A few days passed after Berman’s conversation with Molchanov. I was again told about the confrontation.
Before the confrontation began, Kogan warned both sides that they were strictly forbidden to talk to each other and that they could only answer questions posed by the interrogator.
Kogan’s first question to Oliebirge was, “Did you know that Friedman was a member of the Berlin Trotskyist organization?” Ollie Berger answered in the affirmative. Friedmann immediately retorted, “A vile and shameless lie.”
Cogan wrote in his transcript. “That is not true.”
Friedman immediately protested again. He demanded that his original statement must be recorded accurately.
Cogan made a correction. “It’s a lie.”
“No, it’s not accurate,” Friedman said, “mark it down:Vile and shameless lie!” He then went on to declare that he would not sign the transcript if his demands were not met.
As the confrontation continued, Kogan asked Oliebirge another question: “Did you know that Friedman was a Gestapo agent?” Ollie Berger cowered in his chair and bowed his head. Breathlessly, he said, “Yes, I heard there was such a thing ……”
“You brainless fool!” Friedman spoke up and yelled. “They forced you to lie, and you believed their promises. Think again, you unfortunate idiot, before they suck the marrow out of your brain.”
Kogan also raised his voice, not to overpower Friedman, but at least to silence him, lest he influence Oliebirge.
Later, when Oliebirge answered the interrogator’s question that Friedman was an assassin sent by Trotsky and the Gestapo on a mission to kill Stalin, Friedman couldn’t hold back any longer. Furious, he clenched his fists and pressed step by step toward Oliebirge, only to have to violently drag him back to his place. It was only after this episode was over that Kogan set about drawing up the final recording scheme.
Once again, he ran into trouble; Friedman insisted on having his words recorded verbatim: “vile false accusations,” “shameless fabrications.” …… Cogan had no choice but to He had to wrangle with Friedman word by word, and in most cases had to concede to Friedman in order to obtain a documentary evidence, a documentary evidence which, despite all the rebuttals and disinformation done by Friedman, was still extremely unfavorable to Friedman. After arguing for several hours, the transcript was finally finished and Kogan asked Friedman to sign it. Friedman hesitated: to sign or not to sign? Seeing his reluctance, Kogan reminded him that he had accepted the vast majority of his amendments. “The problem isn’t the amendments,” Friedman muttered. “I don’t want to sign it simply because I can see that you want this record too much!”
Berman secretly applauded Friedman’s approach. As soon as Morchanov received the report on the confrontation, he had Friedman brought to him. The meeting was arranged in this way.
First, Friedman was told that he would be taken to see Morchanov, a member of the State Security Committee, and then Morchanov’s reception room, which had many secretaries, was made more elegant, so that the interrogated person would understand the power Morchanov had and realize that Morchanov could decide whether he would live or die.
To give Friedman a head start, Molchanov took off his light silk shirt and put on his uniform. The four gold stars and two medals on the uniform indicated his status as a commissioner.
Friedman was brought in. His face was pale and his hands were shaking. Molchanov gave him a vicious glare, then asked.
“Why do you want to make trouble with me, why are you fooling around?”
“They want me to sign a false confession, to frame myself and slander others.” Friedman replied, his voice intermittent with indignation.
“The Soviet regime does not need any false testimony!” Molchanov interrupted with great displeasure.
“Tell that to someone else, I’ve heard enough!” Friedman yelled. “I’ve been illegally sentenced to ten years in a concentration camp, ask interrogator Lutkovsky. He knows what’s going on.”
“Listen. Friedman,” Morchanov said with a threatening tone in his voice, “I have been talking to you with courtesy until now, but I have to remind you that if you still do not understand, I will have to talk to you in a different way. We will wipe out your stubborn head and all your internal organs!”
Friedman moved closer to Molchanov’s desk and fixed him with a deadly stare.
“Don’t think I’m afraid of you just because my hands are shaking. My hands have been shaking since I entered the camp. …… I’m not afraid of you. What you want to do with me is up to you, but I will not, under any circumstances, falsely accuse myself or others, no matter how much you need me to do so!”
Of course, Friedman felt less pressure than many others because his wife and close friends and family were in Latvia, and in 1936 the clutches of the NKVD could not yet reach there.
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