Alexander Uspensky

Alexander Ivanovich Uspensky (Russian: Александр Иванович Успенский) (1902 – January 28, 1940) was a senior leader of the Cheka, the GPU and the NKVD. Uspensky was both a perpetrator and a victim of the Great Purge.

Uspensky was born on February 14 / February 27, 1902 in a family of forestry officials and made career during the Russian Civil War. In August 1920 he joined the Cheka and in September the same year, he also became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. On January 25, 1938, Uspensky became the Commissar of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. During this time, Uspensky led the arrest of about 36,000 people. However, during the time of the Great Purge Uspensky himself came into the firing line. In the fall of 1938, he was summoned to Moscow. Since he assumed he would be arrested there (possibly warned by Nikolai Yezhov), Uspensky deserted on November 14, 1938, faking his own suicide, and took refuge in the Ural Mountains. However, he was tracked down and arrested on April 15, 1939. On January 27, 1940 he was sentenced to death and executed the next day. Unlike many other senior officials and officers, Uspensky was not subsequently rehabilitated.