State-sponsored violence in the Soviet Union: skeletal trauma and burial organization in a post-World War II Lithuanian sample

ENThe Stalinist period represented one of the worst eras of human rights abuse in the Soviet Union. This dissertation investigates both the victims and perpetrators of violence in the Soviet Union during the Stalinist period through a site specific and regional evaluation of burial treatment and perimortem trauma. Specifically, it compares burial treatment and perimortem trauma in a sample (n = 155) of prisoners executed in the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (L.S.S.R.) by the Soviet security apparatus from 1944 to 1947, known as the Tuskulenai case. Skeletal and mortuary variables are compared both over time and between security personnel in the Tuskulenai case. However, the Tuskulenai case does not represent an isolated event. Numerous other sites of state-sponsored violence are well known. In order to understand the temporal and geographical distribution of Soviet violence, this study subsequently compares burial treatment and perimortem trauma observed in the Tuskulenai case to data published in site reports for three other cases of Soviet state-sponsored violence (Vinnytsia, Katyn, and Rainiai). This dissertation discusses state-sponsored violence in the Soviet Union in the context of social and political theory advocated by Max Weber and within a principal-agent framework. Historical data characterizes the Soviet security apparatus as an efficient bureaucracy, which specialized in the identification, detention, and punishment of enemies throughout the Soviet Republics. In particular, Soviet authorities mandated that the only legitimate means of execution was by fusillade, or gunshot to the back of the head. While historical data has largely focused on state officials who organized violence, less attention has been given to agents who actually performed violence in the name of the state.Evaluation of archaeological data and skeletal trauma permits researchers not only to study the death experiences of victims, but also to investigate the behavior and motivation of violence workers. Results of mortuary analyses in the Tuskulenai case demonstrate that burial treatment did not significantly differ over time or between execution squads. However, comparison of skeletal variables reveals that the number of gunshot wounds decreased over time and between security personnel, while non-gunshot mechanisms increased and compliance with the state standard for execution decreased. Finally, comparison of mortuary variables among the four Soviet cases of violence reveals that burial treatment was relatively consistent across all cases, while perimortem injuries were consistent between the Vinnytsia and Katyn cases, but significantly varied at Tuskulenai and Rainiai. Furthermore, the Rainiai case demonstrated the greatest difference in perimortem wounds and compliance with state standards. In conclusion, non-compliance with the state standard for execution (i.e. the improvisation of violence) in the Tuskulenai and Rainiai cases is attributed to a number of factors, including exogenous threats, the training of state agents, materialism, prisoner compliance, sadism, and desensitization to violence. This dissertation demonstrates that while violence may be ordered at the top by state leaders, the implementation of violence relies on the discretion of individual agents. As data from additional sites become available, it is hoped they can be included in both a regional and global index of state-sponsored violence during the twentieth century.