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"10 years without the right of correspondence" (Russian: Десять лет без права переписки, romanized: Desyat' let bez prava perepiski) was a clause in a sentence of many political repressions victims of Stalinist Great Purges in Soviet Union that implied death. It was used to keep family relatives of those executed uncertain as to the fate or whereabouts of the victims.

Meaning

"10 years without the right of correspondence" was used as a euphemism to cover the true nature of a court sentence.^[1]^: 486

In many cases during the late 1930s 'Great Purge' campaign of political repression, the sentence handed down was "10 years of corrective labor camps without the right of correspondence", which was announced to relatives, while the paperwork contained the real sentence: "the highest degree of punishment: execution by shooting".^[2]^[3] Many people did not understand the official euphemism and incorrectly believed that their relative was still alive in prison.^[3]

As Alexander Solzhenitsyn put it in The Gulag Archipelago:

"Deprived of the right to correspond." And that means once and for all. "No right to correspondence"—and that almost for certain means: "Has been shot."^[4]

For example, all of the bodies identified from the mass graves at Vinnytsia and Kuropaty had received "10 years without the right of correspondence".^[1]^{[page needed]}

Notable victims

Mikhail Koltsov (a Soviet writer and correspondent, a prototype of Karkov in Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls), executed February 2, 1940. When his brother, Boris Efimov, by a miracle got an appointment with Vasiliy Ulrikh, the latter told him that Koltsov was sentenced to 10 years WRC.^[5]
Matvei Petrovich Bronstein (executed in 1937), a theoretical physicist and a pioneer of quantum gravity.
Volodymyr Zatonsky (executed 29 July 1938) a Ukrainian Soviet leader

In culture

In 1990 Russian film director Vladimir Naumov shot a Russian-German film with this title [ru].^[6] based on the novel Ударом на удар, или Подход Кристаповича by Aleksandr Kabakov.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b Conquest, Robert (2007). The Great Terror: A Reassessment. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531699-5. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017.
^ "An Aluminum Cross", a documentary case published in Zvezda magazine #7, 2003
^ ^a ^b Cohen, Stephen F. (2011). The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag After Stalin. London: I. B. Tauris. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-84885-848-0.
^ Solzhenitsyn, Alexander (1974). The Gulag Archipelago. Vol. I. New York, NY: Harper Perennial. p. 6. ISBN 0-06-092103-X.
^ Михаил Ефимович Кольцов — За что? Почему? (часть-1)
^ МОСКВА В КИНОФИЛЬМЕ "Десять лет без права переписки"
^ К 80-летию писателя: на Поварской состоялась дискуссия о фильме «Десять лет без права переписки»

[robertconquest-1] Conquest, Robert (2007). The Great Terror: A Reassessment. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531699-5. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017.

[2] "An Aluminum Cross", a documentary case published in Zvezda magazine #7, 2003

[cohen-3] Cohen, Stephen F. (2011). The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag After Stalin. London: I. B. Tauris. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-84885-848-0.

[Solzhenitsyn_quote-4] Solzhenitsyn, Alexander (1974). The Gulag Archipelago. Vol. I. New York, NY: Harper Perennial. p. 6. ISBN 0-06-092103-X.

[5] Михаил Ефимович Кольцов — За что? Почему? (часть-1)

[6] МОСКВА В КИНОФИЛЬМЕ "Десять лет без права переписки"

[7] К 80-летию писателя: на Поварской состоялась дискуссия о фильме «Десять лет без права переписки»

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[2]

[3]

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+{{short description|Euphemism for execution in Stalin's Soviet Union}}
-'''"Without the right of correspondence", WRC''' ({{lang-ru|Без права переписки}}, abbreviated as БПП in official documents) was a clause in a [[sentence (law)|sentence]] of many [[political repression|political convict]]s in the [[Soviet Union]].
+"'''10 years without the right of correspondence'''" ({{lang-ru|Десять лет без права переписки|Desyat' let bez prava perepiski}}) was a clause in a [[sentence (law)|sentence]] of many [[political repression|political repressions victim]]s of [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] [[Great Purge]]s in [[Soviet Union]] that implied death. It was used to keep family relatives of those executed uncertain as to the fate or whereabouts of the victims.
+==Meaning==
-In a large number of cases during the [[Great Purge]], the oral sentence was "10 years of [[Gulag|corrective labor camps]] without the right of correspondence", which was announced to relatives, while the paperwork contained the real sentence: "the highest degree of punishment: [[execution by shooting]]".<!-- *not* necessarily by [[firing squad]]; needs a separate article --><ref>[http://magazines.russ.ru/zvezda/2003/7/krich.html "An Aluminum Cross"], a documentary case published in ''[[Zvezda (magazine)|Zvezda]]'' magazine #7, 2003</ref><ref name="cohen">{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Stephen F. |authorlink=Stephen F. Cohen |title=The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag After Stalin |publisher=I. B. Tauris |year=2011 |location=London |page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=93VBLt66TDoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false |isbn=978-1-84885-848-0}}</ref> Many people did not understand the official [[euphemism]] and incorrectly believed that their relative was still alive in prison<ref name="cohen"/>; this gave officials 10 years to invent an 'accident' in the prison camps that had killed the 'prisoner' as an explanation for why the victim did not return{{fact}}. As [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]] put it in ''[[The Gulag Archipelago]]'':
+"10 years without the right of correspondence" was used as a [[euphemism]] to cover the true nature of a court sentence.<ref name="robertconquest">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubXQSk2qfXMC |title=The Great Terror: A Reassessment |last=Conquest |first=Robert |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-531699-5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003225037/https://books.google.ru/books?hl=ru&id=ubXQSk2qfXMC&q=%22Without+the+right+of+correspondence%22#v=snippet&q=%22Without%20the%20right%20of%20correspondence%22&f=false |archive-date=October 3, 2017}}</ref>{{rp|486}}
-{{quote|"Deprived of the right to correspond." And that means once and for all. "No right to correspondence"—and that almost for certain means: "Has been shot."<ref name="Solzhenitsyn quote">{{cite book |title=The Gulag Archipelago |last=Solzhenitsyn |first=Alexander |authorlink=Alexander Solzhenitsyn |coauthors= |year=1974 |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] |location=New York, NY |isbn=0-06-092103-X |volume= I |page= 6}}</ref>}} All of the bodies identified from the mass graves at Vinnitsa and Kuropaty had received this sentence.<ref>Robert Conquest, ''The Great Terror: A Reassessment: 40th Anniversary Edition'', Oxford University Press, USA, 2007. p. 287</ref>
+In many cases during the late 1930s '[[Great Purge]]' campaign of political repression, the sentence handed down was "10 years of [[Gulag|corrective labor camps]] without the right of correspondence", which was announced to relatives, while the paperwork contained the real sentence: "the highest degree of punishment: [[execution by shooting]]".<!-- *not* necessarily by [[firing squad]]; needs a separate article --><ref>[http://magazines.russ.ru/zvezda/2003/7/krich.html "An Aluminum Cross"], a documentary case published in ''[[Zvezda (magazine)|Zvezda]]'' magazine #7, 2003</ref><ref name="cohen">{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Stephen F. |authorlink=Stephen F. Cohen |title=The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag After Stalin |publisher=I. B. Tauris |year=2011 |location=London |page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=93VBLt66TDoC |isbn=978-1-84885-848-0}}</ref> Many people did not understand the official euphemism and incorrectly believed that their relative was still alive in prison.<ref name="cohen"/>
-==Cases of deception==
-<!-- a better title ? -->
+As [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]] put it in ''[[The Gulag Archipelago]]'':
+{{blockquote|"Deprived of the right to correspond." And that means once and for all. "No right to correspondence"—and that almost for certain means: "Has been shot."<ref name="Solzhenitsyn quote">{{cite book |title=The Gulag Archipelago |last=Solzhenitsyn |first=Alexander |authorlink=Alexander Solzhenitsyn |year=1974 |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] |location=New York, NY |isbn=0-06-092103-X |volume= I |page= 6}}</ref>}}
+For example, all of the bodies identified from the mass graves at [[Vinnytsia massacre|Vinnytsia]] and [[Kuropaty]] had received "10 years without the right of correspondence".<ref name="robertconquest" />{{page needed|date=August 2023}}
+==Notable victims==
 *[[Mikhail Koltsov]] (a Soviet writer and correspondent, a prototype of Karkov in [[Ernest Hemingway|Hemingway]]'s ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls]]''), executed February 2, 1940. When his brother, [[Boris Efimov]], by a miracle got an appointment with [[Vasiliy Ulrikh]], the latter told him that Koltsov was sentenced to 10 years WRC.<ref>[http://www.psj.ru/saver_national/detail.php?ID=6044 Михаил Ефимович Кольцов — За что? Почему? (часть-1) ]</ref>
 *[[Matvei Petrovich Bronstein]] (executed in 1937), a theoretical [[physicist]] and a pioneer of [[quantum gravity]].
+*[[Volodymyr Zatonsky]] (executed 29 July 1938) a [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] Soviet leader
-==References==
+==In culture==
+In 1990 Russian film director [[Vladimir Naumov]] shot a Russian-German film {{ill|Ten Years without the Right of Correspondence|lt=with this title|ru|Десять лет без права переписки (фильм)}}.<ref>[https://progulkino.ru/desyat-let-bez-prava-perepiski1 МОСКВА В КИНОФИЛЬМЕ "Десять лет без права переписки"]</ref> based on the novel ''Ударом на удар, или Подход Кристаповича'' by [[Aleksandr Kabakov]].<ref>[https://aspi-russia.ru/projects/vstrechi-s-chitatelyami/news/1012/ К 80-летию писателя: на Поварской состоялась дискуссия о фильме «Десять лет без права переписки»]</ref>
-<references/>
-==External links==
+==See also==
+*[[Nacht und Nebel]]
-* {{imdb title|id=0099413|title=Desyat let bez prava perepiski}}, a 1990 Russian film ("Ten Years without the Right of Correspondence")
+*[[By administrative means]]
+==References==
+{{reflist}}
 [[Category:Euphemisms]]
 [[Category:Political repression in the Soviet Union]]
-[[Category:Soviet law]]
+[[Category:Law of the Soviet Union]]
+[[Category:Soviet cover-ups]]
+[[Category:Capital punishment]]
+[[Category:Soviet phraseology]]