To Stalin

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

Summary of the most important testimonies of those arrested by the GUGB NKVD of the USSR for February 13, 1938

Archive: AP RF. F. 3. Op. 24.D. 405.L.1 ‐ 17

February 16, 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 GUGB NKVD of the USSR for February 13, 1938.

Peopleʹs Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR General Commissar of

State Security (EZHOV) [1]

Top secret

For the 3rd DEPARTMENT

1. ADAMAYTIS IA, former head of the Main Directorate of the Refrigeration Industry of the USSR Peopleʹs Commissariat for Food Industry. Lithuanian by nationality. Interrogated: LUKOVSKY.

He testified that in 1938 he was recruited for espionage by the secretary of the Lithuanian section of the Comintern, ANGAREITIS.

From 1922 to 1924, and then from 1931 to the day of his arrest, ADAMAITIS systematically transferred to ANGAREITIS espionage materials about food supplies in Moscow and the Soviet Union as a whole, and about reserves intended for wartime.

In 1932‐1933. ADAMAYTIS received a task from ANGAREITIS to raise funds in foreign currency.

In reality, this money, as ANGAREITIS told him, was intended to fight the Soviet government.

In 1933, ADAMAITIS was recruited by the former deputy. Peopleʹs Commissar of the Food Industry of the Union BELENKIM (arrested) in the anti‐Soviet organization of the right in the food industry. BELENKY gave the task to ADAMAITIS to create a subversive organization of the right in the refrigeration industry of the USSR and carry out sabotage activities.

From 1933 to the day of his arrest, ADAMAYTIS recruited 13 workers of the refrigeration industry (directors of refrigerators) into this organization.

The indications are primary.

2. Myasischev V.M. , Before his arrest, the head of the design department of plant No. 84 NKOP. Interrogated: KVASOV.

He showed that in 1933 he was TUPOLEV involved in an anti‐Soviet organization at TsAGI.

Heading a special design team of heavy aircraft, MYASISHCHEV in 1934 sabotagely designed a heavy torpedo aircraft ʺT‐1ʺ, which after two years of construction and systematic alterations fell apart in the air.

Taking part in the acceptance of drawings from the American company ʺDouglasʺ (for the DS‐3‐196 machine), with a sabotage purpose, MYASISHCHOV did not receive a significant number of basic drawings, as a result of which the production of the machine was disrupted.

For the 5th DEPARTMENT

1. PODSOTSKY KI, former deputy chief of the Military Publishing House of NIO [2], brig commissar. Interrogated by GRINBERG and SELEZNEV.

He gave initial testimony that he was a participant in an anti‐Soviet military conspiracy, into which he was recruited in June 1936 by the former head of the Political Education Department of the PU of the Red Army ‐ REYZIN (arrested).

REYZIN named PODSOTSKY GAMARNIK and YAKIR, who were part of the leadership of the conspiracy, and as participants in the latter: IORDANSKY Pyotr Konstantinovich, regimental commissar (not arrested), RACHKOV Ivan, the former assistant of GAMARNIK (not arrested), BEGLIN, SHUBIN and a number of others arrested.

REYZIN told PODSOTSKY that GAMARNIK is connected with

Sulimov, the former chairman of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars of the RSFSR, as one of the leaders of the Pravotrotskyist organization in Moscow.

At the suggestion of REIZIN, PODSOTSKY contacted BELITSKY, the former head of the Military Publishing House of the NKO (arrested), who informed PODSOTSKY about the existence in the army along with a military conspiracy and an SR organization and invited him, as a former SR, to take part in the anti‐Soviet work of the army SR organization.

BELITSKY told PODSOTSKY that Ivan Pavlovich BELOV, a former

BVO commander (arrested), FISHMAN, a former early. Chemical Department of the Red Army (arrested), and KORNEVSKY Vsevolod ‐ former. early of the housing and exploitation Department of the Red Army (arrested), and that the members of this organization are JORDANSKY, an employee of the Central Council of Osoaviakhim

(arrested), VELIKANOV ‐ com. troops SAVO (arrested), KHARITONOV Nikolai Nikolaevich, former early. 2nd department PU RKKA (arrested), SAVITSKY ‐ former early. Management at the beginning. the composition of the Red Army (arrested), VINOKUROV, Mikhail SUBOTSKY (arrested).

BELITSKY proposed to PODSOTSKY to restore his former SocialistRevolutionary ties in the army and outside it. At the same time, BELITSKY stressed that this should be done quickly, since In the near future, it is planned to convene an illegal meeting of Social Revolutionaries ‐ army workers in a limited composition, at which a plan for an extensive struggle against Soviet power will be developed, and that he, BELITSKY, will make sure that PODSOTSKY is present at this meeting.

In accordance with the installation BELITSKY, PODSOTSKY established contact with the former SRs KOZLOV, ex. prev. Gubchek in 1918 in Penza, lives in Moscow, and LADYGINA ‐ former. Secretary of the Penza Provincial Committee of the Left SRs recently worked in the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the CPSU (b).

Being associated with BELITSKY in the conspiracy and the SocialistRevolutionary organization, the latter told PODSOTSKY that the participants in the conspiracy were: Mityaev ‐ deputy. early 1st Department of the Military Publishing House, regimental commissar (not arrested), ANTS ‐ former. deputy. scientific secretary of the military encyclopedia (not arrested), BUTLER ‐ deputy. early 1st Department of the Military Publishing House, Colonel (not arrested), and also confirmed participation in the conspiracy by the deputy. early Military publishing house DUІІІAKA Andrei Yakovlevich (arrested), whom REIZIN named PODSOTSKY after he was recruited into the conspiracy.

BELITSKY gave PODSOTSKY the conspiracy task to begin processing and recruiting new persons into the conspiracy from among the workers of the Military Publishing House in order to create a powerful group of conspirators, with whose help it would be possible to carry out subversive work in the Military Publishing House without risk.

In accordance with the tasks of REIZIN and BELITSKY, PODSOTSKY recruited DUNAEV into the conspiracy ‐ early. 2nd Military Publishing Department, regimental commissar (not arrested), KATULINA ‐ early. 1st Military Publishing Department, regimental commissar (not arrested), and KAGANA Saul Isaakovich, ex. early the administrative and financial department of the Military Publishing House (not arrested).

The participants in the conspiracy ‐ the workers of the Military Publishing House BELITSKY, DUSHAK, PODSOTSKY and others ‐ directed their subversive work to disrupt the political preparation of the Red Army units by systematically disrupting the release of manuals, manuals and textbooks necessary for the training of the Red Army troops, deliberately released a large number of scrap in order to disrupt the release date these tutorials. In particular, a political textbook for the Red Army was released in the amount of 150 thousand copies, which was delayed by the release for 4 months and subsequently, as a marriage, was completely destroyed.

A similar situation was with the 1st volume of Op. Engels in the amount of 50 thousand copies and a number of other publications.

As a result of sabotage in the Military Publishing, the plan for the publication of manuals and textbooks for 1937 was disrupted and great material damage was caused.

At the beginning of 1937, BELITSKY informed PODSOTSKY about organizing a terrorist group in the Military Publishing House, whose members are Colonel BUTLER and Regimental Commissar Mityaev, and that they were preparing to commit terrorist acts against the leaders of the party and government, in particular, they were preparing the murder of Comrade. VOROSHILOVA.

At the same time, BELITSKY said that this work was being carried out slowly, and suggested PODSOTSKY to join the terrorist group to intensify its activities.

The interrogation continues.

2. BELOV IP, former commander of the Belarusian military district. Interrogated by YAMNITSKY and KAZAKEVICH.

In addition, he testified that in 1936, during a meeting of the military council in Moscow, he established a connection with the former Soviet Union on an anti‐Soviet military conspiracy. army inspector BVO ‐ KOVTYUKH (arrested).

Belov knew about KOVTYUKHʹs participation in the anti‐Soviet military conspiracy and his connection with Uborevich from URITSKY.

In a conversation during the military council, BELOV rebuked KOVTYUKH that he, a former partisan, was associated with the ʺaristocratsʺ ‐ Uborevich and others. KOVTYUKH said that he contacted Uborevich with the approval of his conspiracy friends ‐ partisans, and that he knew about the attitude of Uborevich and other former officers to the ʺblack bone, peasant generalsʺ and did not reveal all his cards to them.

From KOVTYUKH, BELOV knew that he was part of a group of socalled “partisans,” who in the past had commanded partisans, which included, in addition to KOVTYUKH, KUTYAKOV, ZHLOBA and SEDYAKIN (arrested).

BELOV, on behalf of the military‐Socialist‐Revolutionary center, established permanent contact with KOVTYUKH, suggesting using his group and connections among former partisans in the interests of his organization for the subsequent (after the anti‐Soviet coup) joint struggle against the ʺaristocratsʺ.

KOVTYUKH in subsequent meetings told BELOV that in the Kuban, among the former participants in the campaign of the Taman army, he had insurgent cells, with which he was connected through a redneck.

3. KUIBYSHEV, former commander of the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District. Interrogated: AGAS and ORESHENKOV.

In addition, he showed that in 1933 TUKHACHEVSKY, instructing him on anti‐Soviet work, indicated that the military‐fascist organization, in order to defeat the Soviet Union in a future war, was connected with foreign general staffs and that, in particular, he, TUKHACHEVSKY, was connected with the German General BLOMBERG. According to the testimony of KUIBYSHEV, BLOMBERG is fully aware of the activities of the military conspiracy.

Proceeding from the need for constant espionage with Germany, TUKHACHEVSKY gave KUIBYSHEV an assignment to establish an espionage connection with the resident of German intelligence, the head of the All‐Union Precision Industry Association NEMOV, which KUIBYSHEV did. From 1933 to June 1936, KUIBYSHEV passed on to NEMOV a number of espionage information, of which the most characteristic are:

1. On submarines: on the progress of their construction, on their dispatch and assemblies to the Far East, on the distribution of submarines across the seas, on the progress of construction of a submarine of the ʺGermanʺ type.

2. On the progress of the construction of the shipyard in Komsomolsk.

3. On the state and armament of the torpedo and mine‐sweeping fleet.

4. On the course of construction of a new torpedo plant in Makhachkala in the Caucasus.

5. On the modernization of the battleship ʺParis Communeʺ.

6. Annual shipbuilding plans by factories.

In addition to the personal transfer of espionage information to German intelligence through NEMOV, KUIBYSHEV passed on to the latter spy documents from the deputy. early Of the General Staff of the RKKA LEVICHEV. Levichev, in addition to his personal connection with the German intelligence, handed over the following documents to KUIBYSHEV for transfer to NEMOV:

1. At the end of 1933 or the beginning of 1934 on organizational measures in the Red Army for 1934.

2. At the beginning of 1935 about the size of the Red Army.

3. At the end of 1935 on the draft plan of orders for non‐profit organizations of industry for 1936.

In addition, KUIBYSHEV testified that in 1935 he was recruited into an agent of Polish intelligence by the Polish intelligence officer LOGANOVSKY, the Deputy Peopleʹs Commissar for Foreign Trade. By espionage work, LOGANOVSKY was directly connected with the trade attaché of the Polish embassy in Moscow (whose name KUIBYSHEV forgot). LOGANOVSKY KUIBYSHEV for transferring to the Poles handed over materials on the order of an NGO for shipbuilding for 1935 and 1936. (separately), on the distribution of submarines by fleets and on the correspondence of the torpedo and mine fleets.

KUIBYSHEV knows that LOGANOVSKYʹs wife (convicted), who worked in the Comintern, was aware of her husbandʹs espionage activities, while NEMOV directly recruited his wife for espionage work and she performed the functions of a signalman for him.

KUIBYSHEV shows that he knows from the words of LOGANOVSKY that the Polish intelligence officers are HALEPSKY, BUDNYAK is the director of the Barrikady plant, BORTSOVSKY is the former head of the Technical Directorate of the Red Army, and NEIMAN is the former head of the NKOP tank engineering trust. (All named persons have been arrested.)

4. SEMENOV HA ., A former military attaché of the USSR in France. Interrogated by: YAMNITSKII, KAZAKEVICH.

In addition, he showed that he established contact with URITSKY

(former head of the Red Army, arrested) in the military‐officer organization not in 1936, as he had previously shown, but in 1932, having coordinated this connection with the head of the organization, personally with TUKHACHEVSKY.

Among the participants in the anti‐Soviet military conspiracy, URITSKY named SEMENOV, the current beginning. School of RU RKKA in Moscow SMIRNOVA (not arrested), whom SEMENOV contacted in 1935 as a conspirator in Paris. SEMENOV testified that ORLOV (former head of the Naval Forces, arrested), being in Paris in January 1937, raised a question with the representative of the ROVS, General ERDELI, about uniting emigrant groups and preparing for the invasion of the USSR by White émigré units in the event of an uprising of conspirators.

Through GEKKER (former head of the department of external relations of the NGO, convicted), SEMENOV received from Tukhachevsky 10 thousand dollars to support the organization of white officers in exile. In 1937 SEMENOV transferred this money to ERDELI.

ERDELI conveyed to SEMENOV for ORLOV‐TUKHACHEVSKY that about 5 thousand officers in France and Belgium and about the same number in the Balkans were taken into account, which could be used by the leadership of the military officer organization in the USSR to occupy command positions in the army of the future Russia.

5. IVANOV AC, ex. early scientific and technical department of the Armaments Directorate of the UMC RKKA. Interrogated:

POLISHCHUK and SHCHERBAKOV.

Gave initial testimony about his participation in an anti‐Soviet military conspiracy, into which he was recruited in early 1936 by former. deputy. early Directorate of Armaments of the UMS RKKA LEONOV (arrested).

When recruiting, LEONOV said that the conspiracy in the UMS was headed by the former. early Morsil ORLOV (arrested) and in subsequent conversations as participants in the conspiracy called: deputy. Namorsi LUDRI, early. Directorate of shipbuilding UMS ALYAKRITSKY, authorized by the Directorate of Armaments in Leningrad ROSTOVTSEV (all arrested).

In the future, according to the instructions of Leonov, them, IVANOV, extensive sabotage work was launched in the field of providing the fleet with ammunition: clearly unfinished and unusable samples of shells and fuses for them were launched into serial production (100 m / m high‐explosive, fragmentation and fragmentation‐chemical shells, 100 m / m remote grenades, ʺKTMBʺ fuses, etc.), pilot production and testing of new types of shells was slowed down, timely provision of the fleet with firing tables for new artillery systems and shells was delayed, as a result of which shells of new systems could not be used, an order for the manufacture of unusable nitroglycerin propellants in the amount of over 6,000,000 rubles, which significantly reduce the survivability of art. guns (rapid burning of the gun channel).

As a result of sabotage activities, the supply of the fleet with ammunition, especially for new artillery systems, was disrupted, which significantly reduced the combat effectiveness of the fleet.

11th DEPARTMENT

1. EVGENIEV E.Ya., former deputy. Head Transport department of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). Interrogated: POLYAKOV.

EVGENIEV gave additional testimony that at the end of 1935, at a special meeting with the participation of ZOFA, ROSENTHAL and YANSON N.M. he took over the leadership of the organizationʹs

terrorist activities and the creation of a combat group.

At the same meeting, it was decided to create terrorist groups in Moscow and in those cities where the arrival of individual leaders of the CPSU (b) and the government was likely, personally developed and reported at the repeated meeting a plan for organizing terrorist acts against the leaders of the CPSU (b) and government.

In addition to the previously named members of the combat group KALITAEV (the former inspector ‐ the dispatcher of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water Transport ‐ was arrested), PEROVA (the former assistant of the head of the Political Directorate of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Water ‐ convicted), VASINA (the former confidant of the Peopleʹs Commissar of Water Transport ‐ was arrested) and PODOLSKAYA (the former beginning. sector of the Political Administration of the Peopleʹs Commissariat ‐ convicted), recruited and attracted LEVKOVSKY to participate in this group, formerly. instructor of the Transport Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) (scheduled for arrest).

For the practical preparation of terrorist acts, he organized trips of the members of the combat group to the places of the alleged arrival of the leaders of the CPSU (b) and the government. In the spring of 1936, he instructed Kalitaev to organize a terrorist act against comrade STALIN in Sochi.

KALITAEVʹs attempts to get to the resting place of Comrade STALIN failed. He gave PODOLSKAYA an assignment to go to Leningrad and, having contacted a member of the organization ABEL (formerly the head of the Political Department of the Baltic Shipping Company, was arrested), use the speech of Comrade. Zhdanov at one of the meetings to commit a terrorist act on him.

PODOLSKAYA left for Leningrad, but due to the lack of accurate information about the speech of Comrade. Zhdanova returned to Moscow. In 1936, in connection with the alleged departure of Comrade. Zhdanova in the mountains. Gorky instructed Vasin to prepare and commit a terrorist act against Comrade. Zhdanov. VASIN in the mountains. Gorky drove out.

To commit a terrorist act over Comrade. MIKOYAN sent LEVKOVSKY to Astrakhan, where he should await the arrival of Comrade. MIKOYAN for fisheries. LEVKOVSKY went to Astrakhan.

In July 1936, he instructed Kalitaev to personally commit a terrorist act in the government box of the Aeroclub. Kosyrev on Aviation Day.

ROSENTAL informed KALITAEVA of this assignment in detail, who had to receive bombs and weapons from abroad through BRONSHTEIN (former head of the Baltic Shipping Company ‐ convicted) and PETERSON (arrested). I knew that KALITAEV had involved one woman in the terrorist act (according to the testimony of KALITAEV, KUZENKOV, who is an employee of the Central Telegraph, was scheduled for arrest).

The terrorist act did not take place due to the fact that it was not possible to get passes to the government box.

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

[1] Signed by Deputy Peopleʹs Commissar of Internal Affairs Frinovsky. [2] So in the source.