Josef Stalin

(From left to right) Stalin, Alexei Rykov, Lev Kamenev, and Grigori Zinoviev in 1925. The latter three later all fell out with Stalin and were executed during the Great Purge

Josef Vissarionovich Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union.

Hitler-Stalin pact

On Aug. 23, 1939, Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler through the Soviet Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav M. Molotov, and the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop signed an agreement dividing up Eastern Europe and empowering Adolf Hitler to invade Poland.

Admiration for the Night of Long Knives

Josef Stalin biographer Robert C. Tucker wrote that the Soviet dictator admired Adolf Hitler's purge of political opponents on June 30, 1934 known as the "Night of Long Knives". From the New York Times:

"Stalin asked at the first Politburo meeting after the purge. "Some fellow . . . that Hitler. Knows how to treat his political opponents." The account, from Anastas Mikoyan, a candidate member of the Politburo at the time, was published in the Soviet journal Nedelya in 1989 by a retired Soviet diplomat and interpreter for Stalin, Valentin Berezhkov.