THIS KIND OF PERSON. —“Blokhin was one of the most vile human beings in histor

THIS KIND OF PERSON.

—“Blokhin was one of the most vile human beings in history. He was a Soviet officer during World War Two. After Russia and Germany carved up Poland at the start of the war, about 10,000 Polish officers were sent to an internment camp in the Katyn forest. Blokhin then eliminated most of them. He not only gave the orders but also personally carried out the executions, every night for 28 consecutive days.

Prisoners were led to a basement chamber, where Blokhin waited for them. His leather executioner’s gear: Long gloves, a butcher’s apron, and a hat. Without a trial, a sentence, or any official procedure, guards held down each prisoner while Blokhin shot him in the back of the head. Guards then removed the body, hosed down the floor, and led in the next victim. Blokhin killed one POW every three minutes. It’s the most prolific and efficient mass murder by a single person in world history.

Stalin decorated Blokhin for his work. He lived through the war into the 1950s, falling out of favor after Stalin’s death. He suffered from depression and alcoholism, and died in 1955. The official cause was suicide. When the mass graves were discovered in the Katyn forest in 1943, Russia blamed the Nazis, only admitting guilt in 1990. Neither Blokhin nor anyone else was ever brought to trial for the massacre.”—