Great Purge
August 19, 1936 – November 17, 1938 · Moscow
Campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union under Stalin, carried out mainly by the NKVD. Party members, army officers, ethnic minorities and ordinary citizens were arrested in mass operations and show trials, and at least 680,000 people were executed.
Key people
Joseph Stalin
Organizer
Kliment Voroshilov
perpetrator, signed death lists
Vyacheslav Molotov
perpetrator, signed death lists as Premier
Nikolai Yezhov
perpetrator, NKVD chief at the height of the purge
Genrikh Yagoda
perpetrator, NKVD chief who began the purge and was then executed in it
Andrey Vyshinsky
perpetrator, chief prosecutor at the Moscow show trials
Lazar Kaganovich
perpetrator, signed death lists
Lavrentiy Beria
perpetrator, NKVD chief who ended the mass purge
Participants
Strength and losses
| All | |
|---|---|
| Deaths | 681,692 |