Monday, July 9, 2007

A reader informs us with regard to Edvins Snore's letter

From The Soviet Union: A Biographical Dictionary edited by Archie Brown and published in 1991 by Macmillan (p 154):

"KARPOV, Vladimir Vasil'evich (b. 1922) Little is known of Vladimir Karpov's origins; in 1940 he was arrested for anti-Soviet agitation, and served in a penal battalion after being in the camps. He joined the party in 1943, and in 1944 was awarded the USSR's highest decoration for gallantry, Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war he published a series of novels stories on military themes. He became Chief Editor of the journal Novy Mir in 1981, and resigned in September 1986, when he became First Secretary of the Union of Writers and a candidate member of the Central Committee. He has tried to hold the middle ground in the factional fights that have developed in the Union of Writers since 1986. GSS"

GSS = Gerald S. Smith Professor of Russian at Oxford University and Fellow of New College, Oxford

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From Moscow V.Smirnov makes this comment, on July 16, 2007:

I READ your article about the KGB and SS agreement. This topic was discussed some years ago in Moscow newspapers. The writer Vladimir Karpov whom you also mention wrote about several sensational documents in his book about Stalin. One of these documents was a Stalin secret deal with Hitler in 1942. But the Merkulov signature on this document was different from other Merkulov signatures. The discussion ended thereupon: :-) But Karpov remained popular for some time. Incidentally, he is not twice a Hero of Soviet Union, but only once -- he bought the second star from a widow when he was in CK.

V.Smirnov