Photography and Political Repressions in Stalin’s Russia : Defacing the Enemy

"This book is devoted to the phenomenon of removal of people declared "public enemies" from group photographs in Stalin's Russia. The book is based on long-term empirical research in Russian archives and includes 57 photographs that are exceptional in terms of historical interest: all these images bear traces of editing in the form of various marks, such as blacking-out, excisions or scratches. The illustrative materials also include a group of photographs with inscriptions left by officers of Stalin's secret police, the NKVD. To approach this extensive visual material, Denis Skopin draws on a wealth of Stalin-era written sources: memoirs, diaries and official documents. He argues that this kind of political iconoclasm cannot be confused with censorship nor vandalism. The practice in question is more harrowing and morally twisted, for in most cases the photos were defaced by those who were part of the victim's intimate circle: his/her colleagues, friends, or even close family members. The book will be of interest to scholars working in history of photography, art history, visual culture, Russian studies, and Russian history and politics"-- Provided by publisher This book is devoted to the phenomenon of removal of people declared “public enemies” from group photographs in Stalin’s Russia. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 List of Figures 8 Acknowledgments 13 Introduction 14 1. Stalin’s Repressions: Historical Overview and Theoretical Examination 21 Stalin’s Terror as a Part of “Western Modernity” 21 The Enemy–Friend Dialectic and Identification of an Enemy Within 23 2. “Portrait” Criminal Cases 28 Assaults on Soviet Leaders’ Portraits 28 “Discrediting” Soviet Leaders via Portraits and Typographical Misprints 35 The Case of Pavel Postyshev 39 Personality Cults of Small Leaders 43 A Political Enemy’s Portrait: To Keep or To Destroy? 47 3. The Group Portrait: Ontological and Political Backgrounds of the Genre 70 Questioning an Individual’s Autonomy. The Concepts of Transindividuality and Collectiveness 70 Photography in the USSR of the 1920s–1930s 74 Break with the Bourgeois Way of Life: Group Photographs, Collective Enterprises and Communal Apartments 77 Political Ontology and Iconography of Group Portraiture 79 4. Collapse of Interpersonal and Family Relationships during the Terror: Editing Photographs of Friends and Family Members 87 Politics of Friendship in Stalin’s Russia: Editing Photographs of Friends 87 Warfare in the Family: Editing Photographs of Family Members 94 Compromise Solutions in Editing Photographs 108 5. The Photographs of “Former People” in the NKVD Card Indexes and Edited Photographs of Secret Police Officers 120 NKVD Officers’ Operational Work with the Photographs of “Former People” 120 Editing Photographs of Arrested Secret Police Officers 132 Conclusion 152 Index 164 Stalin's,Terror;,USSR;,Soviet,Union;,communism;,Joseph,Stalin;,1930s;,NKVD;,secret,police;,marking;,scratching;,excision;,blacking,out;,iconoclasm;,politics;,censorship;,vandalism;,enemies;,friends;,family;,portrait Stalin's Terror,USSR,Soviet Union,communism,Joseph Stalin,1930s,NKVD,secret police,marking,scratching,excision,blacking out,iconoclasm,politics,censorship,vandalism,enemies,friends,family,portrait