The Zborowski Case
KASSON, HENRY
A veteran Soviet secret agent is uncovered in New York The Zborowski Case By Henry Kasson Washington, D.C. The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee is probing in executive session the case of...
...Regine Zborowski, his wife, was aware of his services to the NKVD...
...In 1945, Zborowski was told by his NKVD superiors to shift from Russian emigres to the American scene...
...He read many letters to and from Trotsky, met Trotskyite leaders from various countries, and participated in conferences of the "Fourth International...
...Zborowski and his family were in France when the Nazis occupied Paris...
...Zborowski's exposure traces to a former high official of the NKVD, who states that in Paris during the Spanish Civil War he learned of the existence of "Etienne," a Soviet agent then assigned to penetrate Trotskyist organizations...
...Zborowski was probably involved also in the disappearance of former German Communist Rudolf Klement ("Frederick"), Secretary of the Fourth International, who vanished in Paris in July 1938...
...The MVD is not likely to let agents of this caliber go astray...
...Paris...
...The NKVD tried unsuccessfully to slay Krivitsky at the Marseilles railway station...
...But from the known facts it is clear that Zborowski has been a loyal and important Soviet agent for many years...
...His first assignments here were among Russian emigres and Trotskyites...
...Zborowski worked among the Trotskyites, gradually moving through the French Trotskyite group into the smaller Russian group headed by Trotsky's son, Leon Sedov...
...Soon after his arrival here, Zborowski contacted the resident NKVD representatives...
...Now Zborowski admits that, after helping to bring the archives to the Institute, he informed the NKVD, which organized the burglary on the basis of his report...
...friendship prevented the NKVD from taking reprisals against Kravchenko...
...When General Walter Krivitsky, another high Soviet agent, defected in Paris in the fall of 1037...
...Zborowski later worked on a research project on hospitals under the Veterans Administration...
...Both Trotsky and the press accused the NKVD of having done away with Klement...
...In 1952, with a substantial grant from the American Jewish Committee...
...But in December 1941 they succeeded in reaching the U.S.: they were naturalized in 1948...
...Zborowski published Life Is with People, a history of Jewish community life in Russian villages before the revolution...
...There his services to Soviet intelligence seem to have begun...
...Zborowski, born in 1907 in Uman, Russia, was taken by his parents to Lodz, Poland during the Revolution...
...A long investigation by the French police proved fruitless...
...It appears that only Moscow's wartime need of U.S...
...He regularly reported at length, orally and in writing, to the NKVD on the activities of Trotsky, Sedov and their followers...
...Zborowski reported that Reiss would arrive in Reims on a certain day, and the NKVD sent the murder gang to the railway station...
...There he joined the Communist movement, was arrested (in about 1930) and jumped bail to flee to France...
...Only a fraction of Zborowski's deeds have thus far been revealed, especially those of recent years...
...During those months, the NKVD had Reiss shadowed and the assassination organized...
...Because of Stalin's obsession with Trotskyism in this period, "Etienne's" communications were read personally by the late Soviet dictator...
...Zborowski was slated for an important role in these plans...
...The Union also served as a reservoir of Soviet agents for many tasks, including kidnaping and murder...
...Earlier, on November 7, 1936, Trotsky's archives were stolen from the International Institute for Social History, 7 Rue Michelet...
...Sedov died a few days later...
...The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee is probing in executive session the case of an important Soviet secret agent, hitherto unknown to the public...
...His first assignment was as secretary of the Paris "Union of Returners," a Soviet-financed emigre group founded to promote emigre repatriation to Russia...
...The NKVD planned to kidnap Sedov and take him to Russia...
...Zborowski met him through Sedov and reported on all his moves...
...His exploits during the war included contacts with and reports on Victor Kravchenko, Soviet trade representative whose defection in 1944' was a severe blow to Soviet prestige in the U.S...
...He is Mark Zborowski, 48, a resident of New York since 1941 and the author of a widely-read book, Life Is with People...
...When Sedov fell ill in February 1938, Zborowski notified the NKVD of the hospital to which he had been taken...
...Now "Etienne" has been identified as Zborowski, and he has confessed to having worked for the NKVD...
...From 1934 till the war...
...According to his version, they located him: more probably, he found his way to them...
...One of his next jobs was with the Research Project in Contemporary Cultures, sponsored by the Navy, in which the study of Russian problems played an important part...
...Ultimately Zborowski was let into many important secrets of Trotsky's organization...
...Zborowski also figured in the case of Ignace Reiss, high NKVD official who defected in Holland in July 1937 and was murdered by the NKVD in Switzerland two months later...
Vol. 38 • November 1955 • No. 46
