Struggle in Soviet Russia

Now, the question is, why did Comrade Stalin suddenly think of what happened in Lviv back then? Could it be that the recent clamour of those in the Jewish Committee has aroused the attention of Comrade Stalin?

No, that's really unlikely. Those members of the Jewish committee are indeed promoting the persecution of Jews by fascist Germany, and the propaganda they do has a lot of touching and even touching content.

But, does anyone really care about the life and death of those Jews? Especially those Jews who left the Union voluntarily and went to the German-controlled Poland? Victor believed that no one would care about them, at least it was impossible for Comrade Stalin to think about it again after many years.

According to Comrade Stalin, Victor must carefully investigate the affairs of Gerstenmeier that year. Since Gerstenmeier was to be investigated, there should probably be several directions involved in the investigation: Steenmeier has close contacts; who facilitated his propaganda activities in the Lviv area; who benefited from a series of actions of this man; why so many Union Jews passed through the border smoothly in those days; why Back then, the border guards would do nothing, etc., and so on. This series of problems was what Victor had to figure out.

This is about investigating old cases and reversing old accounts, not to mention whether such cases will be difficult to investigate. Victor must first consider what is Comrade Stalin's purpose.

Don't say that he would have no purpose in mentioning old things. That kind of thinking is too naive. Either it is aimed at something, or it is aimed at certain people. This is inevitable. There is no third possibility.

"Comrade Andrei Alexandrovich, at the previous meeting of the People's Committee of National Defense, proposed that as the war situation becomes more clear, our focus should also be appropriately changed," Comrade Stalin continued. He said, "Although I think it is too early to consider these issues, at least he has one opinion I agree with, that is, the work of post-war recovery and liquidation must be included in our work schedule."

"Comrade Zhdanov is visionary," what can Victor say? He is not a people's commissar of the People's Committee of National Defense. He didn't know what was discussed at the meeting there, who supported and who opposed it, so he could only talk nonsense.

"We have been discussing the issue of post-war recovery, and we have been doing related work." Comrade Stalin did not want to listen to his opinion, but continued to speak on his own. "The work of liquidation after the war was previously I also mentioned it, but the specific work has not yet been laid out, or even set out to arrange it."

Victor nodded. Regarding the question of liquidation, he had also heard Beria and Malinkov talk about it. The so-called liquidation here includes the liquidation of traitors and surrenders.

Prior to this, the liquidation work should be led by the military committee in principle. According to relevant regulations, all kinds of people who need to be liquidated are divided into many types, from pseudo-government officials to collaborators and traitors to the destruction of the Red Army, There are many types of guerrillas and alliance intelligence personnel who are extremely sinister, and the punishments vary depending on the charges, ranging from shooting to exile and sentencing.

However, such regulations are not very strict in the process of enforcement, because it is not only the military committee that participates in the punishment, after all, the military committee itself is too busy. As a result, the relevant liquidation work appeared in the process of implementation-chaos.

The front-line troops are doing liquidation work, and the guerrillas are also doing this kind of work. The police and militia in the new liberated areas are also doing this kind of work, and even ordinary people are also involved.

This kind of chaos has led to a result, that is, many people take advantage of the opportunity of liquidation to avenge private revenge, frame up and frame, and even commit crimes of robbery.

For this reason, as early as two months ago, Comrade Ivan Goryakov, President of the Supreme Court of the Union, put forward relevant opinions. He published an article in the Journal of Socialist Law, criticizing the new liberation. Illegal and criminal behaviors that have occurred in the region under the guise of liquidation, and it is recommended that in various liquidation work, all levels and departments should respect the justice more.

Yes, don’t think that there is no legal system in the Soviet Union today. On the contrary, even during the war, the operation of the Union’s judicial department was still smooth. Regarding the chaos in the newly liberated areas, not only Goryakov had put forward opinions, but also the highest Prosecutor General Safonov and Minister of Justice Richkov have all made suggestions to the People’s Committee of National Defense.

But having said that, the newly liberated areas were originally quite chaotic, especially in Western Ukraine. Although the Germans there were driven out, there were still an unknown number of nationalist guerrillas, and until now there is no nation that lay down their weapons. The guerrillas must be anti-government.

A lot of realities were there, which finally led to the failure of the liquidation work to be carried out reasonably and legally in accordance with the established procedures.

Of course, here, Victor is also very clear. Comrade Stalin is definitely not considering the legitimacy of the liquidation work in the execution process. He is considering how to achieve his goals through the liquidation work.

"My thought is," Comrade Stalin is still continuing his topic without guessing Victor's true thoughts. "In the post-war reconstruction and liquidation work, the National Security People’s Committee should also be more involved, especially It is in the liquidation work. My opinion is that the court, the procuratorate, the People’s Commission for National Security, and the People’s Commission for the Interior should form a joint working group to perform their duties and take charge of this work together."

Victor pursed his lips and said nothing.

When Comrade Stalin put forward this idea, the first thought that came to his mind was the history of when he was almost shot in Shepchenkovo. At that time, there was a so-called "three-person team". Specially responsible for investigating and trying various cases, is it possible that Comrade Stalin wanted to form a "four-person trial team" to let the blood and chaos of the year repeat itself?

"At present, Lviv is one of the new liberated areas," Comrade Stalin continued, "I hope your work can start from there first, including the remaining issues I just discussed, should be included in the scope of the investigation."

Turning around, facing Victor, he emphasized his tone and said: "My attitude is that we must not let go of those who cooperated with the Germans before the war, betrayed the alliance, and betrayed the Soviet motherland. . And for those who surrendered to the Germans in the war, worked for the Germans, or even persecuted their compatriots, we should give the most severe punishment. Even if there is a person who should have been punished, he eventually escaped the punishment. Our incompetence and negligence are our shame."

Comrade Stalin's remarks are sonorous and powerful, which shows that his attitude in this regard is firm.

"Yes, Comrade Stalin, then I will contact the three comrades Golyakov, Safonov and Serov to determine the basic working principles," Victor said with a straight face, standing straight.

"Comrade Serov will not be involved in this work for the time being," Comrade Stalin took out his pipe from his pocket, and fiddled with it, and said lightly, "I received a report from Pegov and Yumashev. There are some things in the Far East. He needs to handle it, so Comrade Merkulov is temporarily in charge of the work of the NKVD."

Speaking of this, he paused, and then continued: "Besides, before the war, he was responsible for the work of the People’s Committee of the Internal Affairs of the Western Ukraine Region. Some people reported that he and Gerstenmeier The relationship between the two seems to be very good, and the exchanges between the two are also very frequent. Therefore, he also has to avoid the subsequent investigation of Lviv."

At this moment, Victor's only felt a buzz in his mind. He finally understood Comrade Stalin's rehearsal and who he was targeting. There is no doubt that this was for Serov. Of course, to be more accurate. , This is going to Khrushchev.

Victor remembers clearly that after the Alliance regained Lviv, Khrushchev did not go there less. Of course, it was impossible for Comrade Stalin to take this incident directly against Khrushchev. His goal should be to take it first. Drop Serov, and then from Serov, Khrushchev was involved.

In the past two years, the close relationship between Serov and Khrushchev is no longer a secret. To a certain extent, this is even an open fact. In addition, the reason why Serov was able to enter the field of vision of Comrade Stalin was also because of Khrushchev's recommendation. This point is not clear to others, and Comrade Stalin must be clear.

When the Gerstenmaier incident happened, Khrushchev was visiting Western Ukraine frequently, and it was also when Serov presided over the work of the People’s Committee of the Internal Affairs of Western Ukraine. It is not too simple to get involved with individuals, especially with Serov.

But if you think about it further, what was Victor doing at the time? He is the head of the Lviv People’s Committee of the Interior. If Serov needs to be evaded in the investigation of this incident, doesn’t he need to evade it?

Yes, of course he should also need to avoid it, but Comrade Stalin asked him to investigate this matter. Then, is there a deeper meaning behind this arrangement?

Victor believes that there is, and he is very certain that whether he has anything to do with this incident depends entirely on the results of the investigation he submits in the future.