Victor Kravchenko (defector)

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Viktor Kravchenko
Виктор Кравченко
Ekaterinoslav, Russian Empire
Died25 February 1966(1966-02-25) (aged 60)
Manhattan
, New York, United States
Occupation(s)Writer, engineer,
Years active1944–1966
Notable workI Chose Freedom

Viktor Andriyovych Kravchenko (Ukrainian: Ві́ктор Андрі́йович Кра́вченко; 11 October 1905 – 25 February 1966) was a Ukrainian-born

defector, known for writing the best-selling book I Chose Freedom
, published in 1946, about the realities of life in the Soviet Union.

Kravchenko defected to the United States during World War II, and began writing about his experiences as an official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Early life

Victor Andreevich Kravchenko was born on 11 October 1905, into a

captain in the Soviet Army
until 1943, when he was posted to the Soviet Purchasing Commission in Washington, D.C.

Defection

On 4 April 1944, Kravchenko abandoned his post and requested

traitor, and ambassador Joseph E. Davies appealed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt directly on behalf of Joseph Stalin to have Kravchenko extradited.[1]
He was granted asylum, but lived under a pseudonym thereafter, fearing assassination by Soviet agents.

Kravchenko began a relationship with an American woman, Cynthia Kuser-Earle, daughter of

American citizenship
on the day he died.

I Chose Freedom

Kravchenko wrote a memoir, I Chose Freedom, a best-seller both in the US and Europe, containing extensive revelations on

Communist parties. Kravchenko had made a deal prior to working with journalist Eugene Lyons
, that Lyons would not receive credit, only a percentage of royalties.

Trial of the Century

Kravchenko's lesser-known memoir, although a best seller in Europe, I Chose Justice, published in 1950, mainly covered his "trial of the century" in France. An attack on Kravchenko's character by the French Communist weekly

Heinz Neumann, who had been shot during the Great Purge. The court ultimately ruled that Kravchenko had been unfairly libeled, and was awarded only symbolic damages. In the view of one close observer, Alexander Werth
,

Technically, Kravchenko won his case… which brought worldwide attention to the cause and damaged the Communist Party in France. Although he did not receive the cost he had asked for, he did cover his trial expenses and beyond.[5]

Les Lettres Françaises appealed the verdict. A higher French court upheld the verdict but reduced the fine from 50,000 francs to 3 francs, or less than US$1, on the grounds that trial publicity had helped Kravchenko sell books.[6]

Later years

As a

anti-Marxist social conservatives and the militantly anti-Cold War New Left. He later lived in Peru and New York City. His South American business ventures failed. A sympathetic biographer, Gary Kern, has suggested that the KGB may have played a covert role in their failure.[7]

Death

On 25 February 1966, Kravchenko was found dead from a gunshot wound to his head at his desk in his apartment in Manhattan. Kravchenko's death was officially ruled a suicide, and this view is widely accepted, including by biographer Gary Kern.[7]

FBI files obtained by Kern after a six-year lawsuit reveal that President Lyndon B. Johnson had very strong suspicions about Kravchenko's suicide. For this reason, Johnson ordered the FBI to investigate and determine for certain if his suicide note was authentic or a Soviet forgery.[2] The FBI eventually ruled that the note was authentic, yet some details concerning Kravchenko's last days remain questionable, and his son Andrew still believes his father could have been a victim of a KGB assassination.[3][4] Andrew Kravchenko produced a documentary film in 2008, The Defector,[8][9] about his father.[10] Kravchenko's decision to defect from the Soviet Union resulted in family members he left behind facing harassment, imprisonment and even death, with more than 30 relatives of Kravchenko being killed in the Soviet Union as a reprisal for his defection.[2] It is known that Kravchenko's location was discovered by NKVD agents in 1944, notably Mark Zborowski, and subsequently closely monitored by the NKVD and later by KGB special operations.[a][11][12][13]

Books

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Kravchenko was in hiding after his defection. He was given the covername KOMAR/GNAT by Soviet agents. See the Venona project documents on the National Security Agency, especially New York to Moscow messages of May to August 1944, nos. 594, 600, 613–14, 654, 694, 724, 726, 740, 799, and 907.

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-59420-168-4
    .
  2. ^ a b c Landsberg, Mitchell (11 May 2003), "Searching for Tato", Los Angeles Times
  3. ^ a b "Soviet defector's sons finally meet", Tri-city Herald, p. 2, 4 January 1992
  4. ^ a b Mydans, Seth (4 January 1992), "First Meeting For Two Sons of a Defector", The New York Times
  5. ^ Werth, Alexander (1956). "France 1940–1955". New York: Henry Holt & Co. p. 438.
  6. ^ Spiegel, Irving (26 February 1966). "Kravchenko Kills Himself Here; He Chose Freedom From Soviet…". The New York Times. p. 9. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1-929631-73-5
  8. ^ The Defector: a documentary film, American Sterling, archived from the original on 29 December 2008.
  9. ^ The Defector, US: Wild at heart films
  10. ISBN 978-1-59698-579-7
  11. ^ Top Secret: Information on "Mars" on "Gnat" Archived 26 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine De-classified Venona project document from the US National Security Agency.
  12. ^ The Venona Story (PDF), The National Security Agency.
  13. ^ "Top Secret: The Shadowing of "Gnat"", Venona project (PDF), US: National Security Agency, 1945, archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2010

External links

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