NKVD

• when was it formed

  1934
• Yagoda became the head of the NKVD and had been a member of the red army and then the cheka
• • stalin believed that Yagoda was too soft and hadnt persecuted enemies of the soviet union with enough effort
  • stalin wante da more radical head of the NKVD in ordernto ensure the terror was intensified
  • stalin was aware that Yagoda had supported Bukharin in the late 1920s
• in 1936 Yezhov replaced Yagoda as head of the NKVD
• • with Yezhovd as the head stalin set about to speed things up and set targets for arrests, executions and exiles
  • the terror grew and became almost random as targets were set
• yezhov purged over 3000 of his own employees
• Yezhov was dismiised in 1938 and was arrested in 1939