Meanwhile , the leader 's belief - not entirely unjustified - that he was surrounded in the Kremlin by comrades who might not think him the best man for the job developed into acute personal paranoia . The foreign-born inhabitants of a " Community House " in Leningrad became vulnerable to official suspicion which became a widespread purge of the politically involved . Towards the end of summer 1937 the security services began to arrest the occupants of the house , generally starting with the men and then returning a few weeks later to arrest wives and adolescent children . Younger children were generally sent to children 's homes , so that overnight complete families disappeared from the home , till a few months later when none were left . During the night of 3/4 September 1937 Rudolf Tieke was among the first to be detained . He cheerfully bade his family farewell , confident that he would soon be back because he knew he was not guilty of any crime and confident also that this would quickly be confirmed in any official investigation . An investigation was quickly launched . He was photographed and repeatedly interrogated . He was not permitted to read the records of the interrogation but , threatened with torture , he was nevertheless forced to sign an absurd confession to " membership of an anti-Soviet espionage organisation " , to " terrorist spying on behalf of Germany " and to planning assassinations of leading party and national leaders of the Soviet Union . The security services reported they had found weapons for use by the organisation , though it appears that the alleged weapons were never actually found . Based on Rudolf Tieke 's so-called confession the investigation ended , without witnesses , without charges , without a judge , and without involvement of any defence or other lawyers
widespread purge
Great Purge
Anna Tieke