A Death in Washington: Walter G. Krivitsky and the Stalin Terror

by Gary Kern, Nigel West (Foreword by), Nigel West (Introduction)

Overview

This is the first book to recover all original documents released by the British archives in 2002 and by the FBI, completing the author's ten-year study.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781929631148
Publisher:	Enigma Books
Publication date:	10/01/2003
Pages:	515
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Gary Kern studied at Princeton. His groundbreaking research with a KGB colonel was instrumental in uncovering major atomic spy Theodore Hall. This book has an introduction by the well-known author Nigel West.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	xi
	Foreword	xiii
	Abbreviations and Terms	xviii
Part I	The Killing Machine: Lies, Torture and Execution (June 1899 - October 1937)
1.	Room 532 (or 524)	3
2.	Al Qaeda Terrorist vs. Soviet Spy	7
3.	New Songs of Freedom	12
4.	Legal and Illegal	22
5.	The Counterfeiting Caper	35
6.	Fascism on the March	43
7.	Antiquarian in The Hague	51
8.	The Other War in Spain	61
9.	The Gemini Defectors	76
10.	New Year in Moscow	84
11.	The Stalin Terror	91
12.	How Heroes Were Broken	103
13.	One Gigantic Madhouse	113
14.	The NKVD Loyalty Test	122
15.	A World Gone Forever	133
16.	The Last Straw	140
Part II	No Man's Land: Spies, Betrayal and Assassination (October 1937 - November 1938)
1.	Kruzia	147
2.	Tulip, Sonny Boy and Resentment	154
3.	The Doomed World	164
Part III	The New World: Friends, Bureaucrats and Fellow Travelers (November 1938 - November 1940)
1.	Man Without a Country	171
2.	Comrades on Times Square	183
3.	The Odd Couple	189
4.	The Adventures of Shmelka Ginsberg	194
5.	Aliens	200
6.	The Fantastic Falsehood	208
7.	The Committee, the Crook and Cultural Freedom	217
8.	Empowerment and Expulsion	229
9.	In Transit	243
10.	In His Majesty's Service	253
11.	The Life of a File	279
12.	Promotion to No. 1	288
Part IV	End of the Line: Hope, Despair and Suicide (November 1940 - February 1941)
1.	Homo Sovieticus	299
2.	In Search of a Good Chicken Farm	305
3.	Last Visits	317
4.	Last Days	325
5.	A Botched Job	336
6.	Who Killed Krivitsky?	347
7.	The Suicide Notes	354
8.	The Impossible Suicide	368
Part V	Aftermath (February 1941 - February 1996)
1.	Running Amok	381
2.	The FBI File	385
3.	Fates	395
	Bibliography	400
	Notes	409
	Index	474

Editorial Reviews

Kern's is the first biography of an experienced undercover officer who ran several important Soviet spy networks in Western Europe. Born Samuel Ginsberg in Galicia (now in Ukraine) in 1899, Walter G. Krivitsky joined the Bolsheviks, supporting their war against Poland, and was then employed against Germany. He defected to France in 1937 before he could be purged as part of the Great Terror that was consuming the Soviet Union. It appears that his details about the extent of Communist infiltrations in the West were not fully exploited by either the British or the Americans, thus possibly allowing traitors like Kim Philby to continue their secret work for years to come. His revealing book, In Stalin's Secret Service, was hotly denounced by Communist sympathizers. The former general was found dead on February 10, 1941, in a cheap Washington hotel room. Although the death was ruled a suicide, most people think that Stalin had his revenge. Kern, a translator and specialist in Russian literature, tells an interesting story about a very dangerous, crazy time. With an introduction by noted intelligence expert Nigel West, this well-documented work is suitable for all espionage collections.-Daniel K. Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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