Lev Zadov

Lev Nikolaevich Zadov (Zinkovsky), (Russian: Лев Николаевич ("Лёвка") Задов (Зиньковский)) April 11, 1893, Veselaya - September 25, 1938, Kiev was chief of military intelligence of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, and later an OGPU operative. Born Lev Zadov, he changed his last name to Zinkovsky.

Lev Zadov
Native name
Лев Николаевич Зиньковский
Nickname(s)Leva, Levka the bandit
Born(1893-04-11)April 11, 1893
Veselaya Yevreyka, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire
DiedSeptember 25, 1938(1938-09-25) (aged 45)
Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Buried
Darnytsia, Kiev, Ukraine
Allegiance Red Army (1918)
Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (1918-1921)
Soviet Union (1924-1938)
Service/branchBlack Army military intelligence (1918-1921)
OGPU (1924-1934)
Years of service1918-1938

Early years

Lev Zadov was born in Veselaya, a small Russian Jewish agricultural colony in the Alexandrovskii District.[1][2] About 1898-1900 his family fell on hard times and moved to Donetsk, where his father found work as a coachman. Zadov graduated at a Jewish elementary school there and started to work as a manual laborer at a mill, later working at Yuzovka Metallurgical Works.

Anarchist underground and penal labour

Lev Zadov joined the Yuzovka Metallurgical Works anarchist group before 1912, and was a long-time member of the Yuzovsk (Donetsk) Group of Anarcho-Communists. He participated in several armed robberies, as was not uncommon for anarchist groups at the time for financing their activities. Groups engaging in these sorts of behavior were termed as "bezmotivniks", from "bezmotivny" - "motiveless terror". During his period of activity there, he robbed, among others, an artel official at a mine and a cash office in Debaltseve. He was arrested and convicted in 1913 for robbery of a post office and sentenced to 8 years of penal labour.[2] While under hard labor, he changed his surname to Zinkovsky, out of fear of antisemitic attacks from the Russians.

From February Revolution to Makhno

Zadov was released after the February Revolution in February 1917 along with other revolutionary prisoners. He was elected a member of the city Soviet in Yuzovka soon after that.[3] Zadov had been instrumental in organizing the anarchist paramilitary force in Donetsk and joined the Red Army in Spring 1918 with this group. His junior brother Daniel had been member of the force too. Zadov quickly rose through the ranks and became deputy regiment commander. Zadov's regiment fought advancing German Army and Tsentralna Rada troops, but was defeated and withdrew toward Tsaritsyn. The Zadov brothers defected from the Red Army there and returned to the Ukraine to join the anarchists.

Time as a Makhnovist

In the late autumn of 1918, Zadov returned to Ukraine and joined Nestor Makhno's guerrillas in August 1918 and quickly became chief of the Kontrrazvedska, the military intelligence of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine.[3] According to numerous eyewitnesses, he was a member of Makhno's inner circle and friend of Makhno's wife. Zadov is credited with personally saving Makhno's life several times during skirmishes with Red Army forces.

In November 1918 he participated in the formation of detachments in the villages of Donetsk, Grishinsky and Mariupol. In early March 1919, Zadov participated in the assault on Mariupol. Here and in Berdyansk, he created the so-called "Civilian departments" of counterintelligence - engaged in supplying the army. In the summer of 1919, counterintelligence was divided into army and corps, and Zadov became head of counterintelligence of the 1st Donetsk corps. In December 1919, the intelligence of the Donetsk Corps led by him sent a group of four scouts to the Kherson-Nikopol region, who obtained important information about the mood of the population, the deployment of enemy troops, and the composition of the security forces of Denikin. Then he led the execution of the Bolshevik commander Mikhail Polonsky, who was suspected of conspiring against Makhno.

In 1919, after the defeat of Denikin, the Red Army returned to Ukraine, marching along the path cleared by the Black Army, and in January 1920 Makhno was outlawed. Lev and his brother Daniel were among those who saved Makhno, who had contracted typhoid fever, by hiding him in a secluded place, while they themselves went to visit relatives in Donbass. In the spring of 1920, the Zadov brothers returned to Makhno in his restored army.

In October 1920, the Starobelsk Soviet-Makhnovist agreement was signed, in order for the Bolsheviks to use the rebels in the fight against Pyotr Wrangel in Crimea. Zadov was appointed commandant of the Crimean Corps, he participated in the assault on Perekop and the defeat of Wrangel. After the victory in Crimea, Zadov and the remnants of the Crimean corps made their way to the rest of the Makhnovists in December 1920. Having suffered heavy losses, Makhno, at the head of a small detachment, made his last raid in Ukraine in July-August 1921. On August 28, 1921, Zadov organized the escape of remnants of Makhnovist guerrilla forces to Romania.

OGPU operative

In August 1921, disarming the outfit of border guards, Lev Zadov ensured the transfer to Romania of a group of 77 people — all that remained of the rebel army. The period of forced emigration began, lasting about three years. The Zadov brothers lived in Bucharest, working seasonal jobs. In 1924, Romanian intelligence (“Siguranza”) offered Zinkovsky cooperation and participation in a sabotage group in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Soviet Chekist Dmitry Medvedev wrote in his memoirs that these agreements with the Romanians were fictitious from the very beginning. Nestor Makhno and Zadov decided to take advantage of the offer so that Lev Zadov and his comrades could get treasure buried in the Dibrovsky forest on a rainy day.

In 1924, the saboteurs crossed the border along the prepared corridor. Immediately after crossing the border, Leo made a statement: “Boys, well, to hell with this terror. Let's go give up.” After interrogations and clarifications, everyone except Lev Zadov was released from custody, banning his departure from Kharkov until the circumstances were fully clarified. Having lost hope of a successful outcome, at one of the interrogations conducted by the Chekist Mark Spektor, Zadov asked: if he would be threatened with execution, then Mark Borisovich should bring a bottle of vodka. After six months of interrogation, Zadov’s fate was decided in his favor. The Cheka authorities decided to use his experience in intelligence and counterintelligence, as well as his great authority among the Makhnovists, to involve him in illegal work in the Soviet state security agencies. And besides, at that time, an amnesty from 1922 for the former Makhnovists already extended to him. Lev Zadov joined the OGPU, working in their office in Odessa and Daniel Zadov became an OGPU operative in Tiraspol. Zadov was instrumental in the annihilation of several anti-Soviet militant groups. In 1929, Zinkovsky received gratitude from the GPU of the Ukrainian SSR and 200 rubles for the assassination of a saboteur (Zinkovsky himself was wounded in the arm during the operation).

“... Once, in an ambush, Lev saw a silhouette of a man slowly moving between the trees. Having let the saboteur down by 5-6 meters, Zadov loudly demanded: “Drop your weapon!”. In response, a shot rang out at the same instant. A sharp pain burned his hand. Without moving or changing intonation, in response to a point-blank shot, Lev Zadov repeated: “Drop your weapon!” - and went to the bandit. The seasoned killer flinched and raised his hands. Subsequently, during interrogation, the detainee said that if a group had attacked him, he would have fled from them as he had fled several times: “And here, I shot at point blank range, and he stood and calmly offered to hand over the weapon. I don’t remember why I raised my hands,“- the bandit said during the interrogation ...”

He is credited with running one of the most successful Soviet intelligence operations against Romania, and in 1932, he received a registered military weapon from the Odessa Regional Executive Committee for the "successful fight against counter-revolution". In 1934 he received a monetary reward and registered military weapons for the elimination of a group of terrorists.

Death

On August 26, 1937, the Zadov brothers were both arrested during the Great Purge and accused of collaboration with Romanian security services. The Zadov brothers' trial took place on September 25, 1938 and lasted only 15 minutes. The court found them guilty on all counts, including "collaboration with foreign secret services" and serving with Nestor Makhno, and sentenced them to death. Both Lev and Daniel were executed by firing squad on September 25, 1938. Zadov’s cellmate was Konstantin Shteppa, who left his detailed description.[4] In January 1990, Lev Zadov was rehabilitated.

Personal life

Lev Zadov married Vera Matvienko in 1925 and had a daughter, Alla Zinkovskaya (born 1921), and son, Vadim Zinkovsky (born 1926). Alla Zinkovskaya volunteered to join Red Army in the beginning of the Soviet-German War. She was killed on June 13, 1942[5] fighting in the Sevastopol. Vadim joined the Red Army in 1944 (age 18) and became a commissioned officer. Vadim Zinkovsky retired from the Soviet Army as a colonel in 1977.

Cultural depiction

Lev Zadov is depicted in Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy's "The Road to Calvary" novels as a ruthless but cowardly killer, who participates in numerous atrocities against civilians but shies away from battle engagements. The phrases "Hide your teeth or I'll swing them out" and "I'm Leva Zadov, I'll speak and you'll fear" attributed to him by Tolstoy, became part of Russian slang. It is proven today that Tolstoy used a pamphlet published in 1924 in Kiev for his information on Zadov.

References
  1. "Veselaya - Alexandrovskii District". kehilalinks.jewishgen.org. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  2. Bespechnyĭ, T.A (1996). Правда и Легенды: Лева Задов: Человек из Контрразведк [Leva Zadov: the Man from the Kontrrazvedka]. Donetsk: Donechchyna. p. 225. ISBN 9785869381248.
  3. Azarov, Vyacheslav (October 2007). Kontrrazvedka - The Story of the Makhnovist Intelligence Service (PDF). Black Cat Press. ISBN 978-0-9737827-2-1.
  4. Shtpepa, Konstantin. "12. ZINKOVSKY". Memoirs of the Gulag (in Russian).
  5. "Зинковская Алла Львовна, матрос : Информация из картотеки :: ОБД Мемориал". obd-memorial.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-09-29.
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