Another Top Secret coded telegram from Berlin to Moscow, this time with the Soviet agent providing information about sweeping into Nazi command and control headquarters to search for, examine, and abscond with the “most “most interesting” documents for Stalin’s eyes. We learn some information about Hitler’s last will, including the appointment of Dönitz as hisContinueContinue reading “30 May 1945: Hitler’s Will, Himmler’s Pill, and Dönitz (Still)”
Tag Archives: politics
28 May 1945: Dönitz Government Apprehended, Himmler Commits Suicide
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 authorContinueContinue 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 theContinueContinue 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 itContinueContinue reading “Lunch With the Nazis: Soviet Report on Events After Germany’s Unconditional Surrender: 11 May 1945”
“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 hisContinueContinue reading ““Communists” Come Out of the Woodwork as the Red Army Advances on Berlin, April 1945″
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 theContinueContinue 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 weContinueContinue 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 aboutContinueContinue reading “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! But Which Ones? The Arrival of the Mysterious Il-96”
Soviet Censors Send Top Secret 1946 Report to Communist Officials for Action Regarding Mail from Family Members of Ukrainian Servicemen
Postal censorship was never unique to the Soviet Union. Often most associated with wartime correspondence between deployed servicemen and their families back home, in many countries censorship was accepted as a small price to pay to keep operationally sensitive information out of enemy hands. Also generally accepted is the understanding that, once peace has beenContinueContinue reading “Soviet Censors Send Top Secret 1946 Report to Communist Officials for Action Regarding Mail from Family Members of Ukrainian Servicemen”
Hitler’s 1933 Aspiration to Join Ranks With England to Colonize the Soviet Union
After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, the security situation for the USSR changed significantly. The National Socialist regime was able to put into practice its political and ideological slogans that were openly hostile to the Soviet Union. Information obtained by foreign intelligence regarding the long-term intentions of the Hitler governmentContinueContinue reading “Hitler’s 1933 Aspiration to Join Ranks With England to Colonize the Soviet Union”
Translating History 