Persecution, from memory, coming after purging of generals initially (6)
I believe the answer is:
pogrom
'persecution' is the definition.
(pogrom is a kind of persecution)
'memory coming after purging of generals initially' is the wordplay.
'memory' becomes 'rom' (ROM is an example).
'coming after' says to put letters next to each other.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'purging of generals' is 'pog'.
'rom' put after 'pog' is 'POGROM'.
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for pogrom that I've seen before include "Racial massacre" , "Organised persecution of an ethnic group" , "An organised massacre of a people" , "Mass slaughter" , "Organised massacre of Jews" .)