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The Secret Police - NKVD
What was the NKVD?
In 1934, the USSR's secret police was re-named the NKVD or People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. It's job was to continue to eliminate any opposition to communist rule. Previously, the secret police were called the Cheka from 1917 to 1922 and then the OGPU from 1922.
What was the NKVD primary responsibility?
The NKVD is known for the role it played in ensuring political repression and for carrying out the Great Purge under Stalin. Many arrests were made of those accused of being 'an enemy of the people'. Such crimes were often tried on the basis of minimal evidence, such as having contact with foreigners or failing to cut out pictures of Trotsky from textbooks.
What were the NKVD's techniques?
The NKVD used extreme techniques:
- ❖ Mass arrests were made.
- ❖ Forced confessions under torture.
- ❖ Developing networks of informants.
- ❖ Quotas were introduced in July 1937 with Order 00447 setting out how many arrests the NKVD was expected to make and how army should be executed.
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