NKVD

sets the standard for the treatment the characters will receive as they embark on their journey. If a pocket watch is judged to be the worth of one human being, then the NKVD won’t hesitate to treat its prisoners like objects or tools rather than people as well. The difference in value placed on the prisoners between Lina and the NKVD is highlighted by Lina’s description of the watch, which was her father’s. To Lina the watch symbolizes her father, whose name is carved into the back of the watch…

In the book she is so strong and brave to make it through everything that the NKVD put them through. In the beginning of the book Lina has clean long wavy hair. She has hair the color of honey and bright blue eyes. She wears long skirts and dresses. The night that they took her she was wearing a nightgown and a jacket. Later in the story she has her dresses that are drenched in mud and dirt from digging holes. The NKVD don’t give her much to each and don’t let her shower so her hair becomes…

He and the NKVD would place several prominent rivals on trial. Those Communist leaders who were put on trial by Stalin were forced to admit to fabricated crimes in one-sided kangaroo courts (Hingley 1). The move to force high-ranking officials to admit to false crimes…

His paranoia was demonstrated through his actions as a leader as well. Stal describes paranoia as a “pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others.” Perhaps one of Stalin’s most infamous time periods during his reign was the Great Purge/Terror. After Stalin had gained power within the Communist Party, his desire to maintain control grew to an extreme. Between 1936-1938, the Great Purge took place, marked by three significant show trials targeting high-ranking Soviet officials: the 1936 trial…

Overcoming Challenges in Romeo and Juliet and Between Shades of Gray Challenges in life are inevitable. They also must be overcome and resolved. This resolution comes with strength for tomorrow. The lessons learned from one obstacle helps with the next days challenge. Resolving challenges gave strength to the characters in both the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and the novel Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. Romeo and Juliet is a story about teenagers from rival households…

aside from the main story, Sepetys includes miniature flashbacks that occurred during Lina’s life in the form of short stories. These flashbacks go hand in hand with the existing circumstances, for example, the memories help Lina make decisions in the NKVD camps where she is held as a prisoner. Additionally, Lina eases her mind with thoughts of her blissful past while she is forced to perform hard labor. One of the best memory Lina uses to escape reality was when she arrived at the beet and…

However, he extended his purges beyond the party and included the general population as a target. Between 1937-1938, approximately 1.6 million people were arrested by the NKVD and about 700,000 were executed. This statistic does not include the people who died from malnutrition in Stalin’s slave labor camps. Aside from the NKVD arrests, Soviet courts convicted more than 7 million people between 1937 and…

During modern times, Hitler and Stalin also utilized secret police to enforce their rule, but in a more radical way against citizens of their own countries, not just slaves. After Hitler became chancellor in 1933, he was extremely cautious of uprisings. While the Nazi party agreed with creating a perfect state by cleansing the state of Jews, not all people approved of the idea. Therefore, Hitler created the Gestapo, a secret police force that helped solidify Nazi control by identifying and…

During the revolt, Stalin stripped all of the food from Ukraine, which resulted in the starvation death of 7 million people from 1932-1933 (Italia). Then in 1933, Stalin began receiving reports from the NKVD about his unpopularity with the people of the Soviet Union. Being a man of action, Stalin decided to do something about his unpopularity. From 1934-1939, the Great Purge, also known as the Great Terror, occurred throughout the Soviet Union (Hoobler…

story of a mother, father, Lina and Jonas who were a nuclear family living in Lithuania. They had a normal life until the Soviet Union invaded Lithuania. Mother, named Elena, and her children, were separated from their father. One fine night, the NKVD barged into their home telling them to get out within twenty…