During the years of Soviet power, one of the highest penalties for crimes was the death penalty. The criminal sentenced to her, in case of refusal to pardon, was expected to be shot.
As a rule, the sentence was carried out in a small dark room by a shot in the back of the head from a revolver. The death of the sentenced person was confirmed by a doctor.
Capital punishment
As a rule, murderers, plunderers of socialist property, traitors and traitors to the Motherland and other enemies of the people fell under the "execution" article. Prisoners accused of a serious crime awaited their fate in separate cells of special prisons, dressed in striped overalls.
Sometimes the sentence was awaited for more than one year. Anyone sentenced to death could apply for a pardon. However, it was rarely satisfied. At some point, usually at night, the door to the prisoner's cell was opened and he was invited “to get acquainted with the decision of the Supreme Court”.
Capital measure in the 30s
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The 30s of the twentieth century were probably the loudest in the history of the USSR. It was at that time that capital punishment was used more often than ever.
Everywhere "enemies of the people" were identified, whose fate depended on the decision, including the so-called "troika" formed under the NKVD.
It was she who decided the fate of the prisoners. An extract from the minutes of the meeting of the troika, divided into two parts, was laconic.
On the left side of the protocol there was something like the following:
Seven Sealed Mystery
In general, the procedure for the execution of the sentence was carefully concealed and was a state secret. Even the accountant paying the executioner did not know his exact name. To keep the name of the performer a secret, the special squad included several people who regularly received the same, rather small, salary. And only one of them carried out the sentence.
The time and place of the execution, as well as the place of burial of the convict, which was not even named to his relatives, became secret. Often they received only a dry paper from the court, stating that the convict was sentenced "to ten years in the camps without the right to correspond." Many relatives understood very well what these words really mean.
The sentence itself was a secret for the convicted person. Until the last moment, the person did not know and did not want to believe in the inevitability of punishment, hoping, if not for pardon, then at least for life imprisonment. The verdict, so that the prisoner did not have time to commit suicide on his own, was announced at the last moment. The condemned learned about the execution only immediately before the execution.
In a small room, where the prisoner was delivered by a special convoy, the prosecutor specified the convict's name, compared his face with a photo in his personal file, after which, making sure that it was the one who was waiting for the execution in front of him, announced the verdict. Most often from the mouth of the prosecutor sounded: "The Supreme Court rejected your petition for clemency." This meant that waiting for leniency was already useless.
After these words, the condemned was brought into a special room, in which the sentence was carried out.
The executioner fired one shot. As a rule, it was enough, but in some cases it was necessary to do one or more "control". The fact of death was confirmed by the doctor present at the execution, the body of the executed was packed in a bag and buried in an unmarked grave, which was carefully leveled to the ground.
After work, the employees of the firing squad went on a mandatory day off. and the relatives of the executed, after some time, received a dry certificate and sometimes some things of the executed.
Pavel Uspensky