Lev Mykolaiovych Zadov (; 1893–1938), also known by his ''

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

'' Lev Zinkovskyi (), was chief of

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

of the

Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (; RIAU), also known as ''Makhnovtsi'' (), named after their founder Nestor Makhno, was an Anarchism, anarchist army formed largely of Ukrainians, Ukrainian peasants and workers during the Russian C ...

(RIAU) and later an operative of the

Joint State Political Directorate The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...

(OGPU). After joining the Ukrainian anarchist movement, Zadov was arrested and imprisoned for a series of robberies he committed in

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

. He was released during the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

and returned to Donbas, where he became involved in the local

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and joined the

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

, which he fought with until November 1918, when he joined

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno (, ; 7 November 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ( , ), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War o ...

. He became the ''de facto'' chief of the Kontrrazvedka, the Makhnovist military intelligence division, and carried out a campaign of terror against the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

and the

White movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...

. After the defeat of the Makhnovists, he retreated to Romania, before re-entering Ukraine in 1925 and joining the OGPU. He used his position to carry out subversive activities, for which he was arrested and executed during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

Biography

Lev Zadov was born in Veselaya, a small Jewish agricultural colony in the Alexandrovskii District.

Early revolutionary activity

During the

1905 Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, Zadov joined the Ukrainian anarchist movement and quickly became a committed activist. After Zadov went to work in the metallurgical factories of Yuzivka, in 1910, he joined a local

anarcho-communist Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and ser ...

group and began to participate in a series of armed robberies, known as "

expropriations Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

". After robbing a post office in Karan and a bank in

Debaltseve Debaltseve (, ) or Debaltsevo (), is a city in Horlivka Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, currently occupied by Russia as part of the Donetsk People's Republic. The city is situated on the eastern edge of Donetsk Oblast, and borders Luhansk Oblas ...

, in 1913, he was arrested for his activities as a "bezmotivnik" () and imprisoned. He was released during the

and adopted the revolutionary pseudonym of "Zinkovskyi". Zadov then returned to Yuzivka, where he became a deputy of the local

in September 1917. Following the invasion of Ukraine by the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...

, he became a member of the

general staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

for the

. Zadov's detachment led a fighting retreat from

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine. Luhansk served as the administra ...

Tsaritsyn Volgograd,. formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of , with a population ...

, where they encountered

Pyotr Krasnov Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov (; – 17 January 1947), also known as Peter Krasnov, was a Russian military leader, writer and later Nazi collaborator. Krasnov served as a lieutenant general in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I and la ...

Don Army The Don Army (, ) was the military of the short lived Don Republic and a part of the White movement in the Russian Civil War. It operated from 1918 to 1920, in the Don region and centered in the town of Novocherkassk. History On 23 April, K. ...

. During the course of the

Battle of Tsaritsyn The Battle of Tsaritsyn was a military confrontation between the Red Army and the White Army during the Russian Civil War for control of Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), a significant city and port on the Volga River in southwestern Russia. The ci ...

, Zadov rose through the ranks to become the

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

for Maksim Cherednyak's detachment. In late 1918, the Southern Front ordered Zadov to return to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and foment an insurgency against the occupation forces. In Yuzivka, Zadov established an anarchist combat group, which immediately joined up with

partisans Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Itali ...

Huliaipole Huliaipole ( ; ) is a small city in Polohy Raion, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. It is known as the birthplace of Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary Nestor Makhno. In January 2022, it had an estimated population of Huliaipole was attacked by ...

and helped establish a number of other insurgent detachments throughout Donbas.

Chief of the Kontrrazvedka

In March 1919, following the integration of the insurgents into the

1st Zadneprovsk Ukrainian Soviet Division The 1st Zadneprovskaya Ukrainian Soviet Division was a military unit of the Ukrainian Soviet Army during the Russian Civil War. History Formation On January 26, 1919, a special detachment under the command of Pavel Dybenko, the commander of the ...

, Cherednyak was dispatched to the Katerynoslav region to carry out requisitioning. This requisitioning detachment formed the basis of the Kontrrazvedka, the counterintelligence service of the

Makhnovshchina The Makhnovshchina (, ) was a Political movement#Mass movements, mass movement to establish anarchist communism in southern Ukraine, southern and eastern Ukraine during the Ukrainian War of Independence of 1917–1921. Named after Nestor Makhno, ...

, of which Zadov became a founding member. In April 1919, Zadov established sections of the Kontrrazvedka in

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

and

Berdiansk Berdiansk or Berdyansk (, ; , ) is a port city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, south-eastern Ukraine. It is on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Berdiansk Raion. The c ...

, which were concerned with securing provisions for the army from the civilian population, either through expropriations or levies. Zadov was soon joined by former members of the

Union of Poor Peasants The Union of Poor Peasants (), also known as the Peasant Group of Anarcho-Communists or the Huliaipole Anarchist Group, was an underground anarchist organization, operating in the years 1905–1908 in and around the area of Huliaipole in what is ...

, including Hryhory Vasylivsky, who had experience in gathering intelligence. Following the break between the Makhnovists and the Bolsheviks, and the subsequent retreat to

Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...

, Zadov became the Kontrrazvedka's

for the 1st Donetsk Corps of the reorganised

. From this position, Zadov reportedly participated in the assassination of

Nykyfor Hryhoriv Nykyfor Oleksandrovych Hryhoriv (or Grigoryev, real surname Servetnyk; – 27 July 1919) was a Ukrainian military leader noted for repeatedly switching sides during the Ukrainian War of Independence and Soviet-Ukrainian war. He is today con ...

, who had been charged with

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and

collaborationism Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime. As historian Gerhard Hirschfeld says, it "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to the 19th c ...

. As the ''de facto'' chief of the Kontrrazvedka, Zadov became infamous in Bolshevik accounts of the Makhnovist conduct in the war, which described him as a "butcher" and a "common criminal", and was even investigated by a commission of the Regional Congress, due to the excesses committed under his command. Upon the insurgents' arrival at Nikopol, Zadov arrested and almost executed the local commandant, but was only dissuaded from doing so by Makhno himself. When the 1st Donetsk Corps withdrew from Oleksandrivsk on 3-4 November 1919, Zadov's Kontrrazvedka was ordered by Makhno himself to remain behind in the city and to liquidate 80 members of the anti-Makhnovist opposition, including

Mensheviks The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...

and

Socialist Revolutionaries The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR; ,, ) was a major socialist political party in the late Russian Empire, during both phases of the Russian Revolution, and in early Soviet Russia. The party members were known as Esers (). The SRs were agr ...

. Makhno then ordered Zadov to take 30 barrels of liquor and leave them in a nearby village, successfully distracting the pursuing forces of Andrei Shkuro, and to spread word of the Makhnovist offensive, causing peasant uprisings in the rear of the

. On 2 December, Zadov participated in the arrest and execution of four Bolsheviks in Oleksandrivsk, on charges of attempting to assassinate Nestor Makhno. A Soviet reported claimed that 1,000 Bolsheviks, industrial workers and state officials were killed during this period, many of them executed under Zadov's orders. This preceded a period of renewed conflict between the Makhnovists and the Bolsheviks, during which two members of the

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

attempted to recruit Zadov over their side, but they were arrested and shot on 21 June 1920. In the wake of the White offensive into Tavria, the insurgents began to prepare for sustained

guerilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrorism ...

in the White rear. But on 24 June, the vanguard of the insurgent cavalry was ambushed by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, wiping out three quarters of the 2,000-strong detachment and wounding Makhno himself. Zadov was held accountable for the losses, with Makhno blaming the Kontrrazvedka for not having gathered sufficient intelligence on the Red positions. Following this, Zadov joined Semen Karetnyk's detachment as a

commandant Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

and participated in the assault on Crimea, during which the Kontrrazvedka provided military intelligence for the offensive. After

Pyotr Wrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (, ; ; 25 April 1928), also known by his nickname the Black Baron, was a Russian military officer of Baltic German origin in the Imperial Russian Army. During the final phase of the Russian Civil War, he was c ...

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

was vanquished, the Red Army immediately turned on the insurgents, eventually forcing the Makhnovshchina to disperse. During this period of repression, Zadov ensured the protection of Nestor Makhno at every turn. In August 1921, Zadov organised the retreat of the Makhnovist core into

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. At the border, Zadov disguised himself and the other insurgents as members of the Red Army, accosted the border guards and disarmed them, before crossing the

Dniester The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

and leaving Ukraine behind.

Agent of the OGPU

In the Romanian capital of

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Zadov established a Makhnovist Foreign Centre, through which the insurgents aimed to prepare another anti-Bolshevik uprising in Ukraine. In 1924, Zadov was recruited by the

Siguranța ''Siguranța'' was the generic name for the successive secret police services in the Kingdom of Romania. The official title of the organization changed throughout its history, with names including Directorate of the Police and General Safety () ...

to infiltrate the Ukrainian Soviet state. He then crossed back over the Dniester and surrendered to the

(OGPU), which granted him amnesty and recruited him into the Soviet intelligence service. According to Jacob Gridin, a former Soviet intelligence agent, Zadov proved his fidelity to the OGPU by assassinating a French captain of the

Deuxième Bureau The ''Deuxième Bureau de l'État-major général'' ("Second Bureau of the General Staff") was France's external military intelligence agency from 1871 to 1940. It was dissolved together with the Third Republic upon the armistice with Germany. ...

and was even ordered by his superiors to assassinate Makhno himself. He then moved to

Tiraspol Tiraspol (, ; also /; , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Transnistria, a breakaway state of Moldova, where it is the third-largest city. The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River. Tiraspol is a regional hub of cul ...

and began to carry out subversive activities in Romania, using many of his contacts in the exiled Makhnovist movement. Zadov worked with the Foreign Centre to organise safe passage for any Makhnovists who wished to return from exile and receive amnesty from the Ukrainian Soviet government. He increasingly networked with other amnestied Makhnovists and reportedly established a Makhnovist cell in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

, with plans to establish insurgent detachments in the wider region. But following Makhno's death in 1934, the network began to fall apart and an inquiry was initiated by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

. In August 1937, the Odesa Makhnovists were exposed as part of the

, revealing 90 active dissidents within the organisation. Zadov denied any wrongdoing and refused to inform on other members of the organisation. On 25 September 1938, he was

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

by the NKVD and buried in Bykivnia. Zadov was formally rehabilitated by the Soviet government in 1990.

Personal life

During his time in the Kontrrazvedka, in early 1919, Zadov met Feodora Gaenko, who became his lover and a collaborator in the Kontrrazvedka. Lev Zadov then married Vera Matvienko in 1925 and had a daughter, Alla Zinkovskaya (born 1921), and son, Vadim Zinkovskyi (born 1926). Alla Zinkovskaya volunteered to join Red Army in the beginning of the

Soviet-German War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

. She was killed on 13 June 1942. Vadim Zinkovskyi also joined the Soviet navy and eventually became a rear-admiral. He lived to see his father's rehabilitation, during the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, and apparently came to believe in his father's innocence.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Зиньковский-Задов Лев Николаевич
(Russian)
Лев Яруцкий. Кто, он Лева Задов?
(Russian)
Свинцовая примочка главному "скрипачу"
(Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Zadov, Lev 1893 births 1938 deaths 20th-century executions for treason Anarchist victims of the Great Purge Deaths by firearm in Ukraine Double agents Executed spies Great Purge victims from Ukraine Interwar-period spies Jewish anarchists Jews executed by the Soviet Union Ukrainian people executed by the Soviet Union Jews from the Russian Empire Ukrainian Gulag detainees Jewish military personnel Makhnovists Military personnel from Donetsk NKVD officers People executed by the Soviet Union by firing squad People executed for treason against the Soviet Union People from Bakhmutsky Uyezd People of the Russian Civil War People of the Russian Revolution Prisoners and detainees from the Russian Empire Soviet anarchists Soviet Jews State Political Directorate officers Ukrainian anarchists Ukrainian Jews Ukrainian people of the Ukrainian–Soviet War Ukrainian spies for the Soviet Union