Khrushchev denounced Stalin in his speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", delivered at the closed session of the 20th Party Congress, behind closed doors, after midnight on 25 February 1956. In this speech, Khrushchev described the damage done by Joseph Stalin's cult of personality, and the repressions, known as the Great Purge that killed millions and traumatized many people in the Soviet Union.