One of the most prolific murderers in history. Vasily Blokhin, Stalin’s chief executioner, was personally responsible for the deaths of over 10,000 people including political dissidents, rivals of Stalin and Polish military officers. Date unknown (c. 1920-1940)

There’s a moment in history—many of them, really—when the bureaucratic machinery of murder requires not generals or ideologues, but men. Flesh-and-blood men willing to do the job others order but dare not witness. That’s where Vasily Blokhin steps in. Stalin’s chief executioner. A man whose hands were stained with more blood than perhaps any single human being in the 20th century. Not because he designed genocide. Not because he pushed paper. But because he pulled the trigger—again and again and again.

[Read more…] about 5 Historic Photos That Speak Volumes