Stalin and his hangmen reconstructs the psychological mechanism of a whole regime and what it held together. As such, it really is a work that needs to be taken in as a physical book, rather than a book ondisc. Stalin and his hangmen project gutenberg selfpublishing. My present fascination with the writing of vasily grossman persuaded me to turn to the long. There have been many biographies written about josef stalin. In a way, stalin and his hangmen is a very unmodern book, its emphasis on the personal tragedies of osip mandelstam, anna akhmatova, boris pasternak, nikolai bukharin and other intellectuals, not on the humongous plight of the rankandfile soviets. Spreading fear in a time of chaos, the cheka proved a perfect. This investigation of stalin and his coterie is at its best when it focuses on the latterhenchmen such as feliks dzierzynski, viacheslav molotov and lavrenti beriashowing that it was their. Stalin and his hangmen did enough damage without larding an account of their exploits with statements of dubious accuracy. Now, in his harrowing new book, donald rayfield probes the lives, the minds, the twisted careers, and the unpunished crimes of stalins loyal assassins. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read stalin and his hangmen. Stalin and his era the historical journal cambridge core. Dec 18, 2007 though beria lost his powerand his lifeafter stalins death in 1953, the fundamental methods of the hangmen maintained their grip into the second half of the twentieth century. The tyrant and those who killed for him by donald rayfield 2005, paperback at the best online prices at ebay.
The extent of the misery caused by stalin and his hangmen can be compared in europe only to that brought about by hitler and his henchmen. Donald rayfield a history of the soviet union under stalin offers a portrait of the soviet leader as well as the five ruthless politicos who presided over his secret police and became responsible for the deaths of. Passionate in his outrage, rayfield delivers a superb and chilling analysis of the stalinist soul through the characters and barbarities of its hangmen and their symbiotic relationship with the. Rayfields book shows us the whole pyramid of murderers with stalin at the apex and his coterie of banal, mediocre yesmen in the layer. Donald rayfield founded by feliks dzierzynski, the chekathe extraordinary commissioncame to life in the first years of the russian revolution. I bought donald rayfields stalin and his hangmen six or seven years while i was studying modern russian history in sixth form at school. Rayfields book shows us the whole pyramid of murderers with stalin at the apex and his coterie of banal, mediocre yesmen in the layer just below, down to the bottommost stratum. The books are based on recent publication by russian authors of material from soviet archives that started to open after the dissolution of the.
The tyrant and those who killed for him, is a 2004 political biography by donald rayfield, of joseph stalin and his subordinates who ran the soviet secret police. But stalins heritage is, if possible, even worse than hitlers. Pdf stalin and his hangmen download full pdf book download. Solid account of the way joseph stalin consolidated, and then abused, his power in the ussr of the twenties, thirties, forties and fifties.
Rayfields book gives us sharp portraits of stalin himself as well as his hangmen dzier. Books by donald rayfield author of stalin and his hangmen. An authoritative portrait of a tyrant and those who served him by donald rayfield, and the imprinted with another subtitle. The mass executions, the mock trials, the betrayals and purges, the jailings and secret torture that ravaged the soviet union during the three decades of stalin s dictatorship, were the result of a tight network of trusted henchmen and women, spies, psychopaths, and thugs.
Stalin and his hangmen by donald rayfield penguin random. Stalin and his hangmen new york public library overdrive. But stalin s heritage is, if possible, even worse than hitlers. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading stalin and his hangmen.
If youve read let history judge or the gulag archipelago, much of this is not new. The books theme is that the secret police was always the backbone of. This is why stalin and his hangmen and mao are such important books. Though beria lost his power and his lifeafter stalin s death in 1953, the fundamental methods of the hangmen maintained their grip into the second half of the twentieth century.
The tyrant and those who killed for him by rayfield focus only on the sexual depravity and crimes of stalins followers respectively. Felix dzerzhinsky, vyacheslav menzhinsky, genrikh yagoda. Though beria lost his powerand his lifeafter stalin s death in 1953, the fundamental methods of the hangmen maintained their grip into the second half of the twentieth century. This is an endless list of names, dates, places, statistics pertaining to the hideous rollcall of dead and tortured during stalin s dominance in russia from 1920s until his death in the 1950s. The mass executions, the mock trials, the betrayals and purges, the jailings and secret torture that ravaged the soviet union during the three decades of stalins dictatorship, were the result of a tight network of trusted henchmen and women, spies, psychopaths, and thugs. Stalin and his hangmen by donald rayfield librarything. Misfortunes of poets and party leaders used to dominate the critique of stalins regime in. The fall of the soviet union, the opening of its archives, and the emergence of a new generation of historians both in russia and abroad has led to considerable improvement in the quality of the history being written. Mar 31, 2005 stalin and his hangmen reconstructs the psychological mechanism of a whole regime and what it held together. Indeed, rayfield argues, the tradition of terror, far from disappearing, has emerged with renewed vitality under vladimir putin. The tyrant and those who killed for him by rayfield focus only on the sexual depravity and crimes of stalin s followers respectively.
Stalin and his hangmen by donald rayfield overdrive. Though beria lost his powerand his lifeafter stalins death in 1953, the fundamental methods of the hangmen maintained their grip into the second half of the twentieth century. Stalin and his hangmen goodreads meet your next favorite book. Mar 14, 2004 passionate in his outrage, rayfield delivers a superb and chilling analysis of the stalinist soul through the characters and barbarities of its hangmen and their symbiotic relationship with the. The mass executions, the mock trials, the betrayals and purges, the jailings and secret torture that ravaged the soviet union during the. The court of the red czar by montefiore and stalin and his hangmen. A book as valuable to the scholarship of european history and mass terror as gulag and hitlers willing executioners.
Together those men are responsible for the death of millions of innocent citizens, organizing the longest and most terrible bloodbath in the history of mankind one other contender is mao zedong, see jung chang. Besides the main hangmen this books also presents the history of the other cheka operatives i. The tyrant and those who killed for him 9780375757716. The tyrant and those who killed for him ebook written by donald rayfield. I never read it, though, because it was squeezed out by another book published at about the same time stalin. An authoritative portrait of a tyrant and those who served him by. Sep 04, 2017 though beria lost his powerand his lifeafter stalins death in 1953, the fundamental methods of the hangmen maintained their grip into the second half of the twentieth century. Indeed, rayfield argues, the tradition of terror, far from disappearing, has. Dec, 2005 though beria lost his power and his lifeafter stalin s death in 1953, the fundamental methods of the hangmen maintained their grip into the second half of the twentieth century. The mass executions, the mock trials, the betrayals and purges, the jailings and secret torture that ravaged the soviet union during the three decades of stalins dictatorship, were the result of a tight network of trusted henchmen and. The tyrant and those who killed for him kindle edition by rayfield, donald.
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