Vatlin Alexander. Agents of Terror: Ordinary Men and Extraordinary Violence in Stalin's Secret Police

Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2018. — 206 p. — ISBN10: 0299310841; ISBN13: 978-0299310844During Stalin's Great Terror, more than a million Soviet citizens were arrested or killed for political crimes they did not commit. Who carried out these purges, and what motivated them? Alexander Vatlin opens up the world of the Soviet perpetrators using detailed evidence from one Moscow suburb. Spurred by ambition or fear, local secret police rushed to fulfill quotas for arresting "enemies of the people"―even when it meant fabricating evidence. Vatlin confronts head-on issues of historical agency and moral responsibility in Stalin-era crimes.Foreword by Oleg Khlevniuk
Preface to the English-Language Edition
Introduction to the English-Language Edition by Seth Bernstein
List of AbbreviationsIntroduction: Why Kuntsevo? Setting the StageExecutors of Terror
Patterns of VictimizationEpilogue: New Kuntsevo Forgets the PastNotes