Domuspatris

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DOMUS PATRIS

Nikolay Derevtsov

Death and Forgiveness [2:41]

Derevtsov Nikolai Ivanovich, historian.

Incarcerated in 1940

Sentenced to death for his critics to the economic reform, shooting was commuted to 10 years in prison. The penalty was serving constructions in the Camps 500 and 505 (Gobi Desert).

Nikolay Deretsov's interview

I remember one particular incident… my brother worked with a court martial tribunal, had escorted a division of Siberians to the front and he had invited me to attend a farewell dinner.

When all tribunal workers were already drunk, except me and my brother, the eldest of the officers told us that he had worked in the NKVD right from the beginning of Soviet power, and that he was always surprised at how priests behaved. In the winter of 1934 the...

Why Nikolay was sentenced

I was a very ingenuous student, I thought he really looked for the truth... It turned out that he is the truth, a truth that gives orders. Ridiculous and sad.

The investigator caused me to talk. I said that Stalin made many mistakes: for the aim of collectivization, he had destroyed the villages, and the effects were awful: hunger and poverty. Any supporting measures were not admitted. There was a terrible famine, a ration card system, even bef...