Vasili Blokhin

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Kameraden
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Vasili Blokhin

#1

Post by Kameraden » 06 Mar 2014, 15:46

Hi

Just watched the film Katyn and it reminded me to ask about Vasili Blokhin. Was Blokhin the single most profilic mass murderer in human history? I am talking one to one killings and not someone who gasses groups in a gas chamber which may exceed Blokhin’s total although unlikely or someone who gave the order and has overall responsibility.
He killed over 7000 at Katyn personally over a 28 day period which averages 250 per day. He was also said to have been responsible for tens of thousands of execution/murders under Stalin. Even assuming 10’000 being the lowest figure, was he the biggest killer in history??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Blokhin

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igor_verh
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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#2

Post by igor_verh » 06 Mar 2014, 17:42

It seems, that Blohin was the "most productive" between Stalin's executioners. According different sources, from 1926 to 1953 he shot more than 20.000 people. Other famous soviet executioners Petr Maggo and Sardion Nadaraya (Пётр Магго и Сардион Надарая) - about 10.000. Most people, who they killed were political convicts in soviet concentration camps and prisons. For example, Blohin shot soviet military leaders Mikhail Tukhachevskiy, Iona Yakir, Jerome Uborevich, chief of the NKVD Nikolay Ezhov, writer Isaak Babel, theater director Vsevolod Meyerhold.
Most part of executions was done in Moscow, at the Lubyanka. Number of executors was limited - in the whole Moscow only 10-15 people. Such a small number of butchers not explained by the fact that it was difficult to find the executant of such duties , but because the real executioner had to be a master of his craft : have a stable psyche , skills , stealth (even the closest relatives of the executioners did not know about their job NKVD) , dedication.
Not surprisingly, these men have died sooner or going crazy. So died a natural death in 1931 Jusys (Юсис), in 1941 - Maggo, in 1942 - Vasiliy Shigalev and his brother Ivan Shigalev - in 1944. Many retired on a pension, receiving disability due to schizophrenia.
http://forum.mozohin.ru/index.php?topic=539.0
http://www.chskaz.narod.ru/chs124_8.html


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Kameraden
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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#3

Post by Kameraden » 06 Mar 2014, 18:19

Thank you Igor. Appreciated. So is he historys biggest single killer?

steverodgers801
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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#4

Post by steverodgers801 » 07 Mar 2014, 03:59

If you count one at a time could be. I don't know how many men dropped the zyklon tablets in the death camps but an individual could kill hundreds at once. Blohin and the others whether Nazi or Soviet also suffered from severe alcoholism, most had to drink themselves to a stupor to perform.

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igor_verh
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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#5

Post by igor_verh » 09 Mar 2014, 15:01

Kameraden wrote:So is he historys biggest single killer?
Yes, he is. Leastwise, among men, who used private weapon to kill.
steverodgers801 wrote: Blohin and the others whether Nazi or Soviet also suffered from severe alcoholism, most had to drink themselves to a stupor to perform.
Blokhin had another habit - before and after murder he liked to drink tea. He interested in horses, had a big collection of books on this theme.
Also before "job" he clothed a special "uniform" - leather apron, gloves and cap. At the Lubyanka often the victim didn't not know about execution. Person summoned for interrogation, was introduced into the chamber and then executioner, who stood at the door, shot him in the head. Usually executioners used a Nagant revolver, but Blokhin prefered "Valter".
According some sources, Blokhin died of a heart attack, others say, that at last he gone crazy and shot himself.

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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#6

Post by Ossian » 09 Mar 2014, 16:20

Kameraden wrote:Hi

Just watched the film Katyn and it reminded me to ask about Vasili Blokhin. Was Blokhin the single most profilic mass murderer in human history? I am talking one to one killings and not someone who gasses groups in a gas chamber which may exceed Blokhin’s total although unlikely or someone who gave the order and has overall responsibility.
He killed over 7000 at Katyn personally over a 28 day period which averages 250 per day. He was also said to have been responsible for tens of thousands of execution/murders under Stalin. Even assuming 10’000 being the lowest figure, was he the biggest killer in history??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Blokhin
Vasili Blokhin did not kill personally 7,000 Poles in the Katyn massacre. This is a myth. At least 53 NKVD personnel have been identified as having served as executioners in the several mass killings which make up the overall Katyn massacre. Blokhin certainly participated in the killings of Polish prisoners held in Ostashkov camp, but he had help. Plenty of help. Not only was he periodically relieved by his principal assistant, approximately thirty other individuals performed as executioners. How many people he personally killed over the entire course of his career will never be known. I suspect that the career total did reach into the thousands.

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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#7

Post by Peter » 09 Mar 2014, 17:19

I think Gerhard Palitzsch at Auschwitz is named as executioner in at least 1,500 shootings with a carbine at the camp execution wall.

Probably the “Lazarett” neck-shot men at Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka who killed the arriving Jews who were unable to walk un-supported to the gas chambers would have killed many hundreds or maybe thousands. Shooters such as Willi Mentz, August Miete and Heinrich Matthes.

Paul Bredow at Treblinka reportedly had a personal target of killing at least 50 Jews every day with his pistol.

I suspect that Lorenz Hackenholt working for Wirth, personally supervised or personally actioned the most gassings in the Third Reich.

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Kameraden
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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#8

Post by Kameraden » 10 Mar 2014, 12:09

Thanks for all replies guys. Very informative. I’d never heard of a killing wall at Auschwitz. Do you have more information? I still think Blohkin may still be the biggest 1 to 1 killer despite Katyn.

Again thanks for the replies.

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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#9

Post by Peter » 10 Mar 2014, 14:30

In terms of 1 - 1 killing I am sure that you are right, Blokhin was killing for such a long period of time that he must have been the worst.

Palitzsch at "work" at the wall

http://www.executedtoday.com/tag/gerhard-palitzsch/
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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#10

Post by Acolyte » 11 Mar 2014, 19:58

Ossian wrote:Vasili Blokhin did not kill personally 7,000 Poles in the Katyn massacre. This is a myth. At least 53 NKVD personnel have been identified as having served as executioners in the several mass killings which make up the overall Katyn massacre. Blokhin certainly participated in the killings of Polish prisoners held in Ostashkov camp, but he had help. Plenty of help. Not only was he periodically relieved by his principal assistant, approximately thirty other individuals performed as executioners. How many people he personally killed over the entire course of his career will never be known. I suspect that the career total did reach into the thousands.
Yep, even the Wikipedia article on him makes it clear that he wasn't the only executioner in the Kalinin prison.

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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#11

Post by valpatrak » 13 Jan 2015, 00:24

Here is some information ref. V.Blokhin- http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vasili- ... ecutioner/

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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#12

Post by Pete26 » 13 Jan 2015, 02:23

Unless I am mistaken, it was Vasili Blokhin who personally executed both NKVD chiefs Genrikh Yagoda and Nikolai Yezhov when Stalin decided they were too much of a liability for him. To satisfy his sadistic cravings, Stalin ordered Yezhov to have Yagoda severely beaten before the execution. Then, several years later, the new NKVD chief Lavrenti Beria was ordered to perform the same on Yezhov. Beria himself was executed on orders of Kruschev several months after Stalin's death, after a show trial.

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Sergey Romanov
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Re: Vasili Blokhin

#13

Post by Sergey Romanov » 09 Sep 2016, 22:32

We have no idea how many people Blokhin murdered personally.
In any case, here's a good article about him: http://www.novayagazeta.ru/apps/gulag/2389.html

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