The Kirov Enigma

On 1 December 1934 in the Communist Party’s head quarter in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) Sergey Mironovich Kirov was killed by a shot through the back of the head. The assassination of one of the Soviet Union’s top leaders unleashed Joseph Stalin’s terror against his own party and the persecution of hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens. This book accounts for the murder and its investigation and discusses the background of the murder, particularly the allegation that the secret police (the NKVD) – and Stalin himself – were responsible for it. The author also accounts for and discusses the veracity of many of the rumours and much of the speculation which arose after the murder and shows how many historians have fallen victim to the myths surrounding the murder.

Åsmund Egge is professor emeritus of history at the University of Oslo.