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The man with the poison gun : a Cold War spy story / Serhii Plokhy.
Author
Plokhy, Serhii, 1957-
[Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/Created
New York : Basic Books, [2016]
©2016
Description
xiii, 367 pages : maps ; 25 cm
Availability
Copies in the Library
Location
Call Number
Status
Location Service
Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks
DK266.3 .P463 2016
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Details
Subject(s)
Stashynsʹkyĭ, Bohdan 1931-
[Browse]
Bandera, Stepan 1909-1959
—
Assassination
[Browse]
Rebet, Lev 1912-1957
—
Assassination
[Browse]
Spies
—
Soviet Union
—
Biography
[Browse]
Espionage, Soviet
—
Germany
—
History
[Browse]
Political refugees
—
Germany (West)
—
Biography
[Browse]
Ukrainians
—
Germany
—
Biography
[Browse]
Poisoning
—
Germany
—
History
—
20th century
[Browse]
Political crimes and offenses
—
Germany
—
History
—
20th century
[Browse]
Ukraine
—
Politics and government
—
1945-1991
[Browse]
Summary note
"In the fall of 1961, a KGB agent defected to West Germany. The slim 30-year-old man in police custody had papers in the name of an East German, Josef Lehmann, but claimed that his real name was Bogdan Stashinsky, and he was a citizen of the Soviet Union. On the orders of his KGB bosses, he had traveled on numerous occasions to Munich, where he singlehandedly tracked down and killed two enemies of the communist regime. He used a new, specially designed secret weapon--a spray pistol delivering liquid poison that, if fired into the victim's face, killed him without leaving any trace. Wracked by a guilty conscience, Stashinsky escaped with his wife under the tragic cover of their infant son's funeral, and crossed into West Berlin just hours before the Berlin Wall was erected. In 1962, after spilling his secrets to the CIA, Stashinsky was put on trial in what would be the most publicized assassination case in Cold War history. Stashinsky's testimony, implicating the Kremlin rulers in political assassinations carried out abroad, shook the world of international politics. The publicity stirred up by the Stashinsky case forced the KGB to change its modus operandi abroad and helped end the career of one of the most ambitious and dangerous Soviet leaders, the former head of the KGB and Leonid Brezhnev's rival, Aleksandr Shelepin. In West Germany, the Stashinsky trial changed the way in which Nazi criminals were prosecuted. Using the Stashinsky case as a precedent, many defendants in such cases claimed, as had the Soviet spy, that they were simply accessories to murder, while their superiors, who ordered the killings, were the main perpetrators."--Provided by publisher.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-354) and index.
Contents
Part I. KGB man
Stalin's call
Master killer
Secret agent
Parachutist
Streets of Munich
Wonder weapon
Greetings from Moscow
Part II. Perfect murder
Red Square
Herr Popel
Dead on arrival
Funeral
CIA telegram
Upswing
Prime suspect
Active measures
Part III. Moscow nights
High hopes
Man at the top
Private matter
Award
Proposal
Introducing the bride
Month of the spy
Going in circles
Part IV. Escape from paradise
Moscow bugs
Family
Change of plans
New year
Back to school
Telephone call
Berlin
Down to the wire
Part V. Publicity bomb
Shock wave
Defector
Investigation
Press conference
High politics
Congressman
Part VI. Trial
Karlsruhe
Loyalty and betrayal
First murder
Big day
Doubt
Prosecution
Devil's advocates
Verdict
Part VII. Departed
Unanswered letter
Guest from Washington
Judex
Vanished
Kremlin ghost
On the run
Homecoming.
Show 56 more Contents items
ISBN
9780465035908 ((hardcover))
0465035906 ((hardcover))
LCCN
2016019612
OCLC
945232319
Statement on language in description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage.
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