How many people did Stalin's secret police, the NKVD, kill in 1937 and 1938?
1 Answer
It is believe during this time in Russia (also called the Great Purge or the Great Terror) there were 600,00 people who died at the hands of the NKVD.
Explanation:
The Great Purge or the Great Terror occurred in the Soviet Union from 1936 to 1938. It was a campaign of political repression involving a massive purge of the Communist Party and government officials, repression of peasants and the Red Army leadership, widespread police surveillance, suspicion of "saboteurs", "counter-revolutionaries", imprisonment, and arbitrary executions.
The most intense purge occurred from 1937 through 1938 and was called Yezhovshchina after Nikolai Yezhov, who was the head of the Soviet secret police also called the NKVD.
Ironically, Yezhov was killed later in the purge. He was arrested, and under torture confessed to a range of anti-Soviet activity, and was executed in 1940
Although there are no confirmed records, it is estimated that around 600,000 people were murdered by the Soviet government during this time.
