It's not easy to remove a person from history, but brutal leaders throughout history have erased some of their formerly close advisors.

After news of the execution of Jang Song-thaek, Kim Jong Un's uncle and close advisor, broke in December 2013, North Korean state media has erased the man from history entirely, deleting him from online archives and photographs.

This extreme measure makes it "the largest deletion ever carried out by the official KCNA news agency and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper," according to the Guardian.

But it wasn't the first time a political leader has attempted to wipe a person clean out of history — here are five other people who were erased from existence: