Nikolay Yezhov
| Nikolai Yezhov Russian: Николай Иванович Ежов |
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| People's Commissar for Water Transport | |
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In office 6 April 1938 – 9 April 1939 |
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| Preceded by | Nikolay Pakhomov |
| Succeeded by | None-position abolished |
| People's Commissar for Internal Affairs | |
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In office 26 September 1936 – 27 January 1937 |
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| Preceded by | Genrikh Yagoda |
| Succeeded by | Lavrentiy Beria |
| People's Commissar for State Security | |
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In office 27 January 1937 – 25 November 1938 |
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| Candidate member of the 17th Politburo | |
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In office 12 October 1937 – 22 March 1939 |
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| Member of the 17th Secretariat | |
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In office 1 February 1935 – 21 March 1939 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov May 1, 1895 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire |
| Died | February 4, 1940 (aged 44) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| Spouse(s) | Antonia Titova (1919-1930) Yevgenia Feigenberg (1930-1938; her death; 1 child) |
| Children | Natasha Yezhova Natalia Khayutina (adopted) |
| Signature |  |
| Nickname(s) |
Russian: Ежевика (Blackberry) Iron Hedgehog |
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov or Ezhov (Russian: Никола́й Иванович Ежо́в, IPA: [nʲɪkɐˈlaj jɪˈʐof]; May 1, 1895 – February 4, 1940) was a Soviet secret police official under Joseph Stalin. He was head of the NKVD from 1936 to 1938, during the most deadly period of Stalin's Great Purge. His time in office is known as the "Yezhovshchina" (Russian: Ежовщина), a term coined during the de-Stalinization campaign of the 1950s. After presiding over mass arrests and executions during the Great Purge, Yezhov became a victim of it himself. He was arrested, confessed under torture to a range of anti-Soviet activity, and was executed in 1940. By the beginning of World War II, his status within the Soviet Union became that of a political unperson.
Yezhov was born either in Saint Petersburg, according to his official Soviet biography, or in Suwałki Governorate. In a form filled out in 1921, Yezhov claimed some ability to speak Polish and Lithuanian.
He completed only his elementary education. From 1909 to 1915, he worked as a tailor's assistant and factory worker. From 1915 until 1917, Yezhov served in the Imperial Russian Army. He joined the Bolsheviks on May 5, 1917 in Vitebsk, six months before the October Revolution. During the Russian Civil War, 1919–1921, he fought in the Red Army. After February 1922, he worked in the political system, mostly as a secretary of various regional committees of the Communist Party. In 1927, he was transferred to the Accounting and Distribution Department of the Party where he worked as an instructor and acting head of the department. From 1929 to 1930, he was the Deputy People's Commissar for Agriculture. In November 1930, he was appointed to the Head of several departments of the Communist Party: department of special affairs, department of personnel and department of industry. In 1934, he was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party; in the next year he became a secretary of the Central Committee. From February 1935 to March 1939, he was also the Chairman of the Central Commission for Party Control.
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