Mikhail Efimovich Koltsov () (The record of the birth of Moisey Fridlyand in the metric book of the Kiev rabbinate for 1898 ( ЦГИАК Украины. Ф. 1164. Оп. 1. Д. 442. Л. 138об–139.) – February 2, 1940), born Moisey Haimovich Fridlyand (), was a

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 ...

journalist, revolutionary and

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 ...

agent. He served as the editor-in-chief of the satirical magazine, ''

Krokodil ''Krokodil'' ( rus, Крокодил, p=krəkɐˈdʲil, a= Ru-крокодил.ogg, ) was a Humor magazine , satirical magazine published in the Soviet Union and later Russia. The first issue was published on 27 August 1922 as the satirical supp ...

''.

Biography

Born in

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, ...

, Koltsov was the son of a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

shoemaker Haim Movshevich Fridlyand and the brother of Boris Efimov. Koltsov participated in the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, became a member of the

Bolshevik Party The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

in 1918 and took part in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. A convinced

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

, he soon became a key figure of the Soviet intellectual elite and arguably the most famous journalist in the

Soviet Union 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 ...

, chiefly because of his well-written satirical essays and articles in which he criticised

bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

and other negative phenomena in the Soviet Union. Koltsov edited and founded popular journals such as ''

'', ''Chudak'', '' Sovetskoe Foto'' and ''

Ogoniok ''Ogoniok'' ( rus, Огонёк, Ogonyok, t=Spark, p=ɐɡɐˈnʲɵk, a=Ru-огонёк.ogg; pre-reform orthography: Огонекъ) was one of the oldest weekly illustrated magazines in Russia. History and profile ''Ogoniok'' was first issue ...

'' and was a member of the editorial board of ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...

''. As a ''Pravda'' correspondent, he travelled to Spain to cover the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

while he worked for the

. He also acted as military advisor to

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

forces on occasion. Koltsov is widely regarded as having been

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's chief reporter in the war, with speculation suggesting that he had a direct line from his hotel to the

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

. The British communist journalist Claud Cockburn, who met Koltsov in Spain, described him as "a stocky little Jew with a huge head and one of the most expressive faces of any man I ever met.... He unquestionably and positively enjoyed the sense of danger and sometime – by his political indiscretions, for instance, or still more wildly indiscreet love affairs – deliberately created dangers which need not have existed".

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

, in ''

Homage to Catalonia ''Homage to Catalonia'' is a 1938 memoir by English writer George Orwell, in which he accounts his personal experiences and observations while fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Covering the period between December 1936 and June 1937, Orwell re ...

'' (1938), accused Cockburn of co-operating with Koltsov to produce false stories, which favoured Soviet objectives in Spain.

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

, in his novel ''

For Whom the Bell Tolls ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned ...

'', based on the war, represented Koltsov as the character Karkov. Koltsov described his experiences in ''The Spanish Diary'', which was published in 1938. Koltsov returned to the Soviet Union in November 1937 and became a close friend of Yevgenia Yezhova, the wife of the head of the NKVD,

Nikolai Yezhov Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov ( rus, Николай Иванович Ежов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ (j)ɪˈʐof; 1 May 1895 – 4 February 1940), also spelt Ezhov, was a Soviet Chekism, secret police official under Joseph Stalin who ...

. On 19 December 1937, Koltsov published an article criticising some aspects of the purges. The article asserted that, to protect themselves, some people had smeared the innocent. It called on the party, the government, the courts and public opinion to stop such "heartless liars who violated the rights of Soviet citizens". He was arrested on 14 December 1938, four weeks after Yezhova had committed suicide and nine days after Yezhov had been removed from the chairmanship of the NKVD and replaced by

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

. After Yezhov's arrest in 1939, he told his interrogators in May that Koltsov and Yezhova had been lovers and that "Yezhova was connected with Koltsov with respect to espionage work on behalf of England". He was included on a list of 346 "enemies of the people" marked for execution, submitted by Beria to the Politburo, on 16 January 1940. The list included Yezhov, at least 60 other former NKVD officers and at least two more of Yezhova's former lovers, one of whom was the writer

Isaac Babel Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel ( – 27 January 1940) was a Soviet writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of ''Red Cavalry'' and ''Odessa Stories'', and has been acclaimed as "the greatest prose write ...

. Koltsov was shot on 2 February 1940. His third wife, Maria Osten, was also sentenced and shot. He was rehabilitated in 1954.

References

*
A bibliographical article from HRONOS/ХРОНОС
based on ''Stalin's Empire. A Biographical Encyclopedic Dictionary'' by K.A. Zalessky (2000) *

*
Humorous magazine Chudak

External links

*
The Spies Who Made History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koltsov, Mikhail 1898 births 1940 deaths Journalists from Kyiv People from Kiev Governorate Ukrainian Jews Jews from the Russian Empire Jewish socialists Bolsheviks Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Soviet journalists Male journalists Soviet writers Soviet spies Marxist journalists Soviet Marxist writers Soviet people of the Spanish Civil War Perpetrators of political repression in the Second Spanish Republic Jews executed by the Soviet Union Great Purge victims from Ukraine Soviet rehabilitations 20th-century Ukrainian journalists Krokodil editors Ogoniok editors Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 1938–1947 Burials at Donskoye Cemetery Pravda people

Biography

See also

References

External links