Soviet Union Genocide Essay

The USSR (The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was found in 1922 by Vladimir Lenin. The USSR was shortly taken over by Joseph Stalin, which lasted from the 1920’s to the 1953.(DeSomma, 12) During the time of Stalin’s ruling the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs), a secret police force, murdered many soviet citizens and jailed many others to Gulags. Gulags were forced labor camps that people were sent to if they were seen dangerous to the union. The Soviet then destroyed all owned farms to be replaced by state owned farms, this caused the Holomodor (1932- 1933). The Holomodor was a man made famine that killed 5 to 7 million peasants. The Great Purges (1937- 1938) were Stalin's attempt to remove any threats to the communist party continuance. Many people were killed or imprisoned each year. Numerous massacres occurred like the Vinnytsia Massacres, the Katyn Forest Massacre, and The Medvedev Forest Massacre. (Pierpaoli,1)
These genocides happened all over the Soviet Union. Within the Soviet Union was Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Armenia,Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine. The Soviet Union was the largest country in the world.The Holomodor was mainly in Ukraine along with the Vinnytsia
Stalin committed these genocides because he felt that he had to have complete control in order to remove any threats to the continuance of the communist party.(Frame,1) The victims of the genocides were people of many races and religions. The Holomodor was mostly targeted to the Ukrainians living in Ukraine.(Mace,1) The Vinnytsia Massacre was also targeted to ethnic Ukrainians in Ukraine. The Katyn Forest massacre targeted polish army officers but other polish nationals, women and children were killed(Trees,2). The Medvedev Forest massacre was the mass extinction of political prisoners at Oryol