Album procedure

The album procedure was a simplified procedure of extrajudicial conviction by NKVD, introduced in the Soviet Union during the Great Purge. The level of punishment of the arrested persons was decided by local organs during the investigation, the lists of the convicted were sent to NKVD headquarters, where they were approved en masse and returned for immediate application of the punishment. The name of the procedure came about because the lists collected by mid-range NKVD organs were bound into albums.

Procedure

The procedure was introduced in the August 11, 1937 NKVD Order No. 00485 "On liquidation of Polish sabotage and espionage groups and units of P.O.W." The order specifies the process as follows:

During investigations all arrested are to be classified into two categories: First Category, subject to execution by shooting, Second Category: subject to placement into prisons and GULAG labor camps.
Every 10 days, lists of the convicted with brief summaries of the cases are to be sent to the Soviet NKVD.
The lists are compiled by local NKVD organs and the categories are assigned by NKVD chiefs and prosecutors of the republic, oblast or krai.
After the approval by the NKVD of the Soviet Union and the Procurator General of the Soviet Union, the convictions are immediately put into action.

The procedure was supplementary to convictions performed by NKVD Troikas introduced by July 30, 1937 NKVD Order No. 00447.
Still, the number of convictions was so overwhelming that on September 15, 1938, the lower, regional level Special Troikas were introduced, with the rights to impose death penalties and immediately execute them.
Both NKVD Troikas of all levels and "album procedure" were officially discontinued by November 17, 1938, Decree about Arrests, Prosecutor Supervision and Course of Investigation No. 81.
As an example, during the German Operation of the NKVD of 55,005
convicted Germans in Russia 41,898 were executed, with the shares of "album" and "Troika" shooting being 24,910 and 16,988 respectively. Other convictions: "albums": 5,624, "Troikas": 7,483.