Perpetrators of the Great Purge

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Soviet revolutionary and politician who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held office as general secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952 and as premier from 1941 until his death. Despite initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he eventually consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s. Stalin codified the Communist Party's official interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, and his version of it is referred to as Stalinism.

leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964

Soviet politician, statesman and diplomat (1890–1986)

Soviet politician (1902–1988)

Soviet politician (1875–1946)

Soviet marshal and politician

Soviet revolutionary and statesman (1895–1978)

Soviet politician (1893–1991)

Soviet politician (1896-1948)

Soviet politician, jurist and diplomat (1883-1954)

Mongolian general and political leader from the 1930s to 1952

German politician (1907-2000)

NKVD officer and chief executioner (1895-1955)

Soviet politician (1895–1971)

Soviet politician (1889-1953)

Soviet jurist of Baltic German origin (1889–1951)

politician (1885-1951)

politician (1883–1954)

Russian intelligence operative (1909-1961)

Soviet author and non-fiction writer ; Assistant Chief Prosecutor from the USSR in the International Military Tribunal (1906-1967)