Some were interned in Gulag camps along with their parents some were deported to live in exile in remote regions with their families and some were forced into Soviet orphanages. Children who lost their parents as a result of Stalin’s Terror were affected in a number of different ways. This climate of fear even extended to young children, many of whom were terrified of the day when their parents would ‘disappear’. The Stalinist era was characterized by extensive terror and repression, with large numbers of the Soviet population living in fear of the ‘knock on the door’ that could signify arrest, exile, imprisonment or execution. ‘The Littlest Enemies’: Children of the Stalinist Era In this article Victoria Bird discusses the experiences of these children, Stalin’s ‘Littlest Enemies’. All found themselves dispossesed, displaced, marginalised and rejected. Some were sent into exile with their families and others were left to fend for themselves on the city streets. Some of these children were raised in the Gulag camps, some in state orphanages. However this was not the case for the millions of children whose parents were caught up in Stalin’s terror.

Stalinist propaganda claimed that the USSR was the best place in the world to raise a child, presenting childhood as an innocent, happy and fulfiling time.

The next post in the 2012 student showcase explores how the terror and repression of the Stalinist era had an impact which extended far beyond those directly targeted by the regime. ‘The Littlest Enemies’: Children of the Stalinist Era

Another view of stalin