KGB Gulag leaders, mass murderers, still thriving in Siberia

What was so unique and unusual about conditions in which KGB Gulag leaders (the Soviet secret agency had many names during its history: KGB, NKVD, GPU, etc.) were naturally selected? Why could Siberian secret agents be different from secret agents in the USA, China, or any other country?

It was the job of the Gulag’s leaders to organize the work of human slaughter factories where millions were tortured, murdered and disposed off. (Historians provide different numbers ranging from 10 to 20 millions.) Obviously, most people would shrink from this dirty job, but “careful” selection of human personnel (as they say about choosing of secret agent for their “very sensitive” jobs) naturally produced results which are easy to predict.

In 1918 Soviet leader Lenin, with one of his first decrees, ordered to execute the royal Romanov’s family. This act became the channel factor or the signal for new Soviet leaders. In other words, the hunt for “suspicious” people or mass paranoia in relation to “enemies of the state” and their family members and relatives became one of the features of the new regime.

Milgram’s studies on human obedience proved that it is relatively easy to make ordinary people accomplices in killing totally innocent others. However, when there are many such accomplices are produced, these mass murderers start to organize themselves. Which human qualities would propel certain people to leadership or who is going to rule such a “fascinating” community who walk up to their knees in human blood?

Again, the history of the Soviet leadership gives us a simple answer. Soviet Communist Party had about the same situational factors: those who kill more would kill or rule others. Since Stalin was the “brightest” bank robber and murderer for over a decade before 1917, he naturally seized all control in the party. (Obviously, the word “communism” has nothing to do with Soviet history since ideas about equality and brotherhood were only on paper, while many people have been conditioned to equate the Soviet regime with communism.)

Thus, it is easy to imagine what was going on among the groups of mass murders in cities and labour Gulag camps of Soviet Siberia in the 1920-50’s. The situation required spiritual leaders, cheerful and uninhibited ones, those who were to organize and spiritually encourage the work of the slaughter factories (torture and disposal of human bodies).

Should the same situation happen in any other country or place (systematic slaughter of millions), similar people would pop up to take key jobs. Hence, it is naïve to think that it was there because it was “Russian” since laws of natural selection are based on the situational and environmental factors, not on our fantasies or labels attached.

As about more recent times, very few people in Russia are interested in dealing with causes and effects of Gulag or in any practical activities in relation to still-alive Gulag leaders. There is no a single national museum in Russia devoted to murders, which took place just a few decades ago. Here are Mr. Putin’s words (Agence France Presse, Jan. 16, 2002) which explain Russia’s refusal to face up to its sanguinary past: “We don’t want and we will not equate Nazi crimes with Stalinist repression.”

I completely agree with Mr. Putin. Indeed, it would be wrong to tell that Nazi crimes and Stalinist repressions are close or similar to each other. Nazis did not murder so many own people, neither in absolute no in relative numbers. Hence, Putin’s words reflect his attitude to the value of the life of the Soviet or Russian person. Obviously, Germans, after transforming most of the Nazi camps into national museums, expressed more respect to other nations, than the level of respect of modern Russian leaders in relation to their own people. 

Russian people, officials including, are very reluctant to discuss anything that relates to their past and current situation with Siberian Gulag leaders and these leaders are still there, in Siberia. One may easily calculate the current age of Gulag murderers. Since last large scale murders took place in the 1950’s many Gulag leaders are in their 80’s still thriving in Siberia teaching their children and their grandchildren how to organize modern activities which has been dramatically changed and how to rule modern Siberian branch of secret services. Instead of running slaughter factories, they switched to “slow” and “accidental” killings and “kind of natural” deaths.

As a single unresolved psychological trauma rules the behaviour of this person (when the person tries to suppress, or deny, or distort the truth due to variety of reasons), so is the history of Gulag slaughter factories that rules modern history of Russia. Indeed, if we compare history of Germany and Russia, German’s economy was in a more miserable state immediately after WW2, but these countries are almost on the opposite ends, in their development, now.