7 December 2025, 10:06
In 1937–1938, the Stalinist regime carried out one of the most brutal ethnic genocides in Soviet history — the so-called “Polish Operation” of the NKVD. According to conservative estimates, approximately 85,000 Poles were executed during these two years. This constituted one-eighth of the total victims of the Great Terror (681,692 people).
These figures acquire particular horror in the context of demographic reality: Poles constituted less than 0.4% of the population of the “USSR” concentration camp. However, they comprised 12.5% of all victims of the Great Terror. The probability of death during the Terror for Poles in Soviet Russia was 40 times higher than for other subjects of the regime.
Anatomy of Ethnocide: NKVD Anti-National Operations
The “Polish Operation” became the prototype for a series of other anti-national operations directed against so-called “enemy nationalities” — the Stalinist term for diaspora groups with real or imagined connections to foreign states.
Statistics of anti-national operations:
- Latvian operation: ~16,573 executed
- Estonian operation: ~7,998 executed
- Finnish operation: ~9,078 executed
- Total in anti-national operations: 247,157 executed
These ethnic groups together constituted only 1.6% of the population of the “USSR” concentration camp, but comprised 36% of the total victims of the Great Terror. Members of persecuted national minorities had a more than 20 times higher probability of being executed than ordinary subjects of Soviet Russia.
Mortality as the Norm: The Mechanics of Destruction
The key difference between anti-national operations and other repressive campaigns lay in deliberately established quotas for extermination. While during the “kulak operation” those arrested had approximately equal chances of execution or exile to the Gulag, those arrested during anti-national operations had a 74% probability of execution.
For the “Polish Operation,” this figure was even higher — 78% executed. The rest did not receive freedom — most served 8–10 years in the Gulag.
The Leningrad Case: Genocide in Its Pure Form
Leningrad demonstrates the most extreme indicators of ethnic repression. In 1937–1938, Poles had 34 times higher chances of arrest than other city residents.
Arrest meant almost guaranteed death: 89% of those convicted during the “Polish Operation” in Leningrad were executed, typically within ten days of arrest. These were not judicial proceedings — this was a conveyor belt of extermination based on ethnic identity.
Destruction of the Polish Elite
Particularly telling is the fate of the Polish communist elite, who trusted in internationalist illusions. Of 100 members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Poland, 69 were executed in Soviet Russia. Most of those who escaped Soviet bullets were in prisons in Poland — that is, were physically inaccessible to Stalin’s executioners.
This complete destruction of the national communist party leadership demonstrates that even ideological loyalty did not save one from ethnic repression. Being Polish meant being an enemy — regardless of party membership.
The Logic of Genocide: Why So Many Executions?
Timothy Snyder points to a banal but horrifying reason for the increase in executions over time: “There was no room in the Gulag.” The later a subject of Soviet Russia was arrested during the Great Terror, the higher the probability of execution.
The camps were overcrowded, and the regime chose the simplest solution — physical extermination. For “enemy nationalities,” this principle was applied from the very beginning of operations.
Conclusions: Genocide as an Instrument of Imperial Policy
The “Polish Operation” and other anti-national operations of the NKVD meet all criteria for genocide according to the 1948 UN Convention: these were systematic actions aimed at destroying national groups precisely because of their ethnic affiliation.
These crimes were not “excesses” or “mistakes” — they were deliberate state policy for the destruction of ethnic minorities perceived as a threat to the imperial integrity of Soviet Russia.
The statistics are irrefutable: when a member of a national minority has a 40 times higher probability of being killed by the state than a representative of the dominant nation, when 89% of those arrested on ethnic grounds are executed within ten days — this is not repression. This is genocide.
Based on Timothy Snyder’s research “Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin”
Oleh Cheslavskyi — independent historian and analyst specializing in deconstructing imperial narratives.
Originally published at spilno.or
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