Tag: stalin

Tribute to RW Davies

On what would have been his 96th birthday, I offer this tribute to RW [Bob] Davies, who died last week. For those of you who have studied Soviet history, you will be aware of the important impact that…

Prof. Melanie Ilic Celebrates a New Publication

On 7 November, I was privileged to be part of the presentation panel at the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES), The University of Birmingham, to mark the recent publication of the seventh and final volume…

Celebrating the Lives of Soviet Women: Tamara Vladimirovna Petkevich (29 March 1920 – 18 October 2017)

‘Gulag Actress’ Tamara Petkevich died recently in St Petersburg at the age of 97. Here is an abridged version of the review of her Memoir that I wrote when it was published in English in 2010. This volume…

Women’s Experiences of the Great Terror – new publication by Prof Melanie Ilic

I posted on our Facebook page in September that I had a book due to come out very soon, and now it’s actually here! Women’s Experiences of Repression in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is a co-authored…

Arrest of Wives: NKVD Operational Order No. 00486, 15 August 1937

The Great Terror of 1936 to 1938 left an indelible mark on Soviet politics and Stalinist society. In addition to the three major show trials in Moscow, purges and arrests took place across the country. Initially, these were…

30 October: Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repression

Crowds gathered in Moscow and in other Russian cities over the weekend to remember those who died as a result of Stalin’s purges in the 1930s and 1940s. The commemoration in Moscow took place in Lubyanka Square, where…

Book Review Opportunity!

Roll up, roll up! You may be interested to hear that we have several copies from the publisher of the following book available for review: Roger Moorhouse, The Devil’s Alliance: Hitler’s Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941 If you would…