Soviet executioner who personally shot 7,000 people during Katyn Massacre in 28 days- Vasily Blokhin

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Vasily Blokhin stands as one of the most chilling figures of Stalin’s Soviet Union—the state’s most prolific executioner, a man whose name is forever tied to the darkest years of the Great Purge and the massacre at Katyn. Born into poverty in 1895, Blokhin rose from shepherd to bricklayer to soldier before joining the Cheka, the Soviet secret police. Loyal, ruthless, and unquestioningly obedient, he quickly became valued for the very qualities that defined Stalinist terror. By the mid-1930s, as Stalin unleashed the Great Purge against party members, military officers, intellectuals, and ethnic minorities, Blokhin was elevated to lead the NKVD’s elite execution unit, performing what Stalin called the regime’s “black work.” During the Great Purge, Blokhin personally carried out the executions of figures such as Zinoviev, Kamenev, Yagoda, Yezhov, and Marshal Tukhachevsky. But his most notorious crime came in 1940. After the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland, Stalin approved NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria’s recommendation to eliminate Polish prisoners of war. At the Ostashkov camp, Blokhin created an assembly-line system of killing: a padded, soundproof chamber; a sloped floor for drainage; trucks waiting to carry bodies to mass graves. Wearing a leather butcher’s apron and long gloves, Blokhin executed as many as 300 prisoners per night with a single shot to the base of the skull—working through the night, every night, for nearly a month. His personal tally of over 7,000 murders during the Katyn massacre remains unprecedented in recorded history. For this operation, Blokhin received the Order of the Red Banner. But after Stalin’s death, he was stripped of rank during Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization campaign and forced into retirement. Isolated, alcoholic, and mentally broken, he died in 1955 under murky circumstances—officially listed as suicide. His legacy endures as one of the most horrific examples of state violence carried out by a single human being. Join World History channel and get access to benefits: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKKy_pNKZBX4KcCct8505HA/join Disclaimer: All opinions and comments below are from members of the public and do not reflect the views of World History channel. We do not accept promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on attributes such as: race, nationality, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation. World History has right to review the comments and delete them if they are deemed inappropriate. ► CLICK the SUBSCRIBE button for more interesting clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKKy_pNKZBX4KcCct8505HA/?sub_confirmation=1 #VasilyBlokhin #ww2 #worldwar2videos #worldhistory #russia #stalin #worldwar2videos #documentary #europe #warcriminals #warcrime #sovietunion #nkvd #checa #greatpurge #katynmassacre Vasily Blokhin biography, Vasily Blokhin kill count, Most prolific executioner, Vasily Mikhailovich Blokhin, Vasily Blokhin and Tukhachevsky, What is the NKVD, NKVD meaning, Joseph Stalin, Communist Party, The Great Purge, Katyn massacre, Executions in Russia, Katyn massacre, Katyń massacre, German invasion of Poland, Soviet invasion of Poland, Soviet war crimes, Vasily Blokhin and Katyn massacre, Soviet occupation of Poland, Russian occupation of Poland, Soviet Union Poland, Katyn 1940, Soviet war crimes in Poland, Russian WW2 war crimes, Russian war crimes in WW2, Guinness World Record holder, Ostashkov camp