Kirov Murder Myster

Read "Kirov Murder Mystery," which is in your Stalin shared file folder. Examine the two pages of evidence in the Kirov Murder Mystery reading. After reviewing the evidence, make your own judgments by answering the following questions.

1. In what circumstances did the assassin carry out the murder?
On December 1, 1934, Sergei Kirov went into party headquarters in Leningrad. He left his bodyguard downstairs while he went up to his office. He didn't notice the absence of the usual bodyguards in the building. His assassin, who was hiding in the bathroom, snuck up behind Kirov and shot him in the neck.

2. What strange coincidences surround the murder?
Kirov happened to leave his body guard downstairs when he went up to his office
A key witness was going to be Borisov, Kirov's bodyguard, but on the way to be questioned, a truck with many NKVD men got into a car crash and Borisov was killed, but nobody else was hurt. The NKVD men were killed later.

3. Is there any evidence to link Stalin to the murder?
Kirov had recieved more support at the Seventeenth Party Congress than Stalin. Kirov opposed stalin over the pace of industrialization, he wanted relaxation from the terror and reconciliation with the peasantry. Kirov and Stalin disagreed on many other things as well.

4. Is there any evidence to suggest that the NKVD was involved in the murder?
Kirov wanted relaxation of the terror and reconciliation with the peasantry, which would have downgraded the role of the NKVD and reduced its profile and status. It is alleged that an NKVD man had posed as a friend of Nikolayev and practiced shooting his revolver with him. When Stalin interrogated Nikolayev, he pointed to the NKVD men and said to ask them why he killed Kirov.

5. Who had the best motive for the murder?
Nikolayev-had a hatred of the party bureaucracy which he felt had not recognized his worth and given him his due. Also his wife, who was a secretary at party headquarters may have been having an affair with Kirov. There were plans in Nikolayev's briefcase of Kirov's murder. Nikolayev had been arrested in Kirov's neighborhood twice and released both times.

6. What theories can you suggest about who was responsible - was it the assassin alone or were others involved?
I think that the NKVD as well as Nikolayev played a big part in Kirov's assassination. Nikolayev was the man who carried out the NKVD's dirty work. Nikolayev had a personal motive, so the NKVD probably picked him to do their killing.