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.
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