travel books: Katherine Harrison. She had been described to me as the former wife of Earl Browder, Communist leader in the United States, and therefore as exceptionally reliable. At that time I needed a woman agent in Switzerland, and the holder of an American passport was particularly welcome. When Kitty Harris called on me, presenting her papers in a sealed envelope, I learned that she too was stopping at the Hotel Savoy. She was about forty, dark-haired, of good appearance, and had been connected with our secret service for some years. Kitty Harris spoke well of Browder. I approved the assignment of Miss Harris to a foreign post, and she left on April 29. Others whom I selected were similarly dispatched with orders to report to my assistants in Western Europe. It became clear that the purge, and even the arrest of Max, had not affected my standing. Surely Yczhov would not have let me pick and send agents abroad if he had any intention of purging me. Yet the purge was sweeping people away like an avalanche. One of my veteran translators, a woman who had served in my department for many years, was seized by the Ogpu. It was almost impossible to replace her, as the work required a person of exceptional reliability with a perfect knowledge of many languages. When I inquired the cause of her arrest, I was told that her husband, a Communist employed as director of a Moscow factory, had been taken, and his wife was rounded up as a precautionary measure. " But what's the use of my keeping a dozen men abroad to gather information for the Politbureau when I haven't got a secretary to translate and compile it?" I appealed thus to Sloutski, but he only shrugged his shoulders. About the middle of May I ran into an old acquaint books

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

Page 273

VIII
MY BREAK WITH STALIN

Katherine Harrison. She had been described to me as the former wife of Earl Browder, Communist leader in the United States, and therefore as exceptionally reliable. At that time I needed a woman agent in Switzerland, and the holder of an American passport was particularly welcome.
When Kitty Harris called on me, presenting her papers in a sealed envelope, I learned that she too was stopping at the Hotel Savoy. She was about forty, dark-haired, of good appearance, and had been connected with our secret service for some years. Kitty Harris spoke well of Browder.
I approved the assignment of Miss Harris to a foreign post, and she left on April 29. Others whom I selected were similarly dispatched with orders to report to my assistants in Western Europe. It became clear that the purge, and even the arrest of Max, had not affected my standing. Surely Yczhov would not have let me pick and send agents abroad if he had any intention of purging me.
Yet the purge was sweeping people away like an avalanche. One of my veteran translators, a woman who had served in my department for many years, was seized by the Ogpu. It was almost impossible to replace her, as the work required a person of exceptional reliability with a perfect knowledge of many languages. When I inquired the cause of her arrest, I was told that her husband, a Communist employed as director of a Moscow factory, had been taken, and his wife was rounded up as a precautionary measure.
" But what's the use of my keeping a dozen men abroad to gather information for the Politbureau when I haven't got a secretary to translate and compile it?"
I appealed thus to Sloutski, but he only shrugged his shoulders.
About the middle of May I ran into an old acquaintance