The accused Nathan Lurye is examined.
He arrived in the U.S.S.R. from Berlin on the special mission of the Trotskyite organization for the purpose of committing terroristic acts. All his Trotskyite activities from 1927 onwards were directed towards sapping the power of the Soviet state.
Vyshinsky: With whom did you first become intimate when you became a Trotskyite?
N. Lurye: With Moissei Lurye.
Vyshinsky: When did you become intimate with him?
N. Lurye: At the end of the summer of 1927.
Vyshinsky: When did your terroristic disposition, intentions, terroristic plans originate?
N. Lurye: The training the Trotskyite organization gave me during all those years which I spent in that organization in Germany in the long run reduced itself to rousing hatred towards Stalin and the leadership of the C.P.S.U. In the beginning of 1932 Moissei Lurye said to me that it was time to go to the U.S.S.R. and carry on terroristic work there. This his instruction did not come as a surprise to me. It logically followed from all the preceding work. I arrived in the U.S.S.R. in April 1932 with the instruction to establish connections with the Trotskyites I had known in Germany and to carry on terroristic work together with them.
N. Lurye began by establishing connections with the Trotskyites in Moscow, first of all with those whom he had known in Germany: Konstant and Lipschitz.
N. Lurye: I told Konstant about the terroristic instructions I had received from the Trotskyite organization through Moissei Lurye. Konstant told me it was not news to him. They, too, had terroristic instructions and had even taken practical steps to carry them out. He told me that they had a terrorist group to which Konstant and Lipschitz, and also a German engineer-architect, Franz Weitz, belonged.
Vyshinsky: Who is Franz Weitz?
N. Lurye: Franz Weitz was a member of the National-Socialist Party of Germany. He arrived in the U.S.S.R. on the instructions of Himmler who at that time was chief of the S.S. and subsequently became chief of the Gestapo.
Vyshinsky: Franz Weitz was his representative?
N. Lurye: Franz Weitz arrived in the U.S.S.R. on the instructions of Himmler for the purpose of committing terroristic acts.
Vyshinsky: Where did you learn this?
N. Lurye: The first one to tell me about it was Konstant, but later on Franz Weitz himself told me.
The fact that a direct agent of the German political police stood at the head of the terrorist group did not in the least disturb N. Lurye and his Trotskyite associates.
"I arrived at the conclusion," said N. Lurye, "that since the Trotskyites had adopted the method of fighting with arms this had its logic, that is to say, that if a fascist offered his services for the purposes of terrorism, those services should be made use of. I continued my connections with Franz Weitz and worked under his practical guidance."
In August 1932 Franz Weitz informed N. Lurye that there was a possibility of making an attempt on the life of the People's Commissar of Defence of the U.S.S.R., Comrade Voroshilov. The terrorist group received instructions from the fascist secret service agent to proceed to action. For a long period of time N. Lurye's group was engaged in preparing the attempt on the life of Comrade Voroshilov.
President of the Court: When you were engaged in preparing the attempt on the life of Comrade Voroshilov you for a long time watched the coming and going of Comrade Voroshilov's automobile?How long were you engaged in preparing for the attempt on the life of Corade Voroshilov?
N. Lurye: We were engaged in it from September 1932 to the spring of 1933.
President of the Court: Juding by your testimony you frequently went to Frunze Street and to the adjacent streets, armed with revolvers?
N. Lurye: Yes.
President of the Court: All three of you were armed?
N. Lurye: Yes.
President of the Court: So that you would have committed the terroristic act had a favourable moment offered itself? Why did you not succeed in doing so?
N. Lurye: We saw Voroshilov's car going down Frunze Street. it was travelling too fast. It was hopeless firing at the fast running car. We decided that it was useless.
President of the Court: You managed to see Comrade Voroshilov's car?
N. Lurye; I saw it and so did the second member of the group, Paul Lipschitz.
President of the Court: Did you cease watching Comrade Voroshilov's car?
N. Lurye: Yes.
President of the Court: For what reasons?
N. Lurye: Because we became convinced that it was useless shooting with a revolver.
President of the Court: What did you turn your attention to after that?
N. Lurye: To the acquisition of explosives.
President of the Court: What kind of terroristic act did you intend to commit?
N. Lurye: A terroristic act with a bomb.
President of the Court: You said that you turned your attention to the acquisition of explosives for the purpose of committing a terroristic act. Against whom?
N. Lurye: Against Voroshilov.
President of the Court: In the street, or on some premises?
N. Lurye: In the street.
In July 1933 N. Lurye was sent to Chelyabinsk to work in the capacity of a surgeon (his speciality).
In Chelyabinsk N. Lurye did not cease terroristic activities and did not abandon his terroristic designs. N. Lurye testifies before the Court that knowing that Comrades Kaganovich and Orjonikidze were coming to Chelyabinsk, he tried to meet them at the works and commit a terroristic act against them. He failed to carry out his intention.
In January 1936 N. Lurye left Chelyabinsk for Leningrad on a scientific mission. Passing through Moscow, he met Moissei Lurye, who gave him instructions to make an attempt on the life of
Comrade Zhdanov.
president of the Court: What instructions on terrorism did Moissei Lurye give you in 1934, 1935 and 1936?
N. Lurye; I told him that I intended to make attempts on the lives of Orjonikidze and Kaganovich, but later, in January 1936, he instructed me to shoot Zhdanov at the First of May demonstration in Leningrad.
President of the Court: You regarded Moissei Lurye as your leader since you accepted such instructions?
N Lurye: Yes.
President of the Court: When you left for Leningrad, did you undertake to carry out M. Lurye's instructions?
N. Lurye: I knew that I would take part in the First of May demonstration, and that if it were possible I would try to carry out these instructions.
President of the Court: Did you take part in the demonstration?
N. Lurye: Yes.
President of the Court: Were you armed?
N. Lurye: Yes, with a revolver.
President of the Court: Where did you obtain the weapon this year?
N. Lurye: The weapon remained in Konstant's keeping.
President of the Court: When did you take that weapon?
N. Lurye: In March 1936.
President of the Court: What type of revolver was it?
N. Lurye: A Browning.
President of the Court: What size? Medium?
N. Lurye: Yes.
President of the Court: Did you succeed in getting into the demonstration to the Uritzky Square?
N. Lurye: Yes.
President of the Court: Why did you fail to carry out the attempt on the life of Zhdanov?
N. Lurye: We marched by, too far a way.