To Stalin

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 GUGB of the NKVD of the USSR for April 9, 1938

Archive: CA FSB of Russia. F. 3. Op. 5.D. 845.L. 130‐145

April 11, 1938

T. STALIN

I am sending you a summary of the most important testimonies of those arrested by the GUGB NKVD of the USSR for April 9, 1938. * Gave the order to arrest Karpov (according to the testimony of Legkonravov), previously arrested, but later released from arrest. * [1]

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

Top secret

For the 3rd DEPARTMENT

1. STRAZDIN Wilhelm Karlovich, former senior dispatcher engineer of Glavtransmash (in 1919‐1929 he was an employee of the Special Department of the former OGPU). Interrogated: KOROTKOV.

He testified that in 1908 he was recruited by the tsarist secret police for provocative work under the nickname ʺAzisʺ. Security department until 1913 in the mountains. Riga and from 1918 [2] until the revolution in Leningrad, he betrayed the Bolsheviks known to him at the factories where he worked.

While working in the Special Department of the OGPU MVO, STRAZDIN was recruited for espionage work for Latvian and French intelligence by the former commandant of the VChK WEIS (convicted), through whom he transmitted espionage information about the Special Purpose Division, about the agents of the department in which he worked, and others.

In 1930, while working at the GVMU, he was recruited for Polish intelligence by an agent of this intelligence HURWITZ (convicted), with whom he was connected by espionage until 1932. During this time, he transmitted information about the production activities of a number of defense industry plants: artillery, torpedoes and other types of weapons.

Both for his work in the security department and for work on the listed intelligence he received monetary rewards.

In 1933, STRAZDIN was involved in an anti‐Soviet Pro‐Trotskyist organization operating in the GVMU, the former assistant to the head of the GVMU ERMAN (convicted).

Among the members of the organization named PAVLUNOVSKY and GURVITS.

On the instructions of the organization, he carried out sabotage at the factories of the defense industry.

During the search of STRAZDINʹs house, a number of top‐secret materials were found (intelligence reports, materials on the defense industry, and others).

For the 4th DEPARTMENT

1. BERMAN BZ, former 2nd secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU (b). Interrogated: KOLOSKOV.

He confessed that he was a member of the anti‐Soviet organization of the right, to which he was recruited in 1935 in the mountains. Kirov CARPENTER.

The anti‐Soviet organization in Kirov included: STOLYAR, ABUGOV,

LEGKONRAVOV, HAKOBYAN, DUBINSKY, VELKEVICH, IVANOV, ROGOZHIN, GOLDMAN, YURSHKIN, AKMIN and BEREZIN.

The organization carried out sabotage in agriculture and industry.

The CARPENTER set himself the task of disrupting logging. They paid special attention to the Izhevsk steel plant, the organization of sabotage, accidents, and the release of mass rejects.

The members of the anti‐Soviet organization of the right in Udmurtia were: G. IVANOV ‐ Chairman of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars, PT IVANOV ‐ the second secretary of OK, KILDIBEKOV ‐ editor of the newspaper, CARRIER ‐ authorized committee for procurement, KRIVOSHEIN ‐ deputy. Peopleʹs Commissariat for Land, and others (named 15 people in total).

Further, BERMAN testified that when he moved to Sverdlovsk, he, together with the CARPENTER, continued his anti‐Soviet work, imposing members of the organization (LVOVA, SAMARINA, TESLYA) on the leadership work.

2. KOLETVINOV, former chairman of the organizing committee of the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee in Tula. Interrogated: KRASOVSKY.

KOLETVINOV confessed that he was a member of the Pravotrotskyist organization that existed in the Tula region, in which he was involved in 1934 by SEDELNIKOV, who was then the secretary of the Tula city committee of the CPSU (b). Subsequently, due to his anti‐Soviet activities, he was associated with SOYFER, who worked as the secretary of the Tula city committee of the CPSU (b), and later as the secretary of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) in the Tula region.

KOLETVINOV testified that the organization carried out its anti‐Soviet activities in accordance with the directives of the center of the Trotskyist bloc, with which SOYFER was in contact, and before him SEDELNIKOV.

According to the testimony of KOLETVINOV, the members of the organization are: SOYFER ‐ secretary of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in the Tula region, OVSEENKO ‐ head. ORPO Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), TROFIMOV ‐ former. Soyferʹs assistant, ALAM ‐ Soyferʹs assistant, BEZUKHOV ‐ second secretary of the city committee of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, LOBANOV ‐ b. Chairman of the City Council, MOZAEV ‐

Deputy. Chairman of the City Council, TOKAREV ‐ Secretary of the City Council, ROGOV ‐ Chairman of the City Council, AFANASIEV ‐ Head. GorFO, GUBERMAN ‐ head. Regional health department.

The organization carried out sabotage work in the industry and agriculture of the region.

3. SOYFER YG, former secretary of the organizing bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) in the Tula region. Interrogated: GERZON.

He confessed that he was a member of the anti‐Soviet organization of the right, to which he was recruited in 1928 by the former 2nd secretary of the MK VKP (b) KOTOV.

From 1933 to 1935, working as secretary of the Dzerzhinsky and then Leninsky district committees of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, he was associated with the Trotskyite group that carried out anti‐Soviet work in the MK and the Moscow Oblast Executive Committee, in particular, was associated with Filatov, KAMINSKY, MARGOLIN, FURER and CRIMEAN.

SOYFER testified that in Moscow he recruited the following persons into the Pravotrotskyist organization: B.E. TROFIMOV. ‐ former assistant. Secretary of the Leningrad District Committee, OVSEENKO ‐ the former agitprop of the Leningrad District Committee, currently the head. ORPO of the Tula Regional Committee, and LIPSKY Yu.A. ‐ Former Zavorg of the Lenin District Committee of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.

In 1935, before leaving for work in Tula as secretary of the City Committee of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, SOYFER received the task of KAMINSKY to contact the former secretary of the Tula City Committee SEDELNIKOV and the 2nd Secretary BYKHOVSKY, who are active participants in the Trotskyist organization in Tula.

SOYFER further testified that upon his arrival in Tula, he contacted members of the organization KOLETVINOV, IVANOV, GAYDUL and KHODORKOVSKY. When organizing the Tula region, he took measures to promote the members of the Pravotrotskyist organization to leadership work. In addition, a lot of work was launched to recruit new members of the organization.

Along with this, as SOYFER shows, he, through the members of the

Trotskyist organization, established contact with the Socialist‐

Revolutionary and Menshevik underground in Tula.

In Tula, a terrorist group was also created, which included members of the organization DEBT, OVSEENKO and BEZUKHOV.

The organization also carried out a lot of sabotage work in the defense industry, for this purpose SOYFER created a sabotage and sabotage organization at the Tula arms and cartridge factories, which was headed by b. the secretary of the party committee TOZ VERKHOV, secretary of the factory district committee STEPANOV and former. Secretary of the Party Committee of the Cartridge Plant POLEZHAYEV.

4. RABINOVICH IM, former editor of the newspaper ʺTurkmenskaya Iskraʺ. Interrogated: VLADZIMIRSKY, COOPER.

He confessed that he was one of the leaders of the Trotskyist organization operating in the Turkmen SSR.

He showed that he was recruited into the organization by the former. Secretary of the Central Committee of the Turkmen SSR POPOK, who was the head of the Trotskyist organization (at the present time, POPOK is the secretary of the Regional Committee of the CPSU (b) of the Republic of Volga Germans).

Among the leading members of the anti‐Soviet Trotskyist organization,

RABINOVICH named KIPARISOV ‐ former. deputy. prom. Department of the Central Committee of Turkmenistan, GULYAEVA ‐ former. deputy. agitprop, BELETSKOGO ‐ former. deputy. head agricultural department, UMANSKOGO ‐ former. Secretary of the Ashgabat City Committee, FIRSOV ‐ b. Deputy POPOK.

The organization carried out sabotage and sabotage in industry and agriculture.

5. LEGKONRAVOV, former chairman of the regional executive committee of the DCK. Interrogated by SAMOKHVALOV and RODOS.

He gave additional evidence that the anti‐Soviet organization of the right in the Kirov region, of which he was one of the leaders, carried out a lot of sabotage at an arms factory in the city of Izhevsk.

In 1935, at a meeting with Rykov, Legkonravov received instructions from the latter to intensify sabotage at the Izhevsk Arms Plant. LEGKONRAVOV RYKOV handed this directive to STOLYAR, HAKOBYAN and BERMAN.

HAKOBYAN and BERMAN directly supervised the sabotage work at the Izhevsk plant. They delayed the development of the production of automatic rifles, and then produced a wrecking release of those with the expectation of their quick wear.

This sabotage was carried out by the deliberate manufacture of a locking mechanism from metal that did not meet technical requirements, as a result of which the manufactured rifles became unusable after several shots.

LEGKONRAVOV also testified that upon arrival in Khabarovsk, he sought to create a squabble between the leading workers of the region and the command of the OKDVA. To this end, he tried with provocative fabrications to turn the leading workers against each other.

Further, LEGKONRAVOV testified that in Khabarovsk he established a connection with KARPOV, who was known to him in the Gorky Territory as a member of the anti‐Soviet organization of the right.

KARPOV, as LEGKONRAVOV shows, informed him of his anti‐Soviet connection with VAREIKIS and the Japanese consul in Khabarovsk SIMADO, through whom he transmitted spy information to Japanese intelligence.

In order to create the most favorable conditions for subversive work LEGKONRAVOV, in agreement with VAREIKIS, promoted KARPOV to the post of head. regional executive committee.

In October 1937, in connection with the arrest of VAREIKIS and other participants in the anti‐Soviet conspiracy in the DCK, LEGKONRAVOV and KARPOV arose fears about the possibility of KARPOVʹs failure as well.

In this regard, and considering that KARPOV is lonely and not connected with his family, the issue of his illegal transfer abroad was resolved.

LEGKONRAVOV shows that KARPOV, after crossing the border, had to transfer to Japanese intelligence the espionage information on the DCK that he and LEGKONRAVOV had collected. At the same time, behind the cordon, KARPOV, with his provocative fabrications, was supposed to act as an ʺexposerʺ of the allegedly aggressive policy of the USSR in the Far East and sow slander about the Soviet Union. All this work KARPOV was supposed to carry out on the instructions of the Japanese intelligence.

In November 1937, KARPOV, at the direction of LEGKONRAVOV and in agreement with Simado, made an attempt to cross the border, but it was unsuccessful, since he was detained by the border guard, but with the help of LEGKONRAVOV, KARPOV was released from custody and his stay at the border was explained by the fact that he got lost while hunting.

LEGKONRAVOV shows that, according to STOLYARʹs instructions, he was supposed to attract active members of the anti‐Soviet organization from Kirov to the DCK, who were supposed to be the organizing nucleus for the restoration and activation of the anti‐Soviet underground in the DCK and consolidation of ties with Japanese intelligence.

To this end, LEGKONRAVOV tried to drag into the DCK a member of the anti‐Soviet organization LOZOVSKY, on whom great hopes were pinned, since he had repeatedly been behind the cordon and, while working as a Soviet consul in China, had connections with anti‐Soviet circles abroad.

As LEGKONRAVOV shows, he also tried to drag a member of the anti‐

Soviet organization BEZRUKOV to the DCK.

Along with this, as LEGKONRAVOV shows, in Khabarovsk he took the path of expanding his anti‐Soviet ties. To this end, he probed and selected people who could be involved in the anti‐Soviet conspiracy. So, for example, he was processing RAZUMOV ‐ the former head. KrayFO, and FAKTOROVICH ‐ deputy. chairman of Kraiplan, to involve them in the anti‐Soviet organization.

In terms of the development of subversive destructive activities in the Far East, LEGKONRAVOV planned to carry out sabotage activities in the field of agriculture. Practically carrying out these sabotage intentions, LEGKONRAVOV tried to sabotage the entire amount of sowing grain supplied by the government (50 thousand centners) to the regions of the DCK, leaving no reserves, so that in case of nonresemblance of crops, there was nothing to carry out immediate reseeding.

6. EINGORN YA, former 1st secretary of the Soviet embassy in Iran, before his arrest authorized by the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Foreign Affairs in Uzbekistan. Interrogated: VLADZIMIRSKY, COOPER.

EINGORN, in development of his statement, showed that in 1918, as a prisoner of war soldier of the Austro‐Hungarian army, in the camps in the city of Skobelev, he was recruited by an officer of the Austrian service HARTMAN as an agent of German intelligence.

Having GARTMANʹs assignments not to return to his homeland, to settle in the USSR for a long time, to gain confidence and get into responsible work in the Soviet apparatus in order to be suitable for subsequent important espionage assignments, EYNGORN joined the CPSU (b). Then, in pursuance of this assignment, EINGORN graduated from the Department of Oriental Languages of the Central Asian State University and made his way to work in the NKID, first as an interpreter and then as the first secretary of the embassy in Iran.

In Iran, EINGORN contacted a German intelligence agent, a former German consul in southern Persia, VASMUS. Since then, first under the leadership of VASMUS, and then the former German envoy in Tehran SCHULENBURG, EINGORN conducted espionage work, supplying the Germans with various espionage materials that were obtained from the USSR embassy.

EINGORN carried out active espionage work in favor of Germany until 1937 inclusive.

Back in 1932, while at work in Tehran, EINGORN was recruited for espionage work by British intelligence through the British envoy. In 1934, in connection with the appointment of an authorized NKID in Tashkent, EINGORN, on behalf of the British intelligence, established an anti‐Soviet connection with Akmal IKRAMOV.

In 1935‐1936. on behalf of the British, EINGORN organized a meeting between IKRAMOV and the leader of Dungan MA‐SHA‐OU and

MUSULBAI to discuss the preparation of uprisings in Xinjiang against a government friendly to the USSR. These uprisings were inspired by British intelligence with the direct organizational participation of A. IKRAMOV, the former consul general in Kashgar APRESOV, with the aim of spreading British influence in Xinjiang.

11th DEPARTMENT

1. ZASHIBAYEV AC, former Deputy Peopleʹs Commissar and Head of the Political Department of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water, b. member of the CPSU (b) since 1917. Interrogated by ANDREEV, KUCHINSKY.

He testified that he was one of the leaders of the anti‐Soviet Pravotrotskyist organization in water transport.

He was recruited into the anti‐Soviet organization of the right in 1928 by N.

In 1929, upon arrival at work in the mountains. Gorky, on the instructions of UGLANOV, established contact with members of the organization of the right, in particular with BOGDANOV (worked as head of the Gubprofsovet).

At the end of 1929, at one of the illegal meetings of the activists of the organization of the right in the apartment of BOGDANOV, a counterrevolutionary program document brought from Moscow was discussed.

Then from BOGDANOV I learned about the participation in the organization of the right‐wing NI PAKHOMOV, who, according to BOGDANOV, was directly connected with the union center of the right.

In 1934, through anti‐Soviet work, he personally contacted N.I.PAKHOMOV, who was informed about the existence of a widely branched Pravotrotskyist organization on water transport, with the goal of destroying water transport, and that this organization is headed by him, PAKHOMOV.

Later, the leadership of all the anti‐Soviet activities of the Pravotrotskyist organization in water transport was carried out by the anti‐Soviet center in the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water, which included PAKHOMOV, ROSENTAL and he, ZASHIBAEV.

During 1936‐1935, personally from PAKHOMOV I knew about his terrorist intentions against comrades. STALIN and MIKOYAN.

In one of the conversations, PAKHOMOV said that preparations were underway to commit a terrorist act against Comrade. STALIN and that EVGENIEV is also acting in this direction (former deputy head of the Transport Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) ‐ arrested).

According to Evgeniev, he knew about the preparation by him and Yurov (former assistant of the head of the Political Administration of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water Resources ‐ convicted) in 1936 of a terrorist acts against comrade. Stalin during his vacation trip.

Personally recruited into the organization YUROV (former assistant of the head of the Political Administration of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water ‐ convicted), KYUBAR (former assistant of the Head of the Political Administration of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Komsomol ‐ arrested), STROGANOV (former head of the Main Directorate of Educational Institutions of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water ‐ arrested), GUDKOV, ABELYA (the former heads of the Political Department of the shipping companies ‐ arrested), TOKAREVA (the former head of the Political Department of the North‐Western River Shipping Company ‐ scheduled for arrest).

He named as members of the organization ROSENTAL (former Deputy Peopleʹs Commissar of Water Transport), SHISHLYANNIKOV (former head of the planning department of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water Transport), SHEIN (formerly the answer, editor of the newspaper ʺWater Transportʺ), KOKAREV (formerly head of the Central Department of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Water Transport ), ZAITSEVA (former assistant head of the Political Administration of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water), KARYGINA (former deputy head of the Planning Department of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water), VASINA (former secretary of PAKHOMOV) ‐ all arrested, BOVINA (former head of the Northern River Administration of the Peopleʹs

Commissariat for Water), GUROVICH (former head of the Eastern River Administration), KHITRIKA (former head of the Southern River

Administration), CHEVERDINA (former head of the Volga‐Kama River Administration), PEROVA (former assistant of the Head of the

Political Administration of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water), NECHUPIENKO and VIENIOVSKY (former inspector at the Peopleʹs Commissariat) ‐ all convicted.

Together with N.I. PAKHOMOV and ROSENTHALEM led all the subversive work on water transport.

The subversive activities of the Pravotrotskyist organization in the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water widely covered the following main areas of the work of water transport: capital construction of shipbuilding and ship repair bases; port, marina and hydraulic structures; repair and modernization of the sea and river fleet; planning of cargo transportation by sea and river transport; organization of labor and wages of water transport workers.

In the field of operation, the work of the sea and river fleets was built by the Pravotrotsky organization, counting on the wear and tear of the fleet.

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

[1] * ‐ * Handwritten.

[2] So in the source.