The Hand of Stalin

1h

Documentary

Examining the legacy of Stalin's 25 years of crimes against humanity through the experiences of victims and perpetrators, the films also show how people's memories of that time persist in the present day. Some victims who have stayed silent for over 50 years now speak out.

Production Companies

October Films

PTV Productions

Episodes

Cast

Leningradskaya: A Village in Southern Russia

1. Leningradskaya: A Village in Southern Russia

58min

16th Oct 1990

Millions of peasants suffered deportation, imprisonment, and finally death by starvation as the forced collectivization of farms led to a massive famine. Interviews with peasants, old Communist Party activists, and survivors of the famine provide an eloquent and moving testament to the abuse of power enacted by Stalin in his iron-willed determination to make collectivization a success.

Leningrad

2. Leningrad

59min

17th Oct 1990

Five survivors, both victims and perpetrators, recount their stories of Leningrad in the 1930s, of 'the Great Terror'. They remember the shame of confessing to crimes that they never committed. Secret police interrogators remember that time when they controlled people's lives.

Kolyma

3. Kolyma

1h

18th Oct 1990

Hundreds of thousands of peasants, workers, and intellectuals were sent to the Kolyma Gulags to mine gold during the 25 years of Stalinist rule. These vast, isolated wilderness camps are visited for the first time by a film crew whose record of this desolate landscape is intercut with the memories of prisoners and enforcers.

First air date

16th Oct 1990

Last air date

18th Oct 1990

Status

Ended

Type

Miniseries

Original language

en

Networks