[2.10. No documents about the last stays of the
Agro-Joint members 1938-1945]
The final chapter of the Russian story is hidden in a dense
mist of confusion and uncertainty. No documents relating to
the fate of the Russian members of the Agro-Joint board have
survived. Not a single central figure in Agro-Joint work seems
to have reappeared after the war and Stalin's death. We know
that Lubarsky, Grower, and Zaichik were arrested, were shipped
to camps or prisons, and disappeared without a trace. Their
fate was shared by hundreds of agronomists and Agro-Joint
officials. As to the reasons, we can but guess.
Millions of Russians suffered for crimes they did not commit;
one of the recurrent accusations was that of contacts with
capitalist countries. Members of the Agro-Joint had quite
eagerly and openly participated in the activities of a foreign
capitalist organization in Russia, and apparently they paid
the price.
In a personal letter to Rosenberg and Baerwald dated December
11, 1937, Rosen provided an insight of sorts into this
process. Three members of the Agro-Joint bureau in Moscow -
among them Dr. Grower - had just been arrested. Rosen
connected their arrest with the earlier arrest of his
brother-in-law, the former health minister (commissar)
Kaminsky ("not a Jew but a very decent man"), who had been
responsible for bringing the German doctors into Russia. "A
plot is being developed to accuse Kaminsky, in cooperation
with the Agro-Joint or perhaps with myself (p.98)
personally as his foreign relative, of bringing German spies
into Russia under the cover of helping the doctors." 14 of the
doctors had been arrested, though some of these were simply
deported from the country. "It would not be impossible", said
Rosen, "for Kaminsky to 'confess' and for some of the doctors
who have been arrested also to 'confess'; and the results may
be rather unpleasant." The arrest of Agro-Joint officials
followed these developments.
From Paris Rosen wrote to the Soviet security organs (he knew
very well who to write to) and assumed responsibility for
anything that had been done by the Agro-Joint. He asked for a
visa into Russia and stated "that as far as I am personally
concerned, I am ready to waive diplomatic protection as a
foreigner. This I consider my duty to do in relation with my
friends and colleagues, with whom we have been working
together for years. I would feel like a dog should I let them
go down under Stalin's tyranny and myself escape because I
happen to be an American citizen."
He himself was allowed to enter Russia once more, to wind up
the affairs of the Agro-Joint. But apparently he could do
nothing to help his friends and relatives who were caught up
in the Stalinist purges.
