Simon Montefiore - Stalin

Tucker, Power , pp. 586/9. Lesser Terror , pp. 31–2. Kuznetsov tells how Frinovsky was casually sacked by Stalin and replaced by him, Bialer (ed.), p. 92. Khlevniuk, Circle , pp. 260–6. Beria , p. 94. Yezhov’s arrest before and after: Yezhov to Stalin in APRF 45.1.20.53 quoted in Jansen-Petrov, p. 178. Darts at Water Transport: Medvedev, p. 458–60. Conquest, Stalin: Breaker of Nations , pp. 208–9. N. G. Kuznetsov, “Krutiye povoroty: iz zapisok admirala,” VIZh, 7, 1993, p. 50. N. P. Dudorov, Interior Minister in 1957, told the CC Plenum that Beria had interrogated Yezhov especially about Malenkov producing 20 pages of evidence against him, Jansen-Petrov, p. 158. Sudoplatov, p. 63. Parrish, “Yezhov,” p. 90. Polianski, pp. 216–7. D. Likhanov and V. Nikonov, “Ya pochistil OGPU” in Sovershenno Sekretno , 4, 1992. Jansen-Petrov, pp. 176, 182, quoting Piliatskin, Vrag Naroda , and APRF 57.1.287.7–18. “Think yourself lucky…” Sergo B, p. 161. Explanatory note of D. Sukhanov on loss of testimony of N. I. Yezhov against G. M. Malenkov, 21 May 1956, in O. Khlevniuk, I. Gorlitsky, L. P. Kosheleva, A. I. Miniuk, M. Y. Prozymenshikov, L. A. Rogovaya, S. V. Somonova, Politburo TsK BKP i Soviet Ministrov SSSR 1945/1953, p. 203 (henceforth PB/Sov-Min ). Svetlana note: RGASPI 558.1.5160.

This analysis is based on the outstanding books on Soviet foreign policy, and on the lead-up to the German invasion: Zubok and Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War , and Gabriel Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia . Litvinov sacked, foreign-policy change: Beria , pp. 100–1. Soloviev quoted in Zubok, pp. 20–88. Fake Georgian and Molotov; slow Kartvelian and Stalin: Nadya Dekanozova. Stalin mocks Dekanozov’s ugliness: Maya Kavtaradze. Erickson , Soviet High Command , pp. 513–25. Ehrenburg, Eve of War , p. 276. Tucker, Power , p. 614. Carswell, pp. 145–9. Medvedev, p. 309. Stalin ordered Yezhov to arrest Kandelaki on 2 April 1937—he tops the handwritten “to do” list, RGASPI 558.11.27.129, Stalin note to discuss with Yezhov 2 Apr. 1937. Gnedin in Beria , p. 101. Larina, p. 200. Parrish, “Yezhov,” p. 91. Litvinov car accident: KR I, p. 282. Sergo B, pp. 47–8. Vaksberg, Stalin Against Jews , pp. 34–5. New diplomats: Gromyko, Memoirs , p. 24. Kaganovich , pp. 64, 154. Mikoyan in Kumanev (ed.), p. 22. Litvinov on Stalin the diplomat, Stalin quotes Talleyrand and Bismarck: Gorodetsky, pp. 1–9, 316; Bismarck reading on Franco-German War of 1870: von Moltke, German-French War of 1870 , RGASPI 558.3.224. Bismarck: R. Medvedev, Neizvestnyi Stalin : chapter “Stalin’s Personal Archive.” Molotov’s letters to Polina: We live under constant pressure… your sweetness and charm: RGASPI 82.2.1592.40–5, NYC, 20 Nov. 1945. Knowing our stuff: RGASPI 82.2.1592.19–20, 8 July 1946 from Paris. Reading on Hitler: RGASPI 82.21592.1, 13 Aug. 1940. I was the focus of attention: RGASPI 82.2.1592.40–5, NYC, 20 Nov. 1945? Revolutionary-imperial paradigm, Zubok, pp. 1–5; Molotov the diplomat, pp. 80–98. Stalin on poker: “They’re playing poker again” in Volkogonov, p. 349.

Stalin and the Jews: Clear out the synagogue and number of Jews in leadership, Lenin, MR, p. 120; Kaganovich, pp. 47–8, 100, 105, 128–9, 175. Statistics, Lesser Terror, p. 137. Stalin’s Marxism and the National Question quoted in Vaksberg, Stalin Against Jews, p. 4. Bazhanov: Mekhlis and Yids, p. 59. Stalin Enemies all Jews: Kaganovich, p. 128. Kaganovich Israelite: KR I, pp. 122, 283. RGVA 4.18.62.1/357, use of “natsman” Stalin to Red Army, 3 and 4 Aug. 1937. Jews cannot drink: Kaganovich, p. 106. Jews like mimosa: Kaganovich, p. 191. Stalin’s favourite flower mimosa: Mgeladze, pp. 95–7. Mekhlis: Jews pure as crystal in Simonov diary RGALI Notebook, 1 Apr. 1945. Anti-Semitism: lists of things to do: RGASPI 558.11.27.32. Cannibalism speech, 23 Dec. 1930. Birobidzhan: the Tsar, J. Rubenstein and V. P. Naumov, Stalin’s Secret Pogrom, pp. 34 and 511. Stalin criticizes others for anti-Semitism: K. Simonov, “Glazami cheloveka, moego pokoleniya,” Znamya, 5, 1988, p. 85. No need to excite Hitler: Brooks, Thank You C. Stalin, p. 171. Y. Yakovlev and Jewish names: KR I, pp. 119–20. Kaganovich and Mikhoels: Rubenstein and Naumov, pp. 293, 399. Birobidzhan Kaganovich theatre: Kostyrchenko, pp. 42, 144. The Black Hundreds and the Cathedral of the Saviour in Moscow: Kaganovich , p. 47. Thanks to Robert Service for his valuable ideas on this subject.

This account of the negotiations between USSR, Germany, France and UK is based on Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion; Richard Overy, Russia’s War; Anthony Read and David Fisher, The Deadly Embrace: Hitler , Stalin and the Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939–1941, Molotov Remembers, Khrushchev Remembers and G. Hilger and A. Mayer, Incompatible Allies: A Memoir History of German-Soviet Relations. Gorodetsky, pp. 5–9; Raanan, pp. 15–18. Yury Zhdanov. Overy, pp. 34–53. Michael Bloch, Ribbentrop, pp. 239, 245; Volkogonov, pp. 255, 349; Andrew Roberts, The Holy Fox: A Biography of Lord Halifax, p. 166; Erickson, Soviet High Command, p. 525. Read-Fisher, pp. 128–30, 230–2 and Dmitrov diary. “Farmhands…”: Dmitrov diary, 7 Sept. 1939. Far East: Zhukov, Vospominaniya (henceforth Zhukov) I, pp. 242–3, 273. Simonov, Zametki k biografii Gk Zukkova in VIZh, no. 6, pp. 50–3. Spahr, p. 209. D’Abernon: RGASPI 558.3,25,32. Revolutionary-imperial paradigm: Zubok, pp. 1–5; Molotov the diplomat, pp. 80–98. Stalin on poker: “They’re playing poker again” in Volkogonov, p. 349. KR I, pp. 125–9, 149. Kaganovich , pp. 58, 90. Yury Zhdanov. Sergo B, pp. 49–52. Bloch, p. 245. RGASPI 558.3.36. Vipper’s History of Greece . The account of the signing of the Pact is based on MR , pp. 9–11. Hilger-Mayer, pp. 290–2. Read-Fisher, pp. 251–9. Dinner after signing: Dmitrov diary, 21 June 1941. Yury Zhdanov on Zhdanov’s joke. Great Game: MR , p. 31, and also Molotov to Dmitrov, in Dmitrov diary, 21 June 1941: “A great game is being played.”

Polish invasion: Hilger-Mayer, p. 312. Volkogonov, pp. 358–9. “We see nothing wrong…”: Dmitrov diary, 7 Sept. 1939. Khrushchevs: S. Khrushchev, Superpower, p. 5. Vasilieva, Kremlin Wives, pp. 182–3. Looting Poland: RGASPI 588.2.155.168, Vyshinsky to Stalin and Stalin reply 21–31 Oct. 1939. Statistics: Overy, pp. 51–2. Burleigh, p. 435. Khrushchev’s role; Taubman, p. 23. Parrish estimates 1–2 million deported, Lesser Terror , p. 47. KR I, p. 160. By June 1941, Deputy NKVD Chernyshev reported to Stalin that 494,310 former Polish citizens had arrived in USSR and that 389,382 were in prisons, camps and places of exile. Volkogonov, p. 360. Serov’s role: “The Last Relic”: Serov, Slavic Military Studies , vol. 10, no. 3, 1997, pp. 107–10. Sudoplatov, pp. 110–11.

Hilger-Mayer, pp. 301–2, 312–3. MR , pp. 9–11. Kaganovich , pp. 58, 90. Kaganovich grandson recalling K’s telling of story: Joseph Minervin. Read-Fisher, p. 357. The Estonian Foreign Minister: Bohlen, p. 91.

Conquest, Stalin: Breaker of Nations , p. 216. Lesser Terror , p. 33. Vasilieva, Kremlin Wives , pp. 103–11. Census: Volkogonov, p. 516. Molotov Letters , 23 Aug. 1930, p. 203. Kaganovich , p. 150. “Extra-curious about other leaders’ wives. Not that he was attracted to them as women”: KR II, p. 177. No one who contradicts Stalin keeps his wife: Sergo B, p. 148. Stalin’s Jewish mistresses: Sergo B, p. 211. Kalinina: Kremlin Wives , pp. 119–23. Larina, p. 231. Kollontai letters: RGASPI 558.11.749.14–15, 23, A. Kollontai to Stalin. Polina: Andreyev, Malenkov and Zhdanov were charged to find her another job: in November, she was appointed to run the Textiles-Haberdashery Administration of RSFR’s Light Industry Commissariat. On Abakumov and the 1939 case as well as the 1949 case, when the same characters were arrested again, against Zhemchuzhina: GARF 8131.32.3289.144, Rudenko speech at Beria’s trial. Khlevniuk, Circle , 257–8. Kostyrchenko, pp. 119–20. Mikoyan, pp. 298–9. Fitness instructor: RGASPI 82.2.904.80–1, Vlasik to Molotov 7 Feb. 1940.