Nikita Petrov
Nikita Petrov is a Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Scientific, Information and Educational Center "Memorial". He is author of books, publications (including in "Novaya Gazeta"), also coauthor of monographs dedicated to the secret police and Stalinist repressions in the USSR. Received a PhD in history at the University of Amsterdam for his dissertation "Stalin and the NKVD-MGB in the Sovietization of Central and Eastern European countries. 1945-1953".
MGB-General Sudoplatov: The Anti-Hero Mythology
Up to the early 1990s, the general public knew nothing at all about Pavel Sudoplatov, an MGB general during the Stalin era, who was responsible for carrying out the most secret orders of the Soviet leadership to eliminate political opponents. Of course, Sudoplatov's professional biography is much broader and more complex and, of course, is not limited to organizing assassination attempts.
In the post-war period, Sudoplatov headed the "special service" in the MGB for carrying out sabotage work abroad and reprisals within the country. This is the least known part of his biography. And yet there are published documents about it, and they give an accurate picture of the secret activities of Sudoplatov and his "service". And most importantly, it was Stalin's guidelines that were the justification and theoretical substantiation for all his activity.
His glorious career ended ingloriously. After the death of Stalin and the fall of Beria, Sudoplatov was arrested in August 1953, and an investigation and endless interrogations began. Now no one was interested in the fact that Sudoplatov received orders to carry out certain actions to eliminate people from the very top: sanctions were given at the Politburo level and directly by Stalin, Molotov, Khrushchev. Now he has become, according to his own words, an "undesirable witness." He tried to save himself as best he could - he feigned madness and confused the investigation. Perhaps the example of the legendary revolutionary Kamo stood before his eyes. The main thing is that he managed to avoid a death sentence, and such a prospect was quite real.
The verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR dated September 12, 1958 noted that Sudoplatov committed "grave crimes against humanity," and in particular said: "A special laboratory created to carry out experiments to test the effect of poison on a living person worked under the supervision of Sudoplatov and his deputy Eitingon from 1942 to 1946. They demanded from laboratory workers only poisons tested on humans. After the liquidation of the special laboratory, the workers of this laboratory, on behalf of Sudoplatov, several times tested a new drug with poison on living people."
Sudoplatov served his sentence in Vladimir prison fully ("from bell to bell"). Upon his release in August 1968, he devoted himself to literary work and fought long and hard for his own rehabilitation. This story is reflected quite fully in numerous archival documents of the CPSU Central Committee (now RGANI). Until 1991, all of Sudoplatov's statements were met with a decisive refusal in the Central Committee and the Party Control Committee. Only in 1992 did the Main Military Prosecutor's Office decide to rehabilitate Sudoplatov and Eitingon. This decision caused a storm of criticism. By this time, quite a lot had already been written about Sudoplatov in periodicals. The motives for previous refusals and sudden rehabilitation are the subject of special discussion. In just a few years, the "anti-hero" turned into a myth overgrown with enthusiastic epithets. Sudoplatov himself contributed to this, having grown old, but not losing his sense of the political situation.
It is also important that Sudoplatov gained true international fame by publishing his memoirs. People of his profession, and even more so - of his specialization, did not like to remember and write about themselves and were quite rightly afraid. Uniqueness was in the coming era. After August 1991, the time has come to rethink the past and have an honest conversation about the causes of people's troubles. And Sudoplatov, offended and punished by the Soviet authorities, spoke up. He published his memoirs first in the USA (in 1994), then in Russia (in 1996). His book created a sensation. Not because it revealed many details of the work of Soviet intelligence and showed the complex vicissitudes of the fate of Sudoplatov himself, which the public guessed about, but did not know for certain. In this part, Sudoplatov's memoirs are informative, although they contain elements of self-justification and sometimes misinformation. This is understandable; he did not dare admit many unpleasant things in his past actions.
The innovation of his memoirs lies elsewhere. For the first time, the reader was presented with a clearly structured ideological system of justification for a person involved in crimes during Stalinism. Of course, Sudoplatov is not an independent figure - he is a performer. But still, he does not hide behind the formula "I followed orders," he advances and finds explanations on a planetary scale. The international situation, the struggle of powers for primacy, Stalin and the world are the driving forces for Sudoplatov's development and improvement of the Soviet state security agencies. And he, Sudoplatov, is just a cog, and ultimately an "unwanted witness" in this planetary game. At least that's how he presents himself in his memoirs.
Yes. Somewhat simplified, but that's it. The Soviet system, after Stalin's revelations at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, was never able to develop a clear and consistent course to overcome Stalin's lawlessness and, moreover, was unable to give honest and clear assessments of the past. In these coordinates, the analysis of the fate and activities of Sudoplatov acquires particular importance and relevance. His fate holds the key to understanding the deep foundations of the Soviet system and the key to the persistence in mass psychology of many stereotypes and archaic ideas about the role of the special services.
Moreover, today, when Sudoplatov as a symbol and myth is in demand to justify the secret activities of "people of a special calling."
In the post-war period, Sudoplatov headed the "special service" in the MGB for carrying out sabotage work abroad and reprisals within the country. This is the least known part of his biography. And yet there are published documents about it, and they give an accurate picture of the secret activities of Sudoplatov and his "service". And most importantly, it was Stalin's guidelines that were the justification and theoretical substantiation for all his activity.
His glorious career ended ingloriously. After the death of Stalin and the fall of Beria, Sudoplatov was arrested in August 1953, and an investigation and endless interrogations began. Now no one was interested in the fact that Sudoplatov received orders to carry out certain actions to eliminate people from the very top: sanctions were given at the Politburo level and directly by Stalin, Molotov, Khrushchev. Now he has become, according to his own words, an "undesirable witness." He tried to save himself as best he could - he feigned madness and confused the investigation. Perhaps the example of the legendary revolutionary Kamo stood before his eyes. The main thing is that he managed to avoid a death sentence, and such a prospect was quite real.
The verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR dated September 12, 1958 noted that Sudoplatov committed "grave crimes against humanity," and in particular said: "A special laboratory created to carry out experiments to test the effect of poison on a living person worked under the supervision of Sudoplatov and his deputy Eitingon from 1942 to 1946. They demanded from laboratory workers only poisons tested on humans. After the liquidation of the special laboratory, the workers of this laboratory, on behalf of Sudoplatov, several times tested a new drug with poison on living people."
Sudoplatov served his sentence in Vladimir prison fully ("from bell to bell"). Upon his release in August 1968, he devoted himself to literary work and fought long and hard for his own rehabilitation. This story is reflected quite fully in numerous archival documents of the CPSU Central Committee (now RGANI). Until 1991, all of Sudoplatov's statements were met with a decisive refusal in the Central Committee and the Party Control Committee. Only in 1992 did the Main Military Prosecutor's Office decide to rehabilitate Sudoplatov and Eitingon. This decision caused a storm of criticism. By this time, quite a lot had already been written about Sudoplatov in periodicals. The motives for previous refusals and sudden rehabilitation are the subject of special discussion. In just a few years, the "anti-hero" turned into a myth overgrown with enthusiastic epithets. Sudoplatov himself contributed to this, having grown old, but not losing his sense of the political situation.
It is also important that Sudoplatov gained true international fame by publishing his memoirs. People of his profession, and even more so - of his specialization, did not like to remember and write about themselves and were quite rightly afraid. Uniqueness was in the coming era. After August 1991, the time has come to rethink the past and have an honest conversation about the causes of people's troubles. And Sudoplatov, offended and punished by the Soviet authorities, spoke up. He published his memoirs first in the USA (in 1994), then in Russia (in 1996). His book created a sensation. Not because it revealed many details of the work of Soviet intelligence and showed the complex vicissitudes of the fate of Sudoplatov himself, which the public guessed about, but did not know for certain. In this part, Sudoplatov's memoirs are informative, although they contain elements of self-justification and sometimes misinformation. This is understandable; he did not dare admit many unpleasant things in his past actions.
The innovation of his memoirs lies elsewhere. For the first time, the reader was presented with a clearly structured ideological system of justification for a person involved in crimes during Stalinism. Of course, Sudoplatov is not an independent figure - he is a performer. But still, he does not hide behind the formula "I followed orders," he advances and finds explanations on a planetary scale. The international situation, the struggle of powers for primacy, Stalin and the world are the driving forces for Sudoplatov's development and improvement of the Soviet state security agencies. And he, Sudoplatov, is just a cog, and ultimately an "unwanted witness" in this planetary game. At least that's how he presents himself in his memoirs.
Yes. Somewhat simplified, but that's it. The Soviet system, after Stalin's revelations at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, was never able to develop a clear and consistent course to overcome Stalin's lawlessness and, moreover, was unable to give honest and clear assessments of the past. In these coordinates, the analysis of the fate and activities of Sudoplatov acquires particular importance and relevance. His fate holds the key to understanding the deep foundations of the Soviet system and the key to the persistence in mass psychology of many stereotypes and archaic ideas about the role of the special services.
Moreover, today, when Sudoplatov as a symbol and myth is in demand to justify the secret activities of "people of a special calling."
Nikita Petrov
Nikita Petrov is a Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Scientific, Information and Educational Center "Memorial". He is author of books, publications (including in "Novaya Gazeta"), also coauthor of monographs dedicated to the secret police and Stalinist repressions in the USSR. Received a PhD in history at the University of Amsterdam for his dissertation "Stalin and the NKVD-MGB in the Sovietization of Central and Eastern European countries. 1945-1953".
MGB-General Sudoplatov: The Anti-Hero Mythology
Up to the early 1990s, the general public knew nothing at all about Pavel Sudoplatov, an MGB general during the Stalin era, who was responsible for carrying out the most secret orders of the Soviet leadership to eliminate political opponents. Of course, Sudoplatov's professional biography is much broader and more complex and, of course, is not limited to organizing assassination attempts.
In the post-war period, Sudoplatov headed the "special service" in the MGB for carrying out sabotage work abroad and reprisals within the country. This is the least known part of his biography. And yet there are published documents about it, and they give an accurate picture of the secret activities of Sudoplatov and his "service". And most importantly, it was Stalin's guidelines that were the justification and theoretical substantiation for all his activity.
His glorious career ended ingloriously. After the death of Stalin and the fall of Beria, Sudoplatov was arrested in August 1953, and an investigation and endless interrogations began. Now no one was interested in the fact that Sudoplatov received orders to carry out certain actions to eliminate people from the very top: sanctions were given at the Politburo level and directly by Stalin, Molotov, Khrushchev. Now he has become, according to his own words, an "undesirable witness." He tried to save himself as best he could - he feigned madness and confused the investigation. Perhaps the example of the legendary revolutionary Kamo stood before his eyes. The main thing is that he managed to avoid a death sentence, and such a prospect was quite real.
The verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR dated September 12, 1958 noted that Sudoplatov committed "grave crimes against humanity," and in particular said: "A special laboratory created to carry out experiments to test the effect of poison on a living person worked under the supervision of Sudoplatov and his deputy Eitingon from 1942 to 1946. They demanded from laboratory workers only poisons tested on humans. After the liquidation of the special laboratory, the workers of this laboratory, on behalf of Sudoplatov, several times tested a new drug with poison on living people."
Sudoplatov served his sentence in Vladimir prison fully ("from bell to bell"). Upon his release in August 1968, he devoted himself to literary work and fought long and hard for his own rehabilitation. This story is reflected quite fully in numerous archival documents of the CPSU Central Committee (now RGANI). Until 1991, all of Sudoplatov's statements were met with a decisive refusal in the Central Committee and the Party Control Committee. Only in 1992 did the Main Military Prosecutor's Office decide to rehabilitate Sudoplatov and Eitingon. This decision caused a storm of criticism. By this time, quite a lot had already been written about Sudoplatov in periodicals. The motives for previous refusals and sudden rehabilitation are the subject of special discussion. In just a few years, the "anti-hero" turned into a myth overgrown with enthusiastic epithets. Sudoplatov himself contributed to this, having grown old, but not losing his sense of the political situation.
It is also important that Sudoplatov gained true international fame by publishing his memoirs. People of his profession, and even more so - of his specialization, did not like to remember and write about themselves and were quite rightly afraid. Uniqueness was in the coming era. After August 1991, the time has come to rethink the past and have an honest conversation about the causes of people's troubles. And Sudoplatov, offended and punished by the Soviet authorities, spoke up. He published his memoirs first in the USA (in 1994), then in Russia (in 1996). His book created a sensation. Not because it revealed many details of the work of Soviet intelligence and showed the complex vicissitudes of the fate of Sudoplatov himself, which the public guessed about, but did not know for certain. In this part, Sudoplatov's memoirs are informative, although they contain elements of self-justification and sometimes misinformation. This is understandable; he did not dare admit many unpleasant things in his past actions.
The innovation of his memoirs lies elsewhere. For the first time, the reader was presented with a clearly structured ideological system of justification for a person involved in crimes during Stalinism. Of course, Sudoplatov is not an independent figure - he is a performer. But still, he does not hide behind the formula "I followed orders," he advances and finds explanations on a planetary scale. The international situation, the struggle of powers for primacy, Stalin and the world are the driving forces for Sudoplatov's development and improvement of the Soviet state security agencies. And he, Sudoplatov, is just a cog, and ultimately an "unwanted witness" in this planetary game. At least that's how he presents himself in his memoirs.
Yes. Somewhat simplified, but that's it. The Soviet system, after Stalin's revelations at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, was never able to develop a clear and consistent course to overcome Stalin's lawlessness and, moreover, was unable to give honest and clear assessments of the past. In these coordinates, the analysis of the fate and activities of Sudoplatov acquires particular importance and relevance. His fate holds the key to understanding the deep foundations of the Soviet system and the key to the persistence in mass psychology of many stereotypes and archaic ideas about the role of the special services.
Moreover, today, when Sudoplatov as a symbol and myth is in demand to justify the secret activities of "people of a special calling."
In the post-war period, Sudoplatov headed the "special service" in the MGB for carrying out sabotage work abroad and reprisals within the country. This is the least known part of his biography. And yet there are published documents about it, and they give an accurate picture of the secret activities of Sudoplatov and his "service". And most importantly, it was Stalin's guidelines that were the justification and theoretical substantiation for all his activity.
His glorious career ended ingloriously. After the death of Stalin and the fall of Beria, Sudoplatov was arrested in August 1953, and an investigation and endless interrogations began. Now no one was interested in the fact that Sudoplatov received orders to carry out certain actions to eliminate people from the very top: sanctions were given at the Politburo level and directly by Stalin, Molotov, Khrushchev. Now he has become, according to his own words, an "undesirable witness." He tried to save himself as best he could - he feigned madness and confused the investigation. Perhaps the example of the legendary revolutionary Kamo stood before his eyes. The main thing is that he managed to avoid a death sentence, and such a prospect was quite real.
The verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR dated September 12, 1958 noted that Sudoplatov committed "grave crimes against humanity," and in particular said: "A special laboratory created to carry out experiments to test the effect of poison on a living person worked under the supervision of Sudoplatov and his deputy Eitingon from 1942 to 1946. They demanded from laboratory workers only poisons tested on humans. After the liquidation of the special laboratory, the workers of this laboratory, on behalf of Sudoplatov, several times tested a new drug with poison on living people."
Sudoplatov served his sentence in Vladimir prison fully ("from bell to bell"). Upon his release in August 1968, he devoted himself to literary work and fought long and hard for his own rehabilitation. This story is reflected quite fully in numerous archival documents of the CPSU Central Committee (now RGANI). Until 1991, all of Sudoplatov's statements were met with a decisive refusal in the Central Committee and the Party Control Committee. Only in 1992 did the Main Military Prosecutor's Office decide to rehabilitate Sudoplatov and Eitingon. This decision caused a storm of criticism. By this time, quite a lot had already been written about Sudoplatov in periodicals. The motives for previous refusals and sudden rehabilitation are the subject of special discussion. In just a few years, the "anti-hero" turned into a myth overgrown with enthusiastic epithets. Sudoplatov himself contributed to this, having grown old, but not losing his sense of the political situation.
It is also important that Sudoplatov gained true international fame by publishing his memoirs. People of his profession, and even more so - of his specialization, did not like to remember and write about themselves and were quite rightly afraid. Uniqueness was in the coming era. After August 1991, the time has come to rethink the past and have an honest conversation about the causes of people's troubles. And Sudoplatov, offended and punished by the Soviet authorities, spoke up. He published his memoirs first in the USA (in 1994), then in Russia (in 1996). His book created a sensation. Not because it revealed many details of the work of Soviet intelligence and showed the complex vicissitudes of the fate of Sudoplatov himself, which the public guessed about, but did not know for certain. In this part, Sudoplatov's memoirs are informative, although they contain elements of self-justification and sometimes misinformation. This is understandable; he did not dare admit many unpleasant things in his past actions.
The innovation of his memoirs lies elsewhere. For the first time, the reader was presented with a clearly structured ideological system of justification for a person involved in crimes during Stalinism. Of course, Sudoplatov is not an independent figure - he is a performer. But still, he does not hide behind the formula "I followed orders," he advances and finds explanations on a planetary scale. The international situation, the struggle of powers for primacy, Stalin and the world are the driving forces for Sudoplatov's development and improvement of the Soviet state security agencies. And he, Sudoplatov, is just a cog, and ultimately an "unwanted witness" in this planetary game. At least that's how he presents himself in his memoirs.
Yes. Somewhat simplified, but that's it. The Soviet system, after Stalin's revelations at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, was never able to develop a clear and consistent course to overcome Stalin's lawlessness and, moreover, was unable to give honest and clear assessments of the past. In these coordinates, the analysis of the fate and activities of Sudoplatov acquires particular importance and relevance. His fate holds the key to understanding the deep foundations of the Soviet system and the key to the persistence in mass psychology of many stereotypes and archaic ideas about the role of the special services.
Moreover, today, when Sudoplatov as a symbol and myth is in demand to justify the secret activities of "people of a special calling."