Isaiah Oggins | |
|---|---|
| Born | Isaiah Oggins July 22, 1898 (1898-07-22) |
| Died | 1947 (1948) (aged 48) |
| Cause of death | Poisoning bycurare |
| Burial place | Penza, USSR (now Russia) (as claimed by USSR) |
| Other names | Cy Oggins, "Professor" |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Known for | Soviet espionage |
| Spouse | Nerma Berman |
| Children | 1 |
| Espionage activity | |
| Allegiance | Soviet Union |
| Agency | GRU orNKVD |
| Service years | 1926–1939 |
| Codename | Egon Hein |
Isaiah Oggins (also known asYsai orCy) (July 22, 1898 – 1947) was an American-borncommunist and spy for theSoviet secret police. After working in Europe and the Far East, Oggins was arrested, served eight years in theGULAG detention system, and wassummarily executed on the orders ofJoseph Stalin.[1][2]
The third of four children, Oggins was born 1898 in the mill town ofWillimantic, Connecticut, the son of Simon Melamdovich (who changed his name to "Oggins" in America) and his wife Rena, both Jewish immigrants from the Abolnikshtetl near Kovno (Kaunas), Lithuania. Oggins's parents arrived in New York in 1888. They had three other children.[1]
Oggins enteredColumbia University in February 1917 under currentJewish quota policies. Classmates included publishersBennet Cerf,Donald Klopfer, andRichard Simon; historianMatthew Josephson; novelistLouis Bromfield, criticKenneth Burke, and authorWilliam Slater Brown. Professors includedJohn Erskine, George Odell, Robert Livingston Schuyler, andCharles A. Beard. After receiving his B.A. in history, he began a doctorate in history while working at history reader there, then in a night school in the New York Public School system.[1][3]
In 1923, Oggins became aCommunist by joining theWorkers Party of America. The same year, he changed jobs to work forYale University Press as a researcher.[1]
As of August 26, 1926, when he applied for his U.S. passport, Oggins had joined the Soviet underground and was readying for his first overseas assignment, probably in Germany and France. In April 1928, his wife Nerma applied for her first U.S. passport. The couple departed from New York on May 5, 1928, for a villa in theZehlendorf district ofBerlin, Germany. They reported toIgnace Reiss. Their job was to maintain a low profile and inhabit their residence, so that other Soviet agents could periodically use it as a safe house for various espionage related activities. To accomplish this mission, Cy and Nerma had to avoid any appearance of being interested in Communist politics; they had to avoid even reading Communist newspapers. FriendSidney Hook spotted Oggins in theGendarmenmarkt, as described in his autobiographyOut of Step (1984). Oggins had to resist the temptation to have meetings with his old friend, although he did not always resist this temptation fully.[4][5]
The Ogginses moved from Berlin to Paris in the spring of 1930. InNeuilly-sur-Seine, they watchedWhite Russians,Trotskyites including Trotsky's Paris-based son,Lev Sedov, and the family of Michael Feodorovich Romanov. After exposure ofl'affaire Switz (1933–1934, involvingRobert Gordon Switz,Lydia Stahl, andArvid Jacobson[6]), the Ogginses left Paris (September 1934) and returned to the States with their young sonRobin (b. 1931). After a brief stint in New York, they left for San Francisco. Leaving his wife and child behind, Cy Oggins set off for China in September 1935, where he served through 1937.[1][2]
InShanghai, Oggins reported to Grace and Manny Granich (brother ofMike Gold). In 1936, he worked inDairen during theManchukuo and traveled toHarbin. He reported to Charles Emile Martin (also known as George Wilmer, Lorenz, Laurenz, Dubois—bornMatus Steinberg ofBelgorod-Dnestrovsky) and wife Elsa Marie Martin (also known as Joanna Wilmer, Lora, Laura). (Martin later served in theRed Orchestra, spying on Nazi Germany.) By October 1937, the Martins and Ogginses fled separately afterChiang Kai-shek attackedManchuria in July.[1]
Oggins rejoined his wife and son in Paris in February 1938, only to leave again in May. Nerma Berman Oggins left Paris with their son in September 1939 and returned to New York.[1] (The State Department believes he was stationed in France in 1937–1938.[2])
On February 20, 1939,[2] the SovietNKVD arrested Oggins at theHotel Moskva and took him to theLubyanka, accusing him of being a traitor. His case received a hearing on January 5, 1940.[2] Ten days later, he received a sentence of eight years.[1]
On the next day, Oggins shipped out toNorillag,[2] where fellow inmates includedJacques Rossi. He became known there as "The Professor". Nerma Berman Oggins requested the U.S. Department of State to investigate her husband's disappearance. On April 15, 1942, the US Department of State indicated to the US embassy in Moscow "It is possible that he [Oggins] has been acting for years as an agent of a foreign power or of an international revolutionary organization. Nevertheless it is believed that in view of his American citizenship and of the Soviet agreement in 1933 to inform this Government of the arrest of American citizens, the failure to report his detention should not be ignored."[2] On June 30, 1942, US Secretary of StateCordell Hull had the following telegram sent to the US ambassador in Moscow:
Washington, June 30, 1942—11 p.m.
327. Your 538, June 16, 1 p.m. Please take up this case informally with the Soviet authorities and since Oggins is an American citizen request permission for an American Foreign Service Officer to visit him as provided for in the 1933 agreement, or that Oggins be allowed to appear at the Embassy.
Without at this time giving emphasis to the failure of the Soviet authorities, from the standpoint of commitments of the Soviet Government, to notify the Embassy of Oggins’ arrest, you may, however, express some surprise at such failure and may mention that your Government hopes that steps will be taken to prevent failures of a similar nature from taking place in the future.
The Department is concerned as to the disposition made of Oggins’ passport.[2]
On December 8, 1942, Oggins received visits from American diplomats at theButyrka prison in Moscow. By May 1943, the Soviets reneged on his release.[1]
During his time in the GULAG, Oggins's wife and son pled with US SecretaryGeorge C. Marshall to help gain his release.[7]
In May 1947, it was decided to murder Oggins because the Soviets feared that if the spy were repatriated to the United States, as the US government had requested, he would defect and reveal Soviet secrets. By mid-summer, Oggins was taken toLaboratory Number One (the "Kamera"), whereGrigory Mairanovsky injected him with the poisoncurare, which takes 10–15 minutes to kill.[1] A death certificate claimed Oggins had died of "sclerosis" and had received burial in a Jewish cemetery inPenza.[7]
AnFBI investigation into the Oggins affair commenced in March 1943. After the defection ofIgor Gouzenko, the name "Oggins" arose again in 1945–1946.[1]
On February 10, 1949, FBI investigators questionedEsther Shemitz, wife ofWhittaker Chambers, about the Ogginses, as Esther Chambers and Nerma Oggins had both attended theRand School and had worked at theILGWU andThe World Tomorrow magazine.[1]
In early 1992, the U.S. and Russia formed theU.S.–Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs. Overseeing the investigation wasDmitri Volkogonov. On September 23, 1992,Boris Yeltsin handed an Oggins case dossier to American diplomatMalcolm Toon: Oggins had been liquidated on Stalin's orders.[1][8][9][10][11]
In 2008, Andrew Meier, formerly Moscow bureau chief forTIME magazine, published a biography of Oggins calledThe Lost Spy. The book resulted from a decade of investigative research into the mysterious circumstances of Oggins's imprisonment and death. It included documentation from Soviet, American, and Swiss archives[7][12][13][14][15]
Oggins's son has continued to ask for information about his father's death from Soviet successor agencies like the RussianFederal Security Service (generally known by its Russian acronym "FSB").[7]
On April 23, 1924, he married Nerma Berman (1898–1995), aRand School student andCommunist activist, born in theSkapiskis shtetl (also near Kovno).[2] She became secretary of the New York division of the National Defense Committee of the Rand School for Red Scare victimsScott Nearing and other professors.[1]
The Oggins had one son, Robin, born 1931.[1][2]
Nerma Berman Oggins drifted from job to job and lived in theNew York City area. She retired in 1965 and lived for a time in theLower East Side at theHenry Street Settlement. She later moved toVestal, New York to be near her son. She died in Vestal on January 27, 1995.[1]
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