THE MAN WHO PERSONALLY EXECUTED OVER 7000 PEOPLE IN 28 DAYS, ONE AT A TIME

Just in case the world forgets, or prefers to erase the crimes of Communism and Socialism.

Today I found out about Vasili Blokhin, the “Most Prolific Executioner” of all time, according to the Guinness World Records.

Born to a Russian peasant family in 1895, as a young man he quickly earned a reputation for “chernaya rabota”, or “black work”, while serving in the Tsarist army during World War I- gaining recognition from Stalin himself for his covert assassinations, torture, and executions. Blokhin quickly rose through the ranks of Russia’s secret police at the time—the NKVD—eventually becoming the head of the Kommandatura department.

The members of the department were approved by Stalin and took orders directly from him. Under the guise of other positions, Vasili Blokhin was officially a commandant of a prison- the department carried out black work missions specific to furthering Stalin’s cause. Blokhin oversaw many mass executions and executed several high-profile individuals himself, including Mikhail Tukachevsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union, and two of the former NKVD chiefs under whom he had previously served.

But Blokhin’s most infamous deed was performed at the bloody Katyn Massacre. In 1939, just over two weeks after Germany invaded Poland, Soviet forces entered the eastern side of Poland. Though they didn’t officially declare war, they captured over 20,000 Polish officers and detained them in Soviet prison camps. On March 5, 1940, Stalin himself ordered the executions of all Polish officers, who would then be dumped in mass graves.

Over a twenty-eight day period, Vasili Blokhin personally performed over 7000 of these Polish executions at Katyn. Usually, the executions would take place from dusk til dawn, with Blokhin preferring to work at night for these types of tasks. Blokhin would work nearly uninterrupted each night, reportedly killing a prisoner about every three minutes, averaging around 300 executions per night.

The executions would go like this: after signing identification papers, officers were led with their arms bound into a small room that was equipped with soundproofed walls, a drain, a hose, and a door or hatch- it was a room designed for executions. Forced to their knees, a member of the Kommandatura would deliver a single shot to the back of the prisoners’ heads, killing them instantly. Their bodies would be dragged through the second door or hatch in the ceiling, the room would be hosed down, and the next prisoner would be brought in.