Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Russian: Большая Советская Энциклопедия, Bolshaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya) is the largest and most comprehensive encyclopedia in Russian. There were 3 editions, 3rd edition of 1969 - 1978 contains 30 volumes, with about 50 million words. The third edition was translated into English, beginning in 1973.During the time of Josef Stalin, the Encyclopedia was used as a political weapon. When a prominent person "disappeared", all subscribers to the Encyclopedia were sent new entries to paste over the entry of whoever "disappeared", with the goal of erasing them from the public mind.