Yagoda

Yagoda (1891 – 1938) was a Soviet politician and secret police official who served as the head of the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) from 1934 to 1936. His full name was Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda (Russian: Ге́нрих Григо́рьевич Яго́да).

Yagoda played a significant role in implementing Stalin's policies, including the forced collectivization of agriculture, the dekulakization campaign, and the early stages of the Great Purge. He oversaw the expansion of the Gulag labor camp system and was responsible for the arrest and execution of numerous perceived enemies of the Soviet state.

His tenure as head of the NKVD saw an increase in the use of show trials and fabricated evidence to eliminate political opponents. Yagoda oversaw the prosecution of prominent figures like Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev in the First Moscow Trial in 1936.

In 1936, Yagoda was replaced as head of the NKVD by Nikolai Yezhov. He was subsequently arrested in 1937, accused of treason, espionage, and sabotage. He was found guilty in the Trial of the Twenty-One in 1938 and executed shortly thereafter. His name was subsequently erased from Soviet history.