In stalin's secret service

An authentic testimony about soviet espionage during stalin era by the former chief of the soviet intelligence in western europe

Walter Krivitsky

320 pages, parution le 05/09/2025

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Résumé

In Stalin's Secret Service presents the gripping and unprecedented memoir of Walter G. Krivitsky, a top Soviet intelligence officer turned defector. As chief of Soviet military intelligence in Western Europe, Krivitsky orchestrated espionage networks across Germany, France, the Netherlands, and beyond, coordinating sabotage efforts, intercepting communications, and recruiting influential agents. The memoir recounts Krivitsky's moral journey from dedicated insider to outspoken critic of Stalin's regime. Witnessing the brutal purge of the Red Army's officer corps and the assassination of his friend and fellow operative, Ignace Reiss, spurred Krivitsky's dramatic defection in 1937. In exile, he settled first in Paris and then emigrated to the United States, collaborating closely with literary agent Paul Wohl and journalist Isaac Don Levine to document his insider account of Stalinist espionage. Originally serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1939 and released in full book form later that year, the memoir offers chilling insight into Soviet covert operations, including infiltration of Western governments and manipulation of political figures. Although initially met with skepticism, Krivitsky's forecasts - particularly the imminent Nazi-Soviet pact - were eerily confirmed when the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed in August 1939, lending credibility to his revelations. The memoir culminates in a dramatic, unresolved finale: Krivitsky turned his knowledge into a liability, believing it was his duty to expose Stalin's threats. He testified before the U.S. House Dies Committee (predecessor of HUAC) and traveled to the UK for exhaustive debriefings by MI5, yet the fate of several notorious Soviet agents, like those in the Cambridge ring, remained elusive. His untimely death under mysterious circumstances in 1941 - officially ruled a suicide - has long been suspected as a Soviet assassination, giving the memoir an open-ended, suspenseful finish.