Nikolai Selivanovsky Explained

Nikolai Selivanovsky was an officer in the NKVD and a Deputy Head of SMERSH during World War Two. Following the war Selivanovsky become the deputy head of the Ministry of State Security (MGB).^[1] He was also the chief Soviet advisor to the Polish Ministry of Public Security after the war.^[2]

World War Two

During the Battle of Stalingrad Selivanovsky was a Senior NKVD Major and the head of Special Sections for the Stalingrad Front. He reported on the conditions of the Soviet soldiers in Stalingrad in great detail to Viktor Abakumov.^[3] His detailed reports were important in helping Stalin and Soviet generals gauge the moral of the Red Army defenders as well as assess the performance of its commanders.^[4]

In 1943 Selivanovsky was in charge of SMERSH efforts to infiltrate agents into the rear areas of the German army.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Birstein. Vadim J.. 2012-03-01. Soviet Military Counterintelligence from 1918 to 1939. International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. 25. 1. 44–110. 10.1080/08850607.2012.622704. 0885-0607.
2. Book: Polonsky, Antony. Jews and Leftist Politics . Jews and Communism in the Soviet Union and Poland. 2017. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CBO9781107256521A018/type/book_part. 161. Jacobs. Jack. Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781107256521.008. 978-1-107-25652-1. 2020-04-30.
3. Book: Glantz, David M.. Armageddon in Stalingrad : September-November 1942. 2009. University Press of Kansas. House, Jonathan M. (Jonathan Mallory), 1950-. 978-0-7006-1664-0. Lawrence, Kan.. 465–466. 319064655.
4. Book: Glantz, David M.. Armageddon in Stalingrad : September-November 1942. 2009. University Press of Kansas. House, Jonathan M. (Jonathan Mallory), 1950-. 978-0-7006-1664-0. Lawrence, Kan.. 131–134, 699. 319064655.
5. Litera, B., 2012. Smersh: the Activities of the Soviet Military Counterintelligence during the Second World War. AUC Studia Territorialia, 1(2), page 49.