Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Yezhov | |
|---|---|
Николай Ежов | |
Yezhov in 1938 | |
| People's Commissar for Internal Affairs | |
| In office 26 September 1936 – 25 November 1938 | |
| Premier | Vyacheslav Molotov |
| Preceded by | Genrikh Yagoda |
| Succeeded by | Lavrentiy Beria |
| Chairman of the Party Control Commission of the Central Committee | |
| In office 1935–1939 | |
| Preceded by | Lazar Kaganovich |
| Succeeded by | Andrey Andreyev |
| People's Commissar for Water Transport (NKVT) | |
| In office 8 April 1938 – 9 April 1939 | |
| Premier | Vyacheslav Molotov |
| Preceded by | Nikolay Pakhomov |
| Succeeded by | None (position abolished) |
| Full member of the 17th Central Committee | |
| In office 10 February 1934 – 3 March 1939 | |
| Candidate member of the 17th Politburo | |
| In office 12 October 1937 – 3 March 1939 | |
| Member of the 17th Secretariat | |
| In office 1 February 1935 – 3 March 1939 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov 1 May 1895 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire |
| Died | 4 February 1940 (aged 44) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Cause of death | Execution by shooting |
| Citizenship | Soviet |
| Political party | Russian/All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (1917–1939) |
| Spouses | Antonia Titova
(m. 1919; div. 1930)Yevgenia Feigenberg
(m. 1930; died 1938) |
| Children | 1 (adopted) |
| Signature | |
| Nickname(s) | Yezhevika (Ежевика; "Blackberry") Iron Commissar Iron Hedgehog The Bloody Dwarf The Red Dwarf |
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov (Russian: Николай Иванович Ежов, IPA: [nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ (j)ɪˈʐof]; 1 May 1895 – 4 February 1940), also spelt Ezhov, was a Soviet secret police official under Joseph Stalin who was head of the NKVD from 1936 to 1938, at the height of the Great Purge. Yezhov organized mass arrests, torture, and executions during the Great Purge, but he fell out of favour with Stalin and was arrested, subsequently admitting in a confession to a range of anti-Soviet activity including "unfounded arrests" during the Purge. He was executed in 1940 along with others who were blamed for the Purge.