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Viktor GraevskiThe man thanks to whom Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU came to the West
Country:
 Poland |
Content:
- The Encounter with History
- The Shocking Revelation
- A Twist of Fate
- The Unfolding of History
- A Turning Point
Viktor Graevsky: The Man Behind the Secret Speech of Nikita Khrushchev
Viktor Graevsky, a Polish journalist currently residing in Israel, is the man responsible for the leaked secret speech of Nikita Khrushchev at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Shortly after the congress, the Kremlin handed a confidential report on the cult of personality to the Polish communists, strictly forbidding any copying. However, this prohibition was violated in Warsaw, and copies were distributed to all members of the Polish Politburo. Graevsky recalls the events that followed.
The Encounter with History
In Warsaw, we knew that the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union had taken place, and that Khrushchev had delivered a speech. However, nobody knew what he had said. I remember that intelligence agencies all over the world were desperate to find his speech, but to no avail. If I remember correctly, the Americans offered one and a half million dollars to anyone who could bring them the document. I had a friend in the Central Committee of the Polish Communist Party. One day, I went to invite her for coffee, but she was very busy. While talking to her, I noticed a brochure with a red cover on the table. It said something like "20th Congress of the Communist Party, Khrushchev's speech, strictly confidential, state secret." I asked her if she could lend it to me for half an hour or an hour, as I didn't want to disturb her. She agreed and said, "Please take it."
The Shocking Revelation
I was a member of the party, and I believed in socialism, in communism, just like everyone else at that time. And suddenly, there were these atrocities, Stalin - such a bandit, such a murderer. It was hard to believe. I put it in my jacket and went home to read it. When I finished reading, I felt like I was holding an atomic bomb in my hands. It was something terrible! I was a member of the party, I believed in socialism, in communism, and suddenly there were these atrocities, Stalin - such a bandit, such a murderer. It was hard to believe. But I wanted to quickly get rid of it and return it to her, this brochure, this speech by Khrushchev.
A Twist of Fate
But on my way, I started thinking and turned to the Israeli embassy. I had an acquaintance there, and I showed it to him. He turned pale, then red, then black, because he knew better than me what it was. He asked me if he could borrow it for a moment, took it for a minute and returned only after an hour and a half. He gave it back to me and said, "Thank you." I took it, left, and returned to the Central Committee, placing the speech on the table. That's it. That's the whole story.
The Unfolding of History
Khrushchev made history, not me. I didn't make any history; I simply encountered history for a few hours. When I arrived in Israel, I learned what happened next.
An employee of the Israeli embassy went to Vienna, and the head of Israeli counterintelligence, Amos Manor, came to Vienna and took it. He brought it to Tel Aviv and showed it to David Ben-Gurion, the Prime Minister of Israel at that time. He was fluent in Russian, and he read it and said, "If this is true, then in 30 years, there won't be a Soviet Union." He decided to pass it on to the Americans without revealing the source.
Allen Dulles, the head of the CIA, received it and showed it to his brother, Secretary of State Foster Dulles. They, too, didn't believe it was a genuine document - perhaps it was disinformation or some kind of provocation?
A Turning Point
They gathered all the Sovietologists they had and spent two weeks analyzing it before concluding that it was indeed Khrushchev's genuine speech. They then went to Eisenhower, and Eisenhower decided to publish it.
I would say that the dissolution of the Soviet Union began then. It was in 1956, exactly 50 years ago.
Nobody, of course, received the money promised by the intelligence agencies. Israel handed over the report to the United States as friends. And if I had received that money, I certainly wouldn't be talking to you today. I would probably be on some island in the Pacific Ocean, sunbathing.
