Political Repressions at Leningrad State University

Abstract

This article analyses socio-biographical characteristics of the Leningrad State University (LGU) teaching staff, subjected to political repressions from 1935 to 1938. It determines the scale of repressions in LGU during the abovementioned period as well as identifies the groups of University teachers who were exposed to the highest risk of being repressed, taking into consideration their social background, party membership, ethnic origin, position in the University ranks, affiliation with a certain faculty or department, and other socio-biographical characteristics. Thus “socio-demographic portrait” of an average LGU teacher subjected to political repressions is formed within the framework of the current study. Apart from that, the article discusses the course of investigation and court proceedings, defining under which paragraph of Article 58 of RSFSR Criminal Code LGU teachers were sued. It specifies to what extent the severity of the verdict depended upon pleading guilty or not guilty by the accused, and upon which judicial or extrajudicial body the case was heard. Evidential basis used by investigators, including physical evidence, denunciations, incriminations and self-incriminations are also examined within this study. The efforts of NKVD to “reclassify” meetings between groups of fellow professors as “counterrevolutionary collusions of terrorists” are also considered in the article. At the same time, the article attempts to estimate the level of physical and psychological pressure to which suspects were exposed in the course of the trial in order to obtain from them the testimony needed for the prosecution. The study also traces the fate of the convicted LGU professors, namely the likelihood of them becoming the victims of subsequent political repressions after serving the sentence.