[henkster]

Everyone in Stalin’s USSR had a close call with Stalin’s killers. Even the killers themselves were not always lucky.

[Leaning Right]

> Everyone in Stalin’s USSR had a close call with Stalin’s killers. <

Yep. I read about one show trial where the defendants were charged with treason. They were all shot after being convicted by a panel of judges. Most of those judges were later shot for treason.

[TimSkalaBim]

As I understand it, Stalin’s main executioner, Beria, when it became his turn, went to his own murder believing it was for the best - to advance Communism. That’s commitment, if true.

[Fiji Hill]

Even the killers themselves were not always lucky.

The NKVD (People's Committee for Internal Affairs) chairman at the start of the purge was Genrikh Yagoda, who was arrested and executed. The same thing happened to his successor Nikolai Yezhov. His successor, Lavrenti Beria, survived Stalin only to be executed by Stalin's successors in 1953.