Soviet Adolph Strizhko

[Chuck In Oregon]

That's Adolph Strizhko there, on the right in the first picture, and all alone in the second, wearing his nice new white uniform. There are dates on the backs of the photos, 12/XI/25 and 22/X/1937, respectively. I can't identify the badge he's wearing in the first picture, but it doesn't look much like the one I'll show you in just a minute.

[Chuck In Oregon]

Here is the earliest of his records that I own, dated 1923.

Edited March 24, 2006 by Chuck In Oregon

[Chuck In Oregon]

And here are pages one and two of his 4-page service record, through 1925 at least.

[Chuck In Oregon]

And here are pages three and four. Yes, I know that page three is blank. I have included it because there are some very peculiar collectors here -- I am loathe to mention any names -- who like to see every page of a previously unknown, or at least unviewed, type of document.

[Chuck In Oregon]

And document number 3, from 1933.

[Chuck In Oregon]

And document number four of this modest group. I believe this is an award document for over-realizing his quota of ... I may not want to know. This was right after the worst years of The Terror and it is dated in ink at the bottom, 14/IV/40. Note that this is an NKVD document signed by the Transport Procurator himself, "in the name of L. P. Beria".

[Chuck In Oregon]

And here's the star of this thread, Strizhko's Cheka Transport Department badge. You can see it referred to by number at the top of page two of his 1925 service record in post #3, with the date of 25/III/25. This is one well-documented badge.

FWIW, I believe this badge may be uncatalogued and unknown in the west.

Enjoy.

Chuck

Edited March 24, 2006 by Chuck In Oregon

[Chuck In Oregon]

As I was putting this group away, I discovered that I hadn't shared an aspect of it that interests me. Here is the cover of his 1925 service record as it appears when it is folded and ready to be filed in a drawer somewhere.

At the top is a large place for his work and facial characteristics, as best as I can translate it. It's blank.

Below is a space for his Chekist Specialty, which is "Representative (of) KRO DTChK". This guy was in the NKVD Transport Department for a long time. Does anyone know what the KRO stands for?

OK, now I'm done with this one. No, really.

Chuck

[Gerd Becker]

OK, now I'm done with this one. No, really.

Chuck

I hope, not!

Great stuff, Chuck. Also the groups, you posted in the other thread

Please go ahead...

Gerd

[Vadim K]

Great group, Chuck!

At the top is a large place for his work and facial characteristics, as best as I can translate it.

"Lichnaya" is "personal"

Below is a space for his Chekist Specialty, which is "Representative (of) KRO DTChK". This guy was in the NKVD Transport Department for a long time. Does anyone know what the KRO stands for?

KRO is a "kontr-razvedochniy otdel" - counter-intelligence.

[Chuck In Oregon]

Great group, Chuck!

"Lichnaya" is "personal"

KRO is a "kontr-razvedochniy otdel" - counter-intelligence.

* * * * *

Thank you, Vadim. I see that I made another of my dumb translation mistakes. Thanks for teaching me a new word. Now that you mention it, I vaguely recall being told that "personal" is also included in that root word group, but I couldn't dredge it up when I needed it.

Also, I found out that the word for "representative" can also mean "agent of". So I guess that would make Adolph an "Agent of Cheka Transportation Department Counter-Intelligence". Is that about how you translate it?

Again, thank you.

Chuck

[Vadim K]

Also, I found out that the word for "representative" can also mean "agent of". So I guess that would make Adolph an "Agent of Cheka Transportation Department Counter-Intelligence". Is that about how you translate it?

Something like that, an agent or an operative.

The top part of the same page lists his disciplinary actions and its a hoot. If you can post a close-up I can tell all the details, but it looks like our Comrade Adolph was arrested twice in 1922, one 5-day arrest for "excessive force" (which for a Chekist in 1922 Georgia probably meant gunning down about 30 people without any reason) and another 5-day arrest for "breaking a rifle rack". He was also "severely reprimanded" for "inappropriate use of a government seal".

Edited March 27, 2006 by Vadim K

[Chuck In Oregon]

Something like that, an agent or an operative.

The top part of the same page lists his disciplinary actions and its a hoot. If you can post a close-up I can tell all the details, but it looks like our Comrade Adolph was arrested twice in 1922, one 5-day arrest for "excessive force" (which for a Chekist in 1922 Georgia probably meant gunning down about 30 people without any reason) and another 5-day arrest for "breaking a rifle rack". He was also "severely reprimanded" for "inappropriate use of a government seal".

Thanks again, Vadim. This is getting really interesting. Let me know if this image is enough for you to tell us all about our friend.

This is the kind of guy -- perhaps was one of the guys -- who murdered all those demonstrators in Tbilisi in 1923. I also have a (probably) locally-commissioned, attributed badge dated 1922 (if memory serves) for a Georgian "Chekist Activist". I doubt that you got one of those for perfect attendance.

And now history is repeating itself in Belarus, Khazakstan and Azerbaijan, to name just a few.

Chuck