How the chief security officer of the USSR became a samurai: Zigzags of fate of the defector Genrikh Lyushkov

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

During the entire existence of the state security organs of the USSR, there are more than one case when employees of this organization went over to the enemy side. The Western press enthusiastically told about them and the Soviet Union kept a deaf silence, preferring to hide the truth about the traitor from the public. One of these "undisclosed" defectors was Genrikh Lyushkov: the third-rank commissar, who had served in the authorities for more than one year, went over to the side of Japan, which was hostile at that time, in 1938.

How a store clerk got into the levers of power

It is known about Genrikh Lyushkov that he was born in 1900 in the family of the Odessa tailor Samuil Lyushkov and had an older brother. The father, who dreamed that his sons would go into business, helped them get the necessary education. However, to his disappointment, first the eldest and then the youngest son were seriously carried away by revolutionary ideas.

In 1917, Lyushkov Jr. joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) and in the same year became a private in the Red Guard in Odessa. During the Civil War, Henry, as a member of the underground, was arrested, but managed to organize his escape and avoid, possibly, serious punishment. At the age of 20, the young man received a responsible position for the first time - he was appointed deputy chairman of the Tiraspol Cheka. Until the age of 30, he managed to change several more posts with a promotion, until in 1931 he began to head the secret-political department of the GPU of Ukraine. For his zeal in identifying counter-revolutionary elements, Lyushkov was soon transferred to the central apparatus of the country. Already here he met, and a little later, and enlisted the support of Genrikh Yagoda, the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

For Genrikh Samuilovich, the heyday of his career came: he was investigating the murder of Kirov, took part in the investigation of the so-called "Kremlin case", as well as the case of the "Anti-Soviet Trotskyite-Zinoviev Center". For activity and success in his work, Lyushkov was twice nominated for awards - the Orders of the Red Banner and Lenin.

Soon after the case of the "Anti-Soviet Center", Henry was transferred to another position - he took the post of head of the Ukrainian NKVD of the Azov-Black Sea region. In the new place, Lyushkov continued to search and interrogate "enemies of the people", succeeding in his zeal so that he was entrusted with organizing security for Stalin when he was in Matsesta at a hydrotherapy resort.

Due to the need for work, Henry thoroughly learned all the strengths and weaknesses of the protection of the leader while on vacation. At that time he did not even suspect how he would use this knowledge in the future …

How the head of the Far Eastern NKVD decided to escape

Since 1937, luck gradually began to turn away from Lyushkov. First, Yagoda, who patronized him, was arrested, and a little later, almost all the employees close to the People's Commissar, except for Genrikh Samuilovich. For some reason, the repressions organized by the new chief Nikolai Yezhov did not affect the son of the Odessa tailor. Nevertheless, the thunderstorm was approaching, and Lyushkov felt that his turn was about to come.

In April 1938, Lyushkov's close comrade-in-arms, IM Leplevsky, was arrested, and just a few days later, MA Kagan's deputy, who had been summoned "on official business" to Moscow. On May 26, 1938, Henry realized that his turn had come - an order was received that deprived Lyushkov of his official powers due to the allegedly imminent reorganization of the GUGB NKVD. At the same time, as a wake-up call, a telegram was received from Yezhov with a request to express his opinion on the move to the capital to work in the central office.

In addition to everything, already in June, Mekhlis and Frinovsky arrived from Moscow to purge the leadership of the local NKVD, the Pacific Fleet and the border troops. Realizing that this would be followed by an early arrest, Lyushkov, under the pretext of checking the outpost in the Manchurian area, arrived at the location of the 59th border detachment and, seizing the moment, crossed the border.

Operation "Bear", or how Lyushkov took the path of a samurai and began organizing the assassination of Stalin

Having surrendered to the Japanese on June 14, 1938, the former Chekist told them everything he knew about the defensive fortifications of the border, weapons and the deployment of border guards; and also revealed all the pseudonyms of Soviet intelligence officers who worked for the Japanese in the rear. Moreover, Lyushkov announced his activities to protect Stalin, contributing a lot to the emergence of an operation plan to eliminate the leader of the USSR.

For the operation, called "Bear", the Japanese were preparing very scrupulously: a copy of the hospital was even built, where an attempt on the leader was conceived. Genrikh Samuilovich shared that Stalin, while taking radon baths, remained alone in the room for a long time. Having penetrated inside the building through the drain and finished off the guards, it was possible to enter the procedure room and complete the case of eliminating the Soviet leader.

Only suicide bombers were recruited to the group to carry out the operation - no one hoped that after the murder of Stalin, they would be able to return. However, soon the saboteurs themselves turned into victims - noticing the violators, the border guards opened fire, shooting three kamikazes. The surviving criminals, abandoning the second attempt to cross the border, were forced to hide in Turkey.

How was Lyushkov's fate in Southeast Asia

In Tokyo, Genrikh Samuilovich was appointed to the post of senior consultant in the secret department of the General Staff, whose functions included intelligence, propaganda and psychological warfare against the Soviet Union. The defector lived in isolation and rarely went out into the streets unnecessarily, preferring to devote himself entirely to work - reading the Soviet press, compiling detailed analytical reports, sometimes writing short notes for newspapers.

Lyushkov's well-adjusted life came to an end in the summer of 1945, after the USSR declared war on Japan on August 9. From that moment on, practically nothing is known about the fate of the former Chekist. According to one version, the Japanese themselves liquidated it, then cremating the body according to their tradition and burying the ashes without specifying a name. According to other sources, Genrikh Samuilovich managed to escape - he was allegedly seen at the Dairen train station among the crowd, distraught with fear.

But no matter how the further fate of Lyushkov develops, one thing is known - after August 1945, there is no official information about her.

In general, the secret services of the USSR reacted extremely harshly to cases of betrayal. They tried to eliminate the guilty person by all possible means. The first was Georgy Agabekov, who was eliminated by the NKVD.