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Armenian victims of the Great Purge

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The Statue of Stalin in Yerevan, removed in 1962 and replaced by Mother Armenia in 1967.

Armenian victims of the Great Purge included Armenian intellectuals, writers, artists, Bolshevik and later Soviet statesmen, military commanders, and religious figures. Orchestrated by Joseph Stalin, the Great Purge was a campaign of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union against supposed "enemies of the people," including members of the Communist Party, the peasantry, writers and intellectuals, and other unaffiliated persons. The worst period, under NKVD head Nikolay Yezhov, was known as the Yezhovschina ('period of Yezhov'). In the years from 1936 to 1938, thousands of people suffered from Stalinist repressions in Soviet Armenia.

Background

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The process of the Great Purge in Armenia is usually dated to 9 July 1936, with the assassination of Armenian First Secretary Aghasi Khanjian by Lavrentiy Beria in Tiflis (Tbilisi). The death was the result of a political struggle between Beria and Khanjian. At first, Beria framed Khanjian's death as "suicide," but soon condemned him for abetting "rabid nationalist elements."[1] After Khanjian's death, Beria promoted his loyalists in Armenia, Amatuni Amatuni as Armenian First Secretary and Khachik Mughdusi as chief of the Armenian NKVD.[2] Under the command of Beria's allies, the campaign against "enemies" intensified. Expressions of "nationalism" were suspect and many leading Armenian writers, artists, scientists, and intellectuals were executed or imprisoned, including Axel Bakunts, Yeghishe Charents, Gurgen Mahari, Nersik Stepanyan, and others. According to Amatuni in a June 1937 letter to Stalin, 1,365 people were arrested in the ten months after the death of Khanjian, among them 900 "Dashnak-Trotskyists."[1]

The arrest and death of Sahak Ter-Gabrielyan in August 1937 was a turning point in the repressions. When being interrogated by Mughdusi, Ter-Gabrielyan "either jumped or was thrown from" the window of the NKVD building in Yerevan.[3] Stalin was angered that Mughdusi and Amatuni neglected to inform him about the incident.[2] In response, in September 1937, he sent Georgy Malenkov, Mikhail Litvin, and later Anastas Mikoyan to oversee a purge of the Communist Party of Armenia. During his trip to Armenia, Mikoyan tried, but failed, to save one individual (Daniel "Danush" Shahverdyan) from being executed.[2] More than a thousand people were arrested and seven of nine members of the Armenian Politburo were sacked from office.[4] The trip also resulted in the appointment of a new Armenian Party leadership, headed by Grigory Arutinov, who was approved by Beria.[5]

The Armenian Apostolic Church was not spared from the repressions. Soviet attacks against the Church under Stalin were known since 1929, but momentarily eased to improve the Soviet Union's relations with the Armenian diaspora. In 1932, Khoren I became Catholicos of All Armenians and assumed the leadership of the church. However, in the late 1930s, the Armenian NKVD, led by Mughdusi and his successor, Viktor Khvorostyan, renewed the attacks against the Church.[6] These attacks culminated in the 1938 murder of Khoren and the closing of the Catholicate of Etchmiadzin, an act for which Beria is usually held responsible.[7] However, the Church survived and was later revived when Stalin eased restrictions on religion at the end of World War II.[6] In addition to the repression of the Church, thousands of Armenians were forcibly exiled to the Altai Krai in 1949.[8][9] Many were repatriated Armenians who arrived from the Armenian diaspora.[10]

After Stalin's death, Anastas Mikoyan called for the rehabilitation of Charents in a speech in Yerevan on 11 March 1954, beginning de-Stalinization and the Thaw in Armenia.[2]

List

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Below is the incomplete list of Great Purge victims from the Armenian SSR, or victims of Stalinism of ethnic Armenian origin.

Death date and location Name Photo Occupation Rehabilitation
9 July 1936[11]
in Tiflis[11] 		Aghasi Khanjian First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia 1930-1936
25 August 1936[12]
in Moscow[12] 		Vagarshak Ter-Vaganyan Bolshevik revolutionary
8 July 1937[13] Axel Bakunts Writer
8 July 1937[14] Nersik Stepanyan Soviet economist, statesman
21 August 1937[15] Sahak Ter-Gabrielyan Bolshevik revolutionary
September 1937[16] Sarkis Kasyan Bolshevik revolutionary[17]
20 September 1937[18] Lev Karakhan Bolshevik revolutionary
22 November 1937[19] Movses Silikyan Military commander in the Russian and Armenian armies
27 November 1937[20]
in Yerevan prison hospital 		Yeghishe Charents Poet, "the main Armenian poet of the 20th century"[21] 11 March 1954 (exonerated)[2]
9 March 1955 (rehabilitated)[2]
27 November 1937[22] Ruben Rubenov Politician, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan 1933
10 December 1937[23] Christophor Araratov Military commander in the Russian and Armenian armies
11 December 1937[24]
in Moscow 		Hayk Bzhishkyan Bolshevik revolutionary, military commander 1956
1937 Sargis Lukashin Politician, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Armenia from 1922 to 1925
19 March 1938[25] Ashkharbek Kalantar Archaeologist
6 April 1938[26]
by NKVD[27] 		Khoren I Head of the Armenian Church
21 April 1938[28] Suren Shadunts Politician, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan 1934-1937
18 July 1938[29][30] Vahan Totovents Writer
1 August 1938[31] Alexander Bekzadyan Soviet politician 1956
1938[32] Hovhannes Katchaznouni Former Dashnak politician, Prime Minister of Armenia 1918-19
26 February 1939[33][34] Levon Mirzoyan Politician, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan 1926-29, First Secretary of Kazakh Communist Party 1937-38
24 October 1941[2] Daniel "Danush" Shahverdyan Soviet statesman 25 September 1954[2]
1943[35] Zabel Yesayan Novelist

References

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  1. ^ a b Barseghyan, Artak R. (July 9, 2021). "Кто убил Агаси Ханджяна?" [Who killed Aghasi Khanjian?]. armradio.am (in Russian). Public Radio of Armenia. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Shakarian, Pietro A. (12 November 2021). "Yerevan 1954: Anastas Mikoyan and Nationality Reform in the Thaw, 1954–1964". Peripheral Histories. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  3. ^ Melkonian, Eduard (1 December 2010). "Repressions in 1930s Soviet Armenia" (PDF). Caucasus Analytical Digest. p. 8. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  4. ^ Tucker, Robert (1992). Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1928-1941. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 488–489. ISBN 0-393-30869-3.
  5. ^ Mirzoyan, Gamlet (March 2009). "Советские правители Армении: ЭСКИЗ седьмой - Арутюнян (Арутинов) Г.А." [Soviet Leaders of Armenia: Excerpt Seven - Arutyunyan (Arutinov) G. A.]. noev-kovcheg.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2014-11-16. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  6. ^ a b Matossian, Mary Kilbourne (1962). The Impact of Soviet Policies in Armenia. Leiden: E.J. Brill. pp. 150, 194.
  7. ^ Hayrapetyan, Kanakara (2018). "Ամենայն Հայոց Կաթողիկոս Խորէն Ա. Մուրադբեկյանի մահվան առեղծվածի վերլուծությունը պատմագիտության մեջ [Historiographical analysis of the mysterious death of Khoren I Muradbekyan, Catholicos of All Armenians]". Etchmiadzin (in Armenian). 75 (7): 145.
  8. ^ Yalanuzyan, Mikael (31 August 2021). "Exile to Siberia". EVN Report. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  9. ^ Polian, Pavel Markovich (2004). Against Their Will: The History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR. Translated by Anna Yastrzhembska. Budapest: Central European University Press. p. 333. ISBN 9789639241688.
  10. ^ Jo Laycock (2016). "Survivor or Soviet Stories? Repatriate Narratives in Armenian Histories, Memories and Identities" (PDF). History and Memory. 28 (2): 123–151. doi:10.2979/histmemo.28.2.0123. ISSN 0935-560X. JSTOR 10.2979/histmemo.28.2.0123. S2CID 159467141.
  11. ^ a b Adalian 2010, p. 383.
  12. ^ a b "Советские правители Армении". Noev Kovcheg. February 2009. Archived from the original on 13 March 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  13. ^ Bardakjian, Kevork B. (2000). A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature, 1500-1920: With an Introductory History. Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press. p. 302. ISBN 9780814327470.
  14. ^ Mirzoyan, Gamlet (February 2009). "Советские правители Армении: Эскиз Шестой - Аматуни (Вардапетян) А.С." [Soviet Leaders of Armenia: Excerpt Six - Amatuni (Vardapetyan) A. S.]. noev-kovcheg.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2009-03-14. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  15. ^ "Армяне в "деле Лаврентия Берия"". Noev Kovcheg. October 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  16. ^ Studies on the Soviet Union, Volumes 6-7, Institute for the Study of the USSR., 1966, p. 76
  17. ^ Adalian 2010, p. 374.
  18. ^ Rogovin, Vadim (2009). Stalin's Terror of 1937-1938: Political Genocide in the USSR. Oak Park, MI: Mehring Books. p. 112. ISBN 9781893638044.
  19. ^ Սահակյան, Ռուբեն (26 September 2012). "Գեներալ-լեյտենանտ Մովսես Սիլիկյան (կենսագրության անհայտ էջեր)". Պատմա-բանասիրական հանդես (2): 63–74.
  20. ^ Nichanian, Marc (2002). Writers of Disaster: Armenian Literature in the Twentieth Century, Volume 1. Princeton, NJ: Gomidas Institute. p. 2. ISBN 9781903656099.
  21. ^ Coene, Frederik (2010). The Caucasus: an introduction. London: Routledge. p. 204. ISBN 9780415486606.
  22. ^ Реабилитация--как это было: Март 1953-февраль 1956 Андрей Артизов Междунар. фонд "Демократия", 2000 p. 181
  23. ^ "Отечество и честь Христофора Араратова". Novoye Vremya. 14 January 2012. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  24. ^ http://lists.memo.ru/d7/f487.htm Memorial (society)
  25. ^ Ter Minassian, Taline (2007). Erevan : la construction d'une capitale à l'époque soviétique (in French). Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes. p. 44. ISBN 978-2753503694.
  26. ^ Payaslian, Simon (2007). The History of Armenia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 179. ISBN 9781403974679.
  27. ^ Hewsen, Robert H. (2001). Armenia: A Historical Atlas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 259. ISBN 0-226-33228-4.
  28. ^ "Шадунц Сурен Константинович". Sakharov Center. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  29. ^ "Vahan Totovents". writers.am. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  30. ^ "1938 թ. այս օրը վախճանվեց հայ արձակագիր, դրամատուրգ և բանաստեղծ Վահան Թոթովենցը". 1in.am (in Armenian). 18 July 2012. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  31. ^ "1937 К 75-летию великого террора". Kommersant. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  32. ^ Walker 1990, p. 424.
  33. ^ "Мирзоян Левон Исаевич". Sakharov Center. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  34. ^ "Мирзоян Левон Исаевич". Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  35. ^ Ruth Bedevian. "Zabel Yessayan Biography". Armenianhouse. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
Bibliography
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