Dzerzhinsky's Polish comrade, a Cheka founding pillar who defied Yagoda's fabrications
On 26 September 1926, an 18-year-old unemployed youth from Kharkov, Anatoly Truba, walked into Messing's office at the Leningrad OGPU and opened fire with a revolver. Messing ducked under his desk and survived; Truba was shot soon after.
Born into a Jewish musician's family in Warsaw, he joined the Social Democracy of Poland in 1908, earning the trust of Felix Dzerzhinsky and Józef Unszlicht. He rose to chairman of the Moscow Cheka (1921) and head of the Petrograd–Leningrad Cheka-OGPU (1921–1929). In 1929 he became 2nd Deputy Chairman of the OGPU and chief of its Foreign Department (INO), leading Soviet intelligence between Mikhail Trilisser and Artur Artuzov. He openly opposed Genrikh Yagoda's fabricated 'Vesna' case and was dismissed in 1931, pushed into economic diplomacy and shot in 1937 on charges of Polish espionage.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1908Joins SDKPiL; imprisoned at Warsaw Fortress, exiled to Belgium
- 1913–1917Drafted into Imperial Army; Turkestan & Caucasus Front; regimental soldiers' committee
- 1917–1918Secretary of Sokolniki Executive Committee; chairman of district Cheka
- 1918–1920Head of secret-operational dept., Moscow Cheka → VChK Collegium → Deputy Chair, Moscow Cheka
- 1921.1–1921.11Chairman of Moscow Cheka
- 1921–1929Chairman of Petrograd/Leningrad Cheka-GPU-OGPU; commander, GPU troops, Petrograd Military District
- 1926Survives assassination attempt in office; awarded Order of the Red Banner
- 1929–19312nd Deputy Chairman of OGPU USSR; chief of INO (foreign intelligence)
- 1930–1934Member, Central Control Commission of VKP(b)
- 1931Opposes fabricated 'Vesna' case; dismissed from OGPU; transferred to People's Commissariat of Foreign Trade
- 1931–1937Chairman, All-Union Chamber of Commerce; head of Soviet-Mongolian-Tuvan trade bodies
- 1937Arrested 15 June; shot 2 September on charges of Polish espionage
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarSoldier in the Imperial Russian ArmyDrafted into the Imperial Russian Army, he served on the Turkestan and Caucasus fronts from 1913 to 1917.
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionCheka secret operations department headBegan in the Moscow Cheka in 1918, became its chairman in 1920 and led the secret operations department.
- 1937–1938The Great PurgeSecurity veteran targetedA former senior Cheka and OGPU officer later shifted to foreign trade, he was executed in 1937 as an alleged Polish spy.
Head of the INO and the Reorganization of Foreign Intelligence (1929–1931)
On 27 October 1929 Messing, already 2nd Deputy Chairman of the OGPU, took over the Foreign Department (INO) from Mikhail Trilisser and directed Soviet foreign intelligence until 31 July 1931. Unlike his predecessor he carried through an internal reorganization: the former chancery abroad and the foreign registry were replaced by eight departments, respectively for illegal intelligence (1st), entry and exit questions (2nd), intelligence in the United States and the main European countries (3rd), intelligence in Finland and the Baltic states (4th), intelligence on White emigres (5th), intelligence in the countries of the East (6th), economic intelligence (7th) and scientific-technical intelligence (8th).
His staff grew as well. By 1930 the central INO apparatus numbered 122 people, roughly half of them working abroad, and priorities were restated in this period: Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Romania and Japan were designated as the main targets, while uncovering interventionist plans, identifying schemes for an economic blockade of the USSR, obtaining documents on secret military and political agreements, and procuring technical material that could not be acquired by ordinary means were set as new strategic tasks.
Personnel was another turning point of his tenure. On 1 January 1930 Artur Artuzov was appointed deputy head of the INO, where he strengthened the illegal-intelligence side, with Aleksandr Slutsky and M. S. Rozman serving as Messing's assistants. At the same time Messing held the office of 2nd Deputy Chairman of the OGPU, placing him in the leadership of the whole apparatus and not only of foreign intelligence. Contemporary observations that the composition of the intelligence service and the running of its residencies abroad changed markedly after Trilisser's departure refer to this reorganization.