Human Rights in Russia week-ending 3 June 2022 - with Nikita Petrov Rights in Russia

    • Non-Profit

Our guest on the podcast this week is the historian Nikita
Vasilievich Petrov. Nikita Petrov is deputy chair of the board of the Memorial Research and Information Centre (which is
based in St. Petersburg). Born in Kiev, Nikita Petrov graduated from the Moscow Institute of
Chemical Engineering and went on to study at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic
Energy. His association with the Memorial Society began in 1988. As a historian
Nikita Petrov has specialized in the history of the Soviet security services.
He is known as the author and compiler of many works describing the structure
and functions of the Soviet security services from 1917 to 1991.
This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to
the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 
The recording took place on 30 May 2022.
·        
When and why did you first become interested in history, particularly
the history of Soviet repression and the security services?
·        
When did your collaboration with Memorial begin?
·        
You wrote a number of works with Arseny Roginsky, who headed Memorial
and died in 2017. Can you tell us about how you first met, what it was like to
work with Roginsky, and what he was like as a person?
·        
As a historian who worked in Russia’s archives for many years, can you
tell us how historians’ access to these archives has changed over the years?
·        
You have written about the history of the NKVD under Stalin, in
particular about Nikolai Yezhov. To what extent can we talk about the personal
influence of people like Yagoda or Yezhov on the NKVD, or were they just doing
Stalin’s bidding?
·        
You also wrote about the role of the NKVD and MGB in Central and Eastern
Europe from 1939. To what extent were the repressions against people of Polish
nationality similar to the Nazi repressions on the basis of race – an example
against people of Jewish origin?
·        
Another topic you wrote about is that of Ivan Serov and the
post-Stalinist KGB. To what extent did the security services change in the
post-Stalin period, first as the KGB and then as the FSB?
·        
Is there an explanation for why the security services played such an
important role in Soviet and Russian history? For example: in the book From the Red Terror to the Mafia State: Russia’s Secret Services
in the Struggle for World Domination the authors [historian
Felshtinsky, who is not considered a historian by many, and former KGB
Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Popov (Canada)] write about the history of the
state security takeover in Russia, presenting developments in terms of a
confrontation between the Cheka-KGB and the Communist Party. In fact, did the
Chekists confront the Communists or were they basically all the same kind of
people?
·        
Why are today’s authorities in Russia so interested in the study of
history?
·        
Are there any lessons in history? Including for the citizens of Russia?
 





























Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook:
Read old newspapers and magazines! That was exactly the advice Nikita
Petrov got from his father. He taught him that reading the Soviet press would
be interesting later, after many years had passed. So Nikita Petrov, who had
studied to be a chemist, became a historian. In our latest podcast Nikit Petrov
told Simon Cosgrove and me about his love for collecting old newspapers and
magazines, how he stacked them in folders and read and re-read them. That's how
chemistry came to lose one scientist from its ranks but history gained a
remarkable specialist in the study of the Soviet security agencies. We all know
Nikita Vasilievich as the author and compiler of many works describing the
structure and functions of Soviet security services from 1917 to 1991. This
knowledge is very important to all of us today as people from these very
special service

Our guest on the podcast this week is the historian Nikita
Vasilievich Petrov. Nikita Petrov is deputy chair of the board of the Memorial Research and Information Centre (which is
based in St. Petersburg). Born in Kiev, Nikita Petrov graduated from the Moscow Institute of
Chemical Engineering and went on to study at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic
Energy. His association with the Memorial Society began in 1988. As a historian
Nikita Petrov has specialized in the history of the Soviet security services.
He is known as the author and compiler of many works describing the structure
and functions of the Soviet security services from 1917 to 1991.
This podcast is in Russian. You can also listen to
the podcast on our website, SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Anchor and YouTube. 
The recording took place on 30 May 2022.
·        
When and why did you first become interested in history, particularly
the history of Soviet repression and the security services?
·        
When did your collaboration with Memorial begin?
·        
You wrote a number of works with Arseny Roginsky, who headed Memorial
and died in 2017. Can you tell us about how you first met, what it was like to
work with Roginsky, and what he was like as a person?
·        
As a historian who worked in Russia’s archives for many years, can you
tell us how historians’ access to these archives has changed over the years?
·        
You have written about the history of the NKVD under Stalin, in
particular about Nikolai Yezhov. To what extent can we talk about the personal
influence of people like Yagoda or Yezhov on the NKVD, or were they just doing
Stalin’s bidding?
·        
You also wrote about the role of the NKVD and MGB in Central and Eastern
Europe from 1939. To what extent were the repressions against people of Polish
nationality similar to the Nazi repressions on the basis of race – an example
against people of Jewish origin?
·        
Another topic you wrote about is that of Ivan Serov and the
post-Stalinist KGB. To what extent did the security services change in the
post-Stalin period, first as the KGB and then as the FSB?
·        
Is there an explanation for why the security services played such an
important role in Soviet and Russian history? For example: in the book From the Red Terror to the Mafia State: Russia’s Secret Services
in the Struggle for World Domination the authors [historian
Felshtinsky, who is not considered a historian by many, and former KGB
Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Popov (Canada)] write about the history of the
state security takeover in Russia, presenting developments in terms of a
confrontation between the Cheka-KGB and the Communist Party. In fact, did the
Chekists confront the Communists or were they basically all the same kind of
people?
·        
Why are today’s authorities in Russia so interested in the study of
history?
·        
Are there any lessons in history? Including for the citizens of Russia?
 





























Sergei Nikitin writes on Facebook:
Read old newspapers and magazines! That was exactly the advice Nikita
Petrov got from his father. He taught him that reading the Soviet press would
be interesting later, after many years had passed. So Nikita Petrov, who had
studied to be a chemist, became a historian. In our latest podcast Nikit Petrov
told Simon Cosgrove and me about his love for collecting old newspapers and
magazines, how he stacked them in folders and read and re-read them. That's how
chemistry came to lose one scientist from its ranks but history gained a
remarkable specialist in the study of the Soviet security agencies. We all know
Nikita Vasilievich as the author and compiler of many works describing the
structure and functions of Soviet security services from 1917 to 1991. This
knowledge is very important to all of us today as people from these very
special service