Massacre of Novgorod

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The Massacre of Novgorod[1] occurred in the city of Novgorod, Russia in 1570. The massacre started on January 9, and went on to February 12.

The classic version claimed that Ivan the Terrible was under the belief that the elite of the city of Novgorod planned to defect to Poland, and led an army to Novgorod to stop them on January 2. Ivan's soldiers built walls around the perimeter of the city in order to prevent the people of the city escaping. Between 500 and 1000 people were gathered every day by the troops, then tortured and killed in front of Ivan and his son. [2][3]

However, some modern researchers claim that in fact the massacre was not politically charged, but was done to prevent the plague which came to Novgorod through Europe from spreading to the rest of Russia.[citation needed]

The official death toll named 1,500 of Novgorod's nobility and mentioned about the same number of others. Modern Russian researchers estimate number of victims in a range from 2,500 up to 12,000. (After the famine and epidemics of 1560s the population of Novgorod did not exceed 10,000-20,000.) Having investigated the report of the leader of oprichniks Malyuta Skuratov and commemoration lists (sinodiki), R. Skrynnikov considers that the number of victims was 2–3 thousand [4].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Understanding Holocausts: How, Why and When They Occur by B. Posturee (iUniverse, 2002) p.67
  2. ^ Massacre at Novgorod - Loyola University
  3. ^ According to the Third Novgorod Chronicle, the massacre lasted for five weeks. The First Pskov Chronicle estimates the number of victims at 60,000. These sources are not impartial, however.
  4. ^ Skrynnikov R, "Ivan Grozny", M, AST, 2001
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