105. Khaustov et al., Lubianka: Stalin i glavnoe upravlenie, 249 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 989, l. 57, 60). “The greatest revolutionary vigilance and iron will, a sharp Bolshevik eye and organizing talent, an exceptional mind and the subtlest proletarian sense—these are the qualities shown by comrade Yezhov,” Pravda wrote, adding that he was assisted by “millions of eyes, millions of hands of workers . . . Such a force is invincible.” Pravda, July 18, 1937. On July 18, Alexander Barmine, a Soviet diplomat in Greece, defected, obtaining asylum in France. Rogovin, Partiia rasstreliannykh, 353–5.
106. Tepliakov, Mashina terrora, 528–32.
107. “I can testify that my father’s apartment did not resemble in the least the shop of a poor junk-dealer described in the document,” wrote Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko of his arrested father, Vladimir. The NKVD inventory of his family residence, the son claimed, had omitted “original engravings by famous artists, a typewriter, a radio phonograph player with eight albums of records, his wife’s jewelry, her squirrel coat, expensive French perfume . . . and much, much more.” Antonov-Ovseenko, Portet Tirana, 187. V. Antonov-Ovseyenko had been arrested Oct. 12, 1937 (he would be executed on Feb. 10, 1938), and had lived at the famed Finance Commissariat House (Novinsky Boulevard, 25), built in 1930 by Moisei Ginzburg.
108. Uimanov and Petrukhin, Bol’ liudskaia, V: 102–11; Junge and Binner, Kak terror stal “bol’shim,” 81–3; Tepliakov, “Personal i povsednevnost’ Novosibirskogo UNKVD,” 254.
109. The jazzmen’s rendition prompted the aviators to rise, applauding, and shout for an encore. Chkalov, Nash transpoliarnyi reis, 59; Vodop’ianov, Letchik Valerii Chkalov, 195; Skorokhodov, V poiskakh utrachennogo, 21–3. Utyosov claimed, in his recollections, that he was never invited back to a Kremlin reception, but the program for May 2, 1938, contradicts him. Nevezhin (Zastol’ia, 298–9) misdates the reception to Aug. 13, 1936, after a nonstop flight to the Soviet Far East, but Utyosov dates the performance to “summer 1937”—that would be July 26, 1937—when Baiduk, Chkalov, and Belyakov flew nonstop from Moscow to Vancouver; Chkalov also makes clear that the evening took place after their return from the United States.
110. Trud, June 4, 1992; Khaustov et al., Lubianka: Stalin i glavnoe upravlenie, 273–81 (APRF, f. 3, op. 58, d. 212, l. 59–78), 281–2 (l. 52–4); Danilov et al., Tragediia sovetskoi derevni, V/i: 328–37; Werth and Mironenko, Istoriia Stalinskogo gulaga, I: 277–80; Junge and Binner, Kak terror stal “bol’shim,” 84–93, 94–6. This was followed by further related directives: Werth and Mironenko, Istoriia Stalinskogo gulaga, I: 363–5. Frinovsky had three audiences with Stalin in July 1937: July 7 (fifteen minutes), July 26 (five minutes), July 29 (fifty-five minutes). Na prieme, 216.
111. Korneev and Kopylova, “Arkhivy na sluzhbe totalitarnogo gosudarstva.” The order specified that the mass operations were to last four months (instead they would last fifteen): on Jan. 31, 1938, the regime would extend the deadline and nearly double the country-wide quota to 500,000. Even the “final” quotas would be exceeded: in Georgia and Uzbekistan by 50 percent, in the USSR as a whole by 100 percent, in Western Siberia by 200 percent. The mass operations ended in different places at different times. Junge and Binner, Kak terror stal “bol’shim,” 83–103.
112. Mironov worked alongside another member of the local troika, Western Siberian party boss Eihe, and Mironov complained to Yezhov that the latter “interferes in the affairs of the NKVD,” showing up to participate in interrogations and arrests of party members. Yezhov advised Mironov not to conflict with Eihe. Petrov and Jansen, Stalinskii pitomets, 107 (citing TsA FSB ASD Frinovskogo, N-15301, t. 7: 36–7). Provincial practice varied. According to the NKVD operative Mikhail Shreider, Ivanovo province NKVD chief Israel Radzivilovsky rendered the “troika” decisions himself, just sending the paperwork to the two other troika members, the local party boss and the procurator, to sign. Shreider, NKVD iznutri, 76.
113. Khlevniuk, History of the Gulag, 157–61 (GARF, f. 8131, op. 37, d. 145, l. 49–84); Leibovich, “Vkliuchen v operatsiiu,” 302–3.
114. Artizov et al., Reabilitatsiia: kak eto bylo, I: 320; Kuz’micheva, “Resheniia osobykh troek privodit’ v ispolneniie nemedlenno,” 85.
