KGB general Naum isakovich Eitingon (1899–1981)

Abstract

Throughout their long and brutal existence, the Soviet intelligence and security services produced numerous shadwy figures whose work accorded those services a unique effectiveness. This article lifts the veil of secrecy from one of the most ruthless and merciless of those figures, N. I. Eitingen. During his over 30‐year career as a security operative, Eitingen's was involved in a virtual catalogue of the security and intelligence services’ most infamous exploits spanning the globe from Mexico to China. In peacetime he was instrumental in Soviet espionage activities in China, the US, and Western Europe and in the assassination of Stalin's arch enemy Leon Trotsky. During wartime Eitingen was instrumental in the formation of reconnaissance and diversionary forces, the forerunners of the infamous post‐war Spetsnaz. Fittingly, after war's end, Eitingen fell victim to the very security organs he so ruthlessly and efficiently served.