Lavrenty Beria
Lavrenty Beria joined the Soviet Communist Party in 1917 during the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War. In 1938 He and Nikolai Yezhov executed NKVD Chief Genrikh Yagoda and Leninist Alexei Rykov during the Great Purge from 1936-1938. Genrikh Yagoda was executed with Alexei Rykov in 1938. In 1940 during World War 2 Joseph Stalin and Lavrenty Beria executed Nikolai Yezhov.