"Golden Operation" of the State Police of the Ukrainian SSR on the forced seizure of currency and jewelry from the population (early 1930s)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2019.03.025Keywords:
JSPD (Joint State Political Directorate), SPD of USSR (State Political Directorate of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic), “black market”, “foreign currency holders”, “Golden Operation”, intra-camera development, “dollar stem room”, “raiding agent assets”.Abstract
Abstract. The aim of the study is to determine the chronological boundaries and stages of the wide-scale special operation carried out by the JSPD–SPD of the USSR with the aim of forcible withdrawal of foreign currency, objects of precious metals, gold and silver coins from the population; to analyze the purpose, organization mechanism, overt (not secret) and covert (secret) methods used by economic units ofstate security bodies in the course of conducting the so-called “Golden Operation”. The methodology of the study is based on the principles of objectivity, systematicity, dialectics, historicism and interdisciplinarity. The research is based on historical as well as historical and legal methods. The former comprise problematic-chronological, institutional, historical and anthropological methods (comprehension of motives, aspirations, views, sociocultural stereotypes of behaviour of people, suffering from SPD activities). Scientific novelty: on the basis of a wide range of unpublished archival documents and memoirs, the organization and specifics of operation of foreign currency units of economic subdivisions of the SPD of the USSR were analyzed. Conclusion. The operation aimed at forcible withdrawal of foreign currency and stages and lasted for four years (from 1930 to 1933); having spread over the whole territory of Soviet Ukraine, the operation was directed against various social classes, professional groups, as well as representatives of different nationalities. It was found out that on the eve of operations, figures regarding the value of the confiscated property and the number of persons who should be arrested during the next campaign operations were sent to the place from the top. For the purpose of fulfilment of the established norms the economic subdivisions’ employees used overt (outdoor surveillance, study of archival documents, defining the addresses, etc.) and covert (secret-service) methods. The methods of physical (cameras with very high and low temperatures, sleep deprivation, sitting for hours on a stool, abuse by jail mates, etc.) and psychological influence (from “explanatory conversations” about “happy future” and the performance of touching national tunes by the specially invited musicians to threats with the use of reprisal against family тmembers, etc.), were used by the SPD of the USSR employees to the citizens who, in the opinion of the secret services, could own precious possessions.
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