The Kremlin cardiologist whose letter about Zhdanov's ECG became the seed of the Doctors' Plot
When Kremlin doctors dismissed her infarction diagnosis with 'They believe me, not some sort of Timashuk,' she wrote to higher authorities, and four years later that letter became the seed of the Doctors' Plot.
A Kremlin cardiologist since 1926, Timashuk read Andrei Zhdanov's ECG on 28 August 1948 and diagnosed a myocardial infarction, a finding that senior Kremlin doctors dismissed. She sent three letters of protest to the party and the MGB; four years later these letters were retrieved from the archive and became the evidentiary seed of the fabricated Doctors' Plot of 1953. Awarded the Order of Lenin in January 1953 'for unmasking killer doctors,' she was stripped of it that April after Stalin's death, and Khrushchev's Secret Speech later named her, fixing her public image as an informer.
Career Timeline
- 1898Born in Brest-Litovsk, daughter of a junior NCO
- 1920Mobilised to fight typhus and cholera epidemics while at Samara medical school
- 1926Graduated from 1st Moscow University medical faculty; began work at Kremlin hospital (Lechsanupre)
- 1943–1953Secret informant for the NKVD-MGB
- 1948.8As head of functional diagnostics, diagnosed Zhdanov with MI and sent letters of protest to higher authorities
- 1953.1Awarded Order of Lenin 'for unmasking killer doctors'; became a national hero
- 1953.4Stripped of Order of Lenin after Stalin's death; awarded Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1954
- 1964Retired from the Kremlin hospital; petitioned for rehabilitation until her death