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StrandedVoyager
The People's Champ




Registered: 12/09/04
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The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing)
#8749772 - 08/09/08 05:31 PM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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I've been Wikipedia surfing the last few hours. Started with an american animator and found up reading about obscure government officials in the USSR and the Stalin regime. It's weird how my western American brain processes this as fictional more than reality. Here's a couple of my favorite passages so far.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Blokhin
"Blokhin's most notable performance was the April 1940 mass execution by shooting of 6,000 Polish officers from the Ostashkov POW camp captured following the Soviet invasion of Poland (1939). Per the April 4 secret order from Stalin to NKVD Chief Lavrenti Beria, the executions were carried out in 28 consecutive nights at the specially-constructed basement execution chamber at the NKVD headquarters in Kalinin (now Tver).
Blokhin initially decided on an ambitious quota of 300 executions per night, and engineered an efficient system in which the prisoners were individually led to a small ante-room for a brief and cursory positive identification, before being led into the execution room next door. The room was specially designed with padded walls for soundproofing, a sloping concrete floor with a drain and hose, and a log wall for the prisoners to stand against. Blokhin--outfitted in a leather butcher's apron, cap, and shoulder-length gloves to protect his General's uniform--then pushed the prisoner against the log wall and shot him once in the base of the skull with a German Walther Model 2 .25 ACP pistol. He had brought a briefcase full of his own Walther pistols, since he did not trust the reliability of the standard-issue Soviet TT-30 for the frequent, heavy use he intended. The use of a German pocket pistol--commonly carried by Nazi intelligence agents--also provided plausible deniability of the executions if the bodies were discovered later.
Between 20-30 local NKVD agents, guards and drivers were pressed into service to escort prisoners to the basement, confirm identification, then remove the bodies and hose down the blood after each execution; Blokhin, true to his reputation, liked to work continuously and rapidly without interruption. In keeping with NKVD policy and the overall "black" nature of the operation, the executions were conducted at night, starting at dark and continuing until just prior to dawn. The initial quota of 300 was lowered by Blokhin to 250 after the first night, when it was decided that all further executions should take place in total darkness. The bodies were continuously loaded onto covered flat-bed trucks through a back door in the execution chamber and trucked to Mednoye, where Blokhin had arranged for a bulldozer and two NKVD drivers. Each night an 8-10 meter trench was dug to hold the night's corpses, and each trench was covered up before dawn. Blokhin and his team worked without pause for 10 hours each night, with Blokhin executing an average of one prisoner every 3 minutes."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov
"Yezhov was nearly incoherent, and, like his predecessor Yagoda, mournfully maintained his love for Stalin to the end, flatly refusing Beria's suggestion that he confess to a plot to kill Stalin saying "it is better to leave this earth as an honorable man". He begged Beria on his knees for a few minutes with the Generalissimo to explain himself, and was repeatedly ignored, finally vowing he would "die with Stalin's name on his lips". When the sentence of death was read, Yezhov fainted and had to be bodily carried from the room. On February 4, 1940 he was executed by NKVD Chief Executioner Major-General Vasili Blokhin in the basement of a small NKVD station on Varsonofevskii Lane. The main NKVD execution chamber in the basement of the Lubyanka was deliberately avoided to ensure total secrecy, since Stalin intended to quietly remove a dangerous and potentially embarrassing hatchet-man from his employ, not conduct a show trial in which he might possibly betray Stalin's secrets or cast a bad light on his apparatus. Yezhov's refusal to confess to a plot to murder Stalin also made him less useful for propaganda purposes. [3] According to a witness, just before the execution Yezhov was ordered to undress himself and then was beaten by guards at the order of Beria, the new NKVD Chief, just as Yezhov had once ordered the guards to beat his predecessor Yagoda before his execution just two years prior. He reportedly had to be carried bodily into the execution chamber, hiccuping and weeping uncontrollably. His ashes were dumped in a common grave at Donskoi Cemetery."
It is so fascinating to me to read all of this. It's almost like reading about how far the human mind and the human spirit will go. I wonder why there hasn't been more films made on the USSR or using any of this material. It seems so ripe to be made into an epic film.
-------------------- Hi
My god... it's full of stars...
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Penguarky Tunguin
f n o r d


Registered: 08/08/04
Posts: 17,192
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I consciously avoid wikipedia for the above reasons. I'll spend hours on it and completely forget what the hell I went there for in the first place.
-------------------- Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.
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DragonChaser
Ice in Her Ass and Pussy



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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: StrandedVoyager]
#8749879 - 08/09/08 06:10 PM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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Sometimes the Soviets were
-------------------- My name is Mud
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freeDOOM
Stranger then you



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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: DragonChaser]
#8749899 - 08/09/08 06:17 PM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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I wiki
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The_Ghost
ゴースト


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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: DragonChaser]
#8749908 - 08/09/08 06:19 PM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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The Nazi's were hardcore too.
-------------------- / / / / / / / LISTEN TO MY MUSIC: E X E D / / / / / / / The universe gives no fucks. And takes no fucks. May His Circuits Ever Function
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DragonChaser
Ice in Her Ass and Pussy



Registered: 04/27/06
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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: The_Ghost]
#8749933 - 08/09/08 06:22 PM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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Definitely! I mean like, zomg. I gotta wonder, if sending that many souls from this planet in such a short period of time would carry you special favor with the dark one.
-------------------- My name is Mud
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The_Ghost
ゴースト


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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: DragonChaser]
#8749946 - 08/09/08 06:25 PM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
DragonChaser said: Definitely! I mean like, zomg. I gotta wonder, if sending that many souls from this planet in such a short period of time would carry you special favor with the dark one.
No doubt. Plus they had the best uniforms.
-------------------- / / / / / / / LISTEN TO MY MUSIC: E X E D / / / / / / / The universe gives no fucks. And takes no fucks. May His Circuits Ever Function
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DragonChaser
Ice in Her Ass and Pussy



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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: The_Ghost]
#8751229 - 08/10/08 12:39 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
The_Ghost said: No doubt. Plus they had the best uniforms.
I've been wondering lately where I can get a good imitation Nazi uniform. That episode of "Always Sunny in Philadelphia", where they find the Nazi trunk... Yeah, I want a Nazi uniform.
-------------------- My name is Mud
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Baeosistine
ڜڭۑۄڴڡڟژۻۼئٹ



Registered: 12/23/07
Posts: 902
Loc: England
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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: The_Ghost]
#8751537 - 08/10/08 02:58 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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-------------------- jesus
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AScannerDarkly
On StrangerTides



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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: Baeosistine]
#8751582 - 08/10/08 03:21 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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The Soviet anthem was by far the best national anthem in history. Forget the lyrics, which is basically a very detailed account of performing oral sex on Lenin, the sound is epic.
-------------------- [quote]Voido said: [quote]drken said: Dont get me wrong he is a funny guy, just not a great actor. Smoke some bud and watch the movie, weed helps me pick out shitty acting. [/quote] no your just stoned. stop smoking pot [/quote]
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sam420
CertifiedReptilianOverlord



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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: StrandedVoyager]
#8751886 - 08/10/08 06:04 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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that's crazy
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i'm a spy huntin rap dinosaur from the future
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: StrandedVoyager]
#8752268 - 08/10/08 10:11 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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Now *that* is a police state.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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StrandedVoyager
The People's Champ




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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: Madtowntripper]
#8752322 - 08/10/08 10:28 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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I swear to god if I'm ever lucky enough to make it in the film business, I'm going to make two epic films about the early Soviet Union and Thomas Jefferson. I can't believe movies like Brady Bunch 10 and Austin Powers 4 and Rocky 6 keep coming out when there's so many amazing powerful undone stories out there like these. I wonder why?
-------------------- Hi
My god... it's full of stars...
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



Registered: 03/06/03
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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: StrandedVoyager]
#8752333 - 08/10/08 10:31 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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What do you have against T-Jeff!?
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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StrandedVoyager
The People's Champ




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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: Madtowntripper]
#8752391 - 08/10/08 10:48 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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I'm actually a big fan of most of the Jeffersonian ideals and fascinated with a lot of the founding fathers and most specifically Thomas Jefferson. These guys were so intelligent and capable like T-Jeff or BenjFra or so bad ass like Washington, Patrick Henry or Sam Adams. I've enjoyed reading about them and the American experiment. I cannot think of the quintessential film about the Revolutionaries though. I don't know if it's such a big subject like World War Two that there's isn't just quintessential movie or if nobody's done it right yet. I know HBO just did a mini-series about John Adams that I really want to see but I haven't seen it yet. If I made a film about the founding fathers and the American experiment, it'd actually be a pretty pro-American movie because the 18th century philosophies behind this country are probably the greatest in human history and so new and so perfect that it touched off revolutions and liberal change in almost every country in the world. Imagine that, a group of people who's ideas are so good and conviction so strong that it literally makes every populace of every country in the world question their government and way of power and causes positive changes both big and small in almost every country. My 21st century brain cannot process something that big and amazing.
But yeah Thomas Jefferson fascinates me a lot. I listen to the Thomas Jefferson Hour every day pretty much and I plan to go see the guy who plays Thomas Jefferson in October.
-------------------- Hi
My god... it's full of stars...
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antiPock
fighting entropy



Registered: 07/09/07
Posts: 2,509
Loc: Sol 3
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Re: The USSR was hardcore. (Wikipedia Surfing) [Re: StrandedVoyager]
#8752411 - 08/10/08 10:57 AM (15 years, 6 months ago) |
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lookup "Tzar bomba" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzar_bomba
now that thing was hardcore!
Edited by antiPock (08/10/08 11:03 AM)
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