Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov

Nikolai Kuznetsov in German uniform, 1942

Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov ( Russian: Николай Иванович Кузнецов ; * July 27, 1911 in Syrjanka, Ujesd Yekaterinburg of the Perm Governorate , now Sverdlovsk Oblast , Russia ; † March 9, 1944 , Boratyn , Oblast Lwiasjewjet , Ukrainian Vasiliev Socialist Republic of Rudolf Schmidt, Ukrainian Soviet Soviet Gratschow (Николай Васильевич Грачёв), Paul Wilhelm Siebert was a Soviet secret agent and partisan . He was exceptionally gifted in languages, mastered several dialects of German in addition to Russian and spoke fluent Esperanto , Komi , Polish and Ukrainian .

Career start

From 1932 Kuznetsov was a secret agent of the NKVD in Kudymkar ( Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug ), later in Sverdlovsk . In 1938 Kuznetsov was transferred to Moscow, where he was accepted as a special agent subject to special secrecy in the counter-espionage department of the GUGB .

In World War II

After the German invasion of the Soviet Union , Kuznetsov was kept in reserve in Moscow in case of occupation and the ensuing underground struggle. After the danger of the occupation of Moscow was averted, he was temporarily assigned to the 4th NKVD division (terror and sabotage behind enemy lines).

In 1942 Kuznetsov was assigned to the partisan special unit Sieger ( Победители ), which operated at Rowno , the then capital of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine (RKU). On August 25, 1942, he came to the German hinterland.

Disguised as a first lieutenant , later a captain of the German infantry , he led the reconnaissance in Rowno under the name Paul Siebert, led some reconnaissance groups as a resident , made contacts with individual officers of the Wehrmacht and the German secret services as well as high officials of the RKU. In this way he obtained important information that was passed on to Moscow via the Sieger partisan unit .

Kuznetsov is said to have learned from the company Weitsprung , an allegedly planned attack on the participants in the Tehran conference headed by Otto Skorzeny . Historians assume that such a plan never existed, but that the Soviet reports about it were part of a disinformation campaign by the NKVD and later the KGB .

He is said to have provided information about the attack near Kursk planned for mid-1943 . In addition, one of his achievements is the location of Hitler's "Werewolf" headquarters near Vinnytsia .

On orders, Kuznetsov carried out a series of retaliatory acts on high officials of the occupying power:

• On September 20, 1943, he shot the head of the main finance department of the RKU, Ministerialrat Hans Gehl, and the general inspector of the Rowno regional commissioner, Adolf Winter, on the street in Rowno.
• On November 15, 1943, under the direction and with the direct participation of Kuznetsov, the chief of Eastern Troops 740, Major General Max Ilgen, was kidnapped from his quarters in Rovno.
• On November 16, 1943, Kuznetsov shot the Senate President and former SA Oberführer Alfred Funk in the courthouse in Rovno.
• On February 9, 1944, he shot the Lieutenant Governor of the Galicia District Otto Bauer and his secretary Schneider in front of their quarters in Lemberg .

Immediately after the assassination attempt on Otto Bauer, Kuznetsov left Lviv, accompanied by two combatants, to join the advancing Red Army . They are lost on the way to the front line.

According to the version of the then Soviet government, Kuznetsov fell in 1944 in the fight against the Ukrainian nationalists.

Awards

Kuznetsov was awarded an Order of Lenin (December 26, 1943), the medal "The Partisan of the Great Patriotic War" 1st class (June 29, 1944) and a Hero of the Soviet Union (October 16, 1944).

souvenir

Soviet postage stamp from 1966 honoring Kuznetsov

In his role as Paul Siebert, Kuznetsov became a legend and cult figure.

Frédéric Joliot-Curie said: “If I were to be asked who I consider to be the strongest and most attractive personality among the fighters against fascism, I would without hesitation name Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov, the great humanist who destroyed those who destroyed humanity wanted to destroy. "

After Kuznetsov, the asteroid of the inner main belt (2233) discovered on December 3, 1976 was named Kuznetsov in 1981 and the city of Kuznetsov in the Rivne Oblast in 1977 . Monuments and plaques were dedicated to him in Russia and Ukraine . Many museums and exhibitions were devoted to the life and struggle of Kuznetsov.

More than 17 schools in the Soviet Union bore his name. In the GDR it was z. B. a Polytechnische Oberschule (POS) in Eberswalde (Brandenburg).

Many articles and essays and several books have been written about him. The best known of these is the novel It was at Rovno by DN Medvedev.

His story was revealed in exploits of a scout (Подвиг разведчика) from 1947, the scout (Сильные духом) from 1967, special unit (Отряд специального казнального казначения) from 1987 (Genfil . In the document .

Individual evidence

1. ^ "History day by day" , July 27, 1911, Beyond Russia.
2. ^ Donal O'Sullivan: Dealing with the Devil . New York 2010, pp. 203-204.
3. ^ Lutz D. Schmadel : Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. Ed .: Lutz D. Schmadel. 5th edition. Springer Verlag , Berlin , Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7 , pp.  181 (English, 992 pp., Link.springer.com [ONLINE; accessed October 30, 2017] Original title: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . First edition: Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 1992): “Named in memory of Nikolaj Ivanovich Kuznetsov (1911-1944) ”

swell

1. Gladkow TK Legend of the Soviet Enlightenment - N. Kuznetsov. - Moscow: Wetsche, 2001 (in Russian)
2. Why there was no “big jump”. Archived from the original on January 3, 2012 ; Retrieved April 12, 2008 . 

Web links

• Andrei Lubensky. Nikolai Kuznezow (in Russian)