Tag #152656 - Interview #95280 (Grigoriy Kagan)

However, I cannot help mentioning here that when I heard Khrushchev’s 29 speech on the 20th Congress of the party in 1956 [Twentieth Party Congress] 30, I was very happy about it. I thought that if the party was brave and committed to the acknowledgement of mistakes and recognition that the Stalin’s regime was a criminal regime. I also believed that our life would improve significantly. I believed everything Khrushchev said at once and unconditionally. Everything Khrushchev said was a revelation for me. How mean Stalin was! He exterminated all those whom he believed to be more intelligent than he was. There were many such people. Nobody could say a word against Stalin. There was a wide network of his volunteer informers. They reported everything to NKVD 31. There were decision of ‘great’ Stalin, the ‘best friend of all children’ kept in the archives. In those documents he signed his execution verdict for over 40 thousand people, including children under 12. I think Stalin was worse than Hitler, at least with regards to his attitude toward Jews. Hitler did it openly while Stalin exterminated Jews on the quiet, covering himself with crackling phrases about the ‘revolutionary need’ and falsified trials.  Now it’s no secret that he had barracks for deported Jews installed in Siberia. There was a mass deportation prepared and this was not his first experience. He had deported the Crimean Tatars, Chechen and Ingushi people [Forced deportation to Siberia] 32 before. Jews were to follow into their steps and there were already trains for them prepared. Stalin died on the Jewish holiday of Purim. Could it be that his evil deeds overfilled the God’s cup of patience?