Dirva = Field. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1915-current, 1948-05-07
(Reprint from Newsletter From
Behind the Iron Curtain)

AAiAiN IllC 1ICH CuI LdllI)
A.. A. Zhdanov, the leader of the
Comlnform, is reported to have said
on meeting of Communist agita-
tors: America is sitting on heap
OF gold, holding the atomic bomb in
her lap and imagining that she
rules the world. Our power is our
living word and in three years we
shall have conquered the world even
without the help of any atomic
bomb"
Some aspects of "world conquest
without the atomic bomb" are re-
vealed by the following story of
Latvian policeman, whose identity
is known to us and also to the au-
thorities in an Allied zone in Ger
many, though we are unable to
publish it owing to the very real
danger the man may be running at
the hands of the MVD.
This Latvian had been a police
man in independent Latvia and es-
capped deportation to the Soviet
Union when that power occupied
his country by never staying long
in one place and finally by hiding
in the woods. Under the German
occupation he had done manual la
Dor until the Germans deported
him to Czechoslovakia in 1914, where
he had to work in a munition fac
tory. When the Russians overran
the country in the spring of 1916,
they issued severe regulations that
all the displaced persons were to
hn n{r,., 10 6
their origin. Knowing what was
awaiting him in Latvia, our police
man did his best to hide from the
Russians and was helped therein
by his Czech friends who knew his
anti-Nazi attitude and helped him
to get work under an assumed name.
| Nevertheless, in the spring of
1916 he was arrested by the Rus
slams, very probably as result, of
a denunciation, and brought before
the MVD. The man had no illus ons
as to his future, knowing full well
what to expect of the MVD after
his experiences and observations in
Latvia in 194O-41. His astonish-
ment was boundless when an inter-
rogating officer received him in the
| IL lCIIullCSC lHdlillCl, IHduC MIN SlG Ill
an armchair and offered cigarettes,
coffee and liqueurs. However the
officer did not beat about the bush
for long; he told our Latvian that
his past was well-known to the
authorities, that at best he could
hope for a sentence of Is years
forced labor, but that the MVD was
very short of agents among the
Baltic nationals and that his crimes
would be pardoned if he undertook
to become an agent. Our Latvian
refused Thereupon the manner of
the MVD officer changed abruptly,
he produced a revolver and shouted,
! pointing it at our man: "Should
you ignore it, let me tell you that
there is only one way in which you
can get out of this house and this
way is by doing what we want
Under these circumstances our
man had no choice but to repent
and to agree. The MVD officer
added: "And remember, if you play
US false, bullet will reach you
everywhere. We have special hang
men for the execution OF deserters. .
Being a policeman, our Latvian
was considered sufficiently trained
by profession for his future duties
and was detained at the MVD head
quarters only three days receiving
instruction. According to him the
Russians had rounded up thousands
of people of all nationalities, in
cluding women, in Czechoslovakia
in 1945 and 1916 to serve as agents
Those who were regarded in need
of training were sent off to special
schools in Galicia.
The instructions our friend re-
ceived were based on the assump-
ton that the Western Allies could
be influenced to start hunt fo,