The Soviet Union's feared secret police force, the NKVD, unleashed Order No. 00447 on this day in history. What this directive called for would, by today's standards, be recognized as nothing short of genocide — it demanded the elimination of so-called "traitors" and "exclusively bandit originators." Under its authority, up to 269,100 people could be detained; by the time December 1938 arrived, 76,000 had been put to death.

Who fell into the crosshairs? The list was staggeringly broad — former Tsarist officials, teachers, priests, and essentially anyone perceived as standing against Stalin faced the very real threat of execution or imprisonment. Simply not holding membership in the Communist Party was enough to warrant arrest for many. This chilling directive and the wave of repression it set in motion laid the groundwork for the Great Purge that would follow in the years ahead.

This order is widely regarded as the opening salvo of Stalin's infamous "Great Purge," a campaign of terror spanning from 1936 to 1938. Across that dark chapter, close to 1,000,000 individuals were swept up in arrests, and roughly 700,000 of them were executed.

Facts about NKVD Order No. 00447:

  • The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) released a specific order in July 1937, targeting the suppression of individuals labeled as "anti-Soviet elements."

  • The most common charges leveled against those detained during this period included membership in anti-Soviet parties and organizations, as well as espionage, sabotage, and diversionary activities.

  • Structured across eleven distinct articles, Order no. 00447 was designed to guarantee the swift arrest and prosecution of all so-called "enemies of the people."

  • Under the order's provisions, cases involving "enemies of the people" were to be adjudicated by troikas (three-person tribunals) and the military Collegium of the Supreme Court.

  • The initial dragnet carried out under NKVD order no. 00447 pulled in more than 700,000 detainees. By December 1938, when the Great Purge came to its official close, that figure had been reduced to approximately 485,000.

  • Among those imprisoned in connection with this order, over 91,000 were shot.

  • Precisely one year after NKVD Order No. 00447 came into effect — on July 30, 1938 — Stalin and Yezhov co-signed a memorandum addressed to the Central Committee, titled "On the Results of Checkups on Party Members." The document put forward the following proposals:

  • That individuals proven innocent of the accusations brought against them should be set free.

  • That those whose guilt remained questionable and thus unjust should likewise be released.

  • That large-scale camps be dissolved and all inmates held within them be freed in short order.

  • A joint plenary session of the Central Committee and the Control Commission convened on August 23 and 25, 1938, where this proposal gained approval, with Stalin recognized as its principal architect.