JimZ Posted September 30, 2011 Author Posted September 30, 2011 Merci - I would have not got anywhere close to him if it had not been your hint. I was honestly clueless as to where to start searching!!! I know him from his role in Sex and the City .... But I never bothered to look him up and never came across him. I managed to get to Jessica Lange and then, I saw a Russian name.......the rest was just one click away. Jim :cheers:
JimZ Posted September 30, 2011 Author Posted September 30, 2011 Scoreboard update!!! 18 points - JimZ 14 points - Harvey 10 points - Hauptmann 5 points - Gunner 1 4 points - Christophe 3 points - Valter 2 points - kapten_windu Question 56 will be up next!!! Let me try to think of something good...... Jim
JimZ Posted October 1, 2011 Author Posted October 1, 2011 An easy one.........!!! Question 57 1. WHO AM I? 2. WHAT IS MY STORY? Jim :cheers:
Harvey Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 (edited) That is Nikolai Yezhov, the former head of the NKVD under Stalin during the Great Purge. Yezhov was appointed to the post of People's Commissar for Water Transport on April 6, 1938. Though he retained his other posts, his role as grand inquisitor and extractor of confessions gradually diminished as Stalin retreated from the worst excesses of the Great Purge. By charging him with the extra job, Stalin killed two birds with one stone: Yezhov could correct the water transportation situation with tough Chekist methods, and his transfer to the terra incognita of economic tasks would leave him less time for the NKVD and weaken his position there, thus creating the possibility that in due course he could be removed from the leadership of the punitive apparatus and replaced by fresh people. Contrary to Stalin's expectations, the vast number of party officials and military officers lost during Yezhov's purges had been only partially made good by replacement with trusted Stalinist functionaries, and he eventually correctly recognized that the disruption was severely affecting the country's ability to coordinate industrial production and defend its borders from the growing threat of Nazi Germany. Yezhov had accomplished Stalin's intended task for the Great Purge: the public liquidation of the last of his Old Bolshevik political rivals and the elimination of any possibility of "disloyal elements" or "fifth columnists" within the Soviet military and government prior to the onset of war with Germany. From Stalin's perspective, Yezhov (like Yagoda) had served his purpose but had seen too much and wielded too much power for Stalin to allow him to live. On August 22, 1938 Georgian NKVD leader Lavrenty Beria was named as Yezhov's deputy. Over the following months, Beria (with Stalin's approval) began increasingly to usurp Yezhov's governance of the Commissariat for Internal Affairs. As early as September 8, Mikhail Frinovsky, Yezhov's first deputy, was relocated from under his command into the Navy. Stalin's penchant for periodically executing and replacing his primary lieutenants was well known to Yezhov, as he had previously been the man most directly responsible for orchestrating such actions. Well acquainted with the typical Stalinist bureaucratic precursors to eventual dismissal and arrest, Yezhov recognized Beria's increasing influence with Stalin as a sign his downfall was imminent, and plunged headlong into alcoholism and despair. Already a heavy drinker, in the last weeks of his service he reportedly was disconsolate, slovenly, and drunk nearly all of his waking hours, rarely bothering to show up to work. As anticipated, Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov, in a report dated November 11, sharply criticized the work and methods of the NKVD during Yezhov's tenure as chief, thus creating the bureaucratic pretense necessary to remove him from power. At his own request, Yezhov was officially relieved of his post as the People's Commissar for Internal Affairs on November 25, succeeded by Beria, who had been in complete control of the NKVD since the departure of Yezhov’s deputy Frinovskii on 8 September (Frinovskii was appointed People’s Commissar of the Navy).He attended his last Politburo meeting on January 29, 1939. On April 10, he was arrested and imprisoned at the Sukhanovka prison; the "arrest was painstakingly concealed, not only from the general public but also from most NKVD officers... It would not do to make a fuss about the arrest of 'the leader’s favorite,' and Stalin had no desire to arouse public interest in NKVD activity and the circumstances of the conduct of the Great Terror." Amongst his main accusations the former Narkom was accused in accordance with Article 154 of the Soviet Criminal Code ("sodomy, committed with violence or the use of the dependent status of the victim"). Yezhov supposedly broke quickly under torture, and confessed to the standard litany of state crimes necessary to firmly establish a Soviet political prisoner's status as an "enemy of the people" prior to execution, including "wrecking", official incompetence, theft of government funds and treasonous collaboration with German spies and saboteurs, none of which were likely or supported by evidence. Apart from these unlikely political crimes, he also confessed to a humiliating history of sexual deviancy, both homosexual and heterosexual, that was (unusually, in contrast with other condemned Bolshevik officials) later corroborated by witness reports and deemed mostly true in post-Soviet examinations of the case. Among the many people dragged down in Yezhov's fall was Isaak Babel: "In May 1939 Ezhov confessed that Babel’ had committed espionage together with [Yezhov's wife] Evgeniia. Within a week the writer was arrested; during interrogation he in his turn testified against the Ezhovs." However, Yezhov's first wife, Antonina Titova, his sister, Evdokiia, and his mother all survived. On February 2, 1940, Soviet judge Vasily Ulrikh tried Yezhov in Beria's office. Yezhov was nearly incoherent, and, like his predecessor Yagoda, mournfully maintained to the end his love for Stalin. Apparently still hoping for a show trial, Beria suggested once again that Yezhov confess to a plot to kill Stalin but was flatly refused, with Yezhov maintaining that "it is better to leave this earth as an honorable man." Yezhov begged Beria on his knees for a few minutes with Stalin to explain himself, and was repeatedly ignored, finally vowing he would "die with Stalin's name on his lips". When the sentence of death was read, Yezhov fainted and had to be carried from the room. Just before the execution, Yezhov was ordered to undress himself and then was brutally beaten by guards at the order of Beria, the new NKVD Chief, just as Yezhov had ordered the guards to beat and humiliate his predecessor Yagoda before his execution only two years prior. Yezhov had to be carried into the execution chamber semi-conscious, hiccuping and weeping uncontrollably. On February 4, he was executed by the Chief Executioner and Commandant of Lubyanka, NKVD Major-General Vasily Blokhin, probably in the basement of a small NKVD station on Varsonofevskii Lane in Moscow. The main NKVD execution chamber in the basement of the Lubyanka was deliberately avoided to ensure total secrecy. His body was immediately cremated and his ashes dumped in a common grave at Moscow's Donskoi Cemetary. The execution remained secret, and as late as 1948, Time reported that “ome think he is still in an insane asylum.″ Yezhov's refusal to admit to a conspiracy against Stalin's life and his long, verifiable history as Stalin's primary inquisitor during the Great Purge made him too dangerous to risk at a public show trial where he might betray Stalin's secrets or successfully expose Stalin's orchestration of the Purge. In addition, the scapegoating of Yezhov allowed Stalin to end the Great Purge while still retaining plausible deniability of his direction over it. This was further reinforced by Stalin's decision to declare damnatio memoriae on Yezhov, a fate normally reserved for only the highest-ranking and most prominent of Stalin's political enemies, and all evidence of his existence was quietly censored from State records and publications. Though his daughter Natalia Khayutina has fought for a revision of the case, Yezhov has not been rehabilitated (the Procuracy decided that because of the serious consequences of Yezhov’s activity as NKVD chief and the casualties he inflicted upon the country, he was not subject to rehabilitation, and the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court concurred on June 4, 1998). The full Wikipedia link to Yezhov is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov Edited October 1, 2011 by Harvey
JimZ Posted October 1, 2011 Author Posted October 1, 2011 Yep...correct. Surprisingly he makes this question as easy as my posting a photo of Stalin and asking who he is Well done Harvey. Your point....
JimZ Posted October 1, 2011 Author Posted October 1, 2011 Scoreboard update!!! 18 points - JimZ 15 points - Harvey 10 points - Hauptmann 5 points - Gunner 1 4 points - Christophe 3 points - Valter 2 points - kapten_windu Question 57 belongs to Harvey!!! Give us a good weekend challenge! Jim
JimZ Posted October 3, 2011 Author Posted October 3, 2011 Harvey....any news or shall we move onto the next question without you. Let us know if you can. Regards, Jim :cheers:
JimZ Posted October 3, 2011 Author Posted October 3, 2011 OK - Question 57 is up for grabs.....anyone who wants to post the next one is welcome to! Harvey, if you can still post the next question please feel free to fo so. However if anyone posts before you, you'll have to forgo replying to it. Jim
Hauptmann Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 Question #57: The last great battle is over... the war is won. Now that I've seen this I only wish I'd done it that way! Who am I? To what am I referring? Dan :cheers:
JimZ Posted October 4, 2011 Author Posted October 4, 2011 Thanks for posting the next one Dan, thus keeping things going. As has been practice Harvey will have to sit this question out (although at first glance.....looks like we're going to need all the support we can get to answer this one.....) Jim :cheers:
TacHel Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) Stalin portrayed as a demi god... Zhukov portrayed as a schmuck... Stalin said he would've made the movie exactly like that. Movie, The Fall of Berlin. Edited October 4, 2011 by TacHel
TacHel Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) Here's a question #58 for you (if I may)... -I emerged from WW2 as a highly decorated and severely wounded artillery officer. -Post war I was given the command of the development and deployment of the most despicable of weapons. -Oddly enough, I received my highest decorations near the end of my career... For saving lives! WHO AM I? Edited October 4, 2011 by TacHel
Hauptmann Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 Well, the one morning I've gotten to actually sleep in a bit and seems the train has already pulled out of the station. Frank is correct but some clarification. First off... folks... this is proof that you should visit us over at the Cinema Quiz on occassion. We've passed ya'll up... we're on question 62 now. In honor of being ahead although being the new quiz on the block I decided to post a Soviet related question... on both quizzes at the same time. So basically, if anyone had checked out the other quiz you'd have had the answer. As over there here's what I said: Okay, I'll call Frank's answer "close enough for government work." Stalin. Upon watching the film Stalin wiped tears from his eyes as he watched Gelovani (actor playing Stalin) descend from the plane and muttered "If only I'd have went to Berlin." http://en.wikipedia....f_Berlin_(film) More info on the film and it's restoration: http://www.ihffilm.com/22855.html This is a very famous scene from the ending of the picture... I've seen it used in documentaries: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NAzmX7tung NOTE: Georgi Zhukov is not among the Marshals Stalin meets in Berlin. At the point this film was made and given to him Zhukov had become far too popular and so he'd fallen out of Stalin's favor. Also, this would scene would never have happened in reality for several reasons, the greatest of which was that Stalin was deathly afraid to fly.
Hauptmann Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 Here's the scene in just the original Russian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEX5_b-DZI4&feature=related
Hauptmann Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 And a "best scenes of" video, but in Russian: Several things were borrowed from the nazi film Triumph of the Will such as the scene where Stalin's plane comes in... similar to when Hitler's plane arrives in Berlin for the Party Rally. There's also a scene where the various Soviet soldiers say where they are from... again similar to a scene involving members of the Reichsarbeitsdienst, each stating where they were from. This is a piece of history and if one is at all interested in the history of the USSR and the Great Patriotic War, Stalin and his cult of personality, etc., then it's a must see. I have the restored version myself and have watched it... it's well worth it... but it was very odd seeing Hitler, etc., all speaking Russian! Frank posted on the film over in the Cinema Quiz... let's just say he doesn't hold a very high opinion of the film. What he says is true though... in short it's full of lies, propaganda, etc. But on the other hand it's part of the Soviet cinema and it literally represents the zenith of Stalin's cult of personality. To me, anyone who is a serious student of Russian history, the Great Patriotic War, etc., has to see this film. It's been fully restored (with the exception of the Beria scene (see my links as that is discussed) and is available after a long time being out of circulation. This film also saved several people from either spending a great deal of time in the Gulags or disappearing for good... one of them being Dmitri Shostakovich who composed the soundtrack and the other being Mikheil Chiaureli who although he was Stalin's favorite director, he'd made a suggestion that the film include what happened to Stalin's son Yakov. This so enraged Stalin that Beria, who happened to be present was seen to reach into his pocket as if to reach for a pistol. But when Stalin wept and made the comment about wishing he'd gone to Berlin when viewing the scene where the actor playing him lands in Berlin then Chiaureli knew he was saved. Again it is a piece of history and well worth watching. At least IMHOP. Congratulations Frank! Dan :cheers:
TacHel Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) The movie is worth seeing as an oddity... -The portrayals of Roosevelt and especially of Churchill are downright obsene! -To see Hitler gloating at columns of rebellious Soviet slave labour from a Reichchancellerie window is downright ludicrous. -The actor portraying Hitler is so incredibly good he gave me the creeps! Edited October 4, 2011 by TacHel
TacHel Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 So many posts... Am reposting the question down here... Here's a question #58 for you -I emerged from WW2 as a highly decorated and severely wounded artillery officer. -Post war I was given the command of the development and deployment of the most despicable of weapons. -Oddly enough, I received my highest decorations near the end of my career... For saving lives! WHO AM I?
Christophe Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 Hi Frank, Mikhail Kalashnikov ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Kalashnikov Cheers. Ch.
TacHel Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 Hi Frank, Mikhail Kalashnikov ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Kalashnikov Cheers. Ch. INCORRECT, sorry...
TacHel Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) CLUE #2 The high decorations I received near the end of my career "for courage and heroism" were the Order of Lenin and the Title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Edited October 5, 2011 by TacHel
ub6365 Posted October 5, 2011 Posted October 5, 2011 (edited) Pikalov Vladimir Karpovich More information can be found here: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/34869-medal-of-colonel-general-pickalov/ Edited October 5, 2011 by ub6365
JimZ Posted October 5, 2011 Author Posted October 5, 2011 (edited) Quiz flew past as I looked away - so the scores are presently as follows: Scoreboard update!!! 18 points - JimZ 15 points - Harvey 10 points - Hauptmann 5 points - Gunner 1 4 points - Christophe 3 points - Valter 2 points - kapten_windu 1 point - Tachel Thanks to Hauptmann for covering question 57 for Harvey. With Tachel having given a correct reply, his question 58 is presently unanswered (or is it....?) Harvey is of course back in the game after sitting out Question 57. As a general rule - I remind you to wait for the person asking the question to confirm your point or otherwise before moving on to the next question. I know we are eager to keep things moving but a point can only be awarded by the person asking the question (unless he suddenly goes MIA!!!!) Regards to all and back to Tachel's question...... Jim Edited October 5, 2011 by JimZ
TacHel Posted October 5, 2011 Posted October 5, 2011 Pikalov Vladimir Karpovich More information can be found here: http://gmic.co.uk/in...neral-pickalov/ CORRECT!! Colonel-General Vladimir Karpovich Pikalov
JimZ Posted October 5, 2011 Author Posted October 5, 2011 Scoreboard update!!! Congratulations UB6365 on your first victory! You are placed under Tachel whose previous question also scored him his first victory point. Welcome aboard to you both. 18 points - JimZ 15 points - Harvey 10 points - Hauptmann 5 points - Gunner 1 4 points - Christophe 3 points - Valter 2 points - kapten_windu 1 point - Tachel 1 point - UB6365 As Tachel has confirmed a win, the honour of asking the question 59 goes to UB6365!! Jim
ub6365 Posted October 5, 2011 Posted October 5, 2011 (edited) Thank you for attention, here is question #59 I am not Russian I was born not in Soviet Union or Russian Federation Numbers 29 and 5 are very important to me I participated in many wars and battles but not in the biggest one. In one place I was 1 of 5000, in other 1 of 57000. Who am I? Edited October 5, 2011 by ub6365
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