‘The ‘Great Terror’ and the Fight with Corruption in the GULAG: the Case of the White-Sea Baltic Combine and the Camp of the NKVD

"The paper is devoted to the exploration of the criminal cases on corruption and economic crimes initiated in 1937-1938 within the White Sea Baltic Combine and the Camp NKVD (later referred to as BBK when the Combine is meant as BBLag when the camp is meant), an important GULAG enterprise. Throughout the 1930-s its bosses complained of high level of corruption and embezzlements in the administrative apparatuses and economic enterprises. The paper attempts to study “shadow economy” networks, their participants, and the ways the Chekists handled corruption. Although usually in the 1930-s the disclosure of the embezzlements did not result in the death penalty, during the “Great Terror” (commonly known as a range of repressive operations targeting certain social groups in the Soviet Union in years 1937-1938, also referred to as “Ezhovschina” or “Stalinskie Repressii.” (“Stalin’s purges”) the crimes of theft and embezzlements could be included into the category resulting in capital punishment under operative order № 00447. Finally, the paper undertakes an analysis of the logic of these investigation processes. In doing so, it relies on those criminal cases instigated on the pretext of crimes of embezzlement and theft (or, as it was frequently stated in the criminal cases, ‘systematic plunder/misappropriation of the state property’ ) that eventuated in capital punishment in accordance with the order 00447. "