Y10: 3-14. Stalin Film IV

Today we are going to continue with the film on Stalin…

-Part A-

In the last scene we saw Zinoviev and Kamenev in Stalin’s office, being forced to confess to conspiracy. However, Stalin promised that their lives would be spared…

It is 1936. Zinoviev & Kamenev are being executed!

Spot…

Beria…

Stalin’s inner circle is dining with him. Beria mockingly enacts the execution of Zinoviev (who was pleading to be spared at the execution).

Spot…

Stalin’s inner circle:

Voroshilov
Molotov
Yagoda
Khrushchev
Kaganovich
Beria

See how everyone tries to please Stalin, to the point of being rather childish!

Yagoda & Stalin is talking to Yagoda. Yagoda gets dismissed and is replaced by Yezhov as head of the Secret Police.

It is end 1936 / beginning 1937. Bukharin is at home. (By now, everyone fears that ‘knock on the door’, including Bukharin.) Stalin plays a ‘joke’ on Bukharin…

It is Feb.1937. Stalin visits Ordzonikidze (Stalin’s best friend). Ordzonikidze is the “Head of Heavy Industry”.

By now, Stalin had also accused Bukharin of being ‘an enemy of the people’ (a term used by Stalin to accuse anyone whom he felt threatened by).
Ordzonikidze queries Bukharin’s guilt.
Stalin then asks Ordzonikidze to testify against Bukharin!
Ordzonikidze is an honourable man and refuses…
Ordzonikidze begins to see through Stalin and is now one of only a few men who confronts Stalin.
See how Stalin deals with Ordzonikidze when he does not get his own way…!!! (No one is safe!)

Stalin IV-A. (15:10 minutes long)

-Part B-

Stalin is at his dacha, just after Ordzonikidze’s funeral.

Olga (Nadia’s mother) questions Stalin about so many being accused of being ‘an enemy of the state’.
Sergei (Nadia’s father) realises that this is a dangerous thing to do and tries to stop her.
Stalin makes it evident that not even they are above being arrested!

We see Bukharin (& Yagoda’s) showtrial. It is March 1938.

The prosecutor is Vyshinsky.
(Bukharin never admitted guilt, but was nevertheless ‘found guilty’.
Stalin & Yezhov watch from behind a curtain in the gallery. (Bukharin’s was the only show trial that Stalin attended.)
Now, Stalin turns against Yezhov (just like he had turned against Yagoda): Stalin accuses Yezhov of purging party members! (Yezhov was only following Stalin’s orders!!)
Yezhov is petrified as he knows what is bound to happen to him…
Yezhov is replaced by Beria.

Bukharin is executed.

There were even children in prison!

Stalin is at his dacha, watching a private ballet (supposedly at the same time as Bukharin’s execution was taking place)…

Still 1938, Stalin & Beria are watching the news: it shows Hitler uniting Germany & Austria.

Voroshilov, Beria, Kaganovich & Molotov walk with Stalin. Beria stays behind and give Stalin a letter from Bukharin.

Other scenes follow:

Stalin instructs Beria ‘to get rid of Trotsky’. (At the time Trotsky was in exile in Mexico!)
Jakov visits home. (He had joined the army.)
Historical footage of WW2 is shown.

It is June 1941. (Hitler invaded Poland in Sep.1939 and the USSR in June 1941.) Stalin talks to his generals. Voroshilov informs Stalin of the situation.