Konon Berman-Yurin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1901 (1901) |
| Died | 25 August 1936(1936-08-25) (aged 34–35) |
| Cause of death | Execution |
| Other names | Hans Stauer Alexander Fomich |
| Known for | Defendant of the Trial of the Sixteen |
| Political party | Communist Party of Latvia German Communist Party |
Konon Borisovich Berman-Yurin (aka Hans Stauer, Alexander Fomich) (1901 – 25 August 1936) was a Latvian Communist who was a state witness in the trial of Grigory Zinoviev.[1]
Background
Berman-Yurin was born in Courland, Latvia. He was a member of the Communist Party of Latvia from 1921 to 1924.[2]
In 1923, he left Latvia for Germany without obtaining the permission of the party, who expelled him as a deserter.[3] However he did join the German Communist Party, where he joined the regional directorate involved in propaganda and organisational work.[3] Following the Nazi seizure of power in Germany, Berman-Yurin fled to the USSR getting a job for the Moscow newspaper Za industrializatsiiu.[3] He was arrested on 22 May 1936 and was one of the accused in the Trial of the Sixteen, one of the Moscow show trials.[3] He implicated himself in a "confession" claiming that he had met with Leon Trotsky in Copenhagen in 1932 where they planned to assassinate Joseph Stalin.[4] He claimed that Trotsky had instructed him that "if possible, the terroristic act must be carried out at a Plenum or Congress of the Comintern, so that the shot at Stalin should ring out in a large assembly. This would have a tremendous repercussion far beyond the borders of the Soviet Union and call forth a mass movement throughout the world. This would have a world-historical political significance".[4]
After being convicted and sentenced to death, Berman-Yurin was shot on 25 August 1936.
References
- ^ Dewey, John (1987). The Later Works, 1925-1953, Volume 11. Carbondale and Edwardsville: SIU Press. p. 602.
- ^ Chase, William J. (2001). Enemies Within the Gates?: The Comintern and the Stalinist Repression, 1934-1939. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-13319-6.
- ^ a b c d Chase, William J. (2001). Enemies Within the Gates?: The Comintern and the Stalinist Repression, 1934-1939. Yale University Press. p. 474. ISBN 9780300133196.
- ^ a b Shachtman, Max. "Behind the Moscow Trial". Marxist Internet Library. Pioneer Publishers—New York 1936. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
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