![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
Abstract
This article draws on the six-volume criminal case of Khrushchev-era KGB lieutenant Aleksei Petrenko who was tried for several crimes, including sodomy, in 1963. This article also seeks to make an initial contribution to our scant knowledge on how the KGB dealt with the issue of male homosexuality under Khrushchev. It reveals that, although the crime of sodomy came generally within the purview of the civilian police, the KGB could investigate such crimes if they were committed by its employees. The file in question also reveals that male homosexual activity was surprisingly widespread in small- and medium-sized cities of the Ukrainian SSR in the 1960s.
I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose incisive comments greatly improved the initial version of this article. I would also like to thank the workers at the SBU archive, who tirelessly assisted me in finding the files I needed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Derzhavnyi Arkhiv Sluzhby Bezpeky Ukrainy (hereafter, Arkhiv SBU), State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine, delo 66876, volume 6, l. 270. In order to preserve the anonymity of the protagonists of the case, each one was assigned a pseudonym.
2 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 270.
3 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 275.
4 ‘Ukraina otkryvaet arkhivy KGB’, Deutsche Welle, available at: https://www.dw.com/ru/%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BA%D1%80%D1%8B%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B5%D1%82-%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%B2%D1%8B-%D0%BA%D0%B3%D0%B1-25122015/av-18942612, accessed 17 May 2022.
5 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, ll. 269–70.
6 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 136.
7 ‘The Moral Code of the Builder of Communism’ was a set of rules, introduced under Khrushchev, to which every member of the Party was expected to adhere (Cohn Citation2015, p. 10). Likewise, under Khrushchev the Party's intervention into Soviet people's family affairs increased significantly and the KGB's review of Petrenko's case was the product of this trend. On the Party's intervention in Soviet people's private lives and family affairs see, Field (Citation2007) and Cohn (Citation2015, pp. 142–64).
8 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, ll. 117–23.
9 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, l. 123.
10 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, l. 12.
11 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 5, l. 113.
12 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 114.
13 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 117.
14 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 270.
15 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 20.
16 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 89.
17 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, ll. 99–102.
18 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 22.
19 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, ll. 56–7.
20 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 181.
21 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 182.
22 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 2, l. 109.
23 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 2, l. 109.
24 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 5, l. 220.
25 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 95.
26 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 95.
27 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, l. 58.
28 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, l. 57.
29 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, l. 65.
30 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, l. 103.
31 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, l, 21.
32 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 125.
33 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, l. 32.
34 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, ll. 62–5.
35 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 2, l. 105.
36 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 5, l. 224.
37 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 224.
38 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 2, l. 261. Petro Grigorenko, a former Soviet general turned Soviet dissenter, related that during his internment in the Serbskii Institute he saw other staffers of the institute wearing KGB uniforms (Fireside Citation1979, pp. 36–7).
39 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 2, l. 264.
40 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 2, l. 264.
41 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 1, l. 254.
42 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 1, l. 254.
43 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 1, l. 277.
44 Bol'shaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya (3nd edn) (Moscow, Sovetskaya entsiklopedia, 1972, pp. 361, 16).
45 Bol'shaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya (3nd edn) (Moscow, Sovetskaya entsiklopedia, 1972, pp. 361–62).
46 Bol'shaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya (3nd edn) (Moscow, Sovetskaya entsiklopedia, 1972, p. 16).
47 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 1.
48 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 1.
49 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 1.
50 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 1.
51 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 1.
52 It is not entirely clear which apartment Kogan had in mind, considering that he had already lived in a separate apartment with his family by this time. Perhaps his intention was to obtain a bigger apartment.
53 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 1.
54 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 1.
55 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 2.
56 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 2.
57 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 7.
58 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 5, l. 88.
59 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 104.
60 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 12.
61 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 109.
62 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 114.
63 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 104.
64 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 101.
65 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 1.
66 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, p. 142.
67 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, p. 142.
68 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, p. 158.
69 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 101.
70 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 5, l. 241.
71 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 5, l. 240.
72 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, ll. 100–1.
73 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, ll. 100–1.
74 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 5, ll. 1–2.
75 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 90.
76 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 106.
77 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 4, l. 1.
78 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 3, l. 256.
79 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 114.
80 Arkhiv SBU, delo 66876, vol. 6, l. 104.
81 Arkhiv SBU, f. 16, op. 7, l. 256. Tsentral’nyi komitet kommunisticheskoi partii Ukrainy tovarishchy Shcheritskomu, 5 March 1975.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Rustam Alexander
Rustam Alexander, Early career researcher and independent scholar. Email: [email protected]