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Post-Stalin Succession Struggle

Nikita Khrushchev at the UNGA, 1962.

Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich

1894- 1971

Soviet soldier taking a photograph of another soldier in Red Square, Moscow, 1959

Eastern Europe

Soviet Union

A photo of Joseph Stalin from 1943

Stalin, Joseph

1879- 1953

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Beria, Lavrenty P.

1899- 1953

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Malenkov, Georgii Maksimilianovich

1901- 1988

Nikita Khrushchev Collection

Soviet Foreign Policy

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Soviet Union. Communist Party. Central Committee (CPSU CC)

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Eastern Europe

Hungary

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Bulganin, Nikolay Aleksandrovich

1895- 1975

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Eastern Europe

Bulgaria

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Eastern Europe

Poland

A photo of Joseph Stalin from 1943

Stalin and the Cold War

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Eastern Europe

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Middle East

Head of a toppled Stalin statue in Budapest, 1956

1956 Polish and Hungarian Crises

East German Uprising

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February 25, 1956	Khrushchev's Secret Speech, 'On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences,' Delivered at the Twentieth Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union In a secret speech before a closed plenum of the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s cult of the personality. In addition, he revealed that Stalin had rounded up thousands of people and sent them into a huge system of political work camps (Gulags). This revelation was met with astonishment by many present for the speech, but helped to break the power that Stalin still held over the country.
July 1, 1953	Letter from Lavrentiy Beria to Georgii Malenkov Reflecting on the Events of Spring 1953 (Excerpt) Letter from Beria to Malenkov discussing the events which took place in East Germany in the spring of 1953. Beria also discusses his actions after Stalin's death, asking for the forgiveness of the CPSU CC Politburo.
June 26, 1957	Transcript of a CC CPSU Plenum Soviet Politburo member Shelepin accuses Molotov that he did not keep his wife, Polina Semenovna Zhemchuzhina, in line.
October 2, 1944	Letter from Boris Merkulov (USSR People’s Commissar for State Security) to Lavrenty Beria (USSR People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs) Letter from Merkulov to Beria regarding the KGB’s efforts to obtain information about the creation of the atomic bomb and specifically about the related problems with uranium
March 20, 1956	Speech by Comrade Khrushchev at the 6th PUWP CC Plenum, Warsaw Speech by Comrade Khrushchev at the 6th PUWP CC Plenum, 20 March 1956, Warsaw explaining the changes since the death of Stalin and criticizing Stalin
July 1, 1953	Letter from Beria to Malenkov, 1 July 1953 Letter from Beria to Malenkov, 1 July 1953, taking blame for his inappropriate actions.
January 31, 1955	Central Committee Plenum of the CPSU Ninth Session, Morning The Soviet leadership discusses the state of Soviet foreign affairs. Khrushchev reviews Soviet policy after Stalin's death, blaming Molotov and Malenkov for mistakes in Soviet policy towards Germany. The role of executed Soviet leader Lavrentii Beria is also discussed.
June 28, 1957	Transcript of a CC CPSU Plenum, Evening The CPSU politburo discusses the effects of Molotov's foreign policy on Soviet influence in the Middle East. Molotov is accused of being adventurous, leading to a loss in prestige for the Soviet Union when imperialist powers forced Egypt to withdraw from the Suez Crisis.
March 5, 1953	CPSU CC Protocol, 'Record of Proceedings of the Joint Meeting of the CPSU Central Committee Plenum, the Council of Ministers of the Union of the SSR, and the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR' This protocol concerns the meeting of the CPSU Presidium & Soviet Council of Ministers as Stalin was about to die.
November 1, 1956	Bulgarian Military Intelligence Information on the Situation in Hungary and Poland This intelligence report discusses the domestic political developments in Poland after the ascent of Wladyslaw Gomulka to the top of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR).The events surrounding the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 are also mentioned.