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   To Stalin Top Secret Summaries Of The most important testimonies Of Those arrested 1937‐ 1938

A summary of the most important testimonies of those arrested by the directorates of the NKVD of the USSR for April 23‐24, 1938

Archive: AP RF. F. 3. Op. 24. D. 408. L. 89‐102

April 28, 1938

SECRETARY of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) comrade STALIN

I am sending you a summary of the most important testimonies of those arrested by the Directorates of the NKVD of the USSR for April 22‐23, 1938.

Peopleʹs Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR Peopleʹs Commissar for State Security (EZHOV)

Top secret

ON 1‐MU NKVD DEPARTMENT

For the 3rd DEPARTMENT

1. FLIG LEO, former member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany. Interrogated: OSMOLOVSKII and FISH.

He gave additional testimony about the espionage and provocative activities of a member of the Central Committee of the KKE of MÜNZENBERG and his participation in this activity as one of the agents of MÜNZENBERG, who supplied him with espionage materials on the Comintern and the KKE.

FLIG has shown that MÜNZENBERG is an old agent of the German political police, on whose instructions he conducted decomposition work during his entire stay in the KKE and in the party leadership, creating and supporting all kinds of anti‐Soviet groups.

The main tasks of the provocative activities of MÜNZENBERG were: inciting the struggle within the Communist Party of Germany with the aim of weakening and splitting the party, organizing forces hostile to the Comintern and the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), with the aim of separating the KKE from the Comintern and disintegrating the international communist movement.

In accordance with this, MÜNZENBERG maintained contact with all the treacherous groups that existed in the KKE: in 1921 with the rightwing group of Paul LEVI, then with the Trotskyite‐Zinoviev group of Ruth FISCHER‐Maslov, the right‐wing group of BRANDLER, the treacherous group of Heinz NEIMAN‐REMMELE, the provocative group of Heinz NEIMAN‐REMMELE conciliators ʺ, a group ofʺ sectarians ʺand so on.

Keeping in touch with all these groups, MUNZENBERG organized a broad struggle against the Comintern and the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), seeking, on the instructions of the police, to unite the hostile activities of individual groups by creating various blocks. At the same time, MÜNZENBERG took measures to incite squabbles and enmity between individual leading party functionaries in order to corrupt the leadership of the KKE.

Various international organizations, publishing houses, etc., under the leadership of MUNZENBERG, the so‐called ʺMünzenberg concernʺ, were turned by him into a base for provocative, espionage and antiSoviet activities. In this apparatus, MÜNZENBERG, in accordance with the directives of the police, accepted its provocative and spy agents, including members of various anti‐Soviet groups, providing these agents with access to the Comintern, the KKE and the revolutionary labor movement.

From the words of MUNZENBERG, the FLIG knows that in the international anti‐imperialist league, which was at one time under the leadership of Münzenberg, a number of agents of the French, British and German intelligence were involved in responsible work. In particular, Hindu CHATTO PADAYA is a major agent of German military intelligence.

The persons hostile to the COMINTERN and the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and provocateurs were appointed by

MÜNZENBERG as editors of a number of newspapers and magazines published by his apparatus, as a result of which these newspapers and magazines were widely used for Trotskyist, anti‐Soviet propaganda.

2. DUBSON AB ,     Head       of       Printing       Department       of

Intourist. Interrogated: RYASNOY.

He confessed that, as a member of the Trotskyist organization, he was associated with a group of Trotskyists: DONETSKY, WRITTEN, KONDRASHOV, DYAKOV and BYKHOVSKY. Gatherings of these

Trotskyists took place in his apartment. From 1933 to 1936, being the plenipotentiary of the USSR in Yemen, he was recruited by the British intelligence resident in Arabia, FILBI, through BENDA MESSA.

On the recommendation of his trade representative of the USSR in Yemen, the Trotskyist Kondrashov was appointed, who was also recruited by FILBI.

On the instructions of FILBI DUBSON, together with Kondrashov, they conveyed to the British intelligence information about the activities of the USSR in Arabia and other countries adjacent to the Red Sea basin, about trade (export‐import) and control figures for Vneshtorg.

He informed FILBI about the situation in Yemen during and after the Yemen‐Saubian war, about the mood in the ruling elite in Yemen.

On his arrival in Moscow in 1936, he established contact with TSUKERMAN (NKID), who knew from Khakimov (former USSR envoy to Arabia) that he, DUBSON, was an agent of British intelligence.

On the instructions of TSUKERMAN, he gave him information about the work of ʺIntouristʺ. He maintained this connection with TSUKERMAN until the latter was arrested.

For the 4th DEPARTMENT

1. GENYAVSKY MA, former chairman of the Chelyabinsk regional executive committee. Interrogated by LULOV and TERPENTO.

GENYAVSKY testified that he was a member of the counter‐

revolutionary organization of the right, operating in the city of Gorky, which was headed by PRAMNEK and PAKHOMOV.

GENYAVSKY further showed that the organization arose as early as 1928, when during the period of open uprisings of the right in Gorky, a group of so‐called ʺformer Uglanistsʺ took shape.

In 1932, a kind of center of the Right was created in Gorky, which consisted of PAKHOMOV, PRAMNEK and OSTROVSKY. At the time when PAKHOMOV was in the leading troika, communication with the center of the Right was carried out through it directly with RYKOV and UGLANOV, and in the subsequent period communication was along the line of OSTROVSKY, associated with SULIMOV and UKHANOV.

In 1933, from OSTROVSKY, GENYAVSKY learned that the center of the Rights in Moscow was working out, together with the Trotskyists and Zinovievites, a plan for a coup dʹetat.

GENYAVSKY gave detailed testimony about the sabotage activities that the members of the organization in Gorky carried out in industry, agriculture and trade.

2. LEGKONRAVOV, former chairman of the regional executive committee of the DCK. Interrogated: RHODES.

LEGKONRAVOV testified that during previous interrogations he concealed the anti‐Soviet connections he had established in the Far East.

LEGKONRAVOV testified that shortly after his arrival in Khabarovsk, he established a direct anti‐Soviet connection with VAREIKIS, who was informed from Rykov about LEGKONRAVOVʹs involvement in the anti‐Soviet conspiracy.

VAREIKIS, as LEGKONRAVOV shows, informed the latter that antiSoviet cadres were being defeated in the Far East and that he, LEGKONRAVOV, should be very careful in establishing new contacts and deploying subversive work.

VAREIKIS named LEGKONRAVOVA for orientation as members of the anti‐Soviet organization of the right‐wing KUZNETSOV ‐ director of plant No. 126, MELNIK ‐ director of an aircraft repair plant in Khabarovsk, ABRAMSON ‐ head of the Krajfin department, NAZARENKO ‐ head of Kraizu, MINSKIKH ‐ head of FYEADIKHOZ, head of FYEADIKHOZ. ORPO Regional Committee, MEKITENA ‐ head of prom. department of the Regional Committee, SHVER ‐ editor of the newspaper ʺTikhookeanskaya zvezdaʺ (all arrested). With some of them LEGKONRAVOV had already managed to establish contact and had negotiations with them on the further restoration of the underground and the development of practical anti‐Soviet activity.

These members of the anti‐Soviet right‐wing organization in the DCK informed LEGKONRAVOV about the sabotage, sabotage and terrorist work they were carrying out.

3. AMMOSOV , former 1st secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party     (Bolsheviks)        of Kyrgyzstan. Interrogated: MATEVOSOV.

AMMOSOV additionally showed that after he became involved in the activities of an anti‐Soviet nationalist organization in Kazakhstan, being the secretary of the West Kazakhstan regional committee in the period 1932‐33. he pulled a group of Yakuts to work in the city of Uralsk ‐ members of the nationalist underground in Yakutia in the person of: GULYAEV, ABLYAZIN, ATAKOV and SIVTSEV, whom he widely used in the line of sabotage and sabotage activities.

In 1935, at the direction of the center of the nationalist organization in the person of KULUMBETOV and ESKARAYEV, AMMOSOV established                contact with       the          Trotskyists          and        the          rightists: SKLYARENKO ‐ former. deputy. chairman of the regional executive committee, POPOV ‐ former. Governor of the State Bank, SEMETKOV ‐     former. head oblvnutorg,              KONYUKHOV ‐              secretary              of            the Presnovsky district committee, and Zinovievite FAYVILOVICH, whom he included in the general sabotage and sabotage activities of the organization.

In the line of sabotage activities, as shown by AMMOSOV, the united right‐Trotskyist nationalist organization in Kazakhstan acted mainly in the field of animal husbandry. The main forms of sabotage were: setting fire to feed and buildings, spreading diseases among livestock, etc.

As AMMOSOV shows, the center of the nationalist organization in Kazakhstan included: KULUMBETOV, JURGENEV, SYGABEKOV,

SADVOKASOV and DZHANDOSOV (arrested).

4. VINOGRADSKY NP, former head of the department of elementary schools of the RSFSR Peopleʹs Commissariat for

Education. Interrogated: LENAU.

VINOGRADSKY confessed that he was an active participant in the antiSoviet organization of the right, in which he was involved in 1935 by

HUSEYNOV (arrested), a former member of the board of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Education.

In counter‐revolutionary work, VINOGRADSKY was organizationally connected during his work in Leningrad with NAUMOV, formerly. head Oblzu, DOROFEEV ‐ former. Secretary of the Presidium of the Regional Executive Committee, and ZINGIS ‐

former. head Regional Communist Department (arrested).

In 1935 VINOGRADSKY personally involved in the anti‐Soviet organization of the rightists FADEEV ‐ deputy. head Leningrad Oblono.

Since 1936, working in the Peopleʹs Commissariat of the RSFSR, VINOGRADSKY established an organizational connection with the members of the anti‐Soviet organization of the right in the Peopleʹs

Commissariat for Education ORAKHELASHVILI ‐ former. early management of higher school, DIIMENT ‐ deputy. early management of higher school, GABIDULIN ‐ early. management of schools for adults, PANFILOV ‐ former. early planning and financial department, and ABINDER ‐ former. deputy early. high school management (all arrested).

VINOGRADSKY knew that the organization of the Rights in the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Education was headed by BUBNOV and EPSHTEIN.

According to the instructions of the anti‐Soviet organization of the right, VINOGRADSKY carried out sabotage work in the Peopleʹs

Commissariat of Education along the lines of primary schools.

5. BANGA VO, former deputy. head of the UPVO of Kazakhstan, recently was in the reserve of the GURKM. Interrogated by ABAKUMOV and LENAU.

BANGA testified that, being involved in an anti‐Soviet military conspiracy in 1935, GAYA‐GUY, received from the latter a directive to work in the border troops to cobble together counter‐revolutionary cadres from among former officers and compromised persons.

Carrying out anti‐Soviet attitudes GAY‐GAY, BANGA worked in 193537. in the GUPVO NKVD and deputy early. UPVO of Kazakhstan, established counter‐revolutionary ties with ROTERMEL ‐ the former beginning. UPVO Kazakhstan,        ZARIN ‐              former early. Of               the Operations   Department        of            the          GUPVO, and        BARKAN            ‐ former. deputy. early Operations Department of the GUPVO, who are participants in the anti‐Soviet conspiracy.

BANGA together with ROTHERMEL in the UPVO apparatus of Kazakhstan put together an anti‐Soviet group of former officers: SHUTOV ‐ former. early Operational Department of the UPVO, Trotskyist, expelled from the party in 1937 and demobilized, DOBROTIN ‐ early. departments of the internal troops of the operational department of the UPVO, and FROLOV ‐ early. command department of UPVO.

This anti‐Soviet group, as shown by BANGA, carried out practical counter‐revolutionary activities, weakening the combat capability of the border guard.

As a result of the treacherous activities of ROTHERMEL, BANG, SHUTOV, DOBROTIN and FROLOV, a large number of spies and saboteurs settled in the border zone of Kazakhstan.

6. KN MILOV, head of the department of the GUPVO. Interrogated by ILYUSHIN and PAVLOVSKY.

Previously, he showed that he was a spy of Polish intelligence since 1935 and a member of a conspiratorial organization in the GUPVO since

1936.

In addition, he testified that since the end of 1936, a group of conspirators in the GUPVO apparatus on the instructions and under the direct supervision of the then early. GUPVO Kruchinkin (head of the conspiratorial group) launched subversive and sabotage work in the mobilization of the NKVD troops.

MILOV showed that this sabotage activity was carried out along the line of supplying border units with defective weapons, disrupting the supply of gas masks to parts, releasing mobilization reserves of food fodder, etc.

7.             GERASIMOV     NP, ex. director of            Sovfoto. Interrogated: OSTRYAKOV.

GERASIMOV admitted himself a member of the counterrevolutionary terrorist organization of the right, created by TOMSKIM in the printing system.

Recruited into the organization in 1934 by TOMSKY and YEROFEEV. As deputy. head OGIZ, carried out sabotage work in the field of selection of publishing personnel and in the business of capital printing construction on the instructions of the organization. Having moved to work in Soyuzfoto in 1935, he continued anti‐Soviet sabotage activities here, primarily in the line of littering Soyuzfoto frames, supplying printing with unusable photographic materials, clogging up the photo library with K‐p photographs and sending anti‐Soviet photographic materials abroad, disrupting the production of highquality photographic paper and photographic plates.

For the 8th DEPARTMENT

1. KRAUKLE YK, former director of the Research Geological Prospecting Institute Glavzoloto. Interrogated: LABOVSKII.

KRAUKLE confessed that he was a member of the anti‐Soviet sabotage organization of the right in the gold industry.

In the anti‐Soviet organization KRAUKLE was involved in 1932 by

SEERBROVSKY.

KRAUKLE showed that, on direct orders from SEREBROVSKY, he systematically carried out sabotage activities in the gold industry of the Union.

On the instructions of SEREBROVSKY KRAUKLE, he achieved an increase in the export of gold mud from the Baleisk mine to Germany and the export of rich gold‐bearing ore.

KRAUKLE, by disrupting geological surveys, delayed the construction of an enrichment plant on Darasun, which slowed down the development of the mine and gold mining.

Allocated funds for the ineffective Ononskoye mining administration, thereby diverting funds from other, more efficient areas.

With a sabotage purpose, KRAUKLE did not take measures to organize exploration work at the Baleisky mine, which resulted in a disproportion between mining and ore processing in connection with the construction of a new factory.

2. VB MASYAN , former manager of Severonikel. Interrogated: PANFIL.

The arrested MASYAN Viktor Borisovich confessed that he was a member of the anti‐Soviet Trotskyist organization that carried out subversive and espionage activities in the color industry.

MASYAN testified that in 1935 he was involved in the anti‐Soviet organization by NEKRASOV ‐ ex. ex. ʺGlavredmetʺ (convicted).

On the instructions of the organization MASYAN, who at that time worked as the director of the Trans‐Baikal Tungsten Combine, together with the members of the organization ‐ early. planning department PARAGEMENT and ch. engineer MALYSHEV ‐ carried out extensive subversive work to disrupt the reconstruction of the Trans‐Baikal Tungsten Combine (by order of the Government, the combine was to be reconstructed with the expectation of increasing tungsten production from 500 kg per day to 1500 kg.).

As a result of the subversive activities of the anti‐Soviet Trotskyist organization, the extraction of tungsten did not increase, but decreased to 300 kg. per day.

Head of the Secretariat of the NKVD of the USSR, senior major of state security (SHAPIRO)