Lazar Kaganovich

Kaganovich allied with Molotov and Malenkov in an attempt to remove Khrushchev. Following its failure, he lost his positions and Central Committee seat, was relegated to an industrial job and then expelled from the party in 1961.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Kaganovich was sent back to Ukraine as First Secretary with a mandate to strengthen political control after the war, amid efforts to combat Ukrainian nationalism and pressure on local officials.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Beria's document concerning Polish prisoners indicates that Kaganovich, who was absent when the principal signatures were collected, was recorded as having assented to the execution proposal.

State of the evidence

Documented

Archival collections show Kaganovich's signature on approximately 188 to 191 lists submitted to the highest party leadership, generally intended for the Military Collegium and often involving capital punishment.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

As People's Commissar for Transport, Kaganovich advocated the death penalty for certain railway-related failures, ordered the arrest of numerous officials and technicians, and promoted an interpretation based on sabotage and counter-revolution.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Kaganovich was sent to several regions, including Chelyabinsk, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo and Smolensk, to carry out purges of local officials at the height of the Great Terror.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Kaganovich intervened in requisition campaigns and opposed relaxing the targets. Ukrainian sources include him among those responsible for measures such as confiscations, sanctions and pressure that worsened the famine in Ukraine and the Kuban.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

As head of the Central Committee's agricultural department, Kaganovich established political departments at machine and tractor stations, instruments of party control in rural areas following collectivisation and requisition campaigns.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Kaganovich headed a commission sent to the North Caucasus to enforce grain collection targets. Decisions taken during his mission provided for coercive measures, repression of alleged saboteurs and forced displacement.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Kaganovich was among the most hard-line advocates of collectivisation and called for severe repression of peasants classified as kulaks, as expulsions, confiscations and deportations became widespread.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

As First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Kaganovich more firmly imposed Moscow's line and helped marginalise internal opposition before returning to the central secretariat.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated