Nikolay Khokhlov
Encyclopedia
Nikolai Evgenievich Khoklov (Cyrillic: Николай Евгеньевич Хохлов) (7 June 1922, Nizhny Novgorod
- September 2007 San Bernardino, California
) was a KGB
officer who defected to the United States
in 1953. He testified about KGB activities. The KGB tried to kill him unsuccessfully using poison.
in the Red Army
. During the Battle for Moscow, the elder Khokhlov was transferred to a penal battalion because he had made unfavourable remarks about Joseph Stalin
. Khokhlov's father died in the battalion.
His stepfather, a lawyer, volunteered to defend Moscow
in 1941 and died in action almost immediately. As Khokhlov later put it, "The army needed cannon fodder".
quartet who were trained to commit a spectacular attack against Nazi officers during their victory celebration in the occupied Moscow
. The mastermind behind the plan was Mikhail Maklyarskiy, a senior NKVD official. The four young agents would have played a vaudeville group on the celebration; Khokhlov was chosen for his role on his whistling abilities. During the training he had his first great romance with fellow agent, singer Tasya Ignatova. After the German retreat from the outskirts of Moscow, the deadly show was cancelled.
Nikolai Khokhlov was a member of a successful military unit that fought behind the enemy lines during World War II
. He was disguised as a Nazi officer after parachuting into German-occupied Belarus
. He played a part in the assassination of Wilhelm Kube
, the Nazi Gauleiter
of Belarus
. After the war, Khokhlov became the prototype for the main character in a 1947 Soviet film, Feat of a Scout
("Подвиг разведчика").
to supervise two other men whose task was to kill George Okolovich, a chairman of the National Alliance of Russian Solidarists
. He decided not to follow the order and discussed the situation with his wife, Yana; she said, "If this man is killed, you will be a murderer. I cannot be the wife of a murderer." Khokhlov went to Okolovich's flat in Frankfurt
and told him: "Georgi Sergeevich, I have come to you from Moscow. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has ordered your assassination. The murder is entrusted to my group... I can’t let this murder happen." His wife was arrested and sentenced to five years of involuntary settlement
in the Soviet Union, in retaliation.
poisoning in Frankfurt in 1957. That was a failed assassination attempt by Thirteenth KGB
Department. This case is often claimed to be the first radiological attack by the KGB
, especially when comparison with Alexander Litvinenko poisoning
needs to be drawn, although it remains unclear what isotope has been used, if any. Former KGB officer Stanislav Lekarev claimed, however, that Khokhlov was poisoned by radioactive polonium (not thallium), exactly as Litvinenko
, retiring as a professor emeritus in 1993. In 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
pardoned him, and Khokhlov returned Moscow for a short stay, for the first time since the 1950s. He later made an e-mail contact with, then eventually met, his son in Russia of whom he had not been previously aware. In the United States, Khokhlov married again. With his second wife, he had two daughters and a son, Misha, who died several years ago due to a kidney failure.
In 2006 Khokhlov made a comparison between his poisoning half a century ago and the murder of Litvinenko. "The situation within Russia today is very perilous. There are no more laws, and no more order. Putin brought back many KGB, and there are too many KGB at the top, the old dinosaurs who cannot get rid of old habits", he added.
Nikolai Khokhlov died of a heart attack in San Bernardino, California, in September 2007. He was buried next to the grave of his son.
In the name of conscience (Russian)
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
- September 2007 San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...
) was a KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
officer who defected to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1953. He testified about KGB activities. The KGB tried to kill him unsuccessfully using poison.
Family background
Khokhlov's parents divorced when he was very young; he was not well-acquainted with his father, who later served as a commissarCommissar
Commissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...
in the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. During the Battle for Moscow, the elder Khokhlov was transferred to a penal battalion because he had made unfavourable remarks about Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. Khokhlov's father died in the battalion.
His stepfather, a lawyer, volunteered to defend Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1941 and died in action almost immediately. As Khokhlov later put it, "The army needed cannon fodder".
NKVD career
In October 1941, Khokhlov, then 19 years old, was member of an NKVDNKVD
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....
quartet who were trained to commit a spectacular attack against Nazi officers during their victory celebration in the occupied Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. The mastermind behind the plan was Mikhail Maklyarskiy, a senior NKVD official. The four young agents would have played a vaudeville group on the celebration; Khokhlov was chosen for his role on his whistling abilities. During the training he had his first great romance with fellow agent, singer Tasya Ignatova. After the German retreat from the outskirts of Moscow, the deadly show was cancelled.
Nikolai Khokhlov was a member of a successful military unit that fought behind the enemy lines during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He was disguised as a Nazi officer after parachuting into German-occupied Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. He played a part in the assassination of Wilhelm Kube
Wilhelm Kube
Wilhelm Kube was a German politician and Nazi official. He was an important figure in the German Christian movement during the early years of Nazi rule. During the war he became a senior official in the occupying government of the Soviet Union, achieving the rank of Generalkommissar for...
, the Nazi Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
of Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. After the war, Khokhlov became the prototype for the main character in a 1947 Soviet film, Feat of a Scout
Secret Agent (1947 film)
Secret Agent is a 1947 Soviet spy film directed by Boris Barnet based on a novel The deed remains unknown by Mikhail Maklyarsky with Pavel Kadochnikov in the leading role...
("Подвиг разведчика").
Assassination mission
In 1954, Khokhlov was sent by the KGBKGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
to supervise two other men whose task was to kill George Okolovich, a chairman of the National Alliance of Russian Solidarists
National Alliance of Russian Solidarists
The National Alliance of Russian Solidarists ), known by its Russian abbreviation "NTS" is a Russian far-right anticommunist organization founded in 1930 by a group of young Russian anticommunist White emigres in Belgrade, Serbia .The organization was formed in response to the older generation of...
. He decided not to follow the order and discussed the situation with his wife, Yana; she said, "If this man is killed, you will be a murderer. I cannot be the wife of a murderer." Khokhlov went to Okolovich's flat in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and told him: "Georgi Sergeevich, I have come to you from Moscow. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has ordered your assassination. The murder is entrusted to my group... I can’t let this murder happen." His wife was arrested and sentenced to five years of involuntary settlement
Involuntary settlements in the Soviet Union
Forced settlements in the Soviet Union took several forms. Though the most notorious was the Gulag labor camp system of penal labor, resettling of entire categories of population was another method of political repression implemented by the Soviet Union. At the same time, involuntary settlement...
in the Soviet Union, in retaliation.
Poisoning by thallium
Khokhlov was treated for thalliumThallium
Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray poor metal resembles tin but discolors when exposed to air. The two chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy...
poisoning in Frankfurt in 1957. That was a failed assassination attempt by Thirteenth KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
Department. This case is often claimed to be the first radiological attack by the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
, especially when comparison with Alexander Litvinenko poisoning
Alexander Litvinenko poisoning
Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service, FSB and KGB, who escaped prosecution in Russia and received political asylum in the United Kingdom...
needs to be drawn, although it remains unclear what isotope has been used, if any. Former KGB officer Stanislav Lekarev claimed, however, that Khokhlov was poisoned by radioactive polonium (not thallium), exactly as Litvinenko
Life in the United States
From 1968 to 1992, Dr. Khokhlov taught undergraduate and graduate psychology classes at California State University, San BernardinoCalifornia State University, San Bernardino
California State University, San Bernardino, also known as Cal State San Bernardino or CSUSB is a public research university and one of the twenty three general campuses of the California State University system. The main campus sits on in the suburban University District of , United States, with...
, retiring as a professor emeritus in 1993. In 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
pardoned him, and Khokhlov returned Moscow for a short stay, for the first time since the 1950s. He later made an e-mail contact with, then eventually met, his son in Russia of whom he had not been previously aware. In the United States, Khokhlov married again. With his second wife, he had two daughters and a son, Misha, who died several years ago due to a kidney failure.
In 2006 Khokhlov made a comparison between his poisoning half a century ago and the murder of Litvinenko. "The situation within Russia today is very perilous. There are no more laws, and no more order. Putin brought back many KGB, and there are too many KGB at the top, the old dinosaurs who cannot get rid of old habits", he added.
Nikolai Khokhlov died of a heart attack in San Bernardino, California, in September 2007. He was buried next to the grave of his son.
Books
Nikolai Evgenievich Khokhlov. In the name of conscience . Translated by Emily Kingsbery. New York : David McKay, 1959.In the name of conscience (Russian)
External links
- Obituary
- A brief history of Soviet torturers and assassins, some of whom had second thoughts. By Katya Drozdova, Hoover Institute
- Newspaper Article: Times Online
- I led KGB hit squad by Ros Wynne Jones
- One more time on the Alexander Litvinenko case by Vadim Birstein
- Interview to Radio Free EuropeRadio Free EuropeRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
See also
- Alexander Litvinenko poisoningAlexander Litvinenko poisoningAlexander Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service, FSB and KGB, who escaped prosecution in Russia and received political asylum in the United Kingdom...
- List of Eastern Bloc defectors