This is part of our history. Quite a dark and scary part.
and so that this never happens again in the country.
Read the lines of this letter. it was written by a man who made a significant contribution to the Victory of our people over the fascist invaders in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Lieutenant General Konstantin Fedorovich Telegin, who was sentenced after the war to 25 years of imprisonment in a forced labor camp. The letter from the General, a prisoner of the Gulag, was addressed to V.M. Molotov. K. F. Telegin also wrote a similar letter to K. E. Voroshilov.
“There is a document of enormous moral force - a letter from K. F. Telegin to Molotov from the camp (November 1952). This is a sample of “uncensored correspondence” - it was taken out of the camp, risking his neck, and sent by mail to the general’s family by his friend V. Kuznetsov. Molotov did not respond to the letter. The letter was preserved for posterity by Telegin’s son, Colonel K.K. Telegin.”
(Ogonyok magazine, 1989. No. 25, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Lieutenant General, former editor of the Military Historical Journal Nikolai Grigorievich Pavlenko, “The history of the war has not yet been written”).
LETTER
“On January 24, 1948, I was arrested without a warrant and put in an internal MGB prison. Here they immediately tore off my clothes, watches, etc., dressed me in torn, smelly soldier’s uniform, tore out my gold crowns along with my teeth... On January 27, 1948, I was summoned by Minister Abakumov, who from the very beginning of the conversation swore at me and called me names. an enemy, a robber, and invited me to “testify about my criminal activities against the party and the state.”
I demanded that he specifically accuse me of what exactly my “hostile activities” consisted of, because I had never carried out such activities at all and I don’t know. Abakumov answered me that I must say what my fault is, and if I don’t say it, then “we’ll send you to a military prison, we’ll beat you up... you’ll say it all yourself.” So this conversation set the tone for the course of the investigation...
Within a month, the investigator in charge. Sokolov and his assistant Samarin, not allowing me to sleep almost completely either day or night, drove me to complete despair. Having failed to obtain from me the desired testimony about participation in the leadership of a military conspiracy consisting of G.K. Zhukov, A.I. Serov and a number of other generals, blackmailing me with the fact that Zhukov and Serov had already been arrested, they demanded from me testimony “about the methods of work and plans of conspiracy."
After they completely unambiguously announced the arrest of Zhukov, Serov and other “conspirators”, believing them, the organ of our party and state, I tried to remember everything that I might not have previously attached importance to and that in a completely new situation could take on a different color and will help the party completely expose the “enemy conspirators.”
A number of facts that I had difficulty remembering were qualified by the fact that at that time I did not see anything criminal in them. The investigation, taking advantage of my helplessness and exhaustion, deliberately distorted them, giving them a brightly anti-Soviet coloring, adding from themselves what they wanted. During this month, every day I was threatened with being sent to a military prison for torture if I did not testify about the “conspiracy.” This further increased the exhaustion of my nervous system, driving me to the point of insanity.
And so on February 16, 1948, the leadership of the MGB, finally, not satisfied with my testimony, carried out their threat and sent me to Lefortovo prison and that same day in the evening in the investigation building (room 72) I was severely beaten with rubber truncheons (Sokolov, Samarin). Two guards were already dragging me from the room to the cell - I could not move. On February 27, 28, 29, March 1 and 2, I was again brutally beaten by the same two people in room 31 of the investigation building. I became insane, I couldn’t walk, I wasn’t allowed to lie down, I couldn’t sit.
Having fallen with the back of my head to the floor, it seemed that I had already reached extreme tension in my nervous system; the pain and noise in my head had completely undermined my strength; mind, heart and will were paralyzed. These tortures continued daily until March 4, 1948. The torturers tore out pieces of meat from the body, damaged the spine and femur, and beat the legs. All this brought me to complete despair, complete indifference to my fate and left me with only one desire - a quick end, a quick death, an end to the torment. I even forgot that I had a family, I forgot the names of my children and wife.
On March 13 (1948) I was transported back to the inner prison. And despite the fact that I could not walk or sit, that I was in the stage of complete exhaustion of my strength and nervous system, they continued to summon me for interrogation, repeating threats to take me back to Lefortovo for new torture. But I could no longer bear this, and, without realizing it, I signed whatever they wanted, as long as they didn’t torture me.
Destroyed morally, crippled physically, I scream about this exceptional mistake, injustice and lawlessness committed by the MGB, the court and the prosecutor’s office... I have unlimited faith in my Central Committee and the Great Leader I.V. Stalin and I will not leave this path until the end of my life...”
(Signature) TELEGIN.”
Did the author of the letter, who wrote at the end: “... I have unlimited faith in my Central Committee and the Great Leader I.V. Stalin, and I will not leave this path until the end of my life...”, that everything that happened to him was done on the personal instructions of that the “Great Leader” himself?
From the biography of this “criminal” - a prisoner of the Gulag:
“Telegin Konstantin Fedorovich - a prominent Soviet military leader, lieutenant general (1943). Close friend and ally of Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov. Born on October 22 (November 3), 1899 in Tatarsk (now Novosibirsk region). In the Red Army since 1918. Member of the RCP(b) since 1919. Participant in the Civil War, assistant military commissar of a rifle regiment. In 1931 he graduated from the Military-Political Academy named after. V.I. Lenin. Since 1936 - in military-political work in the NKVD troops. Participant in the battles on Lake Khasan (1938) and the Soviet-Finnish War (1939-1940). In 1940-1941 - in the central apparatus of the NKVD of the USSR. In June 1941 - brigade commissar.
During the Great Patriotic War, from July 1941 - a member of the Military Council of the Moscow Military District, from December - the Moscow Defense Zone (MZO), in 1942-1945. - Member of the Military Councils (political leader) of the Don, Central and 1st Belorussian Fronts. Participated in the preparation and implementation of military operations in the Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk battles, in the battle for the Dnieper, the liberation of Belarus, in the Vistula-Oder, East Pomeranian and Berlin operations. He took direct part in the signing by the Soviet side of the Surrender of Germany on May 7-9, 1945.”
For his devoted service to the Motherland he has received awards: “three Orders of Lenin (August 1943, February 1945, May 1945), four Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of Suvorov, 1st class, the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, 1st class, two Orders of the Red Star, many medals.” .
I repeat: This is part of our history. Quite a dark and scary part.
It was!
We need to know and remember this not in order to denigrate our history in general,
and so that this never happens again in the country.
In the illustration from the Internet: Presentation of the Guards Banner to the 8th Guards Army, March 1943. Army Commander Colonel General V.I. Chuikov, member of the Military Council of the 1st Belorussian Front, Lieutenant General K.F. Telegin, member of the Military Council of the 8th Guards Army, Major General A.M. Pronin.
Reviews
Yes, Vasya. You are an amazingly truthful, honest and courageous person. It is known (confirmed by archival documents) that it was necessary to desecrate G. Zhukov, but there are not enough materials. It is known that many others were killed, doubting the “humanity” of their past life. There should be no doubts then. Why did the intelligentsia interfere? After all, they destroyed mainly thinking people . And she is different in this, that she tries to look at the root of the reasons for success and failure. Now the vast majority not only seems, but is also confident that in order to prosper, to create a highly moral, honest person with a strong will, you only need ONE party, ONE idea, ONE program , ONE immutable truth. They were the only ones for us. Truth is born in a dispute, a clash of opinions of opponents. But not those throwing reproaches, humiliating with insults, but reasoning, persuading on the basis of arguments, arguments. They may be different for different people. This is what we have and there wasn't. Almost not even now. The process of cultivating a culture of communication, conversation, and dialogue is quite lengthy. That’s what I think.
This November marks the 119th anniversary of the birth of Lieutenant General Konstantin Fedorovich Telegin, our fellow countryman, an outstanding Soviet military leader, an honorary citizen of the city of Tatarsk.
Konstantin Fedorovich was born on November 4, 1899 in the village of Tatarka (now the city of Tatarsk) in a peasant family. After studying at a rural school for three incomplete classes, he went to work at the age of thirteen. May of the eighteenth year found him in Omsk, where the young man joined the Omsk Red Guard, and already on the 25th he took part in the battle with the White Czechs near the Maryanovka station (Omsk region). After the end of the civil war, in 1922, border battalions began to be created, and Konstantin Fedorovich became commissar of one of the border detachments on the western border.
Moscow K.F. Telegin first saw in 1926: he was transferred to the special purpose division named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky. Then he studied at the Military-Political Academy named after. V.I. Lenin, military-political work in the troops of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, in the central apparatus of the NKVD of the USSR.
Our famous fellow countryman met the war with the rank of brigade commissar of the NKVD of the USSR, and from July 1941 - a member of the Military Council (political leader) of the Moscow Military District, then the Don, Central and 1st Belorussian Fronts. Participated in the preparation and implementation of military operations in the Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk battles, the battle for the Dnieper, the liberation of Belarus, the Berlin operation together with such outstanding military leaders as G.K. Zhukov and K.K. Rokossovsky. Participated in the signing by the Soviet side of the surrender of Germany on May 8 in Karlshorst. As the head of a government commission, he was present during the procedure for identifying the remains of Hitler and Goebbels. As the political leader of occupied Germany, he was categorically against the export of its historical and cultural values, which were, after all, exported to the USSR under him. On his personal initiative, Konstantin Fedorovich compiled inventories of exported cultural property, which historians later called “Telegin lists.” According to some media reports, they are still kept by his relatives...
On January 24, 1948, Telegin K.F. was arrested on the personal instructions of Stalin in the so-called “trophy case” (exporting trophy property from Germany for personal use), one of the defendants of which was G.K. Zhukov. In July 1953, Konstantin Fedorovich was rehabilitated and reinstated in the party and the Armed Forces. He was returned to the military rank of lieutenant general, which he received in 1943, and all awards.
In 1957, Lieutenant General K.F. Telegin retired - the difficult years of service affected his health: pulmonary tuberculosis, stroke...
Memories of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 formed the basis of books written by Konstantin Fedorovich. The first book, “They Didn’t Give Up Moscow,” was published in 1975, and he completed the second, “Wars of Countless Miles” (the “War Memoirs” series) in 1981, shortly before his death.
In 1981, the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee decided to bury the ashes of Lieutenant General K. F. Telegin in the Kremlin wall on Red Square, however, at the insistence of his relatives, he was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
Konstantin Fedorovich always remembered his small homeland and helped his hometown in any way he could. After the end of the war, trains with industrial equipment were sent to our city, which were exported from Germany for reparations. This contributed to the growth and development of the industrial potential of the city of Tatarsk. Lieutenant General K. F. Telegin also provided technical assistance during the construction of the “Mokhnatka Canal”. Taking into account the merits of the eminent fellow countryman, the city authorities, by decision of the Council of Workers' Deputies of October 20, 1967, awarded him the title "Honorary Citizen of the City." In 1977, taking into account the requests of the city's workers, by decision of the executive committee of the Tatar City Council of People's Deputies No. 297 dated October 11, 1977, one of the city streets, Shkolnaya Street, was renamed Telegina Street.
The museum contains a letter from Telegin K.F., in which he writes: “Dear comrades! The newspaper “Leninskaya Tribuna” No. 77 dated November 4, 1977 brought to me the unexpected and exciting news that by your decision you have awarded me a new honor by renaming Shkolnaya Street after me...
Thank you for the memory of your heart, for the very high appreciation of my humble soldier’s work. I fervently believe that the citizens living on the street named after me will do everything possible to turn it into an exemplary one.
Your honorary citizen K.F. Telegin.”
In 1968, after 50 years of military service and great public activity, Lieutenant General K. F. Telegin arrived in his hometown, then he was awarded a ribbon and a diploma of “Honorary Citizen of the City.” In 1977, Konstantin Fedorovich again arrived in the city of Tatarsk, met with the party and economic activists of the city and region, youth, and pioneers.
The museum's exhibition includes a large number of photographs from the personal archive of Konstantin Fedorovich, which are authentic evidence of the heroic past of our country, our city, personal belongings (general's overcoat, uniform, hat, etc.), documents, the book “They Didn’t Give Up Moscow” with Telegin’s autograph K.F.
In the name of the illustrious military leader, holder of three Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner of Battle, two Orders of the Red Star, Order of Suvorov 1st degree, Bogdan Khmelnitsky 1st degree, the October Revolution and many other Soviet and foreign awards, the challenge cup of the open championship of the Tatar region in ice hockey is named . Since 2012, the ice squads of the Omsk region and the Tatar, Chistoozerny, Chanovsky districts of the Novosibirsk region have been fighting for this cup.
Having failed in organizing the destruction of Zhukov through the “aviators” affair, Stalin did not abandon his idea and continued the intrigue with the same goal. New instructions followed, new arrests, torture and falsification of the “Zhukov conspiracy”. Why such monotony? Because only such an accusation could, more or less convincingly in the eyes of public opinion, bring the marshal under capital punishment.
The next victim was Lieutenant General K. F. Telegin, a long-time comrade-in-arms of the Marshal, who participated as a member of the front’s military council in major operations, from the defeat of the Nazis near Moscow to Berlin.
Documents indicate that Stalin himself was the organizer of the new accusatory attack on Zhukov. I will quote just a few lines from the letter of the USSR Minister of State Security Abakumov dated March 5, 1948 to Stalin:
“In accordance with your instructions, the property and valuables taken from the arrested Lieutenant General K. F. Telegin were transferred on March 4, 1948, according to acts to the Administrator of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Comrade. Chaadaev..."
If Stalin gave instructions regarding such “little things” as the confiscation of valuables, can there be any doubt that the essence of the accusation and the desired testimony during the interrogation of Telegin also came from him.
Telegin himself can best tell you what the master craftsmen did in the dungeons of the Lubyanka.
From a letter from General Telegin to the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR K.E. Voroshilov.
“Kliment Efremovich!
I apologize for contacting you with this letter, but the terrible tragedy of my life forces me to bring to your attention the cruel injustice that has befallen me.
I, former Lieutenant General, member of the Military Council of the Moscow Military District, Stalingrad, Central, 1st Belorussian Front, Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany Konstantin Fedorovich Telegin, was sentenced by the court to 25 years of labor camp and deprived of everything that was deserved 30 years of honest, impeccable service to the Motherland and the party in the border guards and the Soviet Army...
On January 24, 1948, I was arrested by the USSR Ministry of State Security and put in an internal prison. On January 30, I was charged under Articles 58–10–11 U (Criminal) Code of the RSFSR and 193–17. On January 27, 1948, I was summoned by former minister Abakumov, who from the very beginning of the conversation swore at me, called me an enemy, a robber and offered me “to testify about their criminal activities against the party and the state.” I demanded that he specifically accuse me of what exactly my “hostile activities” consisted of, because I had never carried out such activities at all and I don’t know. Abakumov answered me that I must say what my fault is, and if I don’t say it, then “we’ll send you to a military prison, we’ll beat you up... you’ll say it all yourself.” So this conversation set the tone for the course of the investigation...
For a month, the investigator for the responsible cases, Sokolov, and his assistant Samarin, not allowing me to sleep almost completely either day or night, drove me to complete despair. Having failed to obtain from me the desired testimony about participation in the leadership of a military conspiracy consisting of G.K. Zhukov, A.I. Serov and a number of other generals, blackmailing me with the fact that Zhukov and Serov had already been arrested, they demanded from me testimony “about the methods of work and plans of conspiracy."
After they completely unambiguously announced the arrest of Zhukov, Serov and other “conspirators”, believing them, the organ of our party and state, I tried to remember everything that I might not have previously attached importance to and that in a completely new situation could take on a different color and will help the party completely expose the “enemy conspirators.”
A number of facts that I had difficulty remembering were qualified by the fact that at that time I did not see anything criminal in them. The investigation, taking advantage of my helplessness and exhaustion, deliberately distorted them, giving them a brightly anti-Soviet coloring, adding from themselves what they wanted. During this month, every day I was threatened with being sent to a military prison for torture if I did not testify about the “conspiracy.” This further increased the exhaustion of my nervous system, driving (me) to the point of insanity.
And so on February 16, 1948, the leadership of the MGB, finally, not satisfied with my testimony, carried out their threat and sent me to Lefortovo prison and that same day in the evening in the investigation building (room 72) I was severely beaten with rubber truncheons (Sokolov, Samarin). Two guards were already dragging me from the room to the cell - I could not move. On February 27, 28, 29, March 1 and 2, I was again brutally beaten by the same two people in room 31 of the investigation building. I became insane, I couldn’t walk, I wasn’t allowed to lie down, I couldn’t sit.
Having fallen with the back of my head to the floor, it seemed that I had already reached extreme tension in my nervous system; the pain and noise in my head had completely undermined my strength; mind, heart and will were paralyzed. I couldn’t sit for six months; I started walking a little in the fourth month. The torturers tore pieces of meat from the body, damaged the spine and femur, and beat the legs. All this brought me to complete despair, complete indifference to my fate and left me with only one desire - a quick end, a quick death, an end to the torment.
On March 13 (1948) I was transported back to the inner prison. And despite the fact that I could not walk or sit, that I was in the stage of complete exhaustion of my strength and nervous system, they continued to summon me for interrogation, repeating threats to take me back to Lefortovo for new torture. But I could no longer bear this, and, without realizing it, I signed whatever they wanted, as long as they didn’t torture me.
From September 1948 to September 1951, all interrogations stopped, I was left alone, and at the end of 1949, starting to come to my senses a little, remembering my testimony, I was horrified by the thought that if I myself was indifferent to my life, then there, in my testimony, there are other persons about whom the investigation deliberately distorted the facts. By doing this they (the MGB) will deceive the party and people will suffer. I began to persistently seek correction of the testimony and explanations for it, since the investigation did not categorically accept any of my motivations. This was decisively refused to me, and only in September 1950 (oda) they drew up one protocol, changing the previous testimony about the alleged “systematic conversations that took place between Zhukov, Serov and me, condemning and ridiculing the Supreme High Command and personally I.V. Stalin, telling anti-Soviet jokes." All this, of course, was complete nonsense, a deliberate distortion of the facts I reported about the conversations between us.
I am turning to you, Kliment Efremovich, knowing your sensitivity and attention to a living person who knows me a lot. I believe that your personal intervention will help quickly remove this most severe undeserved punishment and shame from me, and will give me the opportunity to return to honest work for the good of our Motherland...
Now tormented, crippled, I still don’t want to write myself off as expendable, but as long as I have enough strength, experience, knowledge (I want) to work for the glory of our party and the Motherland...
(Signature) TELEGIN.”
Voroshilov did not help Telegin free himself. Everything related to the ongoing preparations for the final reprisal against Marshal Zhukov was kept in the strictest confidence. Those who knew the questions asked by investigators about Zhukov were not taken out of the walls of the internal prison. Seven “saboteur” aviators, led by Novikov, were kept in prison even after the expiration of the term to which the court sentenced them. The placement of nets and traps continued.
The marshal's vigilance had to be relaxed. Let him think that the trouble has passed. Another attempt to revive the charge of conspiracy against the marshal through Telegin failed. Zhukov’s almost broken comrade-in-arms either gave evidence, or, gathering his strength, refused it. He was “sealed” for 25 years! But the case has not been concocted - there is no convincing material for the “Zhukov conspiracy.”
Stalin is preparing new moves. He demands from Abakumov new evidence of Zhukov’s criminal activities. The young, energetic Minister of State Security (he was 40 years old at the time) was ready to do anything just to please Stalin, on whom not only well-being, but also life depended. Since this perpetrator of many tricky cases against Zhukov appears more than once in my story, I will introduce readers to him in more detail so that you know the value of the person who poisoned the life of the great commander.
Viktor Semenovich Abakumov was born in Moscow in 1908. He was of proletarian origin of the highest standard - his father was a stoker in a hospital, his mother was a cleaner in a technical school. Education, as he himself defined, was “inferior” - he graduated from a city school in Moscow, he does not remember the time of graduation from school. Worked as a loader. In 1930 he joined the party. Apparently, the 22-year-old loader was already thinking about how to get somewhere higher. What about without education, without the support of influential relatives and friends. If there are none, you need to create one. He started it - there is no doubt that he became an “informer”. This is confirmed by the fact that new acquaintances appreciated his abilities, and his attractive appearance: he was tall and broad-shouldered. In general, they hired him for official work in the NKVD. For a long time he was the smallest detective. But in Moscow, in the Secret Political Department of the NKVD. In 1939, repressions began in the authorities. Replacement was required for those that were declining. And Abakumov went up the mountain - immediately became the head of the NKVD department of the Rostov region. It was the immediate head of the special department, Kabulov (Beria’s right hand), who moved him. In 1940, the ministry was divided into the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security. Personnel was needed. Of course, ours. And Kabulov promotes Abakumov to the post of deputy people's commissar. And in the same year he became the head of the Special Department of the Red Army (later this institution became known as the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence “Smersh” - death to spies). Abakumov worked in this position throughout the war and received two Orders of Suvorov, the Order of Kutuzov (commander status), and the Order of the Red Banner (also a military award). After the war, deputy People's Commissar of State Security finally replaced Merkulov as People's Commissar. To characterize Abakumov as a person, I will give an excerpt from his letter to Stalin.
“If there were any specific facts that would provide an opportunity to get caught, we would have skinned Etinger, but we would not have missed this case...
I must tell you directly, Comrade Stalin, that I myself am not a person who does not have shortcomings. There are shortcomings both personally and in my work... At the same time, with an open soul, I assure you, Comrade Stalin, that I am giving all my strength to obediently and clearly implement the tasks that you set for the bodies of the Central Committee. I live and work, guided by your thoughts and instructions, Comrade Stalin, I try to firmly and persistently resolve the issues that are put before me. I value the great trust that you have shown and continue to show me throughout my work both during the Patriotic War - in the Special Departments and Smersh, and now in the USSR Ministry of State Security.
I understand what a great task you, Comrade Stalin, have entrusted to me and I am proud of it, I work honestly and give all of myself, as befits a Bolshevik, to justify your trust. I assure you, Comrade Stalin, that no matter what task you give me, I am always ready to carry it out under any conditions. I cannot have any other life than to fight for the cause of Comrade Stalin. V. Abakumov.”
It is not difficult to imagine with what zeal such a person carried out not only the “received instructions”, but also the guessed desires of the leader. He is doing everything possible to “catch onto” something and “tear off the skin” from Zhukov. Having not received “hard” evidence to create a case about Zhukov’s conspiracy, but having “sealed” the general for 25 years, Abakumov probably decided to try to frame the marshal on trial on similar charges. Also in 1948, widely known in the country, Lieutenant General Kryukov and his wife, the popular artist Lyudmila Ruslanova, were arrested and convicted of “traffic”.
It was known that Zhukov also had a lot of captured property. These are, of course, trifles. We need something loud, large-scale, corresponding to such a block as Marshal Zhukov. I don’t know who first came up with this, but what is known for sure is that it was at the beginning of 1948 that the legend about the “suitcase with jewelry”, which Zhukov allegedly keeps and carefully hides, surfaced and began to take root. The fact that Stalin accepted and approved this version is confirmed by the document (kept in Stalin’s personal archive, abbreviated):
"Top secret.
Comrade Stalin I.V.
In accordance with your instructions, January 5 this year. A secret search was carried out at Zhukov’s apartment in Moscow. The task was to find and seize a suitcase and a box with gold, diamonds and other valuables from Zhukov’s apartment.
During the search, the suitcase was not found, and the box was in the safe in the bedroom... According to the conclusion of the workers who conducted the search, Zhukov’s apartment gives the impression that everything that could compromise him was taken from there. Not only is there no suitcase with valuables, but there are not even any letters, notes, etc. Apparently, the apartment has been put in such order that there is nothing superfluous in it.
On the night of January 8-9 this year. A secret search was carried out at Zhukov’s dacha, located in the village of Rublevo, near Moscow...
A group of operatives from the USSR Ministry of State Security was sent to Odessa to conduct a secret search in Zhukov’s apartment. I will report to you additionally about the results of this operation. As for the suitcase with jewelry that was not found in Zhukov’s Moscow apartment, as the arrested Semochkin testified, the check revealed that Zhukov’s wife keeps this suitcase with her all the time and takes it with her when traveling. Today, when Zhukov and his wife arrived from Odessa to Moscow, the said suitcase reappeared in his apartment, where it is currently located.
Apparently, we should directly demand from Zhukov that he hand over this suitcase with jewelry. At the same time, I present photographs of some of the valuables, materials and things found in Zhukov’s apartment and dacha.
V. Abakumov
Let's analyze the contents of this document. "According to your instructions." This means that Stalin not only supported the version about the suitcase, but also gave direct instructions to Abakumov to conduct a secret search in three places.
Highly qualified craftsmen acted - they opened and closed the safe, took photographs, and put everything “back to how it was before.” Nothing was found. The apartment is in order. But this is a crime! There cannot be order in the apartment of a suspected marshal - that means “everything that could compromise him has been confiscated.” These people don’t even think that the marshal doesn’t have any things incriminating him at all, and the order in the apartment is the usual state of a clean family. And what does “suitcase with jewelry” mean, as the arrested Semochkin testified? This means that this suitcase was knocked out of Zhukov’s arrested adjutant, Major Semochkin, just as the “letter” was knocked out of Air Chief Marshal Novikov. Well, and finally, “directly demand from Zhukov that he hand over this suitcase with jewelry.” They demanded it! They called me to the Central Committee. They presented Zhukov with the testimony of his former adjutant and offered to hand over his suitcase. To what humiliation was the illustrious marshal reduced! He had to write an explanation for almost every phrase Semochkin said, undoubtedly knocked out of him in the Lubyanka or in the Lefortovo prison.
Here is the full text of Zhukov's letter.
“To the CENTRAL COMMITTEE of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
Comrade Zhdanov Andrey Alexandrovich
The written statement of my former adjutant Semochkin, announced to me by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, is clearly slanderous in its intent and main issues.
First. The accusation against me that I was hostile to Comrade Stalin and in a number of cases belittled and kept silent about Comrade Stalin’s role in the Great Patriotic War is not true and is a fiction. The facts set out in Semochkin’s statement were concocted by Semochkin and are the result of the fact that Semochkin, at the end of 1947, learned about the nature of Novikov’s slanderous statement personally from me.
I admit that I made a gross and deeply unpartisan mistake in sharing with Semochkin the nature of Novikov’s statement. I did this without any ulterior motive and did not pursue any goal.
The point of accusing me of making a non-partisan speech in Frankfurt in front of the “allies” is not true, which Comrade Vyshinsky, who was with me and personally spoke, can probably confirm. At the reception in the 82nd Parachute Division I was together with Sokolovsky, Serov and Semenov. I didn’t speak there, but I consider everything I said to be deeply partisan.
Second. The accusation that I sold the car to the artist Mikhailov and gave it to the writer Slavin is not true:
1) Slavin was given the car on the orders of Comrade. Molotov. The appropriate attitude was in place;
2) I gave Mikhailov permission to buy a car through the stock department. Comrade Mikhailov formalized this case through customs, and not through me, he paid the money to customs and the bank, and not to me.
I responsibly declare that I have never sold cars to anyone.
I never asked Slavin or anyone else to write anything about themselves, and I never ordered any book from Slavin. Semochkin writes an obvious lie.
Third. About my greed and desire to appropriate trophy valuables.
I admit that it was a serious mistake that I bought a lot of material for my family and relatives, for which I paid with the money I received as a salary. I bought in Leipzig for cash:
1) for a mink coat 160 pcs.
2) for a monkey’s coat 40–50 pcs.
3) for a cat’s coat (faux) 50–60 pcs. and something else, I don’t remember, for children. For all this I paid 30 thousand marks.
500–600 meters of flannel and wallpaper silk were purchased for upholstery and various curtains, since the dacha, which I received for temporary use from the state security, did not have equipment.
In addition, Comrade Vlasik asked me to buy 500 meters for some special object. But since Vlasik was removed from work, this material remained lying at the dacha.
I was told that more than 4 thousand meters of various manufactures were discovered at the dacha and in other places; I don’t know this figure. I ask for permission to draw up a report on the actual state. I think this is incorrect.
Paintings and carpets, as well as chandeliers, were indeed taken from abandoned mansions and castles and sent to furnish the MGB dacha that I used. 4 chandeliers were transferred to the MGB by the commandant, 3 chandeliers were given to equip the office of the commander-in-chief. It's the same with carpets. The carpets were partly used for offices, for a dacha, and partly for an apartment.
I believed that all this goes to the MGB fund, since the dacha and apartment are under the jurisdiction of the MGB. All this was transported and used by the MGB team, which has been serving me for 6 years. I don’t know if all this was registered, because I’ve been away for a year and a half and it’s my fault that I didn’t ask where everything was registered.
Regarding gold items and watches, I declare that the main thing is gifts from various organizations, and various rings and other ladies’ trinkets were acquired by the family over a long period and are gifts from friends on her birthday and other holidays, including several valuables given to my daughter by Molotov’s daughter Svetlana. The rest of all these things are mostly made of artificial gold and have no value.
About services. I bought these sets for 9,200 marks, each daughter had a set. I can present documents for the purchase and Comrade Serov can confirm through whom the services were purchased, since he was in charge of all economic issues.
About 50 thousand received from Serov and allegedly spent on personal needs.
This is slander. The money taken for entertainment expenses was fully returned in the amount of 50 thousand by the head of the MGB security, Bedov. If I were selfish, I could appropriate them for myself, since no one had to ask for an account for them. Moreover, Serov offered me 500 thousand for expenses at my discretion. I did not take that kind of money, although he indicated that Comrade Beria allowed him, if necessary, to give him as much money as I needed.
Silver spoons, knives and forks were sent by the Poles in honor of the liberation of Warsaw, and there is an inscription on the boxes indicating the gift. Some of the plates and something else were sent as a gift from the soldiers of Gorbatov’s army.
All this was lying around in the pantry, and I did not think of building my accumulation on this.
I admit that I am very guilty for not putting all this unnecessary junk into a warehouse somewhere, hoping that no one would need it.
Regarding the tapestries, I instructed Comrade Ageev from the MGB to hand them over to a museum somewhere, but he left the team without handing them over.
Fourth. Accusing me of competing with Telegin in scrounging is slander.
I can’t say anything about Telegin. I believe that he acquired the situation in Leipzig incorrectly. I told him about this personally. Where he took her, I don’t know.
Fifth. Hunting rifles. I had 6-7 pieces before the war, I bought 5-6 pieces in Germany, the rest were sent as gifts. The team used all the guns to hunt; I was going to donate some of the rifles sent as a gift somewhere. I admit my guilt in the fact that I shouldn’t have held so many guns. I made a mistake because, as a hunter, it was a pity to hand over good guns.
Sixth. Accusing me of licentiousness is a false slander, and Semochkin needed it in order to curry favor and show himself as repentant and me as dirty. I confirm one fact - this is my close relationship with Z., who throughout the war honestly and conscientiously served in the security team and the commander-in-chief's train. Z. received medals and orders on an equal basis with the entire security team; she received them not from me, but from the command of the front that I served at the direction of Headquarters. I am fully aware that I am also to blame for the fact that I was involved with her, and for the fact that she lived with me for a long time. What Semochkin shows is a lie. I have never allowed myself such vulgarities in the office, which Semochkin lies about so shamelessly.
K. was indeed arrested on the Western Front, but she was only at the front for 6 days, and I honestly say that I had no connection.
Seventh. The fact that he did not want to sign for the loan is also slander. I never signed for less than 1 1/2–2 months' salary. This can be confirmed by documents.
Eighth. Party contributions were actually paid by Semochkin, since I was a member of the party organization of the General Staff, and for the most part I was at the front and, in order not to overdue the party contribution, I instructed Semochkin to make the party contribution.
In conclusion, I declare with full responsibility:
1. Semochkin is clearly slandering me. I kindly ask you to check whether I had a similar conversation with Konev and others, how to deceive Comrade. Stalin about the situation.
2. Semochkin is slandering me, counting on the fact that he is the second, after Novikov, witness about my allegedly anti-Soviet views and that they will certainly believe him.
I am deeply aware of my mistake in that I shared with him information about Novikov’s slanderous statement and gave him a trump card for dishonest conversations, anti-Soviet conversations and, finally, against me.
3. I ask the Central Committee of the Party to take into account that I made some mistakes during the war without malicious intent and in fact I have never been a bad servant of the Party, the Motherland and the great Stalin.
I have always honestly and conscientiously carried out all the instructions of Comrade. Stalin.
I take a strong Bolshevik oath not to allow such mistakes and nonsense.
I am sure that the Motherland, the great leader Comrade, will still need me. Stalin and the party.
Please leave me in the party. I will correct the mistakes made and will not allow the high rank of a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) to be sullied.
Member of the CPSU(b) Zhukov
Molotov also considered it necessary to explain himself, not so much to justify Zhukov, but to take care of his reputation.
“Comrade Zhdanov
1. On my instructions, by order of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on August 23, 1945, one captured passenger car was issued to the writer Slavin in compensation for the car stolen from him at the beginning of the war (on the same day a similar order was given to the writers Kirsanov and Lidin, etc. .).
2. I found out that in 1945 my daughter Svetlana gave one valuable gift for the birthday of her friend, Zhukov’s daughter - a gold ring with a diamond, bought at a thrift store for 1200 rubles. The remaining gifts in similar cases are worthless trinkets.
V. Molotov
Thus, the suitcase version collapsed. It is not difficult to imagine in what terms Stalin expressed his opinion to Abakumov on this matter. The Minister of State Security (by that time that was the name of the former People's Commissars) had to somehow maintain his reputation before his “father.”
In February 1948 (the previous events took place in January), Abakumov drew attention to the interrogation protocol in the case of the theft of jewelry by large GB employees in Berlin. This was what Abakumov needed. Here you can catch the hated Serov and jewelry again takes on real meaning.
By the way, about the same Abakumov, in his denunciation to Stalin, Serov wrote the following:
“It is unpleasant for me, Comrade Stalin, to recall the numerous facts of Abakumov’s self-supply during the war at the expense of trophies, but I consider it necessary to report on some of them.
...during the Patriotic War, a trainload of more than 20 wagons with captured property arrived in Moscow, including Abakumov’s zealous sycophants from Smersh who sent him a full wagon loaded with property, with the inscription “To Abakumov.”
... in Crimea the blood of the soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army who liberated Sevastopol was still shed, and his adjutant Kuznetsov (now “guarding” Abakumov) flew to the head of the counterintelligence department “Smersh” and loaded a full plane with captured property ... "
But for now Stalin forgave Abakumov everything.
So, here are a few paragraphs from the interrogation protocol of the former head of the operational sector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Berlin, Major General Sidnev.
« Question. After your departure from Berlin, large thefts of valuables and gold were discovered, in which you were directly involved. Show about it.
Answer. Frankly speaking, I have long been worried, expecting that the crimes I committed in Germany would be revealed and I would have to answer for them.
As you know, the units of the Soviet Army that captured Berlin captured large trophies. In different parts of the city, storehouses of gold items, silver, diamonds and other valuables were discovered every now and then. At the same time, several huge storage facilities were found containing expensive furs, fur coats, different types of fabric, the best linen and many other property. I'm not even talking about things like cutlery and sets, there were countless of them. These valuables and goods were stolen by various persons.
I must say frankly that I belonged to those few senior officials in whose hands were all the possibilities to immediately organize the protection and accounting of everything valuable that was captured by Soviet troops on German territory. However, I did not take any measures to prevent the robberies and I consider myself guilty of this.
Question. Have you been involved in robbery yourself?
Answer. I admit it. Disregarding the high rank of Soviet general and the responsible position I held in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while in Germany I pounced on easy prey and, forgetting about the interests of the state, which I was supposed to protect, began to enrich myself.
How embarrassing it is to talk about this now, but I have no choice but to admit that in Germany I was engaged in theft and appropriation of what should have become the property of the state.
At the same time, I must say that when I sent this illegally acquired property to my apartment in Leningrad, I, of course, grabbed a little extra.
Question. A search of your apartment in Leningrad revealed about a hundred gold and platinum items, thousands of meters of wool and silk fabric, about 50 expensive carpets, a large amount of crystal, porcelain and other goods.
Is this “a little extra” in your opinion?
Answer. I do not deny that I brought a lot of valuables and things from Germany.
Question. Where did you “grab” three gold bracelets with diamonds?
Answer. I took these bracelets from one of the discovered German storage facilities, I don’t remember where exactly. If I’m not mistaken, one of the gold bracelets was brought to me by the accountant of the Berlin intelligence officer Nochvin.
Question. 15 gold watches, 42 gold pendants, necklaces, brooches, earrings and chains, 15 gold rings and other gold items seized from you during the search, where did you steal?
Answer. Just like the gold bracelets, I stole these valuables from German vaults.
Question. But you also stole money?
Answer. I didn't steal any money.
Question. Not true. Arrested ex. The head of the operational sector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Thuringia Bezhanov G.A. testified during interrogation that you embezzled large sums of German money, which you used for personal enrichment.
Does Bezhanov show correctly?
Answer. Right. During the occupation of Berlin, one of my task forces discovered more than 40 million German marks in the Reichsbank.
We also seized approximately the same number of millions of stamps from other storage facilities in the Mitte area (Berlin).
All this money was transported to the basement of the building that housed the Berlin operational sector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Question. But this basement with money was under your control?
Answer. Yes, in mine.
Question. How much money was there in total?
Answer. In the basement there were about 100 bags containing more than 80 million marks.
Question. Do you know where all the records for the expenditure of German marks are now?
Answer. As Nochvin told me, folders with reporting materials on spent German marks, collected from all sectors, including records for the money I issued, were burned on Serov’s orders.
All that remains is a list of names of burned materials, compiled by employees of the financial group of Serov’s apparatus.
Question. Who exactly burned these reporting materials and records?
Answer. I don’t know this, but most likely the financial workers of Serov’s apparatus or his secretary Tuzhlov, or maybe all together, participated in the burning.
I believe that Serov gave instructions to burn all these materials in order to cover up his tracks, since if they had been preserved, then all the crimes committed by Serov, me, Klepov, Bezhanov and other persons close to him would have been revealed much earlier and, apparently, we would have been in prison a long time ago.
Question. Where did you put the reports on the seized gold and other valuables that were in your possession?
Answer. This reporting, as well as reporting on German marks, was transferred to Serov’s apparatus and burned there.
Question. Did you do this in order to hide the theft of gold and other valuables?
Answer. I handed over these documents to Serov because he demanded them from me.
I have already testified about the theft of valuables on my part. Serov also appropriated valuables, so, obviously, there was a need to destroy these documents in order to hide the loose ends.”
And the case of the Berlin marauders would probably also have been put on hold if the short-sighted general had not mentioned that Abakumov was looking for this.
Continuation of the extract from the interrogation protocol.
« Answer. Serov, in addition to organizing his personal affairs, spent a lot of time in the company of Marshal Zhukov, with whom he was closely associated. Both of them were equally unclean and covered for each other.
Question. Explain this statement of yours?
Answer. Serov saw very well all the shortcomings in Zhukov’s work and behavior, but because of the established relationship, he covered everything up.
When I was in Serov’s office, I saw on his desk a portrait of Zhukov with the inscription on the back: “To my best combat friend and comrade as a keepsake.” The second portrait of Zhukov hung on the wall in the same Serov office.
Serov and Zhukov often visited each other, went hunting and provided mutual services... A little later, a crown was sent to me from Zhukov, which by all indications belonged to the wife of the German Kaiser. Gold was removed from this crown to decorate the stack that Zhukov wanted to present to his daughter on her birthday.
The interrogation was interrupted.
The protocol was written down correctly from my words, read it by me.
Sidnev.
Interrogated by: Art. Investigator of the investigative unit for particularly important cases of the USSR Ministry of State Security
lieutenant colonel Putintsev».
The full text of the interrogation protocol was immediately sent to Abakumov.
Abakumov was in a hurry - the interrogation protocol bears the date 6.2.48. This protocol was placed on Abakumov’s desk the same day. The accompanying letter to Stalin was also printed on 6.2.48. And, probably, on the same day Stalin had everything.
A new major case was planned, in which Zhukov would appear surrounded by seasoned looters, and the evidence would be millions of marks, kilograms of gold items, diamonds, hundreds of carpets, paintings, tapestries, and so on. The point is true: living people are already confessing and incriminating the marshal as a participant in this looting. Well, if something is not very firm and definite in their testimony, rubber batons will help them speak out more accurately.
And also characteristic features of that time: Abakumov is weaving a network against Serov, his longtime enemy, but not his rival and competitor for the post of minister; all those arrested, indicated in Abakumov’s letter, are from Serov’s entourage. Abakumov asks Stalin for permission to arrest Tuzhlov, Serov’s former assistant. It is very characteristic that Abakumov asks for this permission not from the prosecutor, not based on the conclusion of the investigative authorities, but from Stalin, who legally does not have the right to give sanctions for either arrests or searches.
Yes, what kind of rights can we talk about if marshals and generals are beaten with batons, turning them into chops!
In a conversation with Konstantin Simonov, recalling this period of his life, Zhukov told him:
“When I was already removed from the post of deputy minister and commanded the district in Sverdlovsk, Abakumov, under the leadership of Beria, prepared a whole case about a military conspiracy. A number of officers were arrested, and the question of my arrest arose.
Beria and Abakumov reached such an absurdity and meanness that they tried to portray me as a person who, at the head of these arrested officers, was preparing a military conspiracy against Stalin. But, as the people present at this conversation later told me, Stalin listened to Beria’s proposal for my arrest and said:
No, I won’t let Zhukov be arrested. I don't believe in all this. I know him well. During the four years of war I got to know him better than myself.
This is how this conversation was relayed to me, after which Beria’s attempt to end my life failed.”
Documents that are known to readers and were not known to Zhukov irrefutably prove that Stalin personally directed all “events” aimed at first discrediting the marshal and then destroying him.
As for Zhukov’s opinion that Stalin did not offend him, it does not correspond to reality and this rumor (“the conversation was conveyed to me”) may have been planted from the Lubyanka in order to lull Zhukov’s vigilance.
Matchmaker of the famous Soviet state and party leader I. I. Nosenko.
Biography
Born in Tatarsk, Novosibirsk region. In the Red Army since 1918. Member of the RCP(b) since 1919. Participant in the Civil War, assistant military commissar of a rifle regiment. In 1931 he graduated from the Military-Political Academy named after. V.I. Lenin. Since 1936 - in military-political work in the NKVD troops. Participant in the battles on Lake Khasan (1938) and the Soviet-Finnish War (1939-1940). In 1940-1941 - in the central apparatus of the NKVD of the USSR. In June 1941 - brigade commissar.
The Great Patriotic War
During the Great Patriotic War, from July 1941 - a member of the Military Council of the Moscow Military District, from December - the Moscow Defense Zone (MZO), in 1942-1945. - Member of the Military Councils (political leader) of the Don, Central and 1st Belorussian Fronts. Participated in the preparation and implementation of military operations in the Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk battles, in the battle for the Dnieper, the liberation of Belarus, in the Vistula-Oder, East Pomeranian and Berlin operations. He took a direct part in the signing by the Soviet side of the Surrender of Germany on May 7-9, 1945.
As the head of a government commission, he participated in the procedure for identifying the remains of Hitler and Goebbels.
Post-war career
After the war - Deputy Marshal G.K. Zhukov and member of the Military Council of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.
In 1947, he was dismissed from the army, and on January 24, 1948, he was arrested on the personal orders of I.V. Stalin in the so-called “trophy case,” one of the defendants of which was G.K. Zhukov.
In July 1953, he was completely rehabilitated and reinstated in the Armed Forces. In 1955-1956 - Deputy head of the “Vystrel” course for political affairs.
Then, in retirement, he lived in Moscow at his personal dacha in Serebryany Bor.
Died as a result of a heart attack in 1981. Due to the fact that the position of a member of the Military Council of the Front during the war years corresponded in rank to the position of the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (CPSU), the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee decided to bury his ashes in the Kremlin wall on Red Square, however, at the insistence of his relatives , he was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Essays
- Telegin K.F. They didn’t give up Moscow! - M.: Soviet Russia, 1968. - 352 p. - 50,000 copies.
- Telegin K.F. They didn’t give up Moscow! Ed. 2nd, additional, revised. - M.: Soviet Russia, 1975. - 368 p., ill. on - 75,000 copies.
- Telegin K. F. Wars of countless miles. - M.: Voenizdat, 1988. - 416 p.; 10 l. ill. - (War memoirs). - 65,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-00065-4.