B. N. Kovalev. Killers about killers: testimony of former punishers against their associates (the case of G. M. Gurevich-Gurvich) // Petersburg historical journal, no. 4, 2024, pp. 150–162.

Abstract:

The 667th Shelon Battalion, comprising individuals who had collaborated with the Nazi regime, left a trail of violence and destruction in the vicinity of Leningrad. The Soviet state security agencies continued their search for war criminals until 1991. It is regrettable that, following the conclusion of the Second World War, a considerable number of these individuals were able to regularise their immigration status in a number of Western countries, including the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada and West Germany. However, some former punishers who returned to the USSR were subsequently held to account for their actions. From 1947 to 1950, the death penalty was abolished in the Soviet Union. In 1955, an amnesty was proclaimed. The sentences handed down to those who had collaborated were reduced by a factor of two or three. Following their release from incarceration between the 1960s and 1980s, these individuals provided testimony as witnesses to the crimes of their former associates. One of the most notable trials occurred in Novgorod in 1962.

Key words: Great Patriotic War, war crimes, the Shelon battalion, collaborationists, criminal proceedings, G. M. Gurevich-Gurvich.

Author:

Kovalev, Boris Nikolaevich — Dr. of Sciences in History, Professor, Leading Researcher,
St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Russia).
E-mail: bnkov@mail.ru

References:
PETROV M. N. Tainaia voina na novgorodskoi zemle [Secret war in the territory of Novgorod. In Russ.]. Veliky Novgorod, 2005.

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