travel books: It was also read by Yezhov, Yagoda's successor as Chief of the Ogpu (also since "liquidated"). Such reports were, of course, intended for Stalin himself, although addressed to the immediate superior of the writer. After giving an optimistic estimate of the military situation, and commending Generalissimo Miaja, Berzin reported resentment and protests against the Ogpu in high Spanish circles. He stated that our Ogpu agents were compromising the Soviet authority in Spain by their unwarranted interference and espionage in government quarters. He concluded with a demand that Orlov be recalled from Spain at once. " Berzin is absolutely right," was Sloutski's comment to me, after I had read the report. Sloutski, chief of the Foreign Division of the Ogpu, went on to say that our men were behaving in Spain as if they were in a colony, treating even Spanish leaders as colonists handle natives. When I asked him if anything would be done about Orlov, Sloutski said it was up to Yezhov. Yezhov, grand marshal of the great purge then under way, himself looked upon Spain as a Russian province. Moreover, Berzin's associates in the Red Army were already being seized all over the Soviet Union, and Berzin's own life was no safer than any. With so many of his comrades in the nets of the Ogpu, any report from him would be viewed with suspicion at the Kremlin. In April, Stashevsky arrived in Moscow to report to Stalin personally on the Spanish situation. Though a rock-ribbed Stalinist, a rigidly orthodox party man, Stashevsky also felt that the conduct of the Ogpu in the Loyalist areas was an error. Like General Berzin, he opposed the high-handed colonial methods used by Russians on Spanish soil. books

Books > Old Books > I Was Stalin's Agent (1940)

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III
STALIN'S HAND IN SPAIN

It was also read by Yezhov, Yagoda's successor as Chief of the Ogpu (also since "liquidated"). Such reports were, of course, intended for Stalin himself, although addressed to the immediate superior of the writer.
After giving an optimistic estimate of the military situation, and commending Generalissimo Miaja, Berzin reported resentment and protests against the Ogpu in high Spanish circles. He stated that our Ogpu agents were compromising the Soviet authority in Spain by their unwarranted interference and espionage in government quarters. He concluded with a demand that Orlov be recalled from Spain at once.
" Berzin is absolutely right," was Sloutski's comment to me, after I had read the report. Sloutski, chief of the Foreign Division of the Ogpu, went on to say that our men were behaving in Spain as if they were in a colony, treating even Spanish leaders as colonists handle natives. When I asked him if anything would be done about Orlov, Sloutski said it was up to Yezhov.
Yezhov, grand marshal of the great purge then under way, himself looked upon Spain as a Russian province. Moreover, Berzin's associates in the Red Army were already being seized all over the Soviet Union, and Berzin's own life was no safer than any. With so many of his comrades in the nets of the Ogpu, any report from him would be viewed with suspicion at the Kremlin.
In April, Stashevsky arrived in Moscow to report to Stalin personally on the Spanish situation. Though a rock-ribbed Stalinist, a rigidly orthodox party man, Stashevsky also felt that the conduct of the Ogpu in the Loyalist areas was an error. Like General Berzin, he opposed the high-handed colonial methods used by Russians on Spanish soil.