Vadim Birstein - The Perversion of Knowledge

Shpigelglass(or Spigelglass) , Sergei(1897–1939), incorrectly named in many sources as Mikhail(for instance, Andrew and Gordievsky, KGB , p. 138), joined the VCheKa Special Department approximately in 1920. From 1935, deputy head of the NKVD Foreign (Intelligence) Department within the Main State Security Directorate (GUGB). Organized many NKVD operations abroad, including assassinations in Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and in France. In February 1938, succeeded Slutsky as acting head of the NKVD Foreign Department (the GUGB Seventh Department). Arrested and shot in 1939.

Shumsky, Aleksandr(1890–1946), Party figure and Stalin’s victim. Joined the Ukrainian Bolshevik Party in 1920. Member of the Comintern Executive Committee, head of the Ukrainian Legation in Warsaw (Poland) (1922–1924), the Ukrainian commissar of Education (1924–1933). In January 1933, accused of Ukrainian nationalism and arrested. Exiled to Saratov, where he was killed in 1946 (Sudoplatov, A., Tainaya zhizn’ , p. 550).

Sisakyan, Norair(1907–1966), biochemist and Lysenkoist. Corresponding member (1955), academician (1960). Secretary academician of the Academy Biology Division (1959), chief scientific secretary of the academy (1960–1966). In 1956, elected a member and vice president of the International Astronautical Academy. President of the Thirteenth UNESCO General Assembly (1964–1966).

Slutsky, Abram(1898–1938) joined the VCheKa in 1920 in Turkestan (Central Asia). At the Economic Directorate of the OGPU in Moscow in 1926. From 1929, at the Foreign (Intelligence) Department; head of this department from 1935. Was poisoned on February 17, 1938 (Petrov and Skorkin, Kto rukovodil NKVD , pp. 383–384).

Speransky, Aleksei(1888–1961), pathologist. Worked with Academician Pavlov (1923–1928). Head of the Experimental Department at the Institute of Surgical Neuropathy in Leningrad (1926–1928), the Department of Pathophysiology at the Leningrad Institute of Experimental Medicine (1928–1934), and the Department of General Pathology at the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine (VIEM) in Moscow (1934–1945). Director of the Academy Institute of General and Experimental Pathology (1945–1954), head of the Department of General Pathology of the Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology (1954–1961). Academician (1939), and member of the Medical Academy (1944). In 1950 was among those physiologists who were criticized by the Lysenkoists. However, supported Mairanovsky.

Stalin(pseudonym of Dzhugashvili) , Joseph(1879–1953), secretary general of the Bolshevik Party (1922–1953), premier of the Soviet state (1941–1953), a ruthless dictator. From 1894–1899, in a theological school in Georgia. Joined the Party in 1898, and between 1902 and 1913 was arrested seven times for revolutionary activity, undergoing repeated imprisonment and exile. In 1907, participated in a robbery of a bank in Tiflis (Tbilisi) on order to “expropriate” funds for the Bolshevik Party. A Central Committee member (1912–1913, 1917–1953), and a Politburo member (1919–1953). From April 1922, general secretary of the Party, and succeeded Lenin in January 1924. Honorary academician (1939). In May 1941 appointed himself chairman of the Council of Commissars. During World War II, from June 1941 until May 1945, headed the State Defense Committee.

Steinberg, Matus(1904–?), NKVD/MGB agent. Born near Odessa (then Romanian territory) and from 1923, lived in Belgium and France. In 1924, joined the Belgian and then French Communist Parties. Served in the Red Army (1926–1927). From 1928, at the GPU, then NKVD Foreign Department. In 1957, he and his accomplice, Elsa Shukter (1904–?), were arrested in a Moscow hotel, the Balchug, in connection with the revolt in Hungary in 1956 (details are unknown). On March 14, 1958, they were sentenced to 10 and 5 years’ imprisonment, respectively. Kept in Vladimir Prison. Shukter was released in January 1961, and Steinberg, in January 1966 (Steinberg’s and Shukter’s prisoner cards in Vladimir Prison).

Stepanov, Mikhail(1900–1940) joined the VCheKa in 1920. Head of the Secret Department (1929–1931) and of the Special Department of the Leningrad Branch of the OGPU (1931–1933). Later held different regional positions. Arrested in 1938, condemned to 12 years of labor camps in 1940 and the same year died in a camp (Petrov and Skorkin, Kto rukovidil NKVD , pp. 395–396).

Stern, Lina(1878–1968), physiologist. Graduated from Geneva University (1903), and became professor there (1917–1925). Moved to Moscow, professor at the Second Moscow Medical Institute (1925–1949), director of the Academy Institute of Physiology (1929–1949). Academician (1939), member of the Medical Academy (1944) (the only woman elected to both academies). In 1949 arrested as a member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. On July 18, 1952, sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment and 5 years’ exile (other defendants were sentenced to death and shot). However, not expelled from the academy. In July 1953 amnestied and released. A special decision of the Academy Presidium in 1954 permitted her to set up a new laboratory for her old staff at the Institute of Biophysics. Stalin Prize (1954).

Sudoplatov, Pavel(1907–1996) joined the CheKa in 1921. In 1927 at the Secret Political Department of the Ukrainian OGPU in the city of Kharkov (then the capital of the Ukraine). From 1933, in the OGPU Foreign Department in Moscow. In Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France (1934–1938); investigated Ukrainian nationalists. Assassinated the leader of the Ukrainian nationalists, Yevhen Konovalets, in Holland (1938). Deputy head of NKVD Fifth (Intelligence) Department within the NKVD Main State Security Directorate (1939–1941); in 1940, in charge of the organization of Leon Trotsky’s assassination in Mexico. Deputy head of the First (Intelligence) NKGB Directorate (1941), head of the Special Group, which became the NKVD Second Department (1941–1942), head of the Second Department, which became the NKVD/NKGB/MGB Fourth Directorate (1942–1946). In 1946, head of the DR (terrorism) MGB Department (former Fourth Directorate) (1946–1950), of Bureau No. 1 (1950–1953), of the MVD Ninth Department (1953). In the late 1940s, organized and took part in political assassinations together with Naum Eitingon and Mairanovsky. Arrested on August 21, 1953. Simulated madness. On September 12, 1958, sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. Kept in Vladimir Prison. After the release, became a ghost writer. Rehabilitated in 1990.

Sukachev, Vladimir(1880–1967), botanist and outspoken anti-Lysenkoist in the 1950s. Graduated from the Forestry Institute in St. Petersburg (1902), became professor there (1925–1941). At the Academy Botanical Museum (1912–1918), professor at the Forestry Institute (later the Forest-Technical Academy) (1919–1941), chair of the Acclimatization Department of the Department of Geobotany (1924–1926), director of the Academy Botanical Garden (1931–1933) and the Academy Institute of Forestry in Moscow; and professor at the Moscow Forest-Technical Academy (1944–1948) and Moscow University (1948–1951). Corresponding member (1920), academician (1943). In 1916, a member-founder and from 1946 on, president of the All-Union Botanical Society. Awards by the Geographical Society in 1912, 1914, 1929, 1947. President of the Moscow Society of Naturalists (1955–1967). Despite his Party membership (from 1937), started a crusade against Trofim Lysenko and his followers. To punish him, in 1961 the Central Committee ordered the transfer of his Institute of Forestry from Moscow to the city of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. He was too old to move to Siberia.