there WAS someone used as a scapegoat.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 4:54 PM
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov was the head of the NKVD under Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge.
The Great Purge reached its height during 1937-1938 under Yezhov, when 50%-75% of the Supreme Soviet and officers of the Soviet military were 'removed' in many different ways.
However, in March, 1939, Yezhov was suddenly dismissed from all his posts in in the Central Community of Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and was arrested and imprisoned in April of the same year.
After a while in prison, Yezhov broke under the torture and confessed to many state crimes that he was charged of, including official incompetence, theft of government and etc., but none of which was supported with evidence.
Finally, Yezhov was executed on 4th of February, 1940.
His post as Stalin's primary inquisitor during the Great Purge made him too much of a risk to be kept alive, even execution at a public show trial was too dangerous, for Stalin feared that he would expose Stalin's orchestration of the Great Purge.
By using Yezhov as the scapegoat of the Great Purge, Stalin was able to end the purge, but yet still able to deny his control over it.