Litvin, Mikhail Iosiforich

(1892–1938)

   Nikolai Yezhov brought Litvin into the NKVD from the Communist Party apparatus to purge the security service in October 1936. He was head of the personnel department and was then assigned to Leningrad in January 1938 to finish purging the region. He was responsible for tens of thousands of arrests over the next 10 months. In late 1938 Yezhov warned Litvin that he would be arrested as part of Lavrenty Beria’s cleansing of the service. Litvin chose to commit suicide rather than face disgrace, trial, and execution.