Semyon Izrailevich Zapadny (real name Semyon Kesselman; , 1899 – 5 February 1938) was a Chekist, state security commissar of 3rd degree (general level rank), member of the NKVD special troikas, a chief of the Kiev Okruha GPU (KGB) in 1925-1928 and Khabarovsk Oblast in 1934–37. He was born in Odessa, Russian Empire, as Semyon Kesselman. In 1914 Zapadny graduated from the Jewish treasury school in Odessa. In July 1917 Zapadny joined the Odessa

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 ...

(organized by Bolshevik Military Organizations) and later around the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

joined 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 ...

.Semyon Zapadny (Западный (Кессельман) Семён Израилевич)
Handbook on History of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union 1898–1991. Zapadny participated in the

Odessa Bolshevik uprising The Odessa Bolshevik uprising () was a Bolshevik-led uprising of workers and sailors allied with approaching Red Guards forces of Soviet Russia. In December 1917, the 2nd Congress of Rumcherod elected the Bolshevik Executive Committee and adop ...

in December 1917. With the ongoing Soviet–Ukrainian War, he joined the Workers'-Peasants' Red Army. After signing of the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

and occupation 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 ...

, in April 1918 to August 1919 he was one of leaders of the Odessa underground Bolsheviks committee on intelligence and counterintelligence (Odessa Cheka was headed by Boris Severny uzefovich. Sometime in 1919 Zapadny officially joined Cheka, becoming member of the Odessa Governorate Cheka collegium. He remained among the high-ranking Cheka and GPU officers in Ukraine until 1930. In 1919 he was one of the main chekists in Ukraine during the events of

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 ...

. During the advance of the

Armed Forces of South Russia The Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR or SRAF) () were the unified military forces of the White movement in southern Russia between 1919 and 1920. On 8 January 1919, the Armed Forces of South Russia were formed, incorporating the Volunteer Ar ...

, Zapadny served as a military intelligence officer in the 12th Army of the Southern Front. In 1921 for a short period Zapadny was acting chief of Cheka in

Volhynian Governorate Volhynia Governorate, also known as Volyn Governorate, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. It consisted of an area of and a population of 2,989,482 inhabitants. The governorate ...

(Zhytomyr) and in 1922-24 headed Cheka in the capital

Kharkiv Governorate Kharkov Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire founded in 1835. It embraced the historical region of Sloboda Ukraine. From 1765 to 1780 and from 1796 to 1835 the governorate was called Sloboda Uk ...

. In 1925-28 he was a chief of GPU in Kiev Okruha. Zapadny is also considered as one of founders of

FC Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet ...

in 1927–28. In 1930 he was transferred to

Far Eastern Krai Far Eastern Krai () was a krai of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic of the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1938. Its capital was Khabarovsk. It was the largest administrative-territorial unit of the Soviet Union after the Yakut Autonomous ...

of the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

where Zapadny continued his career as a Soviet security officer. In 1934-37 he was a chief of NKVD in Khabarovsk Oblast and a deputy chief of NKVD of Far Eastern Krai. On 25 November 1935 he was promoted to the rank of state security commissar of 3rd degree. On 14 February 1935 Zapadny was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

. On August 8, 1937, he was arrested and executed by shooting on February 5, 1938. In 1980 Zapadny was rehabilitated by the Supreme Court presidium of the Soviet Union. Zapadny had three siblings (two brothers, one sister) who also were agents of KGB. His brother Arnold Arkadievich Arnoldov (1893–1938) was awarded a rank of senior major of state security and was a recipient of two St. George Crosses of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

.Arnold Arkadievich Arnoldov (АРНОЛЬДОВ Арнольд Аркадьевич)
centrasia.org

References

External links

at hrono.ru
Semyon Zapadny
at alexanderyakovlev.org
Западный (Кессельман) Семён Израилевич
www.knowbysight.info. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zapadny, Semyon 1899 births 1938 deaths Odesa Jews Military personnel from Odesa Red Guards (Russia) Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Russian Revolution in Ukraine Bolshevik uprisings Soviet people of the Ukrainian–Soviet War Cheka officers NKVD troika Commissars 3rd Class of State Security Great Purge victims from Ukraine People accused in the anti-Soviet Trotskyist organization Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner

Further reading

References

External links