NKVD

caused many losses. While Russia had a big army and air force, Stalin’s leadership hindered the country's military strength. One of Stalin’s many mistakes was purging the army before the war which hurt the Soviet army. “During 1937 and 1938, the NKVD detained 1,548,366 persons, of whom 681,692 were shot – an average of 1,000 executions a day.” His…

Wake up, listen to the news, get ready for work, commute, work, eat, make small talk, clock out, commute, get home, listen to the news, eat, sleep, start over. For many this may sound like a normal, uneventful day but for the fictional occupants of Oceania this is life. George Orwell’s novel, 1984, describes the life in a totalitarian government and the consequences given when one is to go against that government. With this novel Orwell revealed to the word the downfalls of the East’s…

They already possessed a much older and more advanced intelligence agency that continued to evolve and change to meet the challenges of the Cold War. Since the outset of World War II, the Soviet State Security organization has been called the NKVD, the GUGB, the MGB, KI, the MVD, and finally the KGB in 1953. While all these different names and initials suggest that drastic changes occurred in the organization, in reality it simply evolved throughout the twentieth century, taking on new names…

It’s impossible to read the book “Animal Farm” without comparing it to the Russian Revolution occur in Russia in 1917. After reading the book I decided to learn more about the consequences of the Russian Revolution and mainly research about Stalin, represented in the book as Napoleon, the leader of Animal Farm and my favourite character. Because I was so intrigued by Napoleon’s character I decided in this book task to contrast him with the Soviet dictator Stalin. Napoleon, a boar, is the…

Dystopian fiction is a genre that rises in popularity during the mid 19th century. The term dystopian comes from its counterpart, utopia, which refers to an ‘ideal world.’ Authors of this particular genre expose the faults in what seems to be a utopian society, often written to serve as a political warning in the real world. Settings, themes and authorial purpose are elements that contribute greatly to the allegorical warnings of the novels. Dystopian novels are often set in a futuristic world,…

Although Animal Farm is quite a short book, there is time for George Orwell to develop characters in a manner that makes them appealing (or appalling) to the readers. His greatest success in this area is Boxer, with his mottoes, "Napoleon is always right" and "I will work harder". On the symbolic level, Boxer represents the Russian workers who trusted Stalin and made enormous sacrifices to ensure the success of the October Revolution. In the book he is one of the most sympathetically drawn…

The pogrom of Jedwabne was a tragedy that demonstrated the influence of Nazi Germany on Gentile Polish communities. Ordinary people without strong ties either for or against the Jewish community became a part of the German persecution. To understand how this disastrous event manifested, onemust first look at the social and political climate of Poland in the early years of World War II. On the doorstep of World War II, the Germans and Soviets signed a treaty in August 1939 called the…

This allowed for similarities in tactics to be applied. Appelbaum writes, “[t]he Soviet Union did import certain key elements of the Soviet system into every nation occupied by the Red Army, from the very beginning. First and foremost, the Soviet NKVD, in collaboration with local communist parties, immediately created a secret police force in its own image, often using people trained in Moscow… Secondly, in every occupied nation, Soviet authorities placed trusted local communists in charge of…

Character development is the most important part of any book, according to GoodReads. There are many connections between the City of Thieves by David Benioff and The Odyssey by Homer, and character development is a huge aspect that the protagonists in each book share. The main characters grow and develop through their experiences on their journeys, and become bolder, braver, and mentally stronger. They also receive guidance from wise figures, which allows the protagonists to expand their…

also considered illegal and were persecuted. Stalin’s big idea of Russification was highly exalted. Russification is the escalation and spreading of the Russian language and culture. Anyone who did not comply to these new ideals were turned in to the NKVD which was the secret police order. They were then arrested and never heard from again. Presumably they were killed or imprisoned for life. (3) Like Hitler, Stalin had his own praise system. Newspapers would applaud him, poets and…