N.I. Yezhov: A Biography by J. Arch Getty and Oleg V. Naumov

J. Arch Getty and Oleg V. Naumov

Yezhov: The Rise of Stalin's "Iron Fist"

-----
J. Arch Getty and Oleg V. Naumov
(with the assistance of Nadezhda V. Muraveva)
Yezhov: The Rise of Stalin's "Iron Fist"
Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2008;
cloth, 283 pp.
-----

Yezhov's emergence from 19 years of Party work appears logical

The limitation in the subtitle of this book is precisely accurate: it does not recapitulate Yezhov's bloody incumbency as NKVD chief (1936-38), already well covered by Jansen and Petrov, or make unverifiable speculations about Yezhov's ancestry and childhood. Instead, it fleshes out archival records of his Party rise (1917-1936) with the authors' general knowledge of Soviet institutions at that time.

They make the Party's and Yezhov's actions before 1936 sound so logical, that it is hard to square with the insanity of the Great Purge itself (1936-1938). But they make no attempt to deny said purge's horrors.

We will not recapitulate this book's contents in detail, partly due to laziness and changing interests. An additional excuse, however, is provided by this book itself: in contrast to 1998, when this website was built, there are now ample English-language sources on Yezhov.

We were amused to note on p. xviii of the introduction that they share our interest in the uplifting verse of Dzhambul Dzhabaev, bard of socialist Kazakhstan (as acknowledged by the footnote).

Return to Counterrevolutionary version of N.I. Yezhov's biography.

Link to Authorized version of N.I. Yezhov's biography

Return to N.I. Yezhov's Home Page