Nikolay Khokhlov
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Nikolai Yevgenievich Khokhlov (
Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...
: Николай Евгеньевич Хохлов; 7 June 1922 – 17 September 2007) was a
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
officer who defected to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in 1954. He testified about KGB activities. The KGB unsuccessfully tried to kill him with poison in 1957.


Family background

Nikolai Khoklov was born in 1922, in
Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...
. Khokhlov's parents divorced when he was very young. He was not well-acquainted with his father, who later served as a
commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means ' commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and ...
in 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 ...
. During the
Battle for Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...
, the elder Khokhlov was transferred to a
penal battalion A penal military unit, also known as a penal formation, disciplinary unit, or just penal unit (usually named for their formation and size, such as ''penal battalion'' for battalions, ''penal regiment'' for regiments, ''penal company'' for companie ...
because he had made unfavourable remarks about
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 ...
. Khokhlov's father died in the battalion. His stepfather, a lawyer, volunteered to defend
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
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 a member of an
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 ...
quartet who were trained to commit a spectacular attack against
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
officers during their victory celebration in the occupied
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. 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 or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He was disguised as a Nazi officer after parachuting into German-occupied
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
. He played a part in the assassination of
Wilhelm Kube Wilhelm Kube (13 November 1887 – 22 September 1943) was a German Nazi politician and official who served as the '' Generalkommissar'' of '' Generalbezirk Weißruthenien'' in the ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'' from 1941 to 1943. Kube was invol ...
, the Nazi
Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...
of
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
. After the war, Khokhlov became the prototype for the main character in a 1947 Soviet film, ''Feat of a Scout'' ("Подвиг разведчика").


Assassination mission

In 1954, Khokhlov was sent by the
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
to
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
to supervise two men whose task was to kill Georgiy Okolovich, a chairman of the
National Alliance of Russian Solidarists The National Alliance of Russian Solidarists ( NTS; ) is a Russian anticommunist organization founded in 1930 by a group of young Russian anticommunist White émigrés in Belgrade, Serbia (then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). The organizat ...
. He discussed the situation with his wife, Yana, who said, "If this man is killed, you will be a murderer. I cannot be the wife of a murderer" and decided not to follow the order. Khokhlov went to Okolovich's flat and told him: "Georgiy Sergeyevich, 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."* Christopher Andrew and
Vasili Mitrokhin Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin (; March 3, 1922 – January 23, 2004) was an archivist for the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence service, the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, who defected to the United Kingdom in 1992. Mitrokhin first offer ...
(2000) ''The
Mitrokhin Archive The Mitrokhin Archive refers to a collection of handwritten notes about secret KGB operations spanning the period between the 1930s and 1980s made by KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin which he shared with British intelligence in the early 1990s. Mitr ...
: The KGB in Europe and the West'', Gardners Books.
Khokhlov defected to the United States following his failure to carry out the assassination order. In retaliation, his wife in the Soviet Union was arrested and sentenced to five years of involuntary settlement.


Poisoning by thallium

Khokhlov was treated for
thallium poisoning Thallium poisoning is poisoning that is due to thallium and its compounds, which are often highly toxic. Contact with skin is dangerous and adequate ventilation should be provided when melting this metal. Many thallium compounds are highly solubl ...
in Frankfurt in 1957, as a result of a failed assassination attempt by the Thirteenth Department of the
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
. This case is often claimed to be the first radiological attack by the
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
, especially when comparison with the
poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Litvinenko was an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and its predecessor, the KGB, until he left the service and fled the country in late 2000. In 1998, Litvinenko and several other Russian intelligence officers sa ...
Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko (2007) '' of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB'', The Free Press. is drawn, although it remains unclear what isotope was used, if any. Former KGB officer Stanislav Lekarev claimed, however, that Khokhlov was poisoned by radioactive polonium (not thallium), exactly as Litvinenko was. Litvinenko's poisoning was also initially mistaken for thallium.


Life in the United States

After graduating with a PhD from
Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
, Khokhlov taught undergraduate and graduate psychology classes at
California State University, San Bernardino California State University, San Bernardino (Cal State San Bernardino or CSUSB) is a public research university in San Bernardino, California. Founded in 1965, it is part of the California State University system. The main campus sits on in th ...
from 1968 to 1992. He retired as a professor emeritus in 1993. In the United States, Khokhlov married again. With his second wife Tanya, he had two daughters and a son, Misha, who died several years later due to a kidney failure. In 1992, Russian President
Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...
pardoned Khokhlov. The same year he returned to Moscow for a short stay, for the first time since the 1950s.Николай Евгеньевич ХОХЛОВ
belousenko.com
He later made an e-mail contact with, then eventually met, his son in Russia of whom he had not been previously aware. Nikolai Khokhlov died of a heart attack in San Bernardino, California, in September 2007. He was buried next to the grave of his son.


See also

*
Alexander Litvinenko poisoning Alexander Litvinenko was an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and its predecessor, the KGB, until he left the service and fled the country in late 2000. In 1998, Litvinenko and several other Russian intelligence officers sa ...
*
List of Eastern Bloc defectors Soon after the formation of the Soviet Union, emigration restrictions were put in place to keep citizens from leaving the various republics of the USSR, though some defections still occurred. During and after World War II, similar restrictions we ...


References


Books

*Nikolai Evgenievich Khokhlov. ''In the name of conscience ''. Translated by Emily Kingsbery. New York : David McKay, 1959
In the name of conscience (Russian)
*Boris Volodarsky. ''Nikolai Khokhlov ("Whistler"), Self-Esteem with a Halo ''. Vienna-London : Borwall Verlag, 2005
(English)


External links


Obituary


By Katya Drozdova,
Hoover Institute The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...

Newspaper Article: Times OnlineI led KGB hit squad
by Ros Wynne Jones
One more time on the Alexander Litvinenko case
by Vadim Birstein
Interview
to
Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khokhlov, Nikolai 1922 births 2007 deaths Soviet intelligence personnel who defected to the United States Deaths by acute radiation syndrome KGB officers Soviet Army officers People sentenced to death in absentia by the Soviet Union Russian anti-communists Soviet assassins Soviet military personnel of World War II