Stalinist repressions in Mongolia

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Skulls of victims that were shot in the head, displayed at a museum documenting the event
The Stalinist repressions in Mongolia had their climax between 19! and 199
"#ongolian$ %& '()*(+,--)()., /kh 0helmegd11lelt,"Great Repression"2, under the
leadership of 0horloogiin 3hoibalsan by 4ussian instructions5 The purpose of purge was to
abolish #ongolian patriotic forces and 4ussia stopped 6uryats migration to the #ongolian
7eople8s 4epublic in 1995 :ll leaders of #ongolia who did not recognise 4ussian demand
to perform purge against #ongolians were executed by 4ussians including 7el;idiin
<enden and:nandyn :mar5 3hoibalsan recogni=ed the demand due to Soviet threat5 /n
19>? he suspiciously died in 4ussia5 3omintern leader6ohum@r Ameral said BThe 7eople of
#ongolia are not important, the land is important5 #ongolia is larger
than Cngland, France and<ermanyB5
D1E
The purges affected the whole country, although the
main focus was on upper party and government ranks, the army,6uryats, patriots,
nobles, nationalists, intellectuals, the wealthy and especially the 6uddhist clergy5
D?E
Fne very
common accusation was collaboration with supposed proGHapanese spy rings5
Contents
1 Iistory
? 19JG199
The number of victims
K Lotable victims
o K51 6uryats
> See also
J 4eferences
! Cxternal links
History
:fter the 4evolution the #ongolian 7eople8s 4evolutionary 7arty committed itself to
8socialist transformation8, following the instructions received from the Soviet Mnion5 D?E /n
19?J in the #74, the Naw on the separation of church and state, which noted that B our
government is sympathetic to religion 6lessed Sakya munis, so it is within the law firm
defends business compliance, study and dissemination of the teachings B, DE but abolished
the privileges the higher ranks of the 6uddhist clergy G hubilganov and Iambo G and
ordered each time for finding of a new rebirth to petition the government5 Soon after, the
#747 and 4evsomol led an active struggle for secularisation, representatives of 6uddhist
clergy, at the end of the 19?9s, the country almost simultaneously with the Soviet Mnion
began collectivi=ation5 /t was the confiscation of property from the clergy and the old feudal
nobility5 /n 199 tayi;is Cregdendagva wrote a letter to the 7anchen Nama /O with a rePuest
to settle in the country of ;uvenile 6ogd <egen /O as a monarch, destroying the #747 and
stopping the seculari=ation of the clergy with the assistance of the troops of the 3hinese
republic5 Fne of the princes, which he showed this treatment, informed on him5 :ccording
to the B 3ause Cregdendagvy Bwere involved 0hiid #an;ushri #an;ushri 0hutukhta others
allegedly supported the plan, and these treatment5 DKE :s a result of the investigation on
September 9 was shot eight people, led by <alsandashem5 D>E 6y the beginning of 199
about 19 thousand monks have been expelled from monasteries5 These processes and
reforms displeased not only the wellGoff :rat, noyons and clergy, but for all the residents of
#ongolia, which resulted in 19? in 3hovsgol uprising suppressed by only six months5
Neaders of the uprising to a public trial was sentenced to death5 /n 19Q19K, for B the
cause Nhumbe B"named after H5 Nhumbe, a prominent party and state leader of the #74,
6uryat nationality, accused of counterGrevolutionary proGHapanese creating an illegal
organi=ation for the purpose of the military coup and the overthrow of the 3ommunist
regime2 were repressed 1! people$ B3henti; groupB G 1!K people "9 sentenced to death2,
BRornod groupB G 119 people "1S executed2, BMlaanbaatar <roupB G person "executed
five people25 #ost of the victims were from the northern 6uryats aimags G Rornod, 3henti; G
and Mlan 6ator5 /n addition to the prison sentences of five to 19 years, and used this form of
punishment as the expulsion of the Soviet Mnion, followed by > years of imprisonment in
the camps without the right to return to #ongolia5
1936-1939
4epression of the 6uddhist establishment increased in Recember 19K, when #ongolian
law was amended to ban religious teaching in schools, prevent children from entering
monasteries, and ending the lamas8 evasion of military service5 Ieavy taxes were also
imposed on the monasteries5
DE
/n the midG199s, before the <reat 7urge, there were some
S99 6uddhist monasteries in #ongolia with 99,999 priestsT in 19! and 19S, most of the
monasteries were ruined and between 1J,999 to 1!,999 priests were killed5
DKE
:ccording to
one estimate, by 199 the purges had killed ?!,999 #onglians "about U of the populationT
about half the victims were monks5
D>E
Ruring the Stalinist repressions, B#ongolia8s religious
institutions were virtually all destroyed, their property appropriated, and the lamas either
killed or seculari=ed5 :ll together, ?,?J> monastery buildings were destroyed and over !15>
tons of metal statutes shipped to the MSS4 for scrap5B
DE
The <andan #onastery in Mlaanbaatar was closed in 19S at the height of the purges but
reopened in 19KK5 /t was the only monastery in #ongolia to remain functioning during the
3ommunist era, and one of the very few that escaped destruction5
The number of people killed in the purges is usually estimated to have been between
??,999
DJE
and >,999 people,
D!E
or about three to four percent of #ongolia8s population at that
time5 Learly 1S,999 victims were 6uddhist lamas5
DJE
Some authors also offer much higher
estimates, up to 199,999 victims5
D!E
The remains of one of the hundreds of monasteries destroyed in the purges
#ass graves were investigated in 1991 in #VrVn,
DSE
and in ?99 in Mlaanbaatar5
D9E
The
corpses of hundreds of executed lamas and civilians were unearthed, all killed with a shot
to the base of the skull5
D9E
Fne of the remaining yurt temples of the era
The BWictims of 7olitical 7ersecution #useumB in Mlaanbaatar is dedicated to the victims of
the purges5 /t was once the residence of executed 7rime #inister 7el;idiin <enden5 /n 199J
his daughter Tserendulam turned it into a museum5
D19E
Fne of the exhibits is a row of skulls
with bullet holes dating from the time of the purges5
D11E
The number of victims
The total number of people killed during the repression is estimated to be ?? to ,999
people, which is about to >U of the population5 :round the late 199s the #ongolian
7eople8s 4epublic had a population of about !99,999 to 999,999 people5
Fnly from :ugust 19! to Hanuary 19S, according to the Soviet embassy in #ongolia,
19,!?S people have been arrested including !,S1K lamas, ?? noyans, 1S9 army
commanders and K9S 3hinese5 Ruring this period, cases were heard on !,1!1 people of
whom J,11 were executed5 :ccording to these data, the brunt of the repression was
inflicted on 6uddhist monasticism5
6etween 19J and 199, two thirds of the members of the #ongolian 7eople8s
4evolutionary 7arty were repressed, eight out of 19 members of the 7residium of the
3entral 3ommittee5 7ooled data for the same period of the Cxtraordinary 3ommission,
headed by 3hoibalsan under the close supervision of advisers of the MSS4 condemned
?>,>SS people, of whom ?9,999 were sentenced to death and executed5 7roportion of
victims in relation to the population of the country is much higher than the corresponding
figures of the <reat 7urge in the Soviet Mnion5 :fterwards ?9,999 people
were rehabilitated5
Notable victims
#onument dedicated to the victims of the repressions in Mlaanbaatar, #ongolia
7el;idiin <enden, prime minister of #ongolia from 19? to 19J
:nandyn :mar, prime minister of #ongolia from 19J to 199
Rari=avyn Nosol
<elegdor;iin Remid
Buryats
: number of prominent 6uryats connected to #ongolia were imprisoned and killed during
the purges in the Soviet Mnion, among them$
Tseveen Hamsrano
Clbegdor; 4inchino
Rash Sampilon
Crdene 6atkhaan
References
15 Jump up ^ Iistory of #ongolia, ?99, Wolume >5 #ongolian /nstitute of Iistory
?5 Jump up ^ D1E XbooksYidZO7fcfFSN4W[3\pgZ7:JSE
5 ] Hump up to$
a

b
Sanders, :5H505 "?91925 Historical Dictionary of Mongolia5
Scarecrow 7ress5 p5 K9>5 /S6L 9!S9S19S!K>?!5 4etrieved ?91KG19G95
K5 Jump up ^ Rani, :5I5T :dle, 35 "?99>25 History of Civilizations of Central Asia:
Towards the contemporary period : from the midnineteenth to the end of the twentieth
cent!ry5 Mnesco5 p5 JS5/S6L 9!S9?199S>95 4etrieved ?91KG19G95
>5 Jump up ^ 6acon, 75 "?99>25 "scaping the #ce$rison5 Nulu Cnterprises
/ncorporated5 p5 >S5 /S6L 9!S1K11JKS9J!5 4etrieved ?91KG19G95
J5 ] Hump up to$
a

b
3hristopher 0aplonski, Thirty tho!sand %!llets , in$ Historical
#n&!stice and Democratic Transition in "astern Asia and 'orthern "!rope , Nondon
?99?, p51>>G1JS
!5 ] Hump up to$
a

b
Twentieth 3entury :tlas G Reath Tolls
S5 Jump up ^ #ass 6uddhist <rave 4eported in #ongolia The Lew ^ork Times,
Fctober 1991
95 ] Hump up to$
a

b
#ass grave uncovered in #ongolia 4T_ Lews, Thursday, 1?
Hune ?99
195 Jump up ^ #emorial #useum of victims of political persecutions
115 Jump up ^ Nonely 7lanet5com