How to find out about their repressed and deported relatives

October 30 in Russia - the day of memory of victims of political repression. October 29 at the Solovki stone in Moscow is an action "Return names"- from 10 in the morning to 10 in the evening, people take turns reading out the names of those killed during the years of repression. Often names are the only thing left in the memory of these people, and even relatives do not know the circumstances of their arrest and death.

Фото: Depositphotos

Редакция Jellyfish asked the staff of the Scientific and Production Center “Memorial” to tell where and how to find the necessary information.

Who is considered a victim of political repression?

A person who has been subjected to unreasonable harassment by the authorities for his political and religious beliefs, on social, national and other grounds. Under the law “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression” of 18 in October 1991, political repression recognizes various coercive measures applied by the state for political reasons, depriving or restricting the rights and freedoms of people who are socially dangerous to the state or the political system since October 25 and 1917.

There are four most common categories of victims:

- people arrested on political charges by state security agencies (VChK — OGPU — NKVD — MGB — KGB) and sentenced by judicial or extrajudicial (CCA, troika, deuce, etc.) to the death penalty imprisonment in camps and prisons or to exile;

- peasants deported from their place of residence during the campaign of "exterminating the kulaks as a class." Many hundreds of thousands of them fell into camps, and the rest were sent to special settlements in Siberia, Kazakhstan and the North;

- Peoples deported from the places of traditional settlement in Siberia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan;

- peoples sent and mobilized into the “labor army” (Germans, Koreans, Kalmyks, Karachays, Chechens, Ingushs, Balkars, Crimean Tatars, and others).

How many victims of political repression in the USSR?

The total number of those arrested on political charges for the period from 1918 to 1953 is at least 4 750 000 people. Of those arrested, more than a million were executed according to sentences of judicial and extrajudicial bodies. Not less than 6,3 million people for the specified period became victims of mass deportations (peasants in the years of collectivization, deported “punished peoples”). The total number exiled to the "labor army" was up to 2,5 a million people.

During the years of the Great Terror (1937-1938), more than 1,7 a million people were arrested, of whom over 16 of incomplete months more than 670 thousand people were shot.

Is it easy to find information about a repressed relative?

Not. This is often a time consuming and slow process. The main reason is the enormous scale of repression. Additional difficulties arise from the fact that access to archival information today is very complicated. This is often associated with the free interpretation of legislation in various regional archival structures, and with the departmental specifics of archives, and what place the requested topic occupies in the discourse of state policy. In the majority of the subjects of the federation, archival and investigative cases involving rehabilitated persons have not yet been transferred from the FSB to state archives. Access by researchers to them is almost impossible due to the federal law on the protection of personal data, which was adopted in 2006 year. But still find information possible.

What you need to know to start searching for information about the repressed relative?

Before starting the search, specify the full name of the relative (full name), year of birth and place of residence at the time of the repression (republic, territory, region). Without this source data, the search for information will be virtually impossible.

Remember that records of birth, marriage and divorce, about the death of a person, as a rule, can be found in the archive of the registry office at the place of registration of these acts of civil status. As a rule, a student’s personal file can be searched in the archive of the educational institution where he studied. At the place of work of a person, you can request the personal file of the employee.

The Solovki stone on Lubyanka, not far from the former KGB building. Photo: Depositphotos

How to find out about those who were sentenced to death or imprisonment?

If you want to find out in which camp your relative was placed, send by mail a written request about the place of serving the sentence to the Main Information and Analytical Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the place of conviction. Having received the answer, in the reference book "The system of labor camps in the USSR: 1923 – 1960"(1998), you can see where the camp archive is, and then send the next one written request. Unfortunately, not all camps have data on the location of the archive.

If you want to know where a person came from to the camp, where he was convicted, what was the sentence, date, cause and place of death, send a letter with a request to the Information Center on the location of the camp.

In order to see the archive and investigation case and get an archive certificate, get a copy of the arrested person’s application form, as well as the sentence and act on the enforcement of the sentence (in the case of the shooting), you need to contact the regional department of the FSB at the place of investigation or at the place of birth . If you live in Russia, in your message ask to send archival files to the archives of the FSB at your place of residence for review in the archive reading room.

How to find out about a deported, dispossessed or deported relative?

If you want to receive information about the date and reason for the expulsion, about the family composition at the time of expulsion, about the place of exile, send a request to the IC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the relative's place of residence at the time of the repression. If you already know the place of the link, you can try to find out the date of release from the link, deregistration, information on deaths, births, as well as information on where the person came from.

View or get a copy of the decision of the rural meeting about dispossession, a document with information about the deprivation of voting rights, business census, send a request to the State Archives at the place of dispossession.

How can I find out about a repressed relative if I do not know what kind of repression he has been subjected to?

Send a written request about the form of repression by mail to the Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the place of residence at the time of the repression. In the letter, enter the full name of the relative and year of birth.

I was denied the right to familiarize myself with the case of a relative, since he was not rehabilitated. What to do?

First of all, you need to achieve rehabilitation in court and get a certificate of rehabilitation. The request for a certificate should be sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation or to the prosecutor’s office at the location of the internal affairs body that made the decision to apply repression.

What do I need to know about the restrictions associated with personal privacy law?

The 3 part of the 25 article of the Law on Archives in the Russian Federation restricts access to archival documents that may contain information about personal and family secrets for 75 years. If less than 75 years have passed since the end of the case (sentencing), you need to archive a chain of birth and marriage certificates confirming your relationship with the repressed person.

If 75 years have passed since the end of the case, then you can request access to the documents about the repressed relative without confirming the relationship. However, in practice, archival institutions do not always give out archival file to a person who is not a member of the family of the repressed.

Фото: Depositphotos

Where, besides the archives, can you learn more about your repressed relative?

For example, in the Memorial database "Victims of political terror in the USSR», Where information from Books of memory printed or prepared for publication in various regions of the former USSR is gradually brought together. The main content of these books is family lists of the repressed with brief biographical information. At the moment, the base of "Memorial" has about 3 millions of names, and, of course, this personal array is certainly not complete. Separately stand out "Stalin's firing lists"- lists of people convicted under the personal sanction of I. V. Stalin and his closest associates in the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). Of particular interest to those whose relatives lived in Moscow during the years of the totalitarian regime may be base MosMemo, РіРґРЃСЃРїРёСЃРѕРє Р ° рестовР° РРРСС ‹С… Рё СЂР ° СЃРЅРЅС‹ С… СРРРРССССРРРРСС РРРРРРРРРРРРРСРРРРРРРРРРРРСРСРССССРРРРРРСРРСРРєРєР ° СЂРµСРРРРРРёСѕРѕРєР ° РЂРРРСРРРСРСРРРРРРРСРРСРРРСРРРРРРРСРРСРСРРРРРРРРРРРСРРСРРРРРРРРРСРРСРРРРРРРРСРРСРРРРРРРРСРРСРРРРРРРРСРРРРРСРРСРРРРР РРРРРР Р'РѕР · можно, РІР ° Рј Р ± СѓРґРµС ‚интереснР° Р ± Р ° Р · Р °, РїРѕСЃРІСЏС ‰ еннР° СЏ 1244 РїР ° мятникР° Рј жертвР° Рј РїРѕР »РЁС · РЁС ‡ еских репрессий RЅR ° C РµССѵѵµµ ± ± ± (Р ± ± ± ± ± ± ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ± ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹СССС‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹

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