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; the 3rd edition of 1969–1978 contains 30 volumes, with about 50 million words.
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.
The third edition was translated into English, beginning in 1973, each volume being translated separately, so the index has to be used fully to locate specific items.