American History Tellers - History Daily: The Assassination of Sergei Kirov

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

December 1, 1934. Leningrad mayor Sergei Kirov is assassinated by a lone gunman, giving Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin the justification to purge the Communist Party of his rivals.You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to IntoHistory.comHistory Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's January 27, 1924, on a bitterly cold afternoon in Moscow. Thousands have flocked to Red Square to pay their respects to Vladimir Lenin, the former leader of the Communist Party and the hero of the Russian Revolution. As Lenin's coffin is carried toward the Kremlin, mourners crane their necks to catch a glimpse of the solemn procession. Six men in fur caps and overcoats carry Lenin's open casket through the snow. Among them is the general secretary of the Communist Party, Joseph Stalin. At 44 years old, Stalin is the main contender to succeed Lenin as the leader of the Soviet Union. It's a job he's coveted since he first joined the revolutionary movement at the age of just 25.

But Stalin faces stiff competition in the struggle for power, including from his fellow pallbearers, all Communist Party officials. officials who are hoping to secure the top job. As the funeral procession enters the Kremlin building, a vast portrait of the dead leader watches over the congregation. Stalin feels the ice clinging to his mustache start to melt as they proceed through the cavernous hall. With a grunt of effort, the pallbearers placed the coffin down onto a marble plinth.

Then Stalin and the other communist officials stand back while Lennon's widow steps forward and looks down at the embalmed body of her late husband. As Mrs. Lennon fights to hold back tears, Stalin glances across the stony faces of the other pallbearers, his rivals in the race to succeed Lennon. These men appear undivided, united in grief over their fallen comrade. But the reality is far different. In truth, the Communist Party is a vipers' nest of competing allegiances and fierce rivalries.

A dog-eat-dog world in which nobody is to be trusted, and everybody is to be feared. As the heavy stone lid is placed on Lenin's tomb, it occurs to Stalin that to emerge victorious in this power struggle, he will have to get rid of these rival men, by whatever means necessary. Stalin will soon outmaneuver his opponents and emerge as the next leader of the Soviet Union.

But by the early 1930s, opposition to Stalin's leadership will grow, believing that as long as his rivals are still breathing, his grip on power will never be secure, Stalin will become increasingly paranoid. And in the end, the opportunity to get rid of his opponents will be provided by a lone gunman whose killing of a senior Communist Party politician will give Stalin the excuse he needs to purge the Soviet Union of his enemies, real or imagined, and claim the lives of over one million people in a campaign of terror that began following a deadly gunshot on December 1st, 1934.

Hey there, American History Tellers, listeners. If you've been enjoying these occasional appearances of History Daily in your feed, I want to make sure that you knew that I host a whole other podcast that posts these short, exciting This Day and History Stories every weekday. Just search for History Daily in whatever podcast app you're using now. Then click Follow. And over there on History Daily, you'll also get to hear updates on my live show. That's right.

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But behind that story lies another one of conflict, betrayal, and brutal violence. against the very people who help them survive. Listen to American history tellers on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. From Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily. History is made every day. On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is December 1st, 1934, the assassination of Sergei Kirov. It's the 1st of December, 1934 in Leningrad. A dark-haired young man walks hurriedly along the banks of a frozen river, his teeth chattering in the sub-zero temperatures. barely five feet tall and thin as a reed Leonid Nikolaev has always suffered the cold. But lately has been getting worse. The 30-year-old shivers throughout the night, making sleep impossible. Even when he goes down to the basement of his apartment block and stands over the coal-burning furnace, he still feels a chill.

It's as if the cold is inside him, like his blood is slowly freezing. Nikolaiov buries his unshaven chin into the collar of his winter coat and plunges his hands deeper into his pockets. He cuts his eyes toward a palatial building overlooking the river, the Smolli Institute, the headquarters of the Leningrad branch of the Communist Party. At the site of the building, Nikolayev's heart starts pounding, and his grip tightens around the revolver in his pocket. Until recently, Nikolayev worked as a low-level bureaucrat

in the Transportation Department of the Communist Party. But he didn't see eye-to-eye with his employers, who found Nikolive to be obstinate. arrogant and vain. After one too many arguments with his superior, Nikolaev was fired and stripped of his party membership, and despite several appeals to overturn it, their decision was final. The party simply did not want a man like Leonid Nikolive among its ranks. So unemployed and penniless, Nikolaiov is forced to live off his wife's salary, and every day that passes he can feel himself becoming less in his wife's eyes, less of a husband, less of a provider, less of a man.

He feels wronged by the Communist Party's leadership, and there is one man he blames above all others. Sergei Kirov is a hero of the Bolshevik Revolution, which toppled the Russian monarchy. Now he is the head of the Leningrad branch of the Communist Party. And although Nikolaev does not know him personally, Nikolaiov has grown bitterly resentful of Kirov's power and status. Kirov is everything Nikolive is not, charismatic, successful, respected. Making matters worse, Nikolaev suspects that his wife, Milda, who worked for the regional party committee, is having an affair with Kirov. Nikolaov has no proof of this. It's just a feeling he has. Another humiliation in the long list of injustices he suffered.

But having been driven mad with envy and resentment, Nikolive has decided to take action, to strike a blow against the communist system that cast him out into the cold. So Nikolaiv climbs the steps of the Smolny Institute and enters the lobby, stamping snow from his boots. He notices with relief that security seems light this afternoon. He walked through the building unopposed and heads straight to the third floor, where he knows Kirov's office is located. After climbing a stairway, Nikolaiov emerges at the end of a long corridor. Hearing men's voices, he darts around a corner and presses himself against the wall, his heart thumping faster. He removes the revolver from his pocket

and peers tentatively from his hiding place. Sergei Kirov himself is striding towards him, his military-style boots echoing down the hallway. Nikolaiov holds his breath as Kirov passes, not noticing Nikolive lurking in the shadows. Realizing that it's now or never, Nikolive dashes into the open, lifts his revolver, and squeezes the trigger.

The sound of the gunshot, reverberates throughout the building, and Nikolaiev lowers the weapon. Kirov falls face first onto the hardwood floor, blood gushing from a bullet wound in his neck. Nicolive trembles. He can hear the shouts of guards from somewhere in the building and the thunder of their approaching footsteps when Nikolaiv doesn't run. He stands still, staring slack-jaw at the body of the man he's just killed. Suddenly, Nikolive decides he doesn't want to live with the consequences of his actions, so he raises the revolver to his own head and fires the second time. But Nikolaev's attempt to take his own life will fail.

Shortly after turning the revolver on himself, Nikolive will be apprehended and remanded into custody of the NKVD, the Soviet secret police. Upon interrogation, he will confess to acting alone. But when news of the assassination reaches Joseph Stalin, the Soviet premier will recognize an opportunity to rid the Communist Party of his trouble. some opponents. Stalin will instruct the NKVD to round up any individuals who have ever stood against him, falsely implicating them in Kirov's assassination, and using this single act of violence as an excuse to purge the Soviet Union of anyone who would stand in his way.

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Now millions are injecting mystery vials with no FDA oversight. I'm David Brown, host of Business Wars. In our latest season, we're diving into the race to Ozympic and the billion-dollar showdown between Big Pharma's biggest players. And they close the supply gap before one bad vial destroys everything? Make sure to follow Business Wars on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Business Wars early and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus. It's early on December 29, 1934, in a forest clearing outside Moscow. nearly a month after the assassination of Sergei Kirov. Fourteen blindfolded prisoners stand before a firing squad, shivering in the pre-dawn cold.

Among them is Leonid Nikolaev, recently convicted of the murder of the man he thought responsible for his suffering, Communist Party leader Sergei Kirov. Nikolive confessed to the crime and to acting alone. But that admission was rejected by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, who used the assassination as an excuse to round up his opponents within the party and bring them before a military tribunal. But there was never really any question of the defendants receiving a fair trial. The verdict of the court was already decided before the hearing began. These defendants were convicted of conspiring against the state and sentenced to death by firing

squad. Most of the men standing in the clearing today are known associates of Gregori Zanovyev and Lev Khamenev, two blacklisted Communist Party politicians who resisted Stalin. Stalin's rise to power during the 1920s. These two men worked closely with another Stalin's sworn rivals, the former head of the Soviet military, Leon Trotsky. While Trotsky was banished from the Soviet Union and sent into exile, Zanaviev and Kamenev were still in the country,

a fact that presented Stalin with a problem. As long as these two men live and breathe, for Stalin there will always be potential opponents to his leadership, ready to strike against him at any moment. But prior to Sergei Kirov's murder, Stalin couldn't simply execute his rivals without direct provocation or fear sparking revolt against his regime. But then came the assassination. The murder shocked the entire nation, and Stalin moved quickly to blame Zanaviev and Khamenev for the crime. Right now, the two men are in custody awaiting trial. But here in this clearing on the outskirts of Moscow today, their associates are about to be the first victims of Stalin's great terror.

At 5.45 a.m., the commanding officer barks in order and the soldiers take aim. Prisoners stiffen as the sharp crack of rifle fire shatters the early morning stillness, and 14 men crumple to the snow-covered earth. Meanwhile, inside a dank prison cell in Moscow, Grigori Zinabyev hangs his head, reflecting miserably on the dark future of his country. The 51-year-old has been at the heart of his country. the communist takeover in Russia since the earliest days of the Russian Revolution. And after the death of Vladimir Lenin, Zanaviev opposed Joseph Stalin's rise to power.

But Stalin outmaneuvered him and emerged as leader anyway, and Zanav was expelled from the party, along with his longtime ally, Lev Khamenev. Rather than continuing to resist Stalin's oppressive regime, Zanaviev and Khamenev capitulated. They apologized for their disloyalty towards their comrade Stalin, and both were eventually readmitted to the government, albeit in a reduced capacity as mere pen-pushers. And so for a short while, Stalin ruled unopposed. But when his so-called five-year plan of economic and agricultural reforms ended in catastrophic failure, sparking famine and death on a massive scale, clamors for the dictator's removal began to sound from

subversive factions within the party. Stalin quickly descended into paranoia. He became convinced that Zanaviev and Khamenev were involved in a plot to assassinate him, a scheme orchestrated by the exile of Leon Trotsky. In truth, neither of these two men were plotting to assassinate Stalin. But when Sergei Kirov was shot by a crazed gunman, Stalin seized the opportunity to round up his opponents. Shortly after the shooting, NKVD agents turned up in Zanaviev's apartment.

They seized him, beat him, and questioned him for hours. Now he and Khamenev are languishing in grimy cells, awaiting whatever brutal punishment Stalin has in store. Several days later, guards arrived at Zanoviev's cell and transport him to a nearby government building to stand trial before a military tribunal. The bedraggled former politician stands in the dock, his face blotchy with bruises. Kamenev stands alongside him, expressionless and stoic behind his goatee and spectacles. The Dower judge accuses both men of being morally complicit in the assassination of Sergei Kirov. They found guilty they will serve 10 years in the Soviet prison camp system, known as the gulag. Both Zanabiev and Khamenev know that to plead their innocence would be pointless.

So instead, they comply with Stalin's demands, confessing to moral complicity and accepting their sentences. But Zanabiev and Khamenev are not shipped off to the gulag. Instead, they are returned to their prison cells, where new charges of espionage and terrorism are leveled against them. In August 1936, Stalin orders the two men to appear before another judge, along with over a dozen other men he is deemed disloyal. This is the first of what will become known as the Moscow show trials. Once again, it is not a legitimate hearing, but merely a charade designed to create the illusion

of fair practice. Zanaviev and Kamenev, accept another plea deal. confessing to these fictitious crimes on the promise that their lives will be spared, but Stalin has no intention of keeping that promise. Soon Zanaviev and Khamenev are removed from their cells, though again it's not the gulag that awaits them, but the firing squad. Now, with Zanaviev and Khamenev dead, and Trotsky in exile, Stala has deposed the foremost opponents to his leadership,

but still the Soviet premiere is not satisfied. In fact, the demise of these men is the beginning of what was, will come to be known as the Great Terror. And during this brutal period, Stalin embarks on a frenzied campaign of arrests, show trials, and executions. He purges not just the Communist Party, but also the military, the clergy, and members of the Soviet intelligentsia, in a frantic killing spree that will leave approximately one million dead. In the fall of 1620, a battered merchant ship called the Mayflower set sail across the Atlantic. It carried 102 men, women, and children, risking it all to start again in the new world.

Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of American history tellers. Every week, we take you through the moments that shaped America, and in our latest season, we explore the untold story of the Pilgrims, one that goes far beyond the familiar tale of the first Thanksgiving. After landing at Cape Cod, the Pilgrims forged an unlikely alliance with the Wapinog people who helped the pilgrims survive the most brutal winter they'd ever known, laying the foundation for a powerful national myth. But behind that story lies another, one of conflict, betrayal, and brutal violence against

the very people who helped the Pilgrim survive. Follow American History Tellers on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of American History Tellers The Mayflower, early and ad-free, right now on Wondery Plus. In 1993, three eight-year-old boys were brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. As the small-town local police struggled to solve the crime, Rumors soon spread that the killings were the work of a satanic cult. Suspicion landed on three local teenagers, but there was no real evidence linking them to the murders.

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It's May 22nd. Second, 1937 in Moscow, at the height of Stalin's Great Terror. A prison van wends its way through dark and deserted streets. Slumped in the back, nursing a throbbing black eye, is Mikhail Tukochewski. Mikhail, a decorated war hero, is the marshal of the Soviet Union, the highest rank in the Red Army. But tonight, the famous general has been reduced to a common prisoner. Hours ago, NKVD officers arrived at Mikhail's military headquarters and placed him under

arrest. Mikhail has no idea why. He's never shown anything but loyalty towards Stalin, but Mikhail's apprehension is merely part of a wider campaign of high-profile arrests as Stalin carries out his bloodthirsty purge of powerful political figures. Eventually, the van arrives outside a nondescript building on the outskirts of the city, an unobtrusive hideout where the NKVD can quietly go about their business of interrogating and torturing any suspected subversives. Once inside, Mikhail is led to a basement room, unfurnished except for a lone wooden chair in a single flickering light bulb. Mikhail is forced to sit in the chair and wait. Moments later, the door opens and a short, sickly-looking man with oily black hair steps inside.

Nikolai Yajov is the head of the NKVD, and the man Stalin has entrusted to oversee his great terror. As Yuzov walks toward the prisoner, a jangling sound emanates from his breast pocket, where he keeps as a memento, the two bullets used to execute Rigori Zanoviev and Lev Khamenev, the two Communist Party dignitaries whose deaths kicked off Stalin's purge. Yajov coldly appraises Mikhail, then accuses him of being part of an anti-Soviet conspiracy to turn the Red Army against Comrade Stalin. Mikhail can barely hide his contempt for the outlandish accusation.

But when he denies the chart, Yuzov just smiles thinly and quietly instructs his NKVD goons to loosen Mikhail's tongue. After hours of brutal torture, Mikhail will sign a blood-stained confession. Days later, he will be tried before Stalin's appointed Supreme Court judge and found guilty of conspiring against the Soviet Union. He and eight other Red Army generals will be driven to a remote location, lined up against a wall and shot.

During Stalin's great terror, nobody in Soviet civic life was seen. safe, not even the NKVD. Just one year after the execution of Mikhail Tukachetschewski, Nikolai Jouzhov himself would be accused of disloyalty. He will be tried, sentenced, and executed, needing the same fate as the one he inflicted on countless others. By the end of 1938, Stalin's great terror will have claimed between 700,000 and 1 million lives. Due to the secret of nature of many of the arrests and executions, this figure will be kept hidden from the general public for years. A veil of silence would be cast across the atrocities until the 1980s

when it finally becomes legal in the Soviet Union to speak openly by what happened during Stalin's Great Terror, a horrific purge that began, following the assassination of a Communist Party official on this day, December 1st, 1934. Next on History Daily, December 2nd, 1956. Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro brings the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere by launching the Cuban Revolution. From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, posted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham. Audio editing by Molly Bach. Sound design by Derek Barons. Music by Lindsay Graham. This episode is written and research. by Joe Viner.

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