Thereafter, Slutsky reported on the progress of the case concerning Smirnov. Slutsky was reprimanded in the same way. This day. Stalin must have been in a bad mood.
“Tell him (Kamenev) that if he refuses to appear in court, we will find a suitable successor for him – his own son – who will surely confess to the court that he had prepared a terrorist operation to kill party leaders on the orders of his old son… …and tell him that. We have reliable information that his son, together with Reinhold, followed the cars of Voroshilov and Stalin on the Mochai highway. These words will work on him immediately ……”
While Kamenev was already being persecuted by torture, Zinoviev was lying ill in a single cell. The interrogation of Zinoviev was postponed only until he recovered. Yezhov wanted to make up for the lost time and decided not to allow Denoviev to experience the “processing” that Kamenev had been subjected to, but to ask him publicly, in the name of the Politburo, to make the “confessions” necessary for the case.
Agranov, Molchanov and Mironov were present when Yerev talked to Zinoviev. Yerev asked Mironov to take detailed notes.
It was late at night that Genoviev was taken to Agranov’s office, where the conversation was to take place. Zinoviev looked sickly and could barely stand up. From time to time, while talking with him, Yezhov had to fatten his notepad, as it contained instructions given to him by Stalin. The conversation lasted more than two hours.
The next day, Yerov read the notes, made certain corrections, and then ordered Mironov to print only one copy and return it to him with the original: the records had to be submitted to Stalin. Milonov deliberately misunderstood Yerov’s words and typed another copy for Yagoda. Yagoda, who had always been obsessed with Yerov’s involvement in the affairs of the NKVD, began to monitor his every move, expecting to catch him in something and then lose face with him in front of Stalin, thus getting out of his way.
To begin with, Yerev declared to Zinoviev. The Soviet counterintelligence agencies had intercepted certain documents of the German General Command. These documents showed that Germany and Japan were preparing to launch a military attack against the Soviet Union in the latest spring. Under these circumstances, the Party could no longer allow Trotsky to carry out anti-Soviet propaganda abroad. Now, more than ever, the Party needed to mobilize the international proletariat to defend the “fatherland of the working people. Then, in the name of the Politburo, Yezhov declared to Zinoviev that he should help the Party to deal “a devastating blow to Trotsky and his bandits in order to disengage the workers of foreign countries from his counter-revolutionary organizations and to fire on him.”
“What do you want from me?” Zinoviev asked cautiously.
Without answering directly, Yezhov glanced at the notepad before beginning to enumerate the crimes of Zinoviev’s opposition to the party leadership and accusing him and Kamenev of not having completely surrendered their arms for the moment.
Yerov continued, “The Politburo asks you for the last time never to rise up against the party again.”
Finally, Yezhov revealed to Zinoviev the essence of the Politburo’s demand: that he, Zinoviev, must admit in a public trial that the confessions made by the former oppositionists about his and Trotsky’s attempts to kill Stalin and other Politburo members were true.
Zinoviev angrily refused this demand, so. Yerev had to convey to him Stalin’s words: “If Zinoviev voluntarily agrees to attend the public trial and confesses all his sins, his life will be saved. If he refuses, then he will be tried in secret by a military tribunal. In that case, he and all the opposition elements will be eliminated.”
“I see that the time has come when Stalin wants my head. All right, just take it!” Zinoviev said.
“Don’t risk your head,” said Yezhov. “You should see the situation clearly: whether you like it or not, the Party must publish to the working people of the Soviet Union and the world the confessions of the other accused, who accuse you and Trotsky of instigating them in terrorist activities aimed at killing Stalin and other leading figures.”
“I see that you have set everything up long ago and do not need me to smear myself any further,” said Zinoviev. “But why do you take such pains to persuade me? Is it because for the trial to be a great success, it is necessary that I, Zinoviev, should also call myself a criminal? As it happens, I will never do so.”
Yerev retorted, “If you think that we can’t do anything without your confession, you are wrong. You know that no one can prevent us from adding everything we need to the stenographic record of the trial and publishing it in the press, and we will say that Grigori Yevseyevich Zinoviev has thoroughly confessed his guilt after being exposed in court by all the other defendants.”
“That is to say, you are going to present the fabricated lies as a court record?” Zinoviev roared indignantly.
Yerev urged Zinoviev not to get angry, and to weigh everything carefully again in a calm manner.
Recent Comments