Nikolai Yezhov's time in charge is sometimes known as the 'Yezhovshchina' ('the Yezhov era'); a term coined during the de-Stalinization campaign of the 1950s. After presiding over mass arrests and executions during the Great Purge; Yezhov became a victim of it himself. He was arrested; confessed under torture to a range of anti-Soviet activity; and was executed in 1940.

By the beginning of World War II; his status within the Soviet Union became that of a political non-person. Among art historians; he has the nickname 'The Vanishing Commissar' because after his execution; his likeness was retouched out of an official press photo; he is among the best known examples of the Soviet press making someone who had fallen out of favor 'disappear'. Pictures From History