Vasily Blokhin: Stalin's Chief Executioner and the Butcher of Katyn

Vasily Blokhin was the Soviet Union’s most prolific executioner and one of the most feared figures of Stalin’s era. As the head of the NKVD's elite execution squad, he personally carried out thousands of killings during the Great Purge and became one of the principal perpetrators of the Katyn massacre.Born in 1895 into a poor peasant family, Blokhin rose from humble origins to become one of the most trusted enforcers of Soviet state terror. After joining the Soviet secret police, he earned a reputation for loyalty, efficiency, and absolute obedience. During Stalin’s Great Purge, Blokhin was tasked with carrying out executions of leading Communist officials, military commanders, and alleged enemies of the state. Among those killed under his supervision were Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Genrikh Yagoda, Nikolai Yezhov, and Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky.His most infamous role came in 1940 following the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland. Acting on orders approved by Stalin and NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria, Blokhin oversaw the execution of thousands of Polish prisoners of war. At Ostashkov, he personally shot prisoners one by one in a specially prepared execution chamber, working through the night for weeks. Historians estimate that he personally killed more than 7,000 victims during the Katyn massacre alone, making him one of the most prolific individual executioners in recorded history.For his service, Blokhin received Soviet decorations and promotions. However, after Stalin's death, the political climate changed. During Khrushchev's de-Stalinization campaign, he was stripped of rank, forced into retirement, and largely abandoned by the state he had served. Suffering from alcoholism and declining health, he died in 1955 under circumstances officially recorded as suicide.This documentary examines Vasily Blokhin’s life, the machinery of Stalinist terror, the Great Purge, the Katyn massacre, and the legacy of a man whose name remains synonymous with state-sponsored killing.This episode is part of the series Executioners of 20th Century.Watch the full documentary and explore hundreds of historical films at:WorldHistory.tv