Children of "ennemies of the people" as victims of the Great Purges*

Abstract

Corinna Kuhr, Children of "enemies of the people " as victims of the great purges. Several hundred thousand children lost their parents during the years 1936-1938 as a result of the purges. Many of them were sent to orphanages, colonies for young delinquents or even to labour camps. Plans for the registration and accomodation of these children existed. They are to be viewed as a consequence of the arrest of thousands of people and the need to take care of a great many children. This, and not an ideological goal, was the reason for such treatement of the children of "enemies of the people." Memoirs and interviews of contemporary witnesses make it possible to reach several general conclusions: on the one hand, most of the children were treated like other orphans and their future in the homes depended on the local people and special circumstances. On the other hand, there were conditions which made discrimination probable: being a member of a family which belongs to the old Soviet élite, being older than fifteen years of age, and showing signs of opposition.