Another Top Secret cable from Berlin to Moscow to keep Stalin apprised of the rather dynamic environment post-war Germany is undergoing. In this short (and partially-redacted) declassified account from a Soviet agent in Berlin, some details are provided of the large-scale British operation to apprehend the Dönitz government, carried out on 23 May. The authorContinue reading "28 May 1945: Dönitz Government Apprehended, Himmler Commits Suicide"
16 May 1945: Positive ID of of Hitler and Goebbels Corpses Amidst Early Days of Berlin Post-War Recovery
Yet another in the series of Top Secret reports submitted from Berlin by an unidentified deep-cover "illegal," one of many keeping Moscow informed of how things are working out in Germany in the early days after the war. In this excerpt, the author indicates that Berlin appears to be somewhat on the rebound, following theContinue reading "16 May 1945: Positive ID of of Hitler and Goebbels Corpses Amidst Early Days of Berlin Post-War Recovery"
Lunch With the Nazis: Soviet Report on Events After Germany’s Unconditional Surrender: 11 May 1945
Germany's capitulation document - or as Bob Hope put it, "The paper so nice, they signed it twice..." - was signed in Reims on 7 May 1945, and again the next day in Berlin, at the insistence of the USSR that Germany bring the war to an end in the same city from which itContinue reading "Lunch With the Nazis: Soviet Report on Events After Germany’s Unconditional Surrender: 11 May 1945"
6 May 1945: Moscow Learns Sparse Details of the Suicides of Hitler and Goebbels
Within hours of his suicide on 30 April 1945, Soviet authorities were already learning of his death through members of a new German government, hoping to negotiate a surrender to Marshal Zhukov. Two days later, the head of that new German government, Joseph Goebbels, had also taken his life, along with that of his wifeContinue reading "6 May 1945: Moscow Learns Sparse Details of the Suicides of Hitler and Goebbels"
“Communists” Come Out of the Woodwork as the Red Army Advances on Berlin, April 1945
As the Red Army approached the outskirts of Berlin, local Soviet spies on the ground reported on the surprising number of individuals springing forward to proclaim their membership in the Communist Party. The author of a 30 April 1945 Top Secret report, recently declassified by the Russian SVR, clearly had no wool pulled over hisContinue reading "“Communists” Come Out of the Woodwork as the Red Army Advances on Berlin, April 1945"
Hitler’s Plans to Nuke the Soviet Union: Gruppenführer Werner Wächter’s Interrogation
On September 14, 1945, the head of the NKVD Operations Sector in Berlin, Major General Aleksey Sidnev, sent the Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Colonel General Ivan Serov, a new special message on the progress of the investigation into the case of SA Gruppenführer Werner Wächter. As revealed during interrogations, simultaneouslyContinue reading "Hitler’s Plans to Nuke the Soviet Union: Gruppenführer Werner Wächter’s Interrogation"
Secrecy Vs. Control: What’s Going On with the Classification of Russian Statistics – Carnegie Politika
Another in our series of translations of the latest Carnegie Politika articles. Secrecy Vs. Control: What's Going On with the Classification of Russian Statistics Openness is no longer declared by the Russian authorities as an instrument of transparency and accountability. But it still partially persists, primarily as a by-product of the desire to control theContinue reading "Secrecy Vs. Control: What’s Going On with the Classification of Russian Statistics – Carnegie Politika"
Minerals for Weapons: Ukraine Declassifies Geological Data on Strategic Minerals
The following translation is cobbled together from Ukrainian- and Russian-language reports from a number of Ukrainian news organizations. Ukraine has declassified a limited list of minerals, including critical minerals, which was a relic from Soviet times, according to Svitlana Hrynchuk, Ukraine's Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources. "The classification has been removed, and weContinue reading "Minerals for Weapons: Ukraine Declassifies Geological Data on Strategic Minerals"
The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! But Which Ones? The Arrival of the Mysterious Il-96
Many Russian (and some US) virtual plane-spotters are wondering as to what a mysterious "special" diplomatic Il-96 is doing in the United States, having flown to Washington DC with no apparent notice to the media. At 22:28 Moscow time, the mysterious Russian special flight landed in New York City. At 21:10 Moscow time, information aboutContinue reading "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! But Which Ones? The Arrival of the Mysterious Il-96"
Soviet Spies Reveal Dangerous Condition of Chernobyl Reactors Two Years Before the Catastrophe
On 1 March 1984, slightly more than two years before the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion that rocked the globe, Soviet intelligence agents provided information to the Ukrainian KGB regarding the alarming condition of the power plant - in particular, load-bearing structures (girders and concrete slabs) at three different locations of reactor No.Continue reading "Soviet Spies Reveal Dangerous Condition of Chernobyl Reactors Two Years Before the Catastrophe"
Translating History 