One of the most shocking events of Joseph Stalin’s time as the leader of the Soviet
Union was the fact he ordered a huge purge of the population. It resulted in the deaths
of between 700,000 to 1 million people in an attempt to brutally eliminate any member
of the communist party Stalin deemed to be a threat or a dissenter. The motive behind
the Great Purge was to enforce Stalin’s authority, and build upon his power. It was
the NKVD, the Soviet Secret Police who carried out many of the executions, and the Head of
the NKVD at that time was Nikolai Yezhov. It was he who was responsible for organising
the mass arrests, the brutal torture and the executions during this time, but like so many
Yehzov himself would fall from grave, and would be executed in 1940. So join us today
as we look at ‘The BRUTAL Execution Of Nikolay Yehzov, Stalin’s Great Purger.’ Remember
to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Nikolai Yezhov was born on the 1st May 1895, and it was claimed he was born in St Petersburg.
He tried to portray himself as a member of the proletariat, however it was found during
his interrogation that he was from a well off Russian Peasant family, his father having
a number of jobs including being the head of a brothel. Nikolai completed his elementary
schooling before working a number of jobs including being an assistant to a tailor,
but then he entered military service. He first served in the Imperial Russian Army, but in
1917 he joined the Bolsheviks months before the October Revolution and during the Russian
Civil War he fought for the Red Army.
He continued to rise throughout the military, but also the political ranks as he was involved
in regional committees of the Communist Party. Following his work as a secretary, he then
worked in the accounting department of the party before becoming the Head of Department,
and then transferring to become the Deputy People Commissar of Agriculture. He continued
to rise throughout the communist party taking many different positions, and eventually was
elected to the central committee before booming the secretary. However, one of the biggest
moments of Yezhov’s political career came in the aftermath of the 1934 murder of the
Bolshevik Chief of Leningrad, Sergei Kirov.
Following the murder, Stalin used it as an excuse to order purges, and he saw Yezhov
as a man capable of performing out these bloody tasks. He oversaw accusations in the murder
than justified the purges, and he then eventually became the Head of the NKVD, the Soviet Secret
Police. He became the People’s Commissar for Internation Affairs, and as he was a devout
follower of Stalin, he seemed okay with carrying out purges and executions that reduced the
power of any political opponents. His first job was to investigate the former director
of the NKVD, Genrikh Yagoda.
He ordered a show trial and Yezhov ordered NKVD agents to put mercury on his curtains
inside of his office, and this allowed physical evidence to be gathered. Yagoda was accused
of being a German Spy, and it was claimed that he had plotted to kill Yezhov and Stalin
by poisoning both of them. The aim of this was to restore capitalism, and Yezhov himself
tortured Yagoda to get a conviction. Later Yagoda was shot after the execution was ordered
by Yezhov, but it wouldn’t be the only execution Nikolay Yehzov would order.
The Great Purge to rid the Soviet Union of any dissenting people against Stalin was carried
out most prominently during 1937 and 1938. Yehzov and the NKVD laid waste to large sections
of the population and government. Anyone who was considered dissenting was liable to be
executed by firing squads at Yehzov’s disposal. He quickly became the most feared person in
the whole of the Soviet Union only behind Stalin, and during the purge around 50& of
the Soviet government officials and officers inside of the military were stripped of their
ranks and jobs, and were then sent to the gulags, the infamous concentration camp system
established in the Union.
Many were simply executed very quickly and were not even imprisoned, and a huge amount
of the Soviet population, ordinary members of the public found themselves accused of
being disloyal to Stalin and the government. Anyone suspected was interrogated, sometimes
tortured, imprisoned, sacked from their jobs and executed. Many of these people were falsely
accused, and later he would admit this saying ‘There will be some innocent victims in
this fight against Facsist agents. We are launching a major attack on the Enemy. Let
there be no resentment if we bump someone with an elbow. Better than ten innocent people
should suffer than one spy get away. When you chop wood, chips fly,’ insinuating that
some innocent people needed to be slaughtered to successfully carry out the purge.
During 1937 and 1938, well over 1 million people were arrested, and nearly 700,000 were
short being accused of crimes against the state. The amount of people inside of the
Gulags also rose dramatically during Yehzov’s time as Chief of the NKVD, and around 140,000
of those prisoners would eventually die from their treatment, lack of food and exhaustion.
So Yezhov instilled a brutal reign of terror for Stalin, but he himself would fly too close
to the sun, and like so many would find himself too purged from Stalin’s government. He
had managed to exterminate the old bolsheviks and disloyal parts of society, before the
Second World War began. But Stalin just used Yezhov like a pawn in a game of chess, he
deemed him to have done his job, but he thought he had too much power himself. But it was
at the hands of the Infamous NKVD chef Lavrenty Beria, that Yezhov would be ousted himself
and would be executed.
Beria managed to survive the purge, as Yezhov ordered his arrest. He was spared by Stalin,
and Stalin took a shine to how efficient Beria was. He would become Beria’s Chief of the
NKVd, and over the next few months he began to oust Yezhov in terms of his power. Yehzov
knew what was probably coming, and he knew that his downfall and death would soon come.
With this he predicted his imminent death, and fell into alcoholism to cope. He became
a drunk and a man who in his final days refused to both with his work at the NKVD, and Stalin
as predicted then began to slate the work of the NKVD under Yezhov, publicly giving
excuses for his removal from power. Some of his best agents then disappeared in an attempt
to save their own lives, and Yezhov warned one of his closest advisors that he too may
be subject to persecution.
He then told his wife he wanted a divorce, and was removed from his job with the NKVD
on the 25th November 1938. Beria then assumed ultimate control with the secret police, and
Stalin initially ignored Yezhov, but then asked Beria to slander him at the annual conference
of the Supreme Soviet. He was removed later in 1939 of all his positions, and on April
10th arrested and taken to prison. IT was said that his arrest was done in upmost secrecy,
and it was done away from the view of the general public and also the NKVD officers
to ensure that there was little resistance.
He was interrogated, and during this he admitted to have been an emery of the people. He knew
himself what would come during his interrogation, and he knew that his execution would come
soon. Nikolay Yehzov admitted theft of government money, treason by collaborating with Hitler’s
gestapo and gross incompetence. He was then placed on trial in a closed trial, and he
outlined his love for Stalin and said he would do anything for him. He denied what he had
admitted to, saying that he admitted all of the charges as he was tortured, and said that
he carried out the Great Purge with nothing but admiration for Stalin. He also said that
when he died, Stalin’s name would be his final words. Following the trial he was taken
away, and was then called back in 30 minutes later to hear the verdict. When this happened
he collapsed, and he knew what was happening, Nikolay Yehzov, Stalin’s once powerful NKVD
chief was condemned to die. There was an appeal for clemency, but this was denied and he was
then dragged out of the room screaming and crying.
On the 4th February, days after he had been condemned to die. Nikolay Yehzov was executed.
He was taken to a basement inside of a small NKVD station inside of Moscow. This basement
was almost a purpose built execution chamber, as it had been built in such a way that it
had a sloped floor. This meant that once executions took place and there was much bloodshed all
over the floor and walls, then it could be hosed down easily and cleaned. It’s even
said that Yehzov had this chamber built to ensure executions during the Great Purge were
performed efficiently in quick fashion. There was the main execution chamber used by the
NKVD inside of the basement of the station, however it was avoided to ensure that Yehzov’s
execution was under complete secrecy.
He was lined up in the small room, and then an executioner either the infamous soviet
executioner Vasily Blohkin, or Ivan Serov the future KGB Chairman stood behind him with
their weapon primed. They then shot dead Yehzov, and quickly the execution chamber was cleaned
up to ensure no-one knew what happened, and his body was then dragged out of the building
and immediately created with the ashes being placed in a common grave. Interestingly his
execution stayed a complete secret for a number of years, with many in Soviet society believing
that he had been committed to an asylum for his alcoholism.
Nikolay Yehzov was Stalin’s brutal chief of the NKVD carrying out the bloody Great
Purge. However he became known as ‘the vanishing commissar’ as he was erased from history
in a sense, and Stalin even ordered that official press photographs should be altered to show
him as simply not there. He was a man who could brutally carry out Stalin’s orders,
like so many he was also purged when he was turned on. His downfall was calculated by
Beria and Stalin, and his execution was done in utmost secrecy.
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