Lecture: "The Secrets of the Kirov Murder"

The assassination of Kirov, a key figure in Stalin’s circle, resembles the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. In both cases, strong evidence points to only the immediate perpetrators—Leonid Nikolayev and Lee Harvey Oswald. Yet in both situations, there are serious suspicions that the crime was the result of a conspiracy, not a lone actor. Kirov was killed on December 1, 1934, in the corridor of the Smolny Palace. At that time, he was an influential party figure, holding posts as a member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Central Committee, and First Secretary of the Leningrad city committee of the party. His assassination became one of the reasons that led to the beginning of Stalin’s terror. Despite the prominence of this case, the investigation was never fully completed. Many investigators and researchers tried to uncover the truth; government commissions were created. At the 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev claimed that Kirov was killed by NKVD employees on Stalin’s orders. However, the case has still not been concluded. Why did it happen this way? What—or who—prevented it?