Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the "Greek Operation" of the NKVD

December 15, Sunday

The Greek Operation was an organised mass persecution of the Greeks of the Soviet Union that was ordered by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Greeks often use the term "pogrom" (πογκρόμ) for this persecution, though this term usually refers to mob violence rather than persecution by police acting under direct orders, as this one was. It began on December 15, 1937, and marked the beginning of the repressions against Greeks that went on for 13 years. Depending on the sources, it is estimated that between 20,000 and 50,000 Greeks died by the end of this campaign.

A wave of Greek emigrants from the Soviet Union in 1937–1939 is often considered a consequence of Stalinist persecution of the Soviet Greek national movement.

Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the "Greek Operation" of the NKVD