Mass Repressions in Mordovia Soviet Republic in 1937-1938: Executive Order of the NKVD of the USSR (The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) No. 00447

Study objective. The article analyzes the mechanism of mass repressions that took place on the territory of the Mordovia Soviet Republic in 1937-1938, revealing the role of the local NKVD division (The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) in implementing the repressive policy of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) in the second half of the 1930s, as well as the activities of the non-judicial body "troika" under the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the Mordovia Soviet for the elimination of anti-Soviet residents. Based on the documents and materials of the central and regional state archives, archives of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Moldova and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Moldova, the author attempts to define the concept of "mass repressions" in relation to the specified period, the political and social orientation of mass repressions, the number of repressed citizens and irreparable losses among the population of the republic in the years of the Great Terror. Conclusion. The bodies of the NKVD of the Mordovia Soviet Republic, being an important element of the system of state administration and officially ensuring state and public security, protecting the rights and freedoms of Soviet citizens from criminal activity, in the period 1937-1938 performed functions unusual for these bodies, carrying out mass illegal arrests and extrajudicial repressions. The activities of the troika under the NKVD of the Mordovia Soviet Republic had tragic consequences for many residents of the republic and were unconstitutional and illegal.

The Soviet state, law, constitution, Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), bodies of state security, legitimacy, mass repressions, prosecutor’s office, rehabilitation