

In places of deprivation of liberty and the Gulags, food standards were significantly reduced, and the standard of working hours increased. In 1942, instructions were introduced according to which it was allowed to use weapons in case of a two-time refusal to work. As Professor S. Kuzmin wrote in the book “The Gulag during the War Years,” these measures led to the fact that almost 600 thousand people died in prison, as in besieged Leningrad.

Therefore, the front was preferable for the “domestic workers”. And yet, many “urkagans” appeared among the front-line soldiers in 1943. The choice was stark: either starvation conditions in the zone, or the front. The turning point for the "thieves" became Stalingrad and Battle of Kursk. These two battles led to a “split” in the criminal world and a further “bitch war”.

After Battle of Stalingrad There are more volunteers among criminals. A year at the front was counted as three years. Varlam Shalamov, in his essay “Bitch War,” noted that “brave scouts and dashing partisans emerged from the Urkagans. Their natural appetite for risk, determination and arrogance made them valuable soldiers.”

There was another reason why criminals joined the Red Army. After the turning point in the war, the front-line soldiers were advancing, Europe and Germany were ahead, “easy prey,” and many criminals wanted to take part in this.

How did you fight and behave at the front?

The hurricanes fought evilly, desperately and mercilessly. Evgeniy Vesnik, who was the commander of an artillery brigade during the war, recalls: “They fought wonderfully. They were brave and disciplined. I nominated them for awards. And I didn’t care at all what they were convicted for. They were rewarded for their excellent performance in battle.” Many former criminals were awarded the USSR, some were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Of course, the behavior of the criminal made itself felt. Ivan Mamaev, a war veteran under whose command there were many “thieves,” recalls that a day after being recruited, the platoon commander’s tablet with documents and money for his wife and daughter disappeared.

Criminals were criminals even in war; drinking was natural among them, card games, stabbing. Therefore, in 1944, they stopped calling up people with multiple convictions to the front. At the fronts, harsh methods of influencing the thieves began to be used. Therefore, on enemy territory - in Germany - bans generally had little effect on criminals. Murders, robberies, rapes and other “excesses” against the German civilian population, which have now begun to be publicly discussed, are not least the “merit” of the “thieves’ heroes.”

After the war

Having been demobilized, many criminals returned to their old ways and, naturally, soon found themselves in camps again. They counted on respect and honor - after all, they shed blood! However, they were reminded of the old law, according to which a “thieves” cannot serve the state, otherwise he is considered “paraffinized” and is no longer a thief. All attempts by veteran prisoners to explain that they fought not for “citizen bosses”, but for their Motherland, turned out to be in vain. As a result, the confrontation between them and the “correct” thieves grew into a real war, called the “bitch”. During it, thousands of people died in the camps and in the wild.
Varlam Shalamov makes a disappointing conclusion: “The war rather strengthened their arrogance and inhumanity than taught them anything good. They began to look at murder even easier, even simpler than before the war.”

Executioners and executions in the history of Russia and the USSR (with illustrations) Ignatov Vladimir Dmitrievich

Military tribunals

Military tribunals

Military tribunals and courts-martial are temporary bodies of justice operating in defended, occupied and liberated territories. Valid in war time or in a state of emergency at the site of hostilities or immediately after their end. Established by the commanders of the attacking or defending forces at each military unit (formation), as well as by military commandants in large populated areas. In wartime, due to the complexity of the situation, the imposition of ordinary criminal punishments by military tribunals and courts-martial is in most cases impossible, therefore the main punishment for most categories of defendants was often execution; For individual categories criminals - exemplary execution by hanging. During the Great Patriotic War, execution sentences in combat situations were sometimes carried out in front of the formation of military units. The regulations on military tribunals in areas declared under martial law and in areas of military operations were approved on June 22, 1941 by Decree of the Presidium Supreme Council THE USSR. Military tribunals turned out to be the leading form of justice during the war. They were created at military districts, fronts and naval fleets, as well as in armies, corps, other military formations and paramilitary institutions. Linear courts in transport were also reorganized into military tribunals railways and waterways.

In areas declared under martial law, the vast majority of courts of general jurisdiction after June 22, 1941 were also reorganized into military tribunals. Military tribunals tried cases of crimes against defense, public order And state security in areas declared under martial law. Civilians were also brought to trial in military tribunals in cases of state crimes, theft of socialist property, robbery, robberies, premeditated murders, escapes from places of detention, resistance to government officials, evasion of military service, illegal possession of weapons. In accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 18, 1941 “On responsibility for the spread of false rumors that raise alarm among the population,” all cases of this kind were considered only by tribunals, as well as cases of unauthorized departure of workers and employees from military factories and civilian factories who worked for the army. The verdicts of military tribunals were not subject to cassation appeal and could only be overturned by way of supervisory review. This significantly simplified legal proceedings by limiting the rights of defendants.

According to Colonel General of Justice A. Muranov, during the war years, military tribunals alone handed down 2 million 530 thousand 663 sentences. At the same time, 284 thousand 344 citizens of the USSR were sentenced to capital punishment, or 8.9% of the total number of those brought before military tribunals (9).

The dynamics of the “work” of military tribunals is indicative: in 1941, for “counter-revolutionary crimes,” various types punishment (not only execution) “only” 29 thousand people, in 1942 - 112 thousand, in 1943 and 1944 - 96 and 99 thousand, respectively, and in the victorious year of 1945 - 135 thousand convicted counter-revolutionaries. Equally indicative is the dynamics of the growth in the number of those convicted of “treason to the Motherland” (Articles 58–16). In 1941, 8,976 people were convicted of treason, in 1942-45,050, in 1943-52,757, in 1944 - 69,895 people (10: 558, 576). From the data presented it follows that the closer the victory was, the more people appeared who wanted to betray their Motherland and go over to the side of dying Germany. V. Zvyagintsev himself believes that such dynamics can be explained by the desire of the head of SMERSH, created in April 1943, Abakumov, to show the “presence” of numerous “traitors” in the army and the country, which emphasized the political significance of SMERSH and ensured the growth of the authority of its chief. Possible reasons such a phenomenon, in our opinion, may be the following: firstly, as we moved west, a significant number of traitors and accomplices of the enemy who retreated along with the German troops found themselves in the sphere of action of SMERSH bodies; secondly, it should not be ruled out that Stalin “worked ahead of the curve,” and therefore, by the end of the war, apparently, they began to be tried more often for manifestations of freethinking in order to accustom those who fought to post-war humility. Thus, for each day of the war, 1,784 sentences were passed by military tribunals of all types, including about 200 citizens sentenced to death. And this does not take into account the work of courts of general jurisdiction, the Special Meeting of the MGB-NKVD and extrajudicial executions by SMERSH.

Justice was exceptionally harsh when considering cases of military personnel. During the war, a total of 994,270 military personnel were convicted by military tribunals, including 376,300 for desertion, 422,700 convicts had their sentences suspended until the end of hostilities and were sent to penal units, 436,600 convicts were sent to places of detention (11: Chapter 5 ).

Of those convicted, 135 thousand people were shot. According to other data, 157,593 people were shot following verdicts in army military tribunals. One explanation for this discrepancy may be that the functions of army tribunals included consideration of cases of persons who were not military personnel at the time of sentencing: Vlasov soldiers, punitive forces, police officers, agents of enemy punitive agencies, etc. Thus, for each day of the war in On average, 701 military personnel were convicted, including 92 people sentenced to death (excluding the 70 thousand extrajudicially executed by SMERSH officers). Thus, for each day of the war, 141 people were shot. If we add up 135,000 and 70,000 and if we assume that there are 10,000 people in the division, then it turns out that the valiant SMershevites, and they carried out the sentences, shot the personnel of more than 20 divisions. (In the Wehrmacht, during the five years of the war, from September 1, 1939 to September 1, 1944, 7,810 military personnel were shot, i.e., 17 times less than according to the verdicts of military tribunals in the Red Army. And this does not take into account extrajudicial executions by Special Forces departments, SMERSH departments and detachments.) Against this background, the punitive practice of the Soviet military Themis looks monstrous (12: 577).

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(Punitive practice against military personnel convicted during the Great Patriotic War under Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. Based on materials from the Vologda region)

The Soviet people paid a huge price for victory in the Great Patriotic War. And although there is still no exact information, the losses of the Red Army for 1941-1945, according to military historians, amounted to 8,668,400 people (The classification has been removed: Losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR in wars, hostilities and military conflicts / Under the general editorship of G.F. Krivosheev. M., 1993. P. 129) . This number included those killed on the battlefields, missing in action, those who died from wounds, and those who did not return from captivity.

History, however, is silent about those who were already in their homeland behind barbed wire under the notorious 58th article of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (as amended in 1926) stated: “Any action aimed at overthrowing, undermining and weakening the power of the workers’ and peasants’ councils and elected by them... governments of the USSR, union and autonomous republics or to undermining or weakening of the external security of the USSR and the main economic, political and national achievements of the proletarian revolution. The most famous of the elements of this article are: treason (58-1), participation in an anti-Soviet conspiracy (58-11), espionage (58-6), sabotage (58-7), sabotage (58-9), counter-revolutionary propaganda and agitation (58-10), counter-revolutionary sabotage (58-14), terrorism (58-8), etc. This article had analogues in all criminal codes of the union republics) and from where he never returned.

According to the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, only for treason (Article 58-1, paragraph "b") ( Lettered, i.e. letter designation“b” of paragraph 1 of Art. 58 authorized a measure of criminal punishment against traitors to the Motherland from among the military) During the Great Patriotic War, 125,933 military personnel were convicted (There are no data for the 2nd half of 1945 and 1946. See: Epifanov A.E. Responsibility for war crimes committed on the territory of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1956. Volgograd, 2005. P. 265 ).

Of course, most of them deservedly suffered severe punishment. But if we take into account the extreme ideologization of Soviet justice and the toughening of penalties in wartime conditions, it is impossible to deny political motives, which in many ways specifically predetermined the degree of guilt of certain individuals and were the basis for imposing sentences that were often not adequate to the gravity of the crime (Unfortunately, it is not possible to draw a clear line between real traitors and those innocently convicted of treason, since many archival cases have not yet been declassified).

To make the punitive measures of the authorities look like the fulfillment of the will of the people, a campaign was launched in the press to expose desertion and similar phenomena. Thus, in November 1941, an article “Thoughts about Captivity” by a certain serviceman N. Bagrov appeared on the pages of the regional newspaper “Red North”, in which the author stated, in our opinion, the official position on this issue. In particular, he wrote: “... only with the firm conviction that the commanders of the Red Army do not surrender can one fight with composure and confidence... Surrendering into captivity has always been considered a disgrace in the army... To betray the Motherland - what could be more terrible than this crime... He who surrenders into captivity, betrays his loved ones, brings down on them the wrath of the people and the punitive force of the law. The nickname “father, mother, wife, son or daughter of a traitor” will haunt loved ones everywhere. And his family will curse him three times for his indelible shame..." (Bagrov N. Thoughts about captivity // Red North. 1941. November 14, p. 2).

Soldiers of the Red Army (many of those encircled in the first months of the war), arrested for surrendering without resistance or attempting to go over to the enemy’s side, fully experienced repressive measures as traitors to the Motherland. Special meetings, courts and military tribunals, under letter “b” of Article 58-1, handed down sentences that were not subject to appeal - capital punishment. Some of those sentenced to death did not live to see the appointed punishment and died in prison. For example, in December 1941, an exceptional measure was not carried out against former serviceman A.Z. Golubev, convicted under this article: he died in the hospital of prison No. 1 in Vologda (Archive of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Vologda Region. F. 29. Op. 2. D. 7. L. 148).

At the same time, it should be noted that starting from 1942, the number of “execution” sentences under Article 58-1 paragraph “b” began to gradually decrease. In cases where, during the review of the cases of the accused by way of supervision, the Military Collegium (The verdicts and determinations of the Military Collegium were final and were not subject to cassation appeal or protest. They could only be reviewed by way of supervision by the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the USSR upon the protest of the Prosecutor of the USSR or the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the USSR. About each sentence to capital punishment (execution) all military the tribunals were obliged to immediately notify by telegraph the chairman of the Military Collegium and the relevant prosecutor) The Supreme Court of the USSR “did not see” the need to apply full sanction of this article, execution was replaced by 10 years imprisonment in a forced labor camp followed by loss of rights for 5 years. So, in the first half of 1943, a similar replacement was made by the Military College for one of the former Red Army soldiers, who treason to the Motherland military tribunal of the NKVD troops in Vologda region sentenced to the highest punishment (Archive of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Vologda Region. F. 18. Op. 1. D. 17. L. 4).

In a number of cases, protests against verdicts were personally made by the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the USSR. In particular, convict K. Daminov, who was awaiting execution of his sentence in prison No. 4 in Cherepovets, was so “lucky.” On November 4, 1942, the military tribunal of the 37th separate rifle brigade of the 2nd reserve army sentenced him to death under a combination of articles 19-58-1b (attempted treason), 19-58-11 (attempted to create a counter-revolutionary organization) and 58- 10 part 2 (counter-revolutionary agitation in a military situation).

In other words, he was accused not only of intending to personally go over to the side of the enemy, but also of creating his own platoon of Red Army soldiers, with which he wanted to move to the Germans. At the same time, he was accused of: praising the fascist system, spreading slanderous fabrications about poor nutrition in the Red Army and calls for self-harm. True, from the entire “set” of charges, the Military College, on the basis of protest arguments, excluded the first two. Considering that Daminov was charged based on the testimony of a witness recognized as mentally incompetent, his punishment was determined only under Article 58-10, Part 2 and was reduced to ten years in a camp followed by five years of loss of rights. True, even this term turned out to be too much for the convicted person. He did not stay in captivity for even two years - he died in the regional hospital for convicts in the village of Sheksna on June 24, 1944 from dystrophy and pulmonary tuberculosis.

It should be noted that, in accordance with Note 2 to Article 28 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, military courts began to widely practice deferment of execution of sentences in relation to convicted military personnel until the end of hostilities with the condition of sending them to the front. For example, in July-August 1944 alone, the tribunals of the 2nd Belorussian Front applied such a deferment to 54 percent. total number convicted during this period (Military tribunals are bodies of Soviet justice. M., 1958. P. 102).

Despite the fact that reprieve was not allowed for those convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes, banditry, murder, robbery and other most serious crimes (See in more detail: Tkachevsky Yu.M. Responsibility for military crimes during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) // Bulletin of Moscow University. Ser. 11. Law. 2005. No. 3. P. 37), military tribunals were often replaced in regarding those convicted under Section 58 article capital punishment ten years' imprisonment, which in turn was replaced by directing them towards active army. Such cases of application of deferment execution of the sentence was associated not only with the individual the perpetrator, but also with the circumstances characterizing the crime. The revision of the sentence was justified by the situation wartime and providing the opportunity for those who stumbled to atone for their guilt in fight against the enemy. For example, Red Army soldiers A.I. Starygin and T.F. Slepov, convicted 26 June 1942 by the military tribunal of the Vologda garrison Arkhangelsk Military District under Article 58-1 clause “b”, were released from custody in prison No. 1 in Vologda and transferred to the military registration and enlistment office for subsequent sending to the front (Archive of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Vologda Region. F. 29. Op. 2. D. 7. L. 311).

Initially, such military personnel were sent to combat units, and then to penal units, which were created by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR I.V. Stalin No. 227 dated July 28, 1942 (The Regulations on penal companies of the active army and the Regulations on penal battalions, where officers were sent, were approved on September 20, 1942 and announced by order of the NKO of the USSR No. 298 of September 28, 1942) . In just a few years war was formed 65 penal battalions and 1037 fine mouth. 427,910 people passed through them, or 1.24 proc. total strength of the USSR Armed Forces (Pykhalov I.V. The Great Slandered War. M., 2005. P. 437, 438. The film “Penal Battalion” released on screens creates the illusion that the number of penal units was prohibitively large, and it was the penal officers who bore the main burden of the war) . Convicts from among the fines, who proved themselves to be worthy fighters, were released from punishment with the subsequent removal of their criminal records.

Red Army soldiers who visited German captivity and arrested by Smersh departments (The main counterintelligence directorate of the NKO “Smersh” (“Death to Spies”) and its local bodies were created on the basis of special departments of the NKVD in April 1943. A similar structure was created in the People’s Commissariat of the USSR Navy) , were often unreasonably passed off as persons allegedly recruited by the German intelligence, and therefore actively were “developed” by the operational units of prisons with the aim of identifying what the task was received by them. For example, in prison No. 1 in Vologda, standard charges against such prisoners had already been determined in advance: crossing the front line in order to rejoin the ranks of the Red Army and conduct counter-revolutionary agitation among fighters for surrender in captivity. Of course, all the intelligence materials were confirmed by the investigation, the arrested admitted their guilt and were severely punished: they were, as a rule, expected to be shot, or its mitigated version in in the form of 10 years of imprisonment followed by loss of rights for 5 years (Archive of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Vologda Region. F. 8. Op. 1. D. 51. L. 11; D. 52. L. 18ob).

According to sources, this period for the majority who received the stigma of a traitor to the Motherland became “death in installments.” Having given life, the Soviet state provided them with the opportunity to atone for their guilt by striking camp labor. And since the legislation of those years classified those convicted under any of the paragraphs of Article 58 as especially dangerous state criminals, they were sent to the most difficult jobs in the camps. Given the existing production standards and extremely poor nutrition, health did not last long.

Requests for clemency were generally rejected “due to the gravity of the crimes committed.” For example, on March 12, 1947, prisoner of the Opoksky forced labor camp A. Danilov received such a wording of refusal to apply for a pardon. The former junior lieutenant (from among the encirclement), convicted under Article 58-1, paragraph “b,” was not helped even by the excellent reference issued by the administration of the camp site. It noted, in particular, his conscientious attitude to work, good behavior at home and the absence of administrative penalties during his entire stay in the camp. Let us note that the convict, while serving his sentence here since 1944, worked as a hammer hammer and fulfilled the quota by 120 percent. A year after the refusal to the request “to return freedom and give the opportunity to join the ranks of the free Soviet people"He died of pulmonary tuberculosis.

The picture of the repressive activities of Soviet justice against traitors to the Motherland will not be complete without mentioning that when convicted under Article 58-1, paragraph “b,” not only they themselves, but also their families suffered. For example, on September 20, 1943, collective farmer O.N. Lobashova together with three young children. They were subject to deportation to the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the case of their husband and father, convicted on November 28, 1942 by the military tribunal of the 55th Army (The 55th Army under the command of Artillery Major General V.P. Sviridov during this period fought fighting on the Leningrad Front. At the end of December 1943 merged with 67A) according to Art. 58-1 p. "b". This Red Army soldier was accused of trying to switch to side of the enemy while on the front line.

Former military personnel who found themselves in places of detention in the Vologda region during the war under Article 58, in addition to “treason to the Motherland” (58-1b), were also more often charged with counter-revolutionary agitation (58-10) and counter-revolutionary sabotage (58-14) than other crimes. ). Trials in such cases were held in closed sessions and were not subject to press coverage. Only show trials against Nazi criminals and their accomplices - traitors to the Motherland - were reflected in central newspapers. The local press only reprinted these materials (“On measures of punishment for Nazi villains guilty of murder and torture of the Soviet civilian population and captured Red Army soldiers, for spies, traitors to the Motherland from among Soviet citizens and their accomplices”: Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 19, 1943)

In particular, in July 1943, the trial of the atrocities case was widely covered on the pages of "Red North" Nazi invaders and their accomplices in the territory of Krasnodar and Krasnodar region. Among the accused was former serviceman I.F. Kotomtsev, who, after voluntarily surrendering, joined the police and then the Gestapo. For participation in punitive operations he was sentenced to death penalty by hanging (See: Krasny Sever. 1943. July 17, p. 1; July 21, p. 2)

It should be noted that the workers of the Vologda region, as well as the country as a whole, “ardently approved the verdicts of the military tribunals over German monsters and traitors” (Red North. 1943. December 22. P. 1).

The category of those convicted for counter-revolutionary agitation also included those Red Army servicemen who were caught by special departments of the NKVD and Smersh in spreading so-called defeatist rumors containing anti-Soviet statements. These rumors were of a wide variety of nature, but mostly related to the state of affairs at the fronts, the economic and military potential of the USSR, the attitude of the Germans towards captured Red Army soldiers and the local population, etc. Such seditious thoughts, accidentally expressed out loud by the Red Army soldiers in front of vigilant colleagues, hospital employees and other volunteer assistants to operational workers, turned out to be a reckoning for them “on the biggest score.” In a military situation, the limit of punishment under Article 58-10 was not limited. And if at the beginning of the war people were mostly shot for counter-revolutionary agitation of a pro-fascist, defeatist nature, then later they began to send them to camps for 10 years.

For example, in May 1943, fighter A.I. received such a sentence and subsequent disqualification for 5 years for “treasonous agitation.” Danilov, who, after returning from the hospital, in a conversation with his new colleagues, “shared his memories” of the fact of voluntarily visiting an enemy dugout with a group of soldiers in September 1941.

A careless revelation cost him dearly. In August 1943, he died of pellagra in a separate camp point No. 9 of the Department of Corrective Labor Camps and Colonies in the Vologda Region.

Former Red Army soldiers, convicted under paragraph 10 of Article 58 while they were in military service, were watched especially vigilantly in places of detention, bit by bit collecting information about their anti-Soviet sentiments. Such persons were kept on special operational records, and special undercover cases were opened against them.

If enough compromising materials were collected, then those already punished were re-prosecuted for so-called counter-revolutionary activities. So for the majority of convicts who received additional sentences under Article 58 in prison, the charges were dropped posthumously. At the same time, it should be noted that a significant part of the undercover cases remained unrealized (Concerning future fate unrealized undercover cases, they were all destroyed after the expiration of the five-year storage period as “not of operational value”).

In a number of cases, operatives were unable to gather evidence for a new investigative case. Often the investigation of suspects was stopped due to their death or transfer to other places of detention. For example, due to his death at the end of November 1943, the agent case against the former soldier of the 29th reserve construction brigade I.M. was closed. Reshetnikov, sentenced by a military tribunal to 10 years under Article 58-10, who allegedly continued to conduct defeatist counter-revolutionary agitation (Archive of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Vologda Region. F. 29. Op. 2. D. 125. L. 238).

Wartime conditions could not but affect the practice of applying criminal penalties. Behind individual species crimes, toughening of these measures was envisaged. As documents show, in the first period of the war, for careless execution of military orders, desertion from the front line, etc. Red Army soldiers in most cases were tried not under Article 193 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (military crimes), but under Article 58-14 (counter-revolutionary sabotage). The real situation at the front was not taken into account, and only aggravating circumstances were taken into account when committing such crimes. As a result, the convicts, as a rule, were sentenced to capital punishment - execution. Thus, in March 1942, the military tribunal of the NKVD troops in the Vologda region handed down such a severe punishment under this article to two former soldiers of the Red Army - V.I. Farutin and I.D. Fomin (I.D. Farutin was rehabilitated on January 12, 1965 by the Vologda Regional Court).

It should be noted that the sentences were carried out directly in prisons. Starting from the second half of 1942, the number of executions sharply declined, and the judicial authorities began to less often see the need to apply Article 58-14 for purely military crimes and returned to the pre-war practice of classifying them - according to Article 193 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR.

It should be said that during the war years, those convicted under Article 58 from among the military personnel significantly increased their already high level mortality rate of the camp contingent in the Vologda region. Most of them ended up behind barbed wire, physically and mentally exhausted, with untreated wounds. Some died on the way. Thus, on April 29, 1943, the death of former Red Army soldier of the 2nd Reserve Army R.L. was recorded at a regional transit point. Gedenreich, sentenced in December 1942 to 10 years in labor camp for counter-revolutionary agitation. Many found their final refuge in the cemeteries of camps and colonies just a few months after the arrival of the convoy.

For example, former soldier I.I. Danilin, convicted in December 1942 by the military tribunal of the 54th Army (The 54th Army under the command of Lieutenant General A.V. Sukhomlin in December 1942 took part in the battles on the Volkhov Front, in the Battle of Leningrad 1941-1944), died on January 17, 1943 in a separate camp hospital point No. 1 from dystrophy 2 degrees (Archive of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Vologda Region. F. 33. Inventory 1. D. 2662. L. 12).

The highest mortality rate among prisoners, judging by archival documents, was observed in 1942-1943. Thus, one cannot help but recognize the fact that a fairly significant number of people who found themselves in prison during the war, as well as after the victory, were caught behind barbed wire unreasonably, but only due to the specifics of Soviet justice. Many of them never saw their release, although they were neither political opponents of the regime nor war criminals.

ON THE. BELOVA.

Plan

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...3 2. Correctional system during the Great Patriotic War. Organization of ITL in wartime conditions……………………….4

3. Correctional labor institutions in post-war years (1946-1969)…7

4. The tragedy of the Gulag in the works of V. Shalamov……………………………14

5. Vologda experience in the re-education of convicts………………………16

6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….21

7. Bibliography……………………………………………………………..23

Introduction

Consider the ITU system during the Great Patriotic War. Correctional labor institutions in the post-war years (1946-1969).

Reveal the regime of correctional labor institutions during war years;

To characterize the methods of influence on convicts for their re-education and formation the right way;

Show the significance of the experience acquired during the war years for the penal system in the present.

Correctional system during the Great Patriotic War. Organization of ITL in wartime conditions.

The beginning of the war showed that there was no plan for transferring correctional labor institutions to a new mode of operation in wartime conditions. From the leadership of the NKVD and the Gulag, orders were poured into places by radio, telephone, and telegraph: to isolate prisoners, strengthen security, confiscate loudspeakers, prohibit the issuance of newspapers, stop visits, correspondence with relatives, increase working hours to 10 hours and increase production standards by 20%. , the termination of the release of certain categories of prisoners, the concentration of especially dangerous contingents in special camp centers, etc.

At the request of the command, prisoners were widely involved in defensive work, traveling on foot into the interior of the country. For these needs, the Gulag transferred 200 thousand people.

The war provided an opportunity for persons convicted of truancy, domestic and official crimes to atone for their guilt before society. In accordance with the decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 12 and November 24, 1941, the indicated categories of prisoners were early released from places of imprisonment and persons of military age were sent to the Red Army.

The special conditions of the war dictated the need to suspend the release from prison until the end of the war of persons convicted of treason, espionage, terrorist acts, sabotage, active participation in Trotskyist and other anti-party groups and banditry.

From the very beginning of hostilities, defeatist sentiments began to spread in places of deprivation of liberty, anti-Soviet agitation intensified, acts of sabotage appeared, and the activities of individual groups of convicts, aimed at preparing armed uprisings in the camps, intensified. In 1941, underground organizations were identified in Nyrobsky, Nizhne-Amursky, Siberian, Unzhensky, Murmansk, Ust-Vymsky, Krasnoyarsk and some other labor camps.


Attempts to create rebel organizations did not stop in 1941 and 1942.

In order to suppress such actions and strengthen discipline in camps and colonies, in February 1942, the “Instruction on the regime of detention and protection of prisoners in forced labor camps and colonies of the NKVD of the USSR in wartime” was introduced. It gave operational security detachments the right in a number of cases to use weapons without warning (when escaping and pursuing prisoners, when attacking the administration and the convoy). In the event of open malicious resistance from prisoners, the camp guards had the right, after a double warning, to use weapons. It was allowed to be used if prisoners refused to start work. The non-use of weapons when the situation was forced to do so entailed judicial or administrative liability, which opened the way for arbitrariness.

The main task of the Gulag of the NKVD of the USSR during the war was to staff the ITL and ITC with prisoners employed in the construction of the most important defense enterprises. An equally important task was to preserve them as work force. The order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 792/k - 1941 proposes to take measures to radically improve the living conditions for prisoners, especially for those who have positive characteristics at work, streamline nutrition by issuing additional rations, improve the work of catering units, and deliver hot food to prisoners in the lunch room. break.

Order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 0033-1943 establishes:

Three days' rest per month and mandatory provision of eight hours of daily rest for sleep;

Compulsory daily three meals a day for prisoners; - the norm of living space per prisoner is 2 square meters. m., allocated individual sleeping places on carriage-type bunks;

Providing prisoners with timely medical care and complete hospitalization of all sick people requiring bed treatment, etc.

Production standards are established that are similar to the corresponding branches of production. Payment for downtime due to unfavorable weather conditions is being introduced, and heating breaks have been introduced. The time spent moving to labor sites beyond three kilometers was included in the working day.

Solving the problem of improving the performance of prisoners, it was necessary to find opportunities to improve their nutrition. Correctional labor institutions are faced with the task of developing fisheries and collecting wild berries, mushrooms, and herbs.

To increase the productivity of convicts, labor competition was widely used, which was supported by measures of material and moral incentives for detachments, workshops, camp centers, brigades and individual convicts. Measures were taken to extend to all categories of prisoners the right to transfer part of their earnings to relatives.

During the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War, employees of correctional labor institutions and prisoners made a significant contribution to the overall Victory.

To provide internal order in camps and colonies in 1943, by order of the NKVD of the USSR “On the organization of internal supervisory service in forced labor camps and colonies,” the NKVD “created specialized internal surveillance services to provide round-the-clock supervision of prisoners in residential areas and production facilities.”

The radical turning point in the war in favor of the USSR influenced the number of anti-Soviet manifestations and the number of those brought to criminal responsibility for counter-revolutionary crimes. At the same time, there has been a tendency to increase the number of people brought to justice for criminal offenses. Further tightening of criminal penalties continues, laws are being adopted establishing new types of criminal liability. As the territory temporarily occupied by Nazi troops was liberated, the NKGB-NKVD of the USSR carried out work to identify persons who served in special military formations (Vlasovites) and in the police who assisted the Nazi occupiers. This category of citizens was held accountable in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 19, 1943, providing for their detention in camps for those sentenced to hard labor, created as part of the ITL, where they were used for heavy underground work in coal mines and gold mining and tin.

With the exception of special categories, the release of prisoners occurred during all years of the war. As for the amnesty, it was first carried out according to the directive of the NKVD and the USSR Prosecutor's Office of January 21, 1945. This measure was extended to women who had children under 7 years of age.

The Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 7, 1945 had the greatest impact on the dynamics of the contingent. “On amnesty in connection with the victory over Nazi Germany,” after which the number of prisoners in the penal colony sharply decreased.

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