I Was An NKVD Agent: A Top Soviet Spy Tells His Story

by Anatoli Granovsky

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

374 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2010

Reviews

[Willa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read. Anatoli Granovsky was the son of a high-ranking Soviet bureaucrat who was killed in Stalin's purges when the author was just a boy and how his standard of living changed. He ended up as an NKVD agent and eventually defected to Sweden in 1946. He moved to the United States and died in 1974 at the age of 52 (according to Wikipedia and we know how that goes). Obviously ghost written (the man spoke no English before he came to the U.S.), it is extremely well written. I read it with these thoughts: (1) Does it feel true? (2) Could this man have been still working for the Soviets and his defection a ruse?

My answer to these questions is (1) yes, it felt "truish" but I got the impression a lot was left out; and (2) maybe but probably not.

I also wonder, did he really die in 1974 as Wikipedia says or was he given a new identity? Or, was he found to still be working for the Soviets and was quietly disappeared?

Anyway, the book is a great read with not one boring moment. It's a definite keeper and I don't keep many books anymore unless they're great. There's lots of history here and many many names are dropped which could lead the reader to do further investigation. I'm sure there were many atrocities he committed that he didn't speak about, but there's just enough to know that he had to do some horrible things in his job.

If you want to know what it's like to live a lie, to live under Communism, to live in Stalin's Russia, this book will give you a feeling of the constriction and what it does to you, what it kills in you, as a person.

Do I think he really died only a few years after he came to the U.S.? Absolutely not. I can only hope he lived a long and happy life, filled with every good thing that was missing in his life before.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book on my shelf for many years and finally got to reading it. The book was written by Anatoli Granovsky himself and published in 1962; it is well-worn, so it probably has passed through many hands. Anatoli, like many Russians before, during, and after World War II, went through many regime changes and hardships before his father was arrested as an enemy, which was done to many citizens just to further the harsh rulers ambitions. Anatoli tried to find out what happened to his father and was himself arrested. While in prison, he was asked to become a spy for the Soviets. He accepted mainly for survival and not because he was a faithful communist. As time went by, he became more and more disillusioned with his government. So, he worked espinonage for years to survive, with the main aim to facilitate his escape. Horrible and unfair things were done by the Soviets to their own citizens -- property was taken, titles were taken, they were imprisoned and tortured and many were executed.
Anatoli met a few interesting characters, he fell in love with a woman spy, but he did not really have any close friends. The book ends abruptly when he states he is in America.

[Toomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, that keeps the reader really attached. Of course I have no idea how much has been left out or is not accurate. But it is a very good read!

[Karen Kimball · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be in EVERY school in America!