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Lev Nikolayevich Zadov-Zinkovsky - head of counterintelligence of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine Nestor Makhno

Lev Zadov was a vivid representative of the turbulent era of the Civil War. Anarchist by conviction, he first fought on the side of the Red Army, then went to the rebels Makhno. After the defeat of the "green" Zadov had to flee to Romania. Already in peacetime he returned to his homeland, where he began to work for the NKVD.

early years

Leo Nikolayevich Zadov was born on April 11, 1893. He was a Jew by nationality, and his real name was written as Zodov. But Makhno's associate is best known for his pseudonym Zinkovsky. Lev Nikolaevich Zadov was born in a small Jewish colony near modern Donetsk. At that time the Semitic population lived in compact settlements in the western provinces of the Russian Empire. This was due to the existence of the Pale of Settlement. Jews could not settle in the central part of the country. But there were a lot of them in Ukraine and Poland.

In the late XIX - early XX century. Many Jews became members of the revolutionary movement. Leo Nikolayevich Zadov was no exception. Thanks to his bogatyr physique he worked from the earliest years in various factories (at a mill, factory, etc.). In this milieu, the agitation of radical political movements was particularly active. Therefore Zadov easily became an anarchist. He distributed illegal literature, participated in rallies. His complexion was especially useful in looting or "expropriation." It is for certain known that the young anarchist was involved in at least three such operations. Radicals looted artel workers, railway cash departments and post offices. The money received went to the cashier of the revolutionary movement, and then they were spent to print agitation materials.

In hard labor and in the Red Army

In 1913, Lev Nikolaevich Zadov, for his dubious activities, was arrested by the authorities. The court sentenced him to eight years in prison on hard labor. It was there because of the cacophony that the anarchist changed his surname and became Zinkovsky. In February 1917, there was a revolution. The tsarist power fell, and the new Provisional Government declared amnesty to all "political prisoners". So, Zinkovsky was released, having served half the time.

The revolutionary returned to his native Yuzovka (soon renamed Donetsk), where he was elected a local workers' deputy. After the Bolsheviks came to power, Zinkovsky voluntarily ended up in the Red Army. His squad had to retreat to Tsaritsyn himself. Despite the difficult situation in which the participants of the Civil War turned out to be, the rank and file already showed his bright abilities and was soon promoted to the head of the brigade. However, soon Zadov left the Red Army. As he himself explained at one of the interrogations in the NKVD, his own convictions prompted him to desert. When salaries came from the headquarters, Zinkovsky was paid 750 rubles as a big boss. Ordinary received ten times less. This angered the anarchist, and he went to Ukraine. Later in the GPU NKVD recalled to him that desertion in 1918.

The right hand of Makhno

Nastor Makhno became the new chief of Zadov, anarchist and leader of the liberation movement in Ukraine. The lion participated in all the major operations of the "green insurgents". In the spring of 1919, he headed a group that collected indemnities from the bourgeoisie and capitalists who lived in the territory controlled by the forces of Father Makhno.

The insurgent army of Ukraine was very heterogeneous in its composition. The interests of its members often did not coincide. For example, Zinkovsky himself enjoyed a rather dubious reputation, mainly due to the fact that he once fled the Red Army. Some participants of the Civil War from among those close to Makhno demanded his death. They were such influential people as Levka Golik (head of counterintelligence) and Alexei Marchenko. Rumors about Zinkovsky's unreliability were fueled by talk that Soviet Chekists were trying to recruit him.

Work in the rebel counterintelligence

At the most critical moment adjutant Makhno was rescued from reprisal by the wife of "father" Galina Kuzmenko. She had worked with Zinkovsky for some time before in the counterintelligence of the insurgents and had become trustworthy to him. It was in this position that Zadov had to undertake the most controversial work during his time in the ranks of the Makhnovists.

Punitive organs got rid of people suspected of treason and unreliability. Leo Nikolaevich Zinkovsky, like Lenin, believed that the revolution should not be done in white gloves and using aristocratic methods of political struggle. All the atrocities of the Civil War, and white, and red, and "green" justified the service of a great goal. Some have communism, others have national freedom or public equality according to anarchic ideals.

The End of the Civil War

By 1920, the Red Army defeated Denikin and was again in Ukraine. Then Nestor Makhno and his supporters were declared enemies of the people. The rebels were defeated not only because of military failures, but also because of the outbreak of typhus epidemic. The disease ruthlessly mowed even the most physically strong and healthy men. Zinkovsky also for some time proved incompetent, although he managed to recover. It was he among the few associates who saved Makhno from death, hiding him in the shelter.

After the leader of the crushed rebel movement was safe, Lev and his brother illegally returned to their native Donbass. Soon the Soviet government decided to make a deal with the Makhnovists. Partisans were offered to conclude peace with the Reds and help them in the fight against the remnants of Wrangel's army, entrenched in the Crimea. In the fall of 1920, Zinkovsky again briefly became a companion of the Reds. He fought in the Crimea and participated in the final defeat of the white movement on the peninsula.

Emigration

In the summer of 1921 Makhno, along with a few surviving associates fled to Romania. When crossing the border, Zadov led a risky operation to eliminate border guards. Together with a dozen insurgents, he pretended to be red, pursued by the Makhnovists. So the anarchist managed to fool the border guards. When they, having lost their vigilance, approached the detachment of Zinkovsky, a merciless fire was opened through them.

So for Zadov began the period of emigration. He settled in Romania. Since there was nothing to live for, the former Makhnovist together with his brother worked at the sawmill. Their miserable situation was especially noteworthy, given that the insurgents knew of the existence of Ukrainian burials of the treasures buried by them during the Civil War. The only trouble was that the fugitives, hurrying to cross the Soviet border, never had time to take care of their future well-being.

Homecoming

Soon Romanian intelligence enlisted the former Makhnovist. Zinkovsky was offered to work in a sabotage group, which was planned to be thrown into Soviet Ukraine. The lion replied with agreement. In 1924 he again found himself at home. However, immediately Zadov decided to surrender to the Soviet authorities. His biographers believe that he from the very beginning fooled Romanian scouts to get to the USSR with a trump card in his sleeve and intelligence information about enemy foreign activities.

Zinkovsky's group, as expected, was arrested. All his associates were released, but he himself was questioned for a long time. Half a year the fate of the former Makhnovist hung in the balance. The Soviet Chekist, in charge of which was his case, delayed the adoption of the decision. Finally, the authorities found it necessary to take Zadov to illegal work. He had a rich and unique experience in intelligence and counterintelligence. Such a track record has always been valued in the NKVD. In addition, the accusations of participation in the insurgency were already untenable. Zinkovsky, like thousands of other supporters of Makhno, was amnestied in 1922 according to the decision of the Soviet government.

Co-operation with the NKVD

There is a version that Lev Zadov was able to agree with the Chekists about his pardon due to the fact that he told about the whereabouts of the treasure buried by rebels in Ukraine during the Civil War. It is precisely known that Makhno himself, being in emigration, tried to send loyal people to the USSR in order to obtain and return valuable treasures.

Whatever ways Zadovsky ever earned his right to a second chance, he skillfully took advantage of the given opportunity to be justified in the eyes of the Soviet authorities. The place of his work was Odessa. This important port, located just outside the state border, was the center of attraction of various adventurers and terrorists. Cooperating with the authorities, Zadov was able to uncover and liquidate several illegal criminal groups.

Shooting

No matter how efficient and useful the agent was, Zadov, he was destined for a sad fate. He fell into the millstone of the Stalinist repressions of the 1930s. Then they arrested and shot him in all sorts of trivia up to daring jokes about the leader. And the man who at one time changed the Red Army to Makhno's rebels and fled to Romania, against this background was simply doomed.

Zadov was arrested in August 1937. He was accused of spying for Romania. It is significant that the NKVD had no evidence of his guilt. Then, sophisticated methods of interrogation were used, including torture. The process lasted a whole year. Finally, under this press Zinkovsky confessed to working for foreign special services. On September 25 he, like many others shot in 1938, took leave of his life in the NKVD torture chambers without any chance of acquittal or an honest trial. For a long time his business remained untouched. Even after the onset of the Khrushchev thaw about the innocence of Zinkovsoi was not remembered. Posthumously rehabilitated appeared in the USSR right up to perestroika. Zadov was justified only in 1990.

Posthumous image

Zinkovsky became one of the characters in the trilogy of Alexei Tolstoy's "Walking through the agony." In the interpretation of the writer, and later the Soviet adaptation of the novel, he was a brutal executioner and performer of the most bloodthirsty assignments of Nestor Makhno. Many viewers remember it solely on the folklore phrase "I am Lyova Zadov, I do not have to joke with."

Of course, Tolstoy's novel was not the only attempt to comprehend the biography of a bright and ambiguous anarchist. Zinkovsky was lucky to live in a stormy era. He risked and changed his loyalty in the same way as many of his contemporaries, who had to smell gunpowder during the Civil War.

A family

The brother of the revolutionary Daniel was with him along throughout the Civil War. Together they fled to Romania, and the two returned to the Soviet Union. Daniel was shot in the same year in 1938, although he also worked for the NKVD in Tiraspol.

Zadov also had a son, Vadim Lvovich Zinkovsky. Despite his very young age, he went to the front as a volunteer at the end of the Great Patriotic War. Later he became a colonel of the army. Vadim Lvovich wrote a biographical book about his father, in which he tried to justify the famous anarchist in the eyes of his contemporaries.

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