October 17, 1939 -- Alexander Ivanovich Shchukin Assassinated

Alexander Ivanovich Shchukin was the Archbishop of Semipalatinsk in modern-day Kazakhstan. Tired of the Soviet Union's treatment of placating the Russian Orthodox Church, he bravely began to preach against the evils of Communism and the Godless nation of the USSR. Joseph Stalin had him shot on October 17, 1939.