“Suspected but innocent”. Selected cases of investigations against Poles in the Ukrainian SSR in 1937–1938, ended in acquittal

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of three cases of investigations conducted against Soviet citizens of Polish nationality, residing in the area “beyond the Zbrucz”. Cases of people from three different districts of the then Ukrainian SSR (Kamenets-Podilskyi, Vinnytsia and Odessa), which ended in acquittal, were deliberately selected for the analysis. Such trials resulted in the regaining of freedom by the suspects in only 3% of cases (so they concerned about four thousand people). The text contains an analysis of the entire investigation procedure – from issuing a decision to detain the suspect, through his arrest, taking him to a place of detention, interrogating both the detainee and witnesses, to issuing and justifying the decision to end the investigation and release the suspect.