Revolutionary who went from Left SR leader to architect of Soviet chemical warfare
In July 1918, Left SR Central Committee member Fishman personally manufactured the two bombs used to assassinate German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach and handed them to his comrades.
An SR militant who escaped Siberian exile to study explosives and poison-gas chemistry at the University of Naples, Fishman returned in 1917, became a Left SR Central Committee member, and personally manufactured the bombs for the 1918 assassination of German ambassador Mirbach. After joining the Bolsheviks in 1920, he was appointed the first head of the Red Army's Military-Chemical Directorate (VOKhIMU) in 1925, laying the foundations of the Soviet chemical and biological weapons program; his 1928 report to Voroshilov argued for the offensive use of bacteriological warfare. Arrested in 1937 and sentenced to ten years, he developed a new gas mask model at the NKVD Special Technical Bureau; he was rehabilitated in 1955 with the rank of major general of technical troops.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1904Joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party
- 1905Petrograd Soviet deputy; led Okhta Powder Factory combat druzhina
- 1917Left SR Central Committee member; took part in the October Revolution
- 1918Left SR combat druzhina chief; manufactured bombs for Mirbach assassination
- 1921–1925Red Army intelligence officer; military attaché in Italy and Germany
- 1925–1937Head of Red Army VOKhIMU; director of Institute of Chemical Defence
- 1937–1947Arrested, 10-year sentence; developed gas mask at NKVD Special Technical Bureau
- 1955Rehabilitated; promoted to major general of technical troops
Related historical events
- 1905–1907The Revolution of 1905Commander of the Okhta Powder Factory combat unitHe led the Okhta Powder Factory combat unit in 1905.
- 1917.10–1918.01The October RevolutionParticipant in the October RevolutionAs a Left SR Central Committee member, he took part in the October Revolution.
- 1937–1938The Great PurgeArrested during the Great PurgeHe was arrested in 1937 and sentenced to ten years.
The Military-Chemical Directorate and the organization of biological-warfare research
When the Red Army established its Military Chemical Agency in 1925, Fishman became its first director. He set up a small biological-warfare laboratory in Moscow and placed Nikolay Ginsburg in charge. In 1928 Fishman submitted a four-part progress report to Kliment Voroshilov, the people’s commissar for military and naval affairs. It covered Ginsburg’s research, possible use of bacteria in warfare and sabotage, including delivery in artillery shells and bombs, a plan for organizing military biology, and defenses against biological attack. That year the Revolutionary Military Council ordered the creation of both offensive and defensive biological-warfare programs under the Military Chemical Agency in a secret decree. Researchers differ, however, over how the decree was implemented.
Work described through Fishman’s report included Ginsburg’s attempts to enhance the properties of anthrax spores. The researchers considered inducing mutations in pathogens with chemicals or irradiation, then selecting and propagating variants with greater infectivity, virulence, or hardiness. The report also described animal experiments and dispersal by aerosols and explosives. The laboratory’s inquiries extended to whether cholera and plague bacteria could be useful for biological warfare. Fishman built an administrative base for military research and also organized public preparedness for chemical attack. He helped establish and promote OSOAVIAKhIM, which conducted contamination-avoidance drills and taught citizens decontamination procedures.