Too Bad It Didn't Happen Sooner

Stalin died on this day in 1953. The blue handwriting scrawled over this list is his, and reads "Execute everyone". pic.twitter.com/9l6Mhv8gkV

— Flashbak.com (@aflashbak) March 5, 2019

When portions of the Soviet archives became available after 1991, numerous arrest lists were found with Stalin's notations.  Some, like the one above, directed blanket executions.  Others, consisting of hundreds and sometimes thousands of names had Stalin's check next to those to be executed.  He spent a lot of time going through those lists.