Stalin's Loyal Executioner: People's Commissar Nikolai Ezhov, 1895-1940

by Marc Jansen, Nikita Petrov

Stalin's Loyal Executioner, drawn from still-classified Soviet archives, chronicles the meteoric and bloody career of Nikolai Ezhov, NKVD leader and security chief, revealing the tragic scope of communist terrorism under Joseph Stalin.

Genres: History, Russia

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Marc Jansen was als historicus lange tijd verbonden aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Hij woonde enkele jaren in Moskou en doorkruiste de voormalige Sovjetunie. In 1980 verscheen zijn proefschrift Een showproces onder Lenin, gevolgd door diverse boeken en artikelen over de Russische en Sovjetgeschiedenis. In 2008 maakte hij een aanvulling op J.W. Bezemers standaardwerk Een geschiedenis van Rusland.

Reviews

[Inna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good overview of Yezhov's biography. The main question here is how a simple person, somewhat politicized, somewhat hating these wealthier than himself, turns into a mass murderer. The point that the authors made is that Yezhov was initially not too political. His glorious Bolshevik past was largely invented. He was highly ambitious and unscrupulous, something that could be expressed in various, not necessarily bad, ways in different circumstances. Stalin noticed his efficiency and unscrupulousness and made use of these to turn him into a perfect executor of the Great Terror policies. After the policies ran their course, Yezhov became an embarrassment. Besides, his occasional attempts to protect his employees made Stalin suspect he became too independent. Thus he and many of his associates followed their victims to execution chambers.

[Serafima Karkkila · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those looking for a book on this subject: it is true that you could do worse, but you could also do so much better than this particular book.

Depending on the depth of information you seek, this could be an ok read. It sure beats the English Wikipedia page and covers all the main points of N. I. Yezhov's life but leaves much to be desired for a more seasoned reader.

The book's back cover asks a lot of (very important) questions which it completely forgets to answer. The book itself contains only the bare minimum of any particular time and constantly references events which aren't touched upon at all in the book itself (for example, the party ticket exchange episode & the mercury incident).

It should be noted, however that there also exists a Russian version of this book (Rus. Сталинский питомец: Николай Ежов). This English edition is not a direct translation, and the two differ greatly. If you can read Russian, the other edition of the book is much more thorough and in-depth, though suffers from the same lack of credible sources and guesswork that plaque this one. I would be lying however, if I said that the Russian edition isn't, if nothing else, a really entertaining read.

For what this is worth, if you're looking for a book with as much credible information on N. I. Yezhov as possible, the best biography of him by far is Aleksei Pavljukov's "Ежов. Биография", 2007. Sadly, that book also, is only available in Russian.

[Varði · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched and compelling book about a figure in Stalin's orbit I knew almost nothing about when I started reading. The NKVD has become synonymous with Beriia but it was Ezhov who directed the "Great Purges" and made Stalin's vision of repression a reality.
The book makes a forceful argument for the primacy of Stalin in creating and shaping the terror and for Ezhov's role not as an originator of the purges but as an implementer of Stalin's wishes.

[E.A.M. Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erg grappig om deze twee biografieen over de organisator van de Great Terror parallel te lezen. Het probleem waarmee alle vier auteurs worstelen is het feit dat na Yezhovs fall from grace het bijna onmogelijk is betrouwbare van gerevisioneerde informatie te scheiden. Dit leidt in beide bio's tot nogal veel vaagheden. Op zich is dit tot op zekere hoogte inherent aan alle geschiedschrijving, maar hier is dit probleem wel behoorlijk bepalend voor het verkrijgen van een adequaat beeld. Yezhov blijft dus een schimmige figuur. Paradoxaal genoeg zou die schimmigheid misschien wel een van de belangrijkste eigenschappen van de man geweest kunnen zijn. Beide boeken verschillen vooral in de toekenning van de mate van autonomie die Yezhov binnen de sovjet-hierarchie had om tot zijn daden te komen. Was Yezhov inderdaad
een volledig door Stalin aangestuurde marionet of, meer analoog met situatie in Nazi-Duitsland, creeerde Stalin een klimaat waarin zijn onderknuppels een zekere mate van (schijn)vrijheid hadden om de Chef te laten zien waartoe ze wel niet in staat waren. Jansen opteert voor het eerste beeld, Getty voor het laatste. Interessante standpunten die door Getty in ieder geval door prettiger leesbaar worden beschreven.

[Serafima Karkkila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truly a principle work on the subject, although dated in light of more recent publications.

I appreciate what the authors did to dispel many widespread misconceptions about N. I. Yezhov’s life, especially for the time of the book’s release. Since then, however, more thorough works have been published both in Russian and in English. For that reason, this is not a necessary read, unless you find yourself wanting to read the book just for its own sake.

The book is well-written, although it can be quite name- and number heavy, at times. I thank the authors for being so meticulous with their dates; preferring to err on the side of caution. The book uses paper of an average thickness and the font size is perfect and easily-legible.

~**~

Please note that although I am writing this review in English, the edition in question was written in Russian. Seeing as the contents of the book’s English counterpart are near identical, the two books are virtually interchangeable with each other.

[Serafima Karkkila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a new, ‘definitive’ edition of the 2008 Russian book with the same name. This book is much larger and very heavy. The spine looks clean (no picture etc.), although the title is quite hard to read as the text is very thin. The book also has glossy pages with a very large and easily legible font. The book has also been expanded by almost 200 pages, which include three additional chapters and many photographs I have never seen before.

With these enhancements, A. Pavljukov’s book (Yezhov. Biografia, 2007) seems to have finally been ousted from the position of the most authoritative work on N. I. Yezhov’s life, although I would advise caution against blind acceptance of everything the book presents as fact. Explanations to more ‘controversial’ matters, especially, I feel were not exposed to enough criticism and arguments for and against. One should always be vary of overly-simple answers to complex questions,

“Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.” (-Unknown)

I appreciate N. Petrov and M. Jansen offering readers such rich, previously unpublished primary research, but it remains the responsibility of each individual reader to treat the vulnerable and deeply personal information provided with due respect. Historical books are absolutely allowed to be interesting and entertaining, but one should never forget that they deal with actual, living and breathing people.

The authors offer a rather cynical portrayal of N.I. Yezhov as a person, and I fear that taking their characterization at face value does a disservice to the multifaceted and complex persona that Yezhov was.

This is, without a doubt, the single most thorough book written about N.I. Yezhov, but I feel it excels more in answering ‘what’ than ‘why’ types of questions. In the twenty or so books I have read on the subject, I will retain the position that A. Pavljukov's titular work succeeds best in describing Yezhov’s psychological profile (explored in depth in chapter 26, pp. 335-344), but that does in no way take away from the fact that this 600 page book is an absolute gem and I could not be happier to have it in my collection!

~**~

Please, keep in mind that even though I wrote this review in English, this particular edition of this book is only available in Russian.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was hard to read only in part because the kindle edition seemed to have a lot of errors. The author does a good job of documenting the career of Ezhov and helps understand the dysfunction and criminality of the Communist regime, and perhaps some of the multiple reasons behind the Great Terror. The attraction of men of low quality and morals to Communism is undeniable. Poor Russia (and its neighbors) still a victim or these pieces of shit.

[Clem · Rating 2 out of 5]

4'11 bisexual twinks should not be in government.