Дело „О военно-фашистском заговоре в РККА”: резонанс и последствия в СССР и за его пределами

Abstract

The article is dedicated to one of the most painful and insufficiently explored topics – to the resonance, which was produced by the affair of “The military-fascist conspiracy in the RKKA”. It was inspired by party-and-state elite headed by Joseph Stalin. The Red Army’s high command and then tens of thousands commanders and soldiers were victims of that affair. Dr Julia Kantor analyzes the Nazi leadership’s response to “shooting in Moscow” in June 1937 and also home political situation in the Soviet Union after that affair. The article is based on the previously unknown archive sources, including the materials of the German Federal Archives in Koblenz and the Central Archive of the Federal Security Service in Moscow. The author devotes a lot of attention to the issue of moral and psychological condition of the Red Army (citing reports about “decadent” mood among commanders and soldiers) and, more importantly, to the problem of a sharp decline in the professionalism of the RKKA, which was inducted by the human resources crisis in military schools. Also, the author presents data on the number of the repressed commanders in 1937–1938 and the materials about Stalin’s political guideline, which was given to the Red Army in 1938.