Mikhail Trilisser
Encyclopedia
Mikhail Abramovich Trilisser-Moskvin ' onMouseout='HidePop("23386")' href="/topics/Astrakhan">Astrakhan
- 1940) was a Soviet OGPU chief of the Foreign Department of the Cheka
and the OGPU. Later, he worked for the NKVD
as a covert bureau chief and Comintern
leader.
. In 1922, Trilisser was named head of the foreign department of the new State Political Directorate (GPU), (later, the OGPU). In October 1929, he was ousted from the foreign department of the OGPU, and was replaced by Artur Artuzov
.
In 1935, Trilisser was assigned to work as a covert NKVD
bureau chief under the guise of a Comintern
leader, using the name Mikhail Aleksandrovich Moskvin. Trilisser was assigned various tasks while overseeing the Comintern, including the recruitment of OGPU (later, NKVD
) agents overseas and the kidnapping or assassination of various Soviet emigres, Comintern members, and other 'enemies of the people'. Another of Trilisser's tasks was to recruit Soviet covert couriers to supply funds, training, and political support to various overseas communist movements deemed sympathetic to the Soviet Union. In the United States, Trilisser provided Soviet visas for couriers sent to supply funds to a number of American left-wing trade unions, African-American worker organizations, and communist movements, including the CPUSA. In January 1938, at the specific request and recommendation of Earl Browder
, head of the Communist Party of the United States, Trilisser gave Max Bedacht
, an American Communist Party activist and former unsuccessful New York Senate candidate, a Soviet visa and employment as a courier supplying funds to the CPUSA and other communist front organizations. Bedacht soon began traveling between the United States, Europe, and the Soviet Union as a courier, using his official cover as an international delegate for the American Communist Party.
Arrested in 1938 during the Great Purge
on fabricated charges, he was executed in 1940. He was posthumously rehabilitated during the period of Destalinization.
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
- 1940) was a Soviet OGPU chief of the Foreign Department of the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
and the OGPU. Later, he worked for the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
as a covert bureau chief and Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
leader.
Career
From 1921, Trilisser worked in the foreign intelligence department of the Soviet secret police, from its inception as part of the ChekaCheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
. In 1922, Trilisser was named head of the foreign department of the new State Political Directorate (GPU), (later, the OGPU). In October 1929, he was ousted from the foreign department of the OGPU, and was replaced by Artur Artuzov
Artur Artuzov
Artur Khristyanovich Artuzov Артур Христианович Артузов , headed the Soviet foreign intelligence service INO, part of OGPU, later the NKVD, from August 1931 to May 1935...
.
In 1935, Trilisser was assigned to work as a covert NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
bureau chief under the guise of a Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
leader, using the name Mikhail Aleksandrovich Moskvin. Trilisser was assigned various tasks while overseeing the Comintern, including the recruitment of OGPU (later, NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
) agents overseas and the kidnapping or assassination of various Soviet emigres, Comintern members, and other 'enemies of the people'. Another of Trilisser's tasks was to recruit Soviet covert couriers to supply funds, training, and political support to various overseas communist movements deemed sympathetic to the Soviet Union. In the United States, Trilisser provided Soviet visas for couriers sent to supply funds to a number of American left-wing trade unions, African-American worker organizations, and communist movements, including the CPUSA. In January 1938, at the specific request and recommendation of Earl Browder
Earl Browder
Earl Russell Browder was an American communist and General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1934 to 1945. He was expelled from the party in 1946.- Early years :...
, head of the Communist Party of the United States, Trilisser gave Max Bedacht
Max Bedacht
Max Bedacht Sr. was a German-born American revolutionary socialist political activist, journalist, and functionary who helped establish the Communist Party of America. Bedacht is best remembered as the long-time head of the International Workers Order, a Communist Party-sponsored fraternal benefit...
, an American Communist Party activist and former unsuccessful New York Senate candidate, a Soviet visa and employment as a courier supplying funds to the CPUSA and other communist front organizations. Bedacht soon began traveling between the United States, Europe, and the Soviet Union as a courier, using his official cover as an international delegate for the American Communist Party.
Arrested in 1938 during the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
on fabricated charges, he was executed in 1940. He was posthumously rehabilitated during the period of Destalinization.