Valentin Markin
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Valentin Markin (aka "Arthur Walter") (1903 – 1934) was the chief illegal ''
rezident A resident spy in the world of espionage is an agent operating within a foreign country for extended periods of time. A base of operations within a foreign country with which a resident spy may liaise is known as a "station" in English and a (, 'r ...
'' and director of the
espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...
operations of 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 ...
in 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 ...
from 1933 to 1934. Markin headed the activities of both
Soviet military intelligence Main Intelligence Directorate ( rus, Главное разведывательное управление, Glavnoye razvedyvatel'noye upravleniye, ˈglavnəjə rɐzˈvʲɛdɨvətʲɪlʲnəjə ʊprɐˈvlʲenʲɪjə), abbreviated GRU ( rus, ГР ...
and that of the
Soviet secret police There were a succession of Soviet secret police agencies over time. The Okhrana was abolished by the Provisional government after the first revolution of 1917, and the first secret police after the October Revolution, created by Vladimir Leni ...
during this period.


Biography


Early years

Valentin Borisovich Markin was born in the city of Groznyi, part 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 ...
, in 1903.Svetlana Chervonnaya
"Valentin Borisovich Markin (1903-1934),"
DocumentsTalk website. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
He studied at a business school as a young man. In 1920, Markin joined the
Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...
, the youth section of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union 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 ...
and he worked on Komsomol activities for the next two years in the region of the Caucuses.


Career

Markin joined Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU) and was stationed in Berlin in the 1920s, where he married an Armenian girl who worked for the Soviet trade mission. His superior in Berlin was
Ignace Reiss Ignace Reiss (1899 – 4 September 1937) – also known as "Ignace Poretsky," "Ignatz Reiss," "Ludwig," "Ludwik", "Hans Eberhardt," "Steff Brandt," Nathan Poreckij, and "Walter Scott (an officer of the U.S. military intelligence)" ...
. At some point, Markin left the GRU and secured a position with the Foreign Department (INO) of the NKVD. In the United States, Markin lived under the
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
"Arthur Walter." He also is known to have used the aliases Oskar, Hermann, and Davis. The novice GRU agent
Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer and intelligence agent. After early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), he defected from the Soviet u ...
met with Markin, posing as Hermann, in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in 1933. He was, Chambers wrote, "a short, sturdy figure confined in a tight-fitting, rumpled suit and elevated on high-heeled German shoes." His brushlike mop of hair looked like it had been cut with a sickle. "I felt," Chambers continued, " that I had met what is much more unusual in life than a thoroughly good man-a thoroughly bad one." The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service ( SVR) provided the authors
Allen Weinstein Allen Weinstein (September 1, 1937 – June 18, 2015) was an American historian, educator, and federal official who served in several different offices. Under the Reagan administration, he was cofounder of the National Endowment for Democracy i ...
and
Alexander Vassiliev Alexander Yuryevich Vassiliev (; born 1962) is a Russians, Russian-British people, British journalist, writer and espionage historian living in London who is a Subject-matter expert, subject matter expert in the Soviet KGB and Russian Foreign In ...
an unprecedented peek into their archives for the preparation of ''The Haunted Wood'' (1999). One of the startling revelations in the text was that Valentin Markin had a source inside the U.S.
State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
, codenamed "Willi," who had access to "numerous ambassadorial, consular, and military attache reports from Europe and the Far East," and could "filch transcripts of recorded conversations Secretary of State
Cordell Hull Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871July 23, 1955) was an American politician from Tennessee and the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years (1933–1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevel ...
and his assistants had with foreign ambassadors." The Soviets paid "Willi" the extraordinary sum of $15,000 per year for the documents, which he passed to Markin through an intermediary codenamed "Leo," subsequently identified as ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'' journalist
Ludwig Lore Ludwig Lore (June 26, 1875July 8, 1942) was an American socialist magazine editor, newspaper writer, lecturer, and politician, best remembered for his tenure as editor of the socialist '' New Yorker Volkszeitung'' and role as a factional leader in ...
.


Death and legacy

In August 1934, "Arthur Walter" (Markin) was found at the Luxor Baths of the Luxor Hotel (New York City) on 46th Street in New York City suffering from a serious head wound. Whittaker Chambers wrote that Markin was initially believed to have been attacked during a mugging while intoxicated. Markin subsequently died in the hospital after having contracted
pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
following surgery. According to
Hede Massing Hede Tune Massing, née "Hedwig Tune" (also "Hede Eisler," "Hede Gumperz," and "Redhead") (6 January 1900 – 8 March 1981), was an Austrian actress in Vienna and Berlin, communist, and Soviet Union, Soviet intelligence operative in Europe and th ...
, a Soviet intelligence operative who worked with Markin, he was murdered by
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 ...
agents due to suspected sympathies toward
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
. Markin was replaced as chief illegal ''rezident'' by Boris Iakovlevich Bazarov.


Footnotes


Further reading

* Whittaker Chambers, ''Witness.'' New York: Random House, 1952. * Walter Krivitsky, ''In Stalin's Secret Service.'' New York: Harper and Brothers, 1939 * Hede Massing, ''This Deception.'' New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1951 * Elisabeth K. Poretsky, ''Our Own People: A Memoir of 'Ignace Reiss' and his Friends.'' Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1969. * Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, ''The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—The Stalin Era.'' New York: Random House, 1999. {{DEFAULTSORT:Markin, Valentin 1903 births 1934 deaths NKVD officers GRU officers