The man with the poison gun
Subtitle: a Cold War spy story
By: Serhii Plokhy
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 367
ISBN-13: 9780465035908
Subjects: Politics and government; Soviet Espionage; Assassination; Political refugees; Spies; Ukrainians; Poisoning; History; Biography; Political crimes and offenses
Description: "In the fall of 1961, a KGB agent defected to West Germany. The slim 30-year-old man in police custody had papers in the name of an East German, Josef Lehmann, but claimed that his real name was Bogdan Stashinsky, and he was a citizen of the Soviet Union. On the orders of his KGB bosses, he had traveled on numerous occasions to Munich, where he singlehandedly tracked down and killed two enemies of the communist regime. He used a new, specially designed secret weapon--a spray pistol delivering liquid poison that, if fired into the victim's face, killed him without leaving any trace. Wracked by a guilty conscience, Stashinsky escaped with his wife under the tragic cover of their infant son's funeral, and crossed into West Berlin just hours before the Berlin Wall was erected. In 1962, after spilling his secrets to the CIA, Stashinky was put on trial in what would be the most publicized assassination case in Cold War history. Stashinsky's testimony, implicating the Kremlin rulers in political assassinations carried out abroad, shook the world of international politics. The publicity stirred up by the Stashinsky case forced the KGB to change its modus operandi abroad and helped end the career of one of the most ambitious and dangerous Soviet leaders, the former head of the KGB and Leonid Brezhnev's rival, Aleksandr Shelepin. In West Germany, the Stashinsky trial changed the way in which Nazi criminals were prosecuted. Using the Stashinsky case as a precedent, many defendants in such cases claimed, as had the Soviet spy, that they were simply accessories to murder, while their superiors, who ordered the killings, were the main perpetrators."--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. KGB man; title: Stalin's call; title: Master killer; title: Secret agent; title: Parachutist; title: Streets of Munich; title: Wonder weapon; title: Greetings from Moscow; title: Part II. Perfect murder; title: Red Square; title: Herr Popel; title: Dead on arrival; title: Funeral; title: CIA telegram; title: Upswing; title: Prime suspect; title: Active measures; title: Part III. Moscow nights; title: High hopes; title: Man at the top; title: Private matter; title: Award; title: Proposal; title: Introducing the bride; title: Month of the spy; title: Going in circles; title: Part IV. Escape from paradise; title: Moscow bugs; title: Family; title: Change of plans; title: New year; title: Back to school; title: Telephone call; title: Berlin; title: Down to the wire; title: Part V. Publicity bomb; title: Shock wave; title: Defector; title: Investigation; title: Press conference; title: High politics; title: Congressman; title: Part VI. Trial; title: Karlsruhe; title: Loyalty and betrayal; title: First murder; title: Big day; title: Doubt; title: Prosecution; title: Devil's advocates; title: Verdict; title: Part VII. Departed; title: Unanswered letter; title: Guest from Washington; title: Judex; title: Vanished; title: Kremlin ghost; title: On the run; title: Homecoming.