Release

Something quite unusual happened next. At the beginning of April 1939, the arrested members of the “Trotskyite sabotage organization,” who had been responsible for setting fire to Shipbuilding Plant No.

Most of those released returned to their jobs. The so-called head of the saboteurs, Fomin, was released on 8 April 1939 and again became head of the plant’s hull-fabrication shop. G. P. Afanas’ev, who according to the investigation was to realize Fomin’s criminal designs, became an engineering technician in addition to his previous post as head of a subsection of the shop. However, he died in early 1940 due to the injuries he had suffered during his interrogation.³¹ The former head of the shop, D. A. Bondar’, had to settle for the position of technician. Afanas’ev and Bondar’ both were released on the same day as Fomin. Two days later, on 10 April 1939, Gavrilov was released and assigned to work in the oblast land administration.³² On 9 April 1939, Gladkov was set free and resumed working as an aide to the head of the shop. After his release, T. I. Chikalov resumed his job as a foreman.³³ One of the few “conspirators” who was not from the plant itself, M. F. Chulkov received his former position as an instructor at the Nikolaev Shipbuilding Institute. A. I. Bazilevich, S. S. Melamud, and V. I. Nosov also were cleared of charges.³⁴

Even the former second secretary of the Nikolaev Oblast Party Committee, D. Kh. Derevianchenko, who had been “unmasked” as a Trotskyite and large-scale bribe-taker, was set free.³⁵ Also liberated at the same time was D. F.

The former detainees received financial compensation, likely commensurate with their lost wages, as well as free trips to a health spa. They were also reinstated into the party.³⁷ A UNKVD employee, Konstantin Afanas’evich Voronin, was required to repay Kobtsev 900 rubles, which had been confiscated during his arrest and not properly recorded. Additionally, Kobtsev received from the UNKVD Financial Department 1,000 rubles that had been officially confiscated from him.³⁸

Help came too late for those supposed participants in the “Trotskyite sabotage organization” who had been sentenced by the Special Tribunal, which was used by NKVD personnel as an extrajudicial court for sentencing the rank-and-file personnel of so-called counterrevolutionary organizations. A. A. Barsukov, N. V. Chernokhatov, and S. V. Matskovskii were sentenced to death by the troika in September 1938 and shot at midnight on 4 November 1938.³⁹ Only in 1941 did the Military Tribunal for NKVD Troops of the Kiev Military District overturn their death sentences, which at least gave their relatives the possibility of petitioning for compensation.⁴⁰ The executed men were rehabilitated in 1957.⁴¹