
We keep the names of the places as they were in the year of events described e.g. Igor Pavlov was born in Leningrad and he now lives in St. Petersburg.
The Dyatlov group was from Sverdlovsk, which was the name of Yekaterinburg from 1924 to 1991.
Party organizer (secretary) at an institution, factory – partorg
Komsomol organizer (secretary) at an institution, factory – komsorg
Labor union organizer (secretary) at an institution, factory – proforg
party/Komsomol/labor union/sport district committee – raycom (rayonniy komitet)
party/Komsomol/labor union/sport city committee – gorcom (gorodskoy komitet)
party/Komsomol/labor union/sport regional committee – obcom (oblastnoy komitet)
UPI labor union committee – profcom (profsoyuzniy komitet)
For the Soviets (Soviet quasi legislative/executive bodies):
raysovet - district soviet
gorsovet - city soviet
oblsovet - regional soviet
For the Soviet executive bodies:
ispolcom raysoveta - district soviet executive committee
ispolcom gorsoveta - city soviet executive committee
ispolcom oblsoveta (oblispolcom) - regional soviet executive committee
Until 1928 Russia had Governorates, later replaced with: район, област = district, округ = region, край = territory.
Soviet secret classifications of the level of secrecy:
Secret [Sekretno]
Top Secret [Sovershenno Sekretno]
Top Secret [Sovershenno Secretno] / Copy to be destroyed [Копии подлежат уничтожению]
Top Secret, Special File [Совершенно Секретно: Особая Папка]
The latter files were kept separate from the rest, their declassification periods are 50 years and up. There were Stalin, Molotov, Beria, later Khrushchev Special Files, as well -- Politburo Special Files.
Agitprop trek | Agitprop propaganda trek (агитпоход) |
ASGM-25 | Airborne prospecting system device (АСГМ-25) |
ASSR | Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic |
AO ZSU GVF | Western Siberian Office of Civil Aviation (АО ЗСТУ ГВФ) |
Case officer | The Soviet/Russian militia/police/MVD/KGB term оперуполномоченный "operupolnomochenniy" (authorized operative) may be rendered into English as a special agent, since the responsibilities in that office were similar to the FBI’s SA (Special Agent). A more authentic alternative is case officer e.g. of the Ivdel city Militia station. In some contexts it could also be translated as investigator. |
Glavspetslesprom | Main Special Directorate of the Forest Industry (Главное специальное управление лесной промышленности МВД - Главспецлеспром) |
GRES | Hydroelectric Power Station (Гидроэлектростанция - ГРЭС) |
DDE | Division of the detained escort (Отдел Конвойной Охраны - ОКО) |
Energolesokombinat | Power Forest Combine (Энерголесокомбинат) |
ITL | Forced Labor Camp (Исправительно-трудовой лагерь ИТЛ aka Gulag) |
Kazgosstroyproekt | Kazakh State Construction Project (Казгосстройпроект) |
KhMAO | Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area (ХМАО) |
Komsomol | All-Union Leninist Young Communist League aka VLKSM (ВЛКСМ - Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи) |
Lengiprotrans | Leningrad Planning and Surveying Transportation Institute (Ленгипротранс) |
MINENERGO | Ministry of Power stations construction of the USSR (МИНЭНЕРГО) |
MVD | Ministry of Internal Affairs, which included the militia service. |
NKVD | People’s Commissariat of Interior |
OSOAVIAKhIM | Society for the Promotion of Aviation and Chemical Defense (ОСОАВИАХИМ) |
OVD | Department of Internal Affairs (отдел внутренних дел - ОВД) |
OVPK | Detached militarized fire brigade (отдельная военизированная пожарная команда - ОВПК) |
Profobcom | Union of Soviet Commercial Employees (совторговли) |
RSFSR | Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (РСФСР) |
SNK | see Sovnarkom |
SOBSME | Sverdlovsk Regional Bureau of Forensic Examination (СОБСМЭ) |
Sovnarhoz | Regional Economic Soviet (совнархоз) |
Sovnarkom | Council of People's Commissars (SNK) |
UPI | Ural Polytechnic Institute, now Ural State Technical University History 1950-60 |
UPI tourist section | Туристская секция УПИ |
UPI sports club | СК УПИ |
Ueal OAG GVF | Operational Air Group of the Civil Air Fleet (Уральской ОАГ ГВФ) |
Uralenergostroymekhanizatsiya | Urals Power Construction Mechanization (Уралэнергостроймеханизация) |
Uralkhimmash | Ural Chemical Machine Building Works (Уралхиммаш) |
Uralles | Logging enterprise trust (Ураллес) |
Uralselmash | Ural Agricultural machines (Уралсельмаш) |
Uralugol | Ural Coal Works (Уралуголь) |
USSR | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (СССР) |
VCP(b) | All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) is the name of the Soviet communist party from 1923 to 1952. |
VOKhR | Paramilitary Security (ВОХР) |
WWII Fronts | The Soviet WWII period "Fronts" were strategic groups of armed forces, including several armies, each with 3 or more divisions, etc. Their names mostly dated back to their original formation. There were, in fact, 3 Belorussian Fronts. |