Vadim Birstein - The Perversion of Knowledge

Unshlikht, Iosif(1879–1938), one of the founders of the VCheKa in 1917. In 1919, participated in the short-lived Government of the Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia, and in 1920, in a similar Polish government. Deputy chairman of the VCheKa/OGPU (1921–1923), in charge of military intelligence (1923–1925), deputy commissar of defense and deputy chairman of the USSR Military Council (1925–1930), deputy chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Council of Deputies (VSNKh) (1930–1933), then at different high positions in the Soviet government (1933–1937). A candidate to the Central Committee (1925–1937). Arrested on June 11, 1937, tried on July 28, 1938, and shot on July 29, 1938 (Leggett, The CHEKA, pp. 271–273; Kolpakidi, Aleksandr, and Dimitrii Prokhorov, Imperia GRU: Ocherki istorii rossiiskoi voennoi razvedki [The GRU Empire: Essays on the History of the Russian Military Intelligence] [Moscow: Olma-Press, 2000], vol. 2, pp. 423–424 [in Russian]; Yeremina and Roginsky, Rastrel’nye spiski , p. 411).

Vannikov, Boris(1897–1962), state figure. Joined the Communist Party in 1919. Deputy commissar (1937–1939), then commissar (1939–1941) of defense industry. Arrested (June–August 1941). Deputy commissar of defense industry again (1941), commissar of armaments (1942–1946), deputy chair of the Special Committee and head of the First Main Directorate under the Council of Ministers (in charge of the A- and H-bomb projects) (1945–1953), first deputy minister of medium machine building (i.e., of atomic industry) (1953–1958). Hero of Socialist Labor (1942, 1949, 1954) (Naumov and Sigachev, Lavrentii Beria , p. 433).

Vavilov, Nikolai(1887–1943), botanist and geneticist. Graduated from Moscow Agricultural Institute (1911). Director of the Institute of Applied Botany (1924–1929), the Plant Breeding Institute (VIR) (1930–1940), and the Academy Institute of Genetics (1933–1940). Member of the Ukrainian and the USSR Academies (1929). President (1929–1935), and then, from 1935–1938, vice president of the Agricultural Academy (VASKhNIL) (1953–1938), president of the All-Union Geographical Society (1931–1940). Member of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Council of Deputies (VSNKh) (1926–1935). Published more than 350 original papers and monographs in different languages. Discovered the law of homologous series in hereditary variation and centers of origin of cultivated plants. Arrested in 1940 because of his long-term stand against Trofim Lysenko. Sentenced to death on July 9, 1941; not executed. On July 26, 1941, the death penalty was commuted to 20 years’ imprisonment in labor camps. Died in the city of Saratov, in Saratov Prison on January 26, 1943.

Vavilov, Sergei(1891–1951), physicist, the younger brother of Nikolai Vavilov. Graduated from Moscow University (1914), became professor there and head of the Physics Department at the Institute of Physics and Biophysics (1918–1932), director of the Academy Physics Institute (from 1932), scientific deputy director of the Academy Optical Institute. Academician (1932). President of the academy (1945–1951). According to Andrei Sakharov’s memoirs (p. 77), Vavilov accepted the post of president because he had been informed that Trofim Lysenko and Andrei Vyshinsky were the other candidates for this position.

Vernadsky, Vladimir(1863–1945), the founder of geochemistry and biogeochemistry. Developed the biosphere theory (the total mass of living organisms that process and recycle the energy and nutrients available from the environment). Graduated from St. Petersburg University (1885). Professor at Moscow University (1890–1911). Ordinary academician (1912). Active member of the Constitutional Democrats Party and a minister in the Provisional Government in 1917. Escaped arrest by the Bolsheviks by moving to the Ukraine and Crimea. Back to Moscow in 1921, then abroad (1922–1926). After his return, founded several laboratories and institutes. From 1927, directed the Academy Biogeochemical Laboratory (in Leningrad).

Vinogradov, Vladimir(1882–1964), therapist. In 1937, as an expert, confirmed the indictment against his teacher, Professor Dmitrii Pletnev. In 1944, elected to the Medical Academy. In 1951, chief therapist at the Kremlin Hospital, chair of a department at the First Moscow Medical Institute, head of the Electrocardiography Department at the Institute of Therapy of the Medical Academy, and editor in chief of the journal Terapevticheskii arkhiv [Therapist’s Archive]. In 1953, one of the main victims of the Doctors’ Plot case (Naumov and Sigachev, Lavrentii Beria , p. 434).

Vlodzimersky, Lev(1903–1953) joined the local OGPU branch in the town of Zheleznovodsk in 1928. In Moscow from 1937. Deputy and then head of the Investigation Department of the Main Economic Directorate within the NKVD (1939–1940), first deputy of the Third Department of the NKVD Main State Security Directorate (1940–1941), head of the NKGB Investigation Department (1941) and the NKVD Department for Investigation of Especially Important Cases (OVD) (1941–1943). In 1946–1947, in the city of Gorky, and from 1947 until March 1953, in Germany under Vsevolod Merkulov. Head of the OVD Department within the new MVD (March–June 1953). Arrested on July 17, 1953, tried and shot on December 23, 1953, along with Beria and others. Not rehabilitated (Petrov and Skorkin, Kto rukovodil NKVD , p. 132).

Volf, Moisei(1880–1933), economist. Head of the Agricultural Section of the State Planning Committee (Gosplan) (late 1920s–1933). Arrested in March of 1933 together with the other 34 agricultural specialists. Accused of trying “to create a condition of famine in the country.” Condemned to death and shot (Joravsky, The Lysenko Affair , p. 73).

Vovsi, Miron(or Meyer) (1897–1956), physician and Solomon Mikhoels’s cousin. In 1937, among those doctors who denounced Dr. Dmitrii Pletnev. During World War II, the Red Army’s chief physician. After World War II, professor at the Central Institute for Advanced Medicine. In 1952–1953, accused of playing the leading role in the Doctors’ Plot. In April 1953, released. Died of consequences of injuries obtained during brutal interrogations.

Vyshinsky, Andrei(1883–1954), prosecutor. A Menshevik from 1903, then a Bolshevik (1920). In 1918, joined the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Professor (the 1920s) and rector of Moscow University (1925–1931). The RSFSR (i.e., Russian Republic) prosecutor (1931–1935), then Soviet general prosecutor (1935–1949). Organizer of show trials of the 1930s. Academician (1939). Member of the Central Committee (1939–1954), foreign minister (1949–1953), Soviet ambassador to the United Nations (1953–1954).

Yagoda, Genrikh(or Yenokh) (1891–1938) joined the Social Democratic movement in 1904. From 1911 to 1912, arrested several times and in 1912 exiled to the city of Simbirsk in Siberia. Returned to Petrograd in 1913 and married a niece of Yakov Sverdlov, Ida Averbach. At the front (1914–1917). During the Bolshevik Revolution, a member of the Petrograd Bolshevik Military Organization. Joined the CheKa in 1919. NKVD commissar (1934–1936). Demoted to commissar of communication. Arrested on April 3, 1937, tried and condemned to death along with Bukharin and other defendants. Shot on March 15, 1938. Not rehabilitated (Petrov and Skorkin, Kto rukovodil NKVD , pp. 459–460).

Yakovlev, Yakov(1896–1938; pseudonym of Yakov Epstein), Party and state figure. Commissar of agriculture (1929–1934), head of the Agricultural Department of the Central Committee (1934–1937). Arrested on October 12, 1937 (together with Aleksandr Muralov). On July 29, 1938, condemned to death and shot. Rehabilitated in 1957 (Reznik, S., “Pravda i lozh’ o Vavilove i Lysenko” [The truth and lies about Vavilov and Lysenko], Voprosy Istorii Estestvoznaniya i Tekhnik i 2 (1992): 62–78 (in Russian); Yeremina and Roginsky, Rasstrel’nye spiski , p. 465).