Transcripts from the Soviet Archives VOLUME XIV SECRET REVIEWS 1934

Memorandum of the OGPU on the elimination of predatory organizations in the working supply system of the largest industrial enterprises of the Union. March 13, 1934

Archive: F. 3. Op. 1.D. 924. L. 182‐190. Certified copy

March 13, 1934

No. 50276

Top secret

Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) t. Stalin

The organs of the OGPU have recently uncovered and liquidated a number of large predatory organizations in the system of workers supply departments of the largest industrial enterprises of the Union.

1. ORS of the Izhora plant (Leningrad region). In the ORS of the Izhora plant, a predatory organization was discovered and liquidated, a large part of which consisted of former merchants, former kulaks and other class‐alien elements.

The organization was headed by the head. vegetable base Subbotin (a member of the CPSU (b)) and a former merchant ‐ Shtemberg, previously the former head. the same base, which then moved to work in the regional consumer union. Socially alien and decayed elements were selected for the decisive areas. So, for example: storekeeper of base No. 2 Zasuchkin, a former merchant; the storekeeper of the same base Anosov ‐ a former merchant, dispossessed; Head shop number 18 Aleksandrov ‐ a former merchant; Kiselev ‐ Head department store # 1, former trader; Shchedrinsky ‐ Head. department store # 1, former trader; Fin ‐ head. shop, former merchant; Mesezhnikov ‐ head. kvass production of the Detskoselsky branch of Lenobltorg, a former merchant; OPC accountant Zhivotinsky ‐ a former large trader; pom. accountant Burov ‐ dispossessed, head. the shop Rodzin ‐ the son of a merchant; Kostylev ‐ deputy. Head OPC supply sector, former member of the CPSU (b), the son of a merchant; Danilov ‐ supply agent, merchantʹs son; Lugovoi ‐ head. a shop, a former psalmist; Krylov ‐ Head the food department, a criminal element, has two drives; Musatov ‐ supply agent, was previously convicted under Article 109 of the Criminal Code; Head store number 14 Zakharov ‐ the son of a handicraftsman‐merchant.

The organization covered bases, food stores, storerooms, etc. The direct participants in the thefts were base workers, shop sellers, storekeepers. For example: Lyaptsev ‐ assistant manager. base number 2; Rogalev ‐ procurement commissioner; Walter ‐ storekeeper at base # 2; Artemiev ‐ Head shop; Gromov ‐ head. shop. The members of the organization also sat in the accounting department and the revolving committee of the OPC.

Thefts were carried out by drawing up fictitious acts on allegedly defective products by falsifying products, writing off leftovers and direct theft. The products were sold through OPC retail stores and through cooperative stores, where there were also group members. During the activity of the organization (1933), its participants plundered and squandered scarce products worth over 1 million rubles. In addition, direct monetary embezzlement was committed in the amount of over 270 thousand rubles. 71 people were arrested in the case.

1. ORS plant ʺTrubostalʺ them. Andreeva (Taganrog). A large predatory organization in the ORS system of the Trubostal plant was discovered and liquidated. The activities of the organization covered bases, kitchen factories, a state farm, a suburban economy, as well as the central office of the ORS. The predatory activity was headed by a member of the board of the ORS Miroshnikov and head. the base of the ORS by the former landowner Inshakov.

Directly carried out the theft of the head. shops, sellers, head. kitchen factory, cashiers, head. bases, cooks, railway weighers, etc. The main methods of embezzlement were the removal of natural residues, indication of the wrong weight when weighing goods on the railway, writing off products under the guise of marriage, falsification of products, direct theft, etc. The stolen goods were sold through shops, stalls, where there were also members of the organization. The total amount stolen by the investigation has not yet been established, but the size and scope of the theft can be judged by such separate, already established by the investigation, facts: shop Tsygankov admitted that he alone for several months in 1933 had stolen groceries worth up to 10 thousand rubles. at normalized prices.

Another manager store, Galitsin, confessed to embezzlement in the amount of over 7,000 rubles. Huge losses were caused to ORS as a result of mismanagement of the management. In particular, in the state farm ORS, due to the complete absence of management of its work, all agricultural campaigns were disrupted, as a result of which losses on the state farm alone amounted to over 1 million rubles in 1933. The OPC practiced the purchase of obviously unsuitable products, as a result of which the supply of factory workers was disrupted, and the OPC suffered huge monetary losses. So, it was purchased for 50 thousand rubles. worthless dried fruits, half of which had to be destroyed, and the rest was sold at a great loss. It was purchased for 108 thousand rubles. low‐grade jam, which also partly did not go into use, but partly was sold with great monetary losses. 10 people were arrested. The investigation unfolds.

Theft in OPCs is accompanied by exceptional mismanagement, and in some places a complete lack of leadership from the directorate of workersʹ supply departments, which greatly facilitated the work of predators and contributed to the development of theft. Especially ugly facts of unsatisfactory management, in addition to the above, were revealed in the Azneft workers supply department and in the ORS of industrial enterprises of the Ivanovo region.

2. URS Azneft. Despite the fact that URS Azneft has a powerful fish base with a debit of 200 thousand quintals of fish per year, the supply of fish to the workers is completely unsatisfactory. This happens because the fisheries are not concentrated in one farm, but are scattered across many OPCs that do not have the means, qualified personnel and management personnel. As a result of unsatisfactory management of fisheries, there have been cases when the fisheries, without receiving orders for the shipment of fish, sold it to the side, and the workers of Azneft were left without fish. Moreover, in a number of cases fish was spoiled and thrown away in the fishery. For example, at the Fatma fishery, 100‐150 centners of fish were repeatedly discarded. The most elementary and primitive conditions for the preservation of fish have not been created. Almost the entire URS apparatus, incl. and its leadership, clogged with an alien and hostile element. So, for example: the head of the agricultural department of the URS Azneft Skupchenko ‐ a former staff captain; the head of the financial sector, Khomutov, the son of a large trader, is anti‐Soviet; the head of the planning department Kotlyarsky ‐ a former [e] s [e] r, who was suing for bribery; head of the legal bureau Markov ‐ a former chamberlain of the royal court; the economist of the department Tkachenko, a former white officer; the director of the agricultural plant Zimmer ‐ a former big kulak of the German colony, dispossessed and exiled; the head of the agrolivestock sector, Karpinsky, is from former people, in the past he has a conviction for the collapse of work on a state farm.

3. ORS of the Ivanovo region. A particularly unfavorable situation was created for the majority of IDFs in Ivanovo oblast. regarding the management of subsidiary plots, state farms, etc. So, for example, the Suzdal seed‐growing cooperative farm in 1933 suffered 233 thousand rubles due to poor storage of products. loss and from trading operations ‐ over 60 thousand rubles.

Dairy farm of the cooperative farm at the ORS factory named after Zinoviev No. 1 (Bogorodskoe) gave in 1933 100 thousand rubles. loss. The total loss of this cooperative farm for 1933 is 160 thousand rubles.

On the cooperative farm of the air defense complex of the Orgtrud factory (Vladimir), as a result of the sabotage work of the brigadier Kadykov, a former kulak, 60% of the potato crops were killed; The 60 dairy cows collectively produce 20 liters of milk per day, all the cows are sick, the calves will be born dead, the pigsty is dirty. Director of the cooperative farm at the ORS factory named after Dzerzhinsky Golubev ordered to discard the herd of rabbits. As a result, 100 rabbits remained from a herd of 1400 pieces.

In the Kostroma pig farm, 20 horses died in 6 months of 1933; 50 sows suffer from infectious abortion; poisoned by a solution of sodium chloride through the fault of the livestock technician Lubenina, who left the solution open, 22 pigs. Livestock is not provided with fodder, but the existing fodder deteriorates due to poor storage.

In the ORSs of the Ivanovo region. strangers are sitting in a number of important areas. For example: zootechnician of the Kostroma pigbreeding farm Lubenin, through whose fault 22 pigs were poisoned ‐ the daughter of a clergyman; agronomist Svinkina ‐ daughter of a large merchant; Head the guards Shvertsov ‐ a former merchant; Head plot Aksenov ‐ the son of a merchant. The chairman of the board of the air defense missile system of the Ivanovo chemical plant, Sokolov, is a member of the CPSU (b), the son of a clergyman. Former traders Virein, Merchants, etc. work in the stalls of the ORS of the Vladimir timber industry enterprise.

For all the revealed facts of embezzlement and criminal mismanagement, the perpetrators were arrested by the OGPU.

Deputy OGPU Chairman Prokofiev

Deputy Head of EKU OGPU Shanin

F. 3. Op. 1.D. 924. L. 182‐190. Certified copy

Memorandum of the OGPU on checking the state of fire protection of residential premises of workers of IPO enterprises. May 29, 1934

Archive: F. 3. Op. 1.D. 33. L. 351‐353. Copy

May 29, 1934

No. 50774

Top secret

Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) t. Stalin

Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) t. Zhdanov

Deputy. Chairman of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars of the USSR t. Kuibyshev

PP OGPU on IPO carried out an inspection of the fire protection of workersʹ dwellings in 23 districts of the region. The inspection revealed that the administration of enterprises ignored the fire protection of workers ʹdwellings, as a result of which the majority of workersʹ settlements, dormitories and barracks were completely not provided with fire‐fighting equipment, alarms, bypass routes, etc.

In the Kostroma region during the inspection of the ʺRabochiy metallistʺ plant, the Flax plant named after Zvorykin, the construction of the Excavator Plant, the Tekstilshchitsa settlement, an industrial college, the territory of hostels and workersʹ apartments were littered with straw, shavings and the remains of building materials. No extinguishing media available. Stairwells and attics are cluttered with tare and firewood. The house commandants in charge of fire protection are inactive. The fire brigade of the surveyed enterprises is not operational.

In the Yaroslavl District, a survey of the Rubber‐Asbestos Plant, SK1, the Krasny Perekop and Krasny Passal factories, YarGRES, Lyapinsky peat bog, revealed extreme deterioration and malfunction of the electrical wiring in all residential working houses, which poses a fire hazard. Stoves and stoves are not repaired. Fire‐fighting equipment in the villages is out of order. There are no persons responsible for the state of the fire department.

In the Seredsky District, at the Seredsky and Yakovlevsky Flax Mills, in all 42 houses of the workersʹ settlement, Russian stoves and floods are out of order, have cracks, and chimneys are not cleaned.

In the newly built 12‐apartment building, due to the lack of storage rooms, firewood and old furniture are stored in the aisles and on the stairs. Near the hostel there are two carpentry workshops, the entire yard is littered with building materials, shavings and stacks of finished shingles. The fire brigade was ineffective.

Workersʹ dormitories of factories named after V.I. Makarov, ʺVolga Communeʺ and ʺRed Lineʺ. The absence of fire alarm, fireextinguishing means and fire‐fighting equipment was established. There are no entrances to the reservoirs. The fire department is inactive.

In the Aleksandrovsky district, the working village of Radiozavod (500 residents) has no fire‐fighting equipment, the territory of the village is littered with garbage and building materials, there are no fire escapes.

In the Rybinsk region, Zavodstroy, Dormashina, plants named after t. Berries and boatbuilding, ʺTsentrovodstroyʺ, tannery No. 1, OSVOD timber mill. In all hostels, the electrical wiring turned out to be faulty and extremely dangerous in terms of fire. The stoves in the apartments of the workers are out of order, the territories of the settlements are littered with building materials.

A similar situation is observed in a number of other IPO districts. The local fire inspection of NKTP and NKLP on IPO does not pay sufficient attention to the state of protection of workersʹ settlements, surveys are carried out formally and have almost no materials on the protection of enterprises. Persons responsible for the safety of working dwellings were asked to immediately eliminate the identified abnormalities.

Those guilty of failure to take fire protection measures are brought to justice.

Deputy OGPU Chairman Agranov

F. 3. Op. 1.D. 33. L. 351‐353. Copy.

Memorandum of the OGPU on the opening and liquidation of a number of large thefts in the system of workersʹ supply and distribution network. July 10, 1934

Archive: F. 3. On. 1.D. 924. L. 578‐585. Certified copy.

July 10, 1934

No. 50999

Top secret

Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) t. Stalin

The bodies of the OGPU during April‐May of this year a number of large, organized thefts in the system of workersʹ supply and distribution network were discovered and eliminated.

Moscow region

In the department of working supply of Metrostroy, a predatory group of 18 people, headed by the deputy. head of the department of workersʹ supply by the Zone (arrested, a former traveling salesman, in 1919, while at work in the Moscow Regional Economic Council, received a large bribe, for which he was convicted by the IBSC collegium).

The criminal activity of this group was reduced to theft, squandering and spoilage of foodstuffs from the fund of workersʹ supply. Bribery, forgery and embezzlement were widely practiced in the apparatus of the workersʹ supply department and its sales outlets. Some waste in the department of workersʹ supply for the second half of 1933, the investigation revealed to 208 thousand rubles. During the period from January to March 1934, the group plundered: 8809 kg of meat, 3734 kg of sausage, 3314 kg of laundry soap, 9118 kg of confectionery, 8716 cans of canned food, 1775 kg of herring and a large number of other products.

The investigation found that waste and embezzlement were partially covered by the production of increased margins on food and manufactured goods sold in the stores of the workers supply department, as well as by reducing at a loss the shortages resulting from theft. So, for example, at the head. The vegetable combine of Morozovʹs workers supply department (he has disappeared from arrest, is wanted) discovered a shortage of potatoes in the amount of 20 thousand rubles. By order of Bakhtiarov, a member of the board of the workers supply department (brought to justice), this shortage was written off at a loss.

In the presence of significant interruptions in the supply of underground workers, the work supply department did not realize all the centralized supply funds allocated to it. Orders for 12 tons of herring, 15 tons of cereals, 3 tons of butter, 21,540 kg of meat, etc. have not been sold. Through the fault of the deputy. of the head of the department of workers ʹsupply Zone 500 thousand rubles, allocated to the department of workersʹ supply for additional preparations, were not used. The entire predatory group of 18 people was arrested.

Leningrad region. PP OGPU in Leningrad opened and eliminated a group of predators in a number of industrial enterprises and institutions in Leningrad. This group carried out massive thefts of various extremely scarce goods and materials. The initiators and leaders of the group were:

Commissioner for the procurement of goods in Leningrad from a number of economic bodies of Georgia (Gruzkommunsnab, Gruzdvoretsstroy, Gruzshelkprom, etc.) ‐ Nikolai Livshits (arrested).

Plenipotentiary for the Moscow ʺGastronomʺ ‐ Chetyrbok Iosif Evseevich (arrested).

Alexander Yevseevich Ivanter, authorized worker of the supply department of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (arrested).

Representative of the Moscow Techsnablegprom ‐ Burakovsky Aron Abramovich (arrested).

This group purchased from a number of Leningrad organizations (the Krasny Putilovets plant and others) building materials, tractors and other highly scarce goods outside the funds and plans by fabricating false claims from these organizations, as well as by giving bribes to a number of responsible employees of institutions and enterprises for the release of goods ... The goods obtained in this way were resold by the predators to various organizations at speculative prices.

So, for example, Chetyrbok bought 11 cash registers from the Detskoye Selo city, paying 18 thousand rubles for them. With the help of the head. the trade department of this city ‐ Polozov (arrested) Chetyrbok fabricated false bills and presented them to the grocery store for a total of 122 thousand 500 rubles. The difference in the amount of 104 thousand 500 rubles. was appropriated and divided between Chetyrbok, Polozov and other members of this group.

The nature and scope of theft can be judged by the individual operations of this group. So, for example, Livshits for a bribe of 3000 rubles, given by the head. Kohu (arrested) by the ʺRed Putilovetsʺ salvage base, received 15 pieces from the latter. tractors; for a bribe of 2,000 rubles, given by pom. the head of the assembly department of the 1st experimental plant Steinu (arrested), received from the last 250 thousand meters of acutely deficient wire; for a bribe of 4,000 rubles, given by the head supplying the Roofing Plant Gorzhilstroytrest to Shulman (arrested), Livshits received 4 carriages of roofing paper.

41 people were arrested in the case. Among the accused, 10 people come from a family of merchants and dispossessed people, incl. two served in the White Army.

The bodies of the OGPU in Kazakhstan opened and liquidated a number of predatory organizations that covered the departments of working supply of the Ridder and Zyryanovsky plants, as well as the supply organizations of the Balkhash copper‐smelting plant.

Predatory groups operating in the public catering system were discovered at the Ridder and Zyryanovsk Combines. The personnel of the canteens were littered with fists, former active members of Tolstoukhovʹs gangs, who stole foodstuffs released for workersʹ supplies. The head of the predatory group was headed. catering sector Rybchenko (member of the CPSU (b), arrested).

The investigation established cases when the head. canteen of the Ridder plant Torsky (arrested), employees Yakushev (arrested), Parafonov (arrested) were detained with stolen food, but the head. the public catering sector Rybchenko offered to release them.

Predators plundered workersʹ supply funds for catering and resold them on the private market at speculative prices. In exchange for the plundered, the group in the markets bought for a pittance various carrion, on which fictitious accounts were drawn up with an exaggeration of the amount, at the prices of good‐quality products. The difference was shared between the participants in the theft.

Particular indignation of the workers was caused by the preparation of food from horse meat with purulent abscesses sharply protruding on it. When, at the insistence of the workers, the meat was withdrawn from the canteen, the predators cleaned it up and transferred the same meat to the canteen of the nursery. The investigation established and prosecuted a number of private traders who sold the meat of sick and dead horses from infectious diseases to supply canteens.

In order to conceal the theft of food and preserve the weight of the cooked food, ash, wool, bones, and rags were mixed into the first and second courses. For the same purposes, the products are not washed before cooking and were put into the kettle in the same form as they were delivered to the dining room.

Despite the found in the trebuchet weighing 40 kg over 23 kg of feces delivered to the canteen of the Zyryanovsk plant, the head. the catering sector of this plant Malov (arrested), disregarding the protests of the head. dining room offered to prepare a second dish from this trebuchet for dinner.

The theft of bread took on a large scale. This was facilitated by the ugly system of providing workers with food documents. No records were kept of issued documents. Fence cards were issued not by the number of people employed in production, but by weight, control by the administration and the public was completely absent, and fence documents were stolen and sold on the private market. According to the testimony of the accused Rulev and Vitehten (arrested), they sold over 10 tons of bread to the private market in a short period of time using stolen cards.

The material damage caused by the activities of this predatory group is established by the investigation. The PP of the OGPU liquidated 7 predatory groups with a total of 81 accused, of which 19 were party and Komsomol members. The investigation of these cases ends with the transfer of cases to court.

Appendix:

Information on the total number of funds raised for theft. Deputy OGPU Chairman Prokofiev application

Certificate of the total number of funds involved for theft

The total number of those attracted by the OGPU bodies for the theft of state and public property from the distribution and procurement network, industry, state and collective farms during the period from January 1, 1934 to June 15, 1934 is 18 662 people.

In this number, 8291 people were involved for theft from the distribution and procurement network, as well as industrial enterprises, 3502 people were involved in the theft of state and collective farm property, and 6,869 people were involved in the theft of grain.

Of the total number involved in the largest cases of organized embezzlement, 1,518 people were convicted (by the OGPU Collegium and troikas at the OGPU PP). The rest of the cases were referred to court.

According to the measures of punishment, the number of those convicted by the OGPU bodies is divided as follows:

MVN ‐ 34 people

5‐10 years old ‐ 854 people below 5 years old ‐ 497 people other punishments ‐ 133 people total 1518 people.

According to the social composition, those convicted by the OGPU bodies are divided as follows: former traders, speculators, kulaks ‐ 596

employees, individual farmers, collective farmers and others ‐ 777 people, others ‐ 145 people in total ‐ 1518 people.

Head of ECU OGPU Mironov

F. 3. On. 1.D. 924. L. 578‐585. Certified copy.

Memorandum of the ECO NKVD of the USSR on abuses in the line of financial agencies, banks and state labor savings banks. October 7, 1934

Archive: F. 3. Op. 1.D. 165. L. 160‐169. Script

October 7, 1934

Top Secret

Comrade Yagoda *

Recently, the NKVD authorities in a number of regions have uncovered frequently repeated facts of organized theft and embezzlement of public funds committed by individual employees of banks, savings banks and financial institutions. Along with this, there are facts of bribery by employees of the tax apparatus when taxing artisans and writing off arrears. There are also cases of receiving bribes by bank employees for the illegal provision of loans to various organizations. In total, in 1934, 363 employees of the above institutions were convicted and, in addition, there are a number of cases pending.

Finorganians

In a number of regions, such as: Leningrad, Voronezh, Western; [in] Central Asia, Ukraine and others, criminal groups in the apparatus of district, regional and regional financial departments were opened and liquidated. The criminal activities of these groups boiled down to the following:

1. Handicraftsmen were deliberately re‐taxed in order to receive bribes for tax cuts.

2. Fictitious acts about the absence of property were drawn up and arrears were paid for bribes.

3. Unpaid cards were destroyed for the purpose of misappropriation of collected taxes.

4. The compiled acts for various violations of taxpayers were destroyed, and the collected fines were assigned.

5. The goods and products confiscated and confiscated from market speculators and taxpayers were plundered by destroying inventories and deliberately not entering in the inventory a part of the confiscated property.

6. Using excessively low valuations of goods and products, employees of financial agencies purchased these goods and sold them in the markets at high prices.

Here are three of the most typical cases.

Leningrad. Under the Leningradsky Gorfo, inspectors of a special group worked from families of merchants, kulaks, etc. Thus, inspector Sinyagin is the son of a kulak, his assistant Mikhailov is a former merchant, inspector Frolov is the son of a priest, chief accountant Speranskaya is the wife of the exiled, an accountant Persian is a former. merchant, appraiser Gandin ‐ the son of a clergyman, etc. In their work, the inspectors of a special group practiced a system of taking bribes from merchants and handicraftsmen, colluded with debtors, and for bribes they destroyed cases initiated against handicraftsmen who had hidden hired power. When the valuables were taken away from the merchants, the inspectors did not surrender them, but by conspiracy they divided them between themselves and the merchants, and the acts of seizure were destroyed.

Senior inspector of the special group Minchenko, a member of the CPSU (b), being at the same time the head. bureau of complaints of the sector of mass payments, was engaged in the fact that for large bribes he paid back taxes to merchants and made them other illegal indulgences. For a bribe of 2 thousand rubles. Minchenko added up the arrears to 10 thousand rubles. merchant Bleich. For a bribe of 1 thousand rubles. he also added the arrears to the car manufacturer Abramov. For a bribe of 1 thousand rubles. no taxation was made on the merchant Khvalsky, etc.

Inspector Sinyagin, having materials in relation to the debtor of the former merchant Gantvarg, indicating the addresses where Gartvarg hides gold and household property, for a bribe of 2 thousand rubles. freed Gantvarg from payment of arrears.

In the case of a special group, 9 people were arrested.

Ukrainian SSR. In the Berdichev financial department, a criminal group of financial workers confiscated and appropriated 3,500 poods. different products, 28 thousand rubles. and 1 thousand rubles. gold. The control registers by which the operations of the final agents can be established have been burned. In order to conceal the crime, the head. with salary bookkeeping, Gorfo Rabinovich hid taxpayer cards in the amount of 250 thousand rubles. arrears and 300 thousand rubles. penalties.

Middle Asia.In the Tashauz district federal district, a group of financial workers was engaged in systematic theft of confiscated property, money, bribery, hiding from taxation of kulaks and merchants. So, for example: head. Raifo Tulyashev was assigned property and days in the amount of 10,158 rubles, inspector of the State Insurance Nazimov ‐ 28,885 rubles, finagent Khalyev ‐ 2,470 rubles. and the final agent Dzhenaliev ‐ 2670 rubles, and in total ‐ 44 183 rubles. For non‐payment of tax, the property of 16 thousand rubles was confiscated from the former bai Mansumov. Raifo Tulyashev returned him for a bribe and, in addition, excluded him from the list of payers as a poor man. In the village council of JashliKala, property was confiscated from the former big kulak Baltazarov and sold at auction, and its value in the amount of 6 thousand rubles. was returned to him. Moreover, Tulyashev reinstated him in his rights and issued a certificate of his poor situation. At the same time, all property was confiscated from the active collective farmer Atanjanchi, up to the last blanket and mattress. Along with these facts, a criminal group headed by the head. Raifo Tulyashev systematically disrupted the mobilization of funds, due to which only in 1933, according to the plan, 1 million

170 thousand rubles were not collected.

Branches of the State Bank

Uncovered crimes in the branches of the State Bank of the ZSFSR, Stalingrad, Kazakhstan, the Ukrainian SSR, the Gorky Territory and others boiled down to the following.

1. Release of funds from capital construction accounts for purposes not provided for in financing.

2. The issuance of deliberately illegal loans to trading organizations and handicraft cooperatives.

3. Acceptance of deliberately fictitious reporting documents and certificates to substantiate the issuance of illegal loans, and in some cases, the participation of bank employees directly in the preparation of fictitious balances and other documents to obtain exaggerated loans from the bank.

4. Allowing the clientele to spend proceeds from trading operations and making illegal cash withdrawals in large amounts ‐ up to 200 thousand rubles. ‐ for purposes not provided for by funding.

5. Economic organizations were allowed to conduct mutual lending, completely unrelated to their trade and production operations.

6. Unpaid goods were sold on unfavorable terms for suppliers and without taking into account the intended purpose and economic feasibility of their sale.

All these violations were the result of bribery by employees of the State Bank.

In addition, recently in the State Bank system, organized embezzlement of state funds with the help of various criminal tricks has been widely carried out. Here are the most typical ones.

1. In Abkhazia in the city of Ochemchiri, a predatory group of employees of the State Bank received about 200 thousand rubles from the bank using forged checks. The criminal group was headed by the deputy. the chief accountant of the Sichinava State Bank branch.

2. In the State Bank of Azerbaijan to [onto] re, a group of employees systematically gave deliberately fictitious opinions on the issuance of loans for bribes. For Kustprom, a fictitious loan application was written in the amount of 400 thousand rubles. allegedly for the remnants of harvested raw materials and distributed to single handicraftsmen at home. In another case, employees of the Azerbaijan State Bank [onto] ry issued an illegal loan for 250 thousand rubles. for Bakselprom and received a bribe for this in the amount of 800 rubles.

3. According to the Kazakh to [onto] re of the State Bank, employees deliberately confused clientsʹ accounts in order to artificially create a situation of impossibility to pay for goods arrived at their address, pursuing the subsequent goal of selling these goods for a bribe to other clients.

4. Poltavtorg systematically supplied the employees of the State Bank with products for its illegal lending. Other organizations: leshoz, Zagotzerno, Soyuzpushnina, which supplied the bankʹs employees with food, enjoyed preferential service when issuing cash, while the other part of the organizations did not receive it.

5. In the Gorky Territory, a group of persons who were systematically engaged in the theft of circulating funds and from the inviolable fund of state money was discovered in the Lyskovsky branch of the State Bank. According to one of the accused, senior] cashier Rogozhin, he personally stole 61,660 rubles. from working capital and 14 680 rubles. from the inviolable fund.

State Labor Savings Banks

Investigative materials of a number of cases in the Central Black Earth Region, Chelyabinsk Region, Kazakhstan, and others show that in the system of savings banks thefts are becoming massive and organized. Confusion and chaos in the reporting system contributed to the theft, as illustrated by the following points.

1. Huge unexplained discrepancies in the balances, which have only recently leveled off by writing them off to loss of places and the Main Directorate of the State Labor Savings Bank in the amount of up to 49 million rubles.

2. Balance accounts in a number of regional savings banks were not reconciled, but on the contrary, discrepancies were deliberately concealed.

3. When drawing up the annual report, the accounting workers deliberately concealed and reserved the received funds, not transferring them in a timely manner to the destination.

4. Deliberately incorrect reports of the regional savings banks, drawn up by means of various accounting manipulations, were accepted and approved by the regional and regional savings banks, and the reports of the latter by the Main Directorate of the State Labor Savings Banks.

5. Accounting for securities and securities in most savings banks is in a chaotic state.

6. Control of the subordinates of this system is not established.

Losses from disclosed theft in the last 9 months alone amounted to more than 8 million rubles, however, the plundered huge amounts continue to remain undetected until now and appear on the accounts of ʺunclear unitsʺ, ʺamounts to be clarifiedʺ, ʺcarry‐over amountsʺ and ʺlosses subject to return ʺ.

Thanks to such a chaotic state of reporting, a criminal element in the savings bank system for a long time can produce with impunity:

1. Receipt of large sums of money in various city savings banks for stolen transfers and letters of credit.

2. The appropriation of the winning government bonds from the portfolio of savings banks with their replacement with others bought from the population at cheap prices.

3. Theft of sums of money on deposits belonging to both individuals and legal entities.

4. Assignment of sums of money received in the form of various obligatory payments to the local budget.

5. Purchase of bonds of State loans in the portfolio of savings banks, which they also buy on the market from the population at low prices, etc.

Here are the most typical cases.

Voronezh region

A group of employees of the savings banks of Voronezh and Orel was discovered, mostly a class alien element, namely: Kotsarev ‐ the son of a gendarme, the head of the consolidated balance group of the management of the savings bank of the Voronezh region, Chaplygin ‐ the son of a merchant, instructor of the regional management of the savings bank, Popov V.F. ‐ the son of the sergeant, chief accountant of the regional administration of the savings bank, Mamontov ‐ the son of a priest, the senior economist of the regional administration of the savings bank, etc.

In addition to direct embezzlement, embezzlement and forgery, this group organized illegal agents to buy up State loan bonds from the population at low prices. The purchased bonds were paid for in savings banks at par and exchanged for the winning bonds belonging to the savings banks.

Chelyabinsk region

A predatory group of 8 people was discovered in the Kurgan savings bank. This group made systematic forgeries with winnings similar to the previous one. Along with this, the group carried out the theft of money deposits by transferring amounts from the accounts of various organizations to a specially opened bearer account. In total, theft was revealed in this savings bank about 50 thousand rubles.

In Kazakhstan, over the past year alone, more than 1 million rubles were appropriated by criminals through savings banks. Here, the theft of letters of credit and savings books was widely practiced, with which money was received in other cities.

Western region

In Bryansk, a group of employees of the central savings bank of 15 people ‐ most of them are responsible workers. Here it is necessary to dwell on the following characteristic facts:

a) the chairman of the Komsode at the plant them. Uritskogo Sidorov, a member of the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), who transferred up to 100 pieces to the group. fictitious permits for the sale of bonds, according to which Nikolayenko and Kuzmich, through the controller of the savings bank No. 24 Ivanov and the cashier Nevstruev, sold bonds worth up to 20 thousand rubles. These bonds were bought on the market through agents at a price of

5 rubles. up to 10 rubles. for a 100‐ruble bond;

b) Nikolayenko, the controller of the savings bank, fabricated 6 expenditure orders in the amount of 6 thousand rubles in the name of fictitious persons. under the guise of paid insurance premiums on the occasion of the death of workers at plant No. 13, in reality he appropriated this money.

Head of the EKO NKVD USSR Mironov

F. 3. Op. 1.D. 165. L. 160‐169. Script.

* ‐ There is a label on the document: “t. Berry. I ask for directions on the direction of the note. Mironov. October 7 ʺand the resolution:ʺ Send to Comrade Stalin, Molotov, Kaganovich. Berry. October 8 ʺ, as well as the note of the Secretariat:ʺ Sent on October 10, 1934 under No. 30701 ʺ.

Intelligentsia, Youth, Clergy

Special message of the PP of the OGPU for the LVO on the liquidation in Leningrad of K. R. organizations of Catholics. January 29, 1934

Archive: F. 3. Op. 1.D. 4. L. 6‐8. Copy

January 29, 1934

No. 143883

Top secret

Deputy Chairman of the OGPU t. Yagoda

SPO PP OGPU in LVO in December 1933 was promptly liquidated by K. R. organization of Catholics in Leningrad.

34 members of the organization were arrested, including: 1. MF Obolensky. ‐ a former prince, a former staff captain, who was in an illegal position for 2 years. 2. Lebedev N.A. ‐ son of prof. Lebedev, who was repressed by the OGPU in the case of the TKP (k), from the nobility. 3. Chichagova N.A.

‐ from the nobility, the daughter of Metropolitan Seraphim, chosen in absentia as abbess of the White émigré monastery in Riga. 4. Chermoeva‐Ukhtomskaya OB

‐ a former princess, daughter of a rear admiral. 5. Gavrilov M.G. ‐ a former Catholic deacon. 6. Delsal E.V. ‐ from the nobility, the daughter of a former officer. 7. Tauchelova N.B. ‐ from the nobility, the daughter of a former officer. 8. Deibner M.I.

‐ Frenchwoman, ex‐wife of Priest Deibner, repressed by the OGPU and others.

The investigation established:

1. In the city of Leningrad there was a Ph.D. Catholic organization, which included persons arrested in the case. The organization was led by the Catholic Dominican monk Abbot Amudryu and was a branch of the All‐Union Ph.D. a Catholic organization led by the Catholic Bishop Neve (Moscow).

2. The connection between the Leningrad organization and the Moscow center was carried out by the Abbot Amudryu and

Amudryuʹs closest assistant, the Catholic Danzas. The accused Prince Obolensky also had a direct connection with Bishop Neve through an employee of the French embassy, Bardelius.

3. K. R. The activities of the Catholic organization were led by the Vatican through Neve and Amudrya and consisted in the following: a) the creation of a wide and branched K. R. organizing by recruiting the ASE from former people, Orthodox clergy and other class‐alien elements, and forming cells;

b) the establishment by the Vatican through the organization of leadership over influential circles of the Orthodox Church in order to subordinate the Orthodox Church to the Vatican on the basis of an ecclesiastical dogmatic union for the use of the latter for the purposes of the c. the activities of the Vatican in the Soviet Union,

c) in the preparation of the transfer of the accused Obolensky, Lebedev, Aleksin and Pilipchuk beyond the cordon to establish contact with the White emigrant formations and organize gangsterterrorist groups to work in the USSR;

d) in broad interventionist agitation and propaganda;

e) in broad church‐ideological Catholic work, in particular, the mass organization of Catholic education of children and the creation of Catholic childrenʹs groups.

The investigation and operational liquidation continues.

PP OGPU for LVO Medved

Head of SPO OGPU Gorin

F. 3. Op. 1.D. 4. L. 6‐8. Copy.

Special message of the OGPU about abuses in the work of the Central Museum of Fiction, Criticism and Publicism. April 16, 1934

Archive: F. 3. Op. 1.D. 33. L. 214‐218. Copy

April 16, 1934

No. 50488

Top secret

Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) t. Stalin

Since July 1933, the Central Museum of Fiction, Criticism and Publicism has been operating in Moscow under the jurisdiction of the museum department of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Education. The director of the museum is Vl [adimir] BonchBruevich. The task of the museum is to concentrate archival materials related to literature, criticism and journalism. The data available in the OGPU about the museum testifies to its transformation into a base for providing material assistance to former people, clergymen, political [political] exiles and white emigrants at the expense of state funds allocated for the purchase of literary materials. So, the museum bought it for 25,000 rubles. archive of the poet Kuzmin. The archive contains entries mainly on homosexual topics. Does not represent a museum and literary value. Purchased memoirs of former General Dzhunkovsky for 40,000 rubles. have nothing to do with literature and do not represent any value for the museum, tk. consist solely of a description of the generalʹs personal life. Purchased by the Museum for 10,000 rubles. the manuscript of the novel by A. Bely, banned from publication for censorship reasons.

The son of the former owner of the railway and landowner Mamontov, expelled by the OGPU, was paid 7,000 rubles for the old archives unnecessary to the museum. The wife of the exiled PetrovZvantsev was paid 4000 rubles. for similar archives. Counts: Komarovsky, Olsufiev, Sheremetyev and Countess Baranova, paid up to 10,000 rubles. for objects of no value to the museum.

Former noblewoman Bartenyeva (her son was exiled for active conservative work) bought 15 sheets of engravings for 100 rubles. per sheet. A senior researcher at the museum, Tsyavlovsky, told Professor Sidorov of the Museum of Fine Arts, who estimated these engravings from 3 to 10 rubles. per sheet: ʺAfter all, you understand that this is for help.ʺ From the monarchist churchwomen of the former large landowners Khovrins bought for 10,000 rubles. the correspondence of their father Khovrin, describing his pilgrimage journey to Jerusalem. They also bought various unnecessary portraits and home furnishings that have nothing to do with the museumʹs objectives. Provision of material assistance to Ph.D. elements of how the system of the museumʹs work is confirmed, in addition to the given individual facts, also by the statements of the leading employees of the museum and their immediate environment. Senior researcher of the museum Ilyinsky told the former chamber‐maid of honor Ermolova: “We consider it our duty to expand assistance to those in need from the former aristocracy as widely as possible. We want to squander the remaining money during December as efficiently as possible. If you know which of your friends needs and wants to sell things, let them come to the literary museum, we will pay good money. ʺ

In 1933, 5000 rubles were spent on the purchase of materials abroad. gold. The acquisition of materials abroad is handled by the head of the museumʹs fund commission, Tsyavlovsky. Most of the archival materials purchased abroad were acquired from White émigrés. Thus, we know that the materials were purchased from Semyonov, an employee of the right‐wing monarchist newspapers in Paris, to whom 12,000 francs were paid. Archival materials were also purchased from the white émigré Zaretsky, who lives in Prague.

Helping former people goes through not only buying all sorts of unnecessary things from them, but also by providing them with literary work that is not of interest to the museum. Former chambermaid of honor Ermolova M.N. she was asked to write her memoirs, for which she was promised ʺwellʺ to pay. The same memoirs were proposed to write to the former landowners‐sisters Khovrin, associated with an active White emigrant by their nephew Ilya Ladyzhinsky. The following statement by Tsyavlovsky confirms that providing literary work to former people is aimed at providing material assistance: “We help many of our people. We do this carefully, not formally interfering in their fate, but by providing them with literary work. ʺ This practice of the museum is caused by the extreme contamination of it by strangers.

Here is a list:

1) Tsyavlovsky M.A. ‐ a former nobleman, literary critic‐Pushkin scholar, one of the editors of the anniversary edition of L. Tolstoyʹs works, a senior researcher and the actual head of the museumʹs fund commission, he is hostile to the Soviet government;

2) Ilyinsky I.V. ‐ a senior researcher at the museum, a former nobleman, a fat scientist, in 1925 he was repressed by the OGPU for an active candidate‐r. activity, author Ph.D. the pamphlet ʺMarxiadaʺ printed abroad;

3) Chulkov N.P. ‐ former nobleman, head. the archival department of the museum, translator and genealogist, characterized as antiSoviet;

4) Bakhrushin Yu.A. ‐ Member of the fund commission, the son of a former major merchant and theatrical figure, a specialist in iconography and everyday life of the 19th century;

5) Muravyova M.G. ‐ senior researcher, former noblewoman, daughter of the tsarist minister Zenger, a relative of Tsyavlovsky;

6) Sokolov Yu.M. ‐ Member of the fund commission, a former nobleman, professor of folklore, in 1933 he was repressed by the OGPU for Ph.D. activity;

7) Gudziy N.K. ‐ Member of the fund commission, a former nobleman, fat expert, anti‐Soviet.

The museum department of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Education has carried out one survey for the entire time and that, only financial, which did not reveal the squandering of public funds. We consider it necessary to cleanse the museum of foreign elements and strengthen the leadership.

Deputy OGPU Chairman Agranov

F. 3. Op. 1.D. 33. L. 214‐218. Copy.