History is always old, and the new life cannot base it on history, just as a new love cannot be like the old love. —— Hu Yepin
In 1938, when Stalin inspected a new canal in the Soviet Union, a photographer took a photograph of four people in the communists. But two years later, the photo became "weirdly" a "three-person photo", and the person on Stalin's left side disappeared. Was there such a superb "PS" technology during the Soviet era? Who are the disappearing people? Why disappear?
The man who disappeared from Stalin without a trace was Yezhov, a famous figure in Soviet history, nicknamed "The Bloody Dwarf." Because he was shorter than Stalin, he was an extremely cruel man.
Yezhov dropped out of school before graduating from elementary school and later served in the Russian army, and just before the October Revolution, he joined the Bolsheviks and took part in the fighting against the Polish White Army. In 1922, he entered the political organs of the Soviet Union. He was appreciated by Stalin and became a member of the Soviet Central Committee in 1934. From 1935 to 1939, he became the commander of the Soviet secret police, the famous KGB (KGB) organization in the Soviet Union.
People who have come into contact with Yezhov say that he is a kind, benevolent, learning-loving man, and a democratic style. Even Bukharin, who was sent to the execution ground by Yezhov, said that Yezhov was a man of "good heart."
Yezhov was appreciated by Stalin, and some people said that Yezhov's organizational ability and execution ability were very strong, so he rose to the core leadership of the Soviet Union with incredible promotion speed.
One thing that brought Yezhov into the Soviet leadership was one thing that his boss, Yagoda, did. This was the assassination of Stalin's close friend Kirov, and Yagoda did not do as Stalin asked and was soon arrested and shot.
After Yezhov took over the power of Jacob's KGB, he quickly purged 5,000 of his 25,000 men. According to sources, between 1936 and 1937, Yezhov arrested 1.7 million people and shot half of them, making a "contribution" to the Great Purge. As long as the supreme commander gave an order, Yezhov did not do anything that could not be done.
Speaking of Yezhov's cruelty, there is one more thing that is frightening. Since Yezhov was less than 1 meter 6 tall, when he was young, his superiors admired him very much, so he let Yezhov eat at home, and the boss's wife affectionately called Yezhov "little sparrow". But it was in this way that Yezhov's old boss was arrested in less than 10 years, and Yezhov showed no mercy, and sent someone to arrest the old boss's wife, forced the woman to admit to being a spy, and then the old boss and his wife were executed.
There is a saying: "If you want to destroy him, you must first make him crazy." At that time, as Stalin's red man, Yezhov could be said to have become a "hero" in the hearts of the Soviet people, and was named "the favorite person of the Soviet people", and portraits of him and Stalin were hung on the streets and alleys.
Mikoyan once touted Yezhov at a banquet: "We must learn from Comrade Yezhov's Stalinist style of work, just as he learned from Comrade Stalin in the past and now..."
It is common sense that as the head of the Soviet secret police, and also a red man on Stalin's side, he should be further reused by Stalin. However, Yezhov's wrongful killing and indiscriminate killing finally aroused Stalin's vigilance, and from then on Yezhov began to lose power.
In 1938, the Soviet Union adopted a resolution that gave an objective understanding of the expansion of the Great Purge. But Yezhov did not realize at this time that he had been "painted a red cross" by Stalin.
Soon, Yezhov was appointed concurrently as the leader of the water transport work. It seems that the number of positions has increased, but at this time another man named Beria has appeared, who has entered the KGB and served as Yezhov's assistant. Yezhov realized that something was wrong. That is, when Yezhov was also working on water transport, Stalin inspected the canal and took this photo "in the same frame" as Yezhov.
But in October 1938, the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs carried out a major purge, Yezhov was "washed", and in November, he was forced to confess his crimes and was shot on February 4, 1940.
After Yezhov was shot, in this photograph of Stalin inspecting the canal, Yezhov disappeared, and since then there have been three people left in this photograph. Why was Yezhov, who was hand-picked up by Stalin, finally abandoned by Stalin?
(1) Get carried away.
Yezhov was in the Great Purge, and many people were afraid of him. But Yezhov's status continued to rise. Even raised to a position alongside Stalin. And there was a small city in the Soviet Union that was named after Yezhov. Yezhov was also the time when the spring breeze was triumphant and overwhelmed. But how could Stalin tolerate such a high-profile man?
(2) There are many dangers.
In Yezhov's great purge, many innocent people were purged. Although stalin was elevated, it was counterproductive. According to records, Yezhov's great purge made many people want to assassinate Stalin. This is something that Stalin did not want to see. Only by allowing Yezhov to disappear can it be calmed. And will such a cruel person do something unexpected in the future?
Yezhov's death is certain, whether there are those "crimes" or not, only the parties concerned know. But 58 years after Yezhov's death, his only adopted daughter demanded that Yezhov be rehabilitated, which was rejected by the Russian military tribunal. It seems that no one will like Yezhov's "eagle dog".