By Ilya Magid

HOW THE KGB FOUGHT WITH ME

1. About me: When and Where
2. Daughter's Decision to Emigrate
3. Meeting with the Assistant Director of the Regime
4. Meeting with the Leader of the Regime Bureau
5. How the Regime Division and Personnel Department were included in the Structure of the Plant
6. My Responsibility on My Job
7. Level of Secrecy
8. Organizer of Trade Union in the Division
9. New Helper, Artemev
(I think he was an agent of the KGB)
10. My preparation to Become a Retired Citizen
11. Factory Accident
12. Medication and Retirement
13. About Emigration of my Daughter

Editors: Steven Siegel and Lucille Mc Mahon

HOW THE KGB FOUGHT WITH ME

Confession of my Friend

1. About me: When and Where

In 1979, I worked in a Scientific Industrial Union "Leninez", in Leningrad. (That was a scientific institute with two plants, which had about 20,000 workers). In one of the divisions of the institute I worked as the leading engineer.

2. My Daughter Decided to Emigrate

I was not a member of the party. (We did not have any party except Communist party). In all my jobs I was always exposed to anti-Semitism. But it especially was evident when my daughter and her 8 year old daughter submitted documents for emigration to OVIR in 1979.

There was a procedure if your relative submitted documents to OVIR. You had to report to the regime division of your plant. If you did not call the regime division, OVIR would call the plant about the departure of your relative. It was very bad for you, if you didn't report it yourself.

*OVIR is the equivalent of the U.S. State Department

I reported about the emigration of my daughter to my chief of the laboratory. He informed about my case to the big boss. That boss told my chief of laboratory, "I am not the leader of the regime." However after some time I was called to the assistant director of the regime.

3. My Meeting with the Assistant Director of Regime

The Assistant of Regime office was on the right side of the office of the director of the plant. There were two people, maybe 35-40 years old, military types, with an athletic appearance, without special sign, but in civilian clothes, one of them could be Putin, he worked in Leningrad, KGB. They said, "You have to resign from the plant." I answered, "I won't resign because I am old and can't get a new job." They said, "You have to look for a non secret job in our plant." I looked for it, but nobody hired me for such job. The laboratory's chief negotiated with the regime to leave me for 3 months on my last job.

After 3 months I went to another place in our plant, formerly also a secret job, because the boss of that division had known me for many years.

4. Meeting with the Leader of the Regime's Bureau

At the new job the leader of the regime's bureau called me. His job was not so hard. People told me he played chess all the time. He put stamps on packages if somebody took something out of the plant. When somebody went on a business trip, he put the level of security on his document. Maybe the leader of the guard obeyed him.

He gave me an appointment. All the time he wore civilian clothes. At the time of my appointment he wore the artillery colonel uniform. He was a retired army colonel, an old and heavy person. He told me, "You had to inform first the regime directly. You applied to the assistant to the director of the personnel department. That was not such a big mistake because he worked for the regime before. You could not know that he changed his job, so your mistake was not so big. You had to tell me about all your events."

Nobody had to know about my situation but the Regime's Bureau leader himself reported my case to other people. (That was showing his importance.)

5. How Regime Division and Personnel Department were Included in the Structure of the Science Union "Leninez"

Structure of Management

5.1 Director of the Plant

The Director of the plant had two more important assistants: the Assistant of the Director of the Regime and the Assistant of the Director of the Personnel Department

5.1.1 The Assistant to Director of the Regime

The Assistant to the Director of the Regime controlled all workers, especially, Jews. He controlled the Leaders of the first divisions of the Plant, in small departments of the plant; he also controlled the leaders of the regime's bureau. There were services which saved secret documents and gave them to engineers for their work.

I think the assistant to the director of the regime obeyed not the director of the plant but the leader of the KGB. Often the assistant to the director's regime moved back to the KGB and instead of him another person was assigned to his job.

5.1.2 The Assistant to the Director of the Personnel Department

The Assistant to the Director of the Personnel Department directed the chief of the Personnel departments In each divisions there was a chief of the personnel department. In the small division there was a bureau with a chief of the personnel department. All engineers went through the assistant to the director to the personnel department. They rejected Jews when they wanted to start to work in the plant.

6. My Responsibility on my Job

My new job was to support a mini electronic computer. That system consisted of 4 big cupboards and big equipment for drawing electrical designs and a drawing stand. A job's program of punched tape was introduced into the equipment. The results of the job were punched by perforator and printed on a 'needle' printer. There were 10-15 programmers who created software for the drawings of the electrical design. They programmed in FORTRAN language and debugged the program in the system.

My responsibility on the job was to support the efficiency of the system. (Before that work I worked as programmer for assembly language and created block designs.) There were 30 volumes of technical literature attached to the system. Six liters of spirits were given in exchange for a mini electronic computer. My leaders took 5 liters of spirits for themselves and gave one liter to me. A very small quantity of spirits was used rarely for a mini electronic computer, the other part was stolen. That was the money to pay for the different illegal jobs.

If the system was broken the programmers stopped work. I was guilty. My leader shouted at me. I had a helper, technician. My helper wanted to regulate the system all the time but I always stopped him. (The system was very complicated. If we did not understand it began to regulate it incorrectly the system would not connect itself.)

Only one good person from the programmers could sometimes help me. Before that job he produced electrical designs. I wrote in my special journal all that was disturbing in the system (where there was a defect, I explored how I checked and corrected it). But defects often recurred. That helped me to repair the system.

Once, a magnetic barrel was broken. I could not correct it. The leader called a big specialist for this equipment. (It was not easy to call him). I had to buy him a bottle of cognac as a present.

If some thing were necessary to be done for the computer, I would go to a workshop and give a worker some spirits. If you wanted to do it the legal way, it would to be much more time.

7. Level of Secrecy

At that job I did not use secret documents for many years. My level of security became lower. If you gave documents to OVIR for emigration the commission of the plant saw the level of security. (Levels of secrecy were first, highest, second and third levels). For the rejected Jews to emigrate there was a procedure to give the Jews an especially secret document from the first division, so he was not necessary. (The regime fixed the level of secrecy used that document and could stop your emigration.)

I remember in the former job my laboratory's leader ordered me to become acquainted with very secret documents from another division of our plant (about firing rockets from submarines). I remember also I was once called to the central regime. They told me to sign a paper not to tell anybody about my secret work, and they secretly photographed me (I understood it).

There was also another method. In the last job I was sent on a business trip to obtain details for an electronic computer in of the town Kuznzek (near the Urals). The leader of the Regime's Bureau wrote me a business trip document with the 2nd level of security. I took on the business trip a bottle of spirits, which helped me quickly receive the details. After several days I returned to the plant with the details.

8. Organizer of Trade Union in Division

My situation became stable. My old leader of the laboratory sometimes came to me. I think that he envied me. I had an interesting job. (In his laboratory I did not have an interesting job.)

I was voted the Trade Union Organizer in our division. I activated that job; we observed birthdays of my coworkers. I wrote a verse, etc. We organized meetings on the job for birthdays and holidays. We had enough spirits to drink; that was the tradition.)

There was a strange case; maybe it was connected with the KGB. We celebrated one young woman's birthday. I wrote a song in her honor, "The Russian beauty". After some time I worked on the evening shift. I was alone. That young woman came to me and suggested sex. I refused. Later I knew that she was pregnant. She gave birth to a boy. Our coworker married her, and divorced his wife. He left a 10-year-old daughter.

I think that the upper level leader gave the command; there was an election of a new Trade Union Organizer in the laboratory.

9. New Helper; Artemev
(I think he was an agent of the KGB)

After some time the leader gave me a person 45 years old, Artemev, a member of the party. He was called from the Far East. Maybe he was a retired military person. In Leningrad he received a government two-bedroom apartment. (He was in the commission, which gave him an apartment).

Much of the time he studied the system, and rewrote the designs in another room where the programmers were. He did not help me but made mischief. (I remembered he checked a magnetic cylinder. I made a measurement and asked him to keep one element. He deliberately damaged it. In the laboratory we did not have another element. Fortunately I could take one in from a broken block). Only I answered for the efficiency of the system.

10. I Prepared Myself to Become a Retired Citizen

The time comes to retire. Each pensioner dreamed to receive maximum monthly pension of 120 rubles. That meant that in the last 12 months your average monthly income was no less than 240 rubles. Very often upon retiring one would ask the leader to give him a greater premium. Sometimes he returned it to other workers, so they had an increase in their average monthly income. I thought that I had less than 240 rubles of monthly income. I was nervous and anxious.

11. Factory Accident

At that time the computer center was organized in a special big room. They prepared a special floor. (All cables of the computer have to lay under the floor.) Many workers from our laboratory, but not I, were invited to work there for additional income.

Then they received three new mini-computers and placed them in the room. There was a band of exploitation for those computers.

Once Artemev told me, "It is necessary to carry a big block to the computer room for checking it". My laboratory's leader told me, "Don't do it". But I decided to help Artemev. He went ahead, I went behind the block. There was an obstacle, he sidestepped it, but I fell with the block. It fell on my hands. My hands were wounded. I was removed to a separate room. Alongside there was a doctor. Then she left me. Into my room ran my excited leader of the laboratory and the higher leaders and they shouted, "We could be sent to prison; sign the paper that you had instruction to use only the wagon for moving the block. You helped to receive money for your pension". I signed a paper about my wounded arm. Artemev told me a tête-à-tête, "We used all iodine from the laboratory's medicine chest. You bent the block's cover by your head." After some hours, in the plant's bus I was sent to a hospital, where the doctor sewed my wounded arms. On the left hand I had cut my tendon on two fingers. My wife came to me in the hospital and went home. She told me later, "I saw you with two arms and a head with bandages".

I think that the KGB was a serious organization. It created my psychological profile. They predicted correctly, that I would not refuse to help Artemev.

12. Medications and Retirement

I was frightened. The first time I tried to go to work with bandaged arms. One leader told me that one person worked with a broken shoulder. For the plant it was bad if somebody had a trauma. Another person told me privately to obtain permission not to work; otherwise you lose your benefits. I went for the medical document (bulletin).

I went to municipal trade union advocate, but I understood, he protected only the government interest but not those of the workers.

The first time I went to a clinic, after that I was put into the Hospital, where they operated to sew my tendons in the fingers. The doctors did not operate so well. My two fingers do not bend completely right now. In the Soviet Union a patient in a hospital stays more than one week before an operation and one week after the operation. Then I had rehabilitation time.

At that time Artemev was voted as Trade Union organizer. He called me to say that he wanted to give me a voucher for a rest home if I returned to the job. I refused; I told him that I had to go for further medical procedures.

My division had big trouble because they had a low percent of bonus. The whole division competed for the size of the bonus. If a division had a trauma or tardiness on the job, etc. that division had a lower percent of bonus than other divisions. Our division had a low percent for two quarters (one quarter is three months).

I returned to the plant one month before I became a retired citizen. I had a pension of 113 rubles. My first and last laboratory chiefs left the plant.

13. About Emigration of my Daughter

I stated before that my daughter submitted OVIR documents for emigration in 1979. They did not give her permission to emigrate. At that time the Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan. The relationship between the Soviet Union and the USA became bad. The emigration from the Soviet Union decreased greatly. My daughter with my granddaughter did not emigrate from the Soviet Union until the time of Gorbachev in 1987. She was a refusenik for 7 years.

What does it mean to be a refusenik in the Soviet Union? That is a different big story.