The Yezhovshchina

• Yezhovshchina: named after Yezhov head of the NKVD when the Terror spread to all sections of society. Lasted between mid-1937 and December 1938 when Yezhov was replaced by Beria.
• In July 1937 a Politburo resolution condemned ‘anti-Soviet elements’ in society and an arrest list of 250 000 was created. A quota system was established and each region was expected to find a proportion of oppositionists.
• Surveillance was everywhere and ordinary citizens were encouraged to root out ‘hidden enemies'. The NKVD employed ‘reliables’ in offices universities and factories. Everybody lived in fear of a knock on their door.
• Leading party members: Around 70% of members of the Central Committee at the 17th Party Congress were shot. Old Bolsheviks were denounced and removed using show trials.
• Minority nationalities: Leaders of national republics were charged with treason and removed. Around 350 000 people including 140 000 Poles were put on trial mainly over fears they would join an enemy army.
• Armed forces: Approximately 50% of officers were shot and many in military intelligence.
• Managers engineers and scientists: Leading physicists and biologists lost their positions and some were executed.
• NKVD: Yagoda and more than 23 000 NKVD men were put on trial and most were shot
• Peasants and industrial workers: Kulaks represented 50% of all arrests and more than half of the total number of executions.