Genrikh Yagoda
1891 – 1938 Russian Head of the NKVD secret police
The secret police chief who ran the first purges and then was purged.
- Religion
- Born to a Jewish family; a militant atheist.
- Affiliations
- Bolshevik Party and secret police; head of the OGPU and NKVD who ran the early purges, then was himself shot.
Yagoda rose through the secret police founded by Dzerzhinsky to lead the NKVD. He organized the labor camps, the White Sea Canal, and the first Moscow show trial. Stalin then discarded him, and he was tried and shot in the 1938 purge alongside Bukharin.
Connections
- mentor of Felix Dzerzhinsky — Yagoda rose through the Cheka he founded to lead its successor.
- student of Felix Dzerzhinsky — Rose through the secret police Dzerzhinsky founded.
- rival of Joseph Stalin — Ran Stalin's terror, then was consumed by it in 1938.
- successor of Nikolai Yezhov — Succeeded Yagoda and had him executed.
- successor of Nikolai Yezhov — Yezhov replaced him and then had him tried and shot.