This article deals with one of the most discussable problems of human history and a especially controversial period of soviet history: Stalin's repression. The legalization of previously prohibited, secret documents, as well as access to their processing, allowed for a more detailed study of the issue. It should be noted nowadays according to the new research approach, along with archival data, such requisites as personal testimonies of individuals, which previously were not taken into account as subjective positions, take on great importance on the history of repressions. The authors choose documentary story of T.I. Schmid's «Vremya, lyudi i sudby «Doma na naberezhnoy» as an object of study is also aimed at filling this gap.
On the basis of official documents of the supreme authorities of party and state power the authors have identified the causes of political repression of members of the government and prominent party and Soviet workers of the Soviet Union. By an analysis of the memoirs, letters, and writings of those eyewitnesses who survived the cruel fate, the horrors and consequences of Stalin's repression policy are revealed. The breadth of materials in the book and the authenticity of archival documents determine the contribution to the restoration of the truth about the history of repression, an objective appraisal is given.