Mass NKVD Operation in Western Ukraine (Spring — Summer 1940): Organisational, Personnel and Technological Aspects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2026.02.094Keywords:
People Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), Main Directorate of State Security, Western Ukraine, Western Volhynia, Great Terror, «cleansing», mass operations, “troikas”, extrajudicial sentences.Abstract
The article traces the political context, organisational, personnel, and technological aspects of the NKVD’s 1940 mass operation in Western Ukraine (using Western Volhynia as an example) through its connection with the mass operations of the Great Terror period. This operation in 1940, which was an integral part of the Western Ukraine Cleansing, is examined using the principles of historicism, systematic, historical-comparative, problem-chronological, diachronic, prosopographic, statistical-quantitative, and other methods. The main results of the study consist of the reconstruction of a mass operation carried out by Soviet repressive forces, based on a decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) dated 5 March 1940, to execute, under special procedures, the “sworn enemies of Soviet power” in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR. It has been established that the mass operation during the spring and summer of 1940 was a social purge aimed at destroying “class enemies” and suppressing any possible resistance to sovietisation. The original character of the work is provided by the author’s argumentation and deciphering part of the list of persons killed by decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on 5 March 1940 (in particular, its “Rivne” segment) with the introduction into scientific circulation of a vast array of preserved control and surveillance files on repressed persons, questionnaires and personal files of special settlers, orders and personal files of NKVD employees. The practical significance of the research and prospects for further studies lie in the fact that the study of the source complex related to the circumstances of the mass operation in 1940 on the territory of Western Volhynia has made it possible to create a research model that can be applied to similar studies of other regions of Western Ukraine, as well as Belarus and the Baltic states.
References
(1995). Organy gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti SSSR v Velikoy Otechestvennoy voyne: Sbornik dokumentov. T. 1. Kn. 1. Nakanune. Noyabr 1938 g. — dekabr 1940 g. Moscow. [in Russian].
Baran, V. & Tokarskyi, V. (2014). “Zachystka”: politychni represii v zakhidnykh oblastiakh Ukrainy u 1939—1941 rr. Lviv. [in Ukrainian].
Lebedeva, N., Petrosova, N., Voshchinskiy, B. & Materskiy, V. (Comps.). (1999). Katyn. Plenniki neobyavlennoy voyny. Dokumenty i materialy. Moscow. [in Russian].
(1989). Katyn. Lista ofiar i zaginionych jencow obozow Kozielsk, Ostaszkow, Starobielsk / wstep i oprac. A.-L. Szczesniak. Warszawa. [in Polish].
Lista Katynska. Jency obozow Kozielsk, Ostaszkow, Starobielsk, zaginieni w Rosji Sowieckiej / oprac. A. Moszynski. Warszawa, 1989. 339 s. [in Polish].
Zawodny, J.-K. (1989). Katyn. Lublin; Paryz. [in Polish].
(1998). Katyn. Dokumenty zbrodni. Т. 2. Zaglada: marzec — czerwiec 1940 / oprac. W. Materski, E. Rosowska, B. Woszczyiiski, N. Lebiediewa, N. Pietrosowa. Warszawa. [in Polish].
(2013). Zabici w Katyniu: Alfabetyczny spis 4415 jencyw polskich z Kozielska zabitych w kwietniu — maju 1940, wedlug zrydei sowieckich, polskich i niemieckich / oprac. A. Gurjanow, A. Dzienkiewicz. Warszawa. [in Polish].
Lebedeva, N. (Comp.). (2001). Katyn. Mart 1940 — sentyabr 2000 g. Rasstrel. Sudby zhivykh. Ekho Katyni. Dokumenty. Moscow. [in Russian].
Yazhborovskaya, I., Yablokov, A. & Parsadanova, V. (2009). Katynskiy sindrom v sovetsko-polskikh i rossiysko-polskikh otnosheniyakh. Moscow. [in Russian].
Kalbarchyk, S. (2011). Ukrainskyi katynskyi spysok. Spetsproiekt «Katynska sprava». Istorychna pravda. 9.11.2011. URL: https://www.istpravda.com.ua/articles/2011/11/9/61918/ [in Ukrainian].
(1994). Listy Katyńskiej ciąg dalszy straceni na Ukrainie: Lista obywateli polskich zamordowanych na Ukrainie na podstawie deczyzji Biura Politycznego WKP(b) i naczelnych władz Państwowych ZSRR z 5 marca 1940 roku / red. M. Tarczyński. Warszawa. [in Polish].
(2025). Zbrodnia katyńska. Nowe aspekty / pod red. S. Kalbarczyka i W. Wasilewskiego. Warszawa. [in Polish].
Kryvosheia, V. & Onyshko, L. (2011). Ukrainskyi katynskyi spysok — za i proty. Hileia: Istorychni nauky. Spetsvypusk: 8-18. [in Ukrainian].
Kryvosheia, V. & Onyshko, L. (2013). Ukrainskyi katynskyi spysok: natsionalna ta sotsialna skladovi. Bazhan, O. & Podkur, R. (Comps.). Politychni represii v Ukrainskii RSR 1937—1938 rr.: doslidnytski refleksii ta interpretatsii. Do 75-richchia “ Velykoho teroru” v SRSR. Kyiv. 280-289. [in Ukrainian].
Kokin, S. (2020). Katynskyi zlochyn. Problema dzherelnoi bazy v Ukraini. Mistsia / mistse pamiati v polsko-ukrainskomu dialozi porozuminnia (do 80-kh rokovyn katynskoho zlochynu). Kyiv; Warsaw. 46-52. [in Ukrainian].
Davydiuk, R. (2023). Strata “v osoblyvomu poriadku” kolyshnikh uenerivtsiv: rozstrilnyi spysok 1940 r. Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal. 1 (568): 121-142. https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2023.01.121 [in Ukrainian].
Petrov, N. (2016). Nagrazhdeny za rasstrel. 1940. Moscow. [in Russian].
Petrov, N. (2010). Kto rukovodil organami gosbezopasnosti. 1941—1954: Spravochnik. Moscow. [in Russian].
Petrov, N. (2005). Pervyy predsedatel KGB Ivan Serov. Moscow. [in Russian].
Kulchytskyi, S. (2005). Taiemnytsia Velykoho teroru: “Vilni vybory” 1937—1938 rokiv. Suchasnyi kontekst. Den. 12.02.2005. URL: https://day.kyiv.ua/article/istoriya-i-ya/tayemnytsya-velykoho-teroru [in Ukrainian].
Khaustov, V., Naumov, V. & Plotnikova, N. (Comps.). (2004). Lubyanka. Stalin i Glavnoe upravlenie gosbezopasnosti NKVD. Arkhiv Stalina. Dokumenty vysshikh organov partiynoy i gosudarstvennoy vlasti. 1937—1938. Moscow. [in Russian].
Tsarynnyk, M. (2013). Palats nad Ikvoiu: Dubne, 18 veresnia 1939 i 24 chervnia 1941. Yehupets / Egupets. 18: 295-342. [in Ukrainian].
(2012). Ukrainskie natsionalisticheskie organizatsii v gody Vtoroy mirovoy voyny. Dokumenty: v 2 t. T. 1: 1939—1943. Moscow. [in Russian].
Kokin, S. & Rossman, D. (Comps.). (2019). Vidlunnia Velykoho teroru. Zbirnyk dokumentiv u trokh tomakh. T. 2: Dokumenty z arkhivnykh kryminalnykh sprav na spivrobitnykiv orhaniv NKVS URSR, zasudzhenykh za “porushennia sotsialistychnoi zakonnosti” (zhovten 1938 r. — cherven 1943 r.). Kn. 2. Kyiv. [in Ukrainian].
Savin, A., Tepliakov, O. & Yunhe, M. (Comps.). (2019). Vidlunnia Velykoho teroru. Zbirnyk dokumentiv u trokh tomakh. T. 3: Chekisty Stalina v leshchatakh “sotsialistychnoi zakonnosti”. Eho-dokumenty 1938—1941 rr. Kyiv. [in Ukrainian].
Loshytskyi, O. (2000). “Laboratoriia”-2: Poltava. Dokumentalni materialy pro masovi represii v Poltavskii oblasti u 1937—1938 rr. Z arkhiviv VUChK-HPU-NKVD-KHB. 2/4: 129-178. [in Ukrainian].
Zhyviuk, A. (2019). Odyn iz “perpetrators”: komendant UNKVD-UMVD-UKHB Petro Klymchuk. Z arkhiviv VUChK-HPU-NKVD-KHB. 2: 5-43. https://doi.org/10.15407/vuchk2019.02.005 [in Ukrainian].
(2005). Rasstrelnye spiski. Moskva. 1935—1953. Donskoe kladbishche: kniga pamyati zhertv politicheskikh repressiy. Moscow. [in Russian].
Kokurina, A. & Petrova, N. (Comps.). (1997). Lubyanka. VChK-OGPU-NKVD-NKGB-MGB-MVD-KGB. 1917—1960. Spravochnik. Moscow. [in Russian].
Vasyliev, V., Misinkevych, L. & Podkur, R. (Comps.). (2008). Reabilitovani istoriieiu. Khmelnytska oblast. Kn. 1. Khmelnytskyi. [in Ukrainian].
Zhyviuk, A. (Comp.). (2006). Reabilitovani istoriieiu. Rivnenska oblast. Kn. 1. Rivne. [in Ukrainian].
