Answer
Short. Standing at an estimated 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 meters), Nikolai Yezhov, the notorious head of the Soviet secret police during the Great Purge, was famously known for his diminutive stature. Despite his small physical presence, Yezhov became a terrifying figure in Soviet history, orchestrating and overseeing some of the most brutal political repression and mass arrests in the 1930s.