Just something I came across while reading an obscure history newsletter. The author argues that his grandfather, whom he never met for reasons disclosed in the article, must have been tortured into confessing involvement in counter-revolutionary activities in the 1930s.
This isn't exactly a stretch. The Great Terror was a complete own goal where about 750,000 people were murdered on spurious charges in what amounted to a very large scale witch hunt.
Wheres that figure from?
The Soviet Archives. Someone added it all up when the archives were opened up in the early 90s.