Vagarshak Ter-Vaganyan

Who was Vagarshak Ter-Vaganyan?

Vagarshak Arutyunovich Ter-Vaganyan was an Armenian communist party leader who was one of the first victims of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge. Ter-Vaganyan was one of sixteen Soviet intellectuals who stood as defendants during the Moscow Show Trials. He was accused of being part of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite centre which allegedly prepared terrorist acts against Stalin, Kliment Voroshilov, Andrei Zhdanov, Lazar Kaganovich, Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze, Stanislav Kosior, and Pavel Postyshev. Under pressure, Ter-Vaganyan was forced to admit his "guilt." He was shot and his personal property was confiscated by the Soviet Union.