Yuri Chernyshov The Shcherbinsky case strangely obscured the Evdokimov case On March 23, 2006, a collegium of the Altai Regional Court decided to dismiss the case on the death of Mikhail Evdokimov and release Oleg Shcherbinsky from custody, who had previously been sentenced

Chapter Eleven. THE LEIPZIG Gambit The humiliating trial hit our hero hard. Most likely, the spiritual wounds inflicted by the officials could never heal completely. But Bach never looked like a pale genius with burning eyes, ready to impose

CHAPTER II LEIPZIG STUDENT Leipzig appeared before him in a wreath of lindens. What a contrast to gloomy Frankfurt! A beautiful modern city, properly planned, surrounded by yellow gardens in autumn,

6. FIRE OF THE REICHSTAG. RETURN TO MOSCOW The majestic Reichstag building, which was not so much an architectural landmark of Berlin as a symbol of the outdated Prussian political system, on the night of February 27, 1933 was destined to become a victim

The Leipzig process, which took place in September-December 1933, was of great importance for the development of the anti-fascist struggle in Germany. The Nazis threw on the dock on charges of setting fire to the Reichstag, the outstanding figure of the Bulgarian and international labor movement Georgy Dimitrov, who was arrested on March 9, 1933 in Berlin, and two Bulgarian communists - B. Popov and V. Tanev. The chairman of the communist faction of the Reichstag, Torgler, who, without the permission of the Central Committee of the party, himself appeared in the fascist police “for the purpose of rehabilitation” and was arrested there, as well as Van der Lubbe, also found themselves in the dock.

Starting the Leipzig process, the German fascists sought:

“Firstly, to rehabilitate the fascist arsonists and executioners inside and outside the country, to hide the real arsonists, blaming the Communists.

Secondly, to justify the barbaric terror and monstrous persecution of the revolutionary proletariat. To justify in the eyes of the public opinion of the whole world the barbarous destruction of huge cultural values, the destruction of science, the merciless destruction of even left-bourgeois "free thought", mass pogroms, murders, etc.

Thirdly, the process was supposed to give food for a new anti-communist campaign. It was to be the basis for a new "monster trial" against the German Communist Party.

Fourthly, the process was to prove that the fascist government was "victoriously" fighting against world communism and had saved capitalist Europe from the communist danger in time. The heads of the four accused communists were regarded by the fascists as a bargaining chip in further upcoming bidding with the imperialist countries, which, in exchange for Hitler's "historical merits", were to meet him halfway in the field of "equality" in armaments, etc. " .

The German fascists attached exceptional importance to this process in terms of foreign policy.

The process was prepared by the Nazis for almost six months. In order to achieve their reactionary goals, they used all means, mobilized the colossal apparatus of Nazi propaganda, the police and the judiciary, and the apparatus of the fascist party. Hundreds of revolutionary workers imprisoned in prisons and concentration camps were subjected to monstrous torture in order to make them "witnesses" for the prosecution.

The Leipzig process was directed not only against the Communist Party of Germany, but also against the international workers' and communist movement as a whole. G. Dimitrov was named in the indictment as "authorized by the Russian Communist Party" to organize an armed uprising in Germany with the aim of spreading it to all of Europe.

In essence, the Leipzig trial was the same fascist provocation as the Reichstag fire. The favorable outcome of the process for the fascists was to serve as a signal for a new, even more barbarous massacre of anti-fascists inside Germany and become a prelude for the aggressive actions of the Nazis in the international arena.

However, thanks to the heroic behavior at the trial of Georgy Dimitrov, the fascist trial turned against the Nazis themselves. G. Dimitrov did not limit himself to proving his personal innocence in the burning of the Reichstag. In the course of a tense multi-day struggle, “the court started by the Nazis,” writes B.N. Ponomarev, - Dimitrov turned into political the battle of communism against fascism. He raised all the fundamental questions of the struggle of democracy against fascism, communism against capitalism. G. Dimitrov revealed at the trial the true face of the German fascists - ardent chauvinists, enemies of democratic freedoms, henchmen of the forces of extreme reaction and obscurantism. Exposing the fascist provocateurs, in his very first statement made to the police authorities after his arrest, he stated that "the burning of the Reichstag can only be the work of ... the worst enemies of communism, who wanted by this act to create a favorable atmosphere for the defeat of the labor movement and the Communist Party of Germany" .

From the accused, G. Dimitrov turned into an accuser of fascism. Members of the Hitlerite government, Goering and Goebbels, who appeared at the trial to conduct anti-communist propaganda, were forced to leave the courtroom in disgrace under a hail of deadly questions and remarks from G. Dimitrov.

"Dimitrov. After you, as Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, declared that the communists were the arsonists ..., did not this your statement direct the police, and then the judicial investigation in a certain direction, and did it exclude the possibility follow other tracks in search of the true arsonists of the Reichstag?

Goering. ... From my point of view, it was a political crime, and I was just as convinced that the criminals should be looked for in your (addressing Dimitrov) party. (Shaking his fists in the direction of Dimitrov, shouting). Your party is a party of criminals that must be destroyed!...

Dimitrov. Does Mr. Prime Minister know that this party, which “needs to be destroyed”, is the ruling party in the sixth part of the globe, namely in the Soviet Union, and that the Soviet Union maintains diplomatic, political and economic relations with Germany, that its orders benefit hundreds of thousands of German workers?

Chairman (to Dimitrov). I forbid you to conduct communist propaganda here.

Dimitrov. Herr Goering is carrying on National Socialist propaganda here! (Then turning to Goering.) This communist worldview dominates the Soviet Union, the greatest and best country in the world, and has millions of adherents here in Germany in the person of the best sons of the German people...

Goering (shouting loudly). ...I'm not here to let you interrogate me like a judge and throw reproaches at me! In my eyes you are a swindler who should just be hanged...

Dimitrov. I am very pleased with the response of the Prime Minister.

Chairman. ...I deprive you of the word.

Dimitrov. I have another question related to the case.

CHAIRMAN (more sharply). I deprive you of the word!

Goering (shouting). Wow, scoundrel!

CHAIRMAN (addressing the policemen). Bring him out!

Dimitrov (who is being escorted out of the hall by the police). Are you afraid of my questions, Prime Minister?” .

“It must be said,” the bourgeois London newspaper The Observer wrote the next day, “that Herr Goering, the general of the“ third empire ”and the Prussian Prime Minister, presented at that moment a rather pitiful sight ... Goering is a man Stopping at nothing to achieve his political goals, he could not say anything in refutation ... He was unable to put forward at least one argument against the accused, nor clear the National Socialists of suspicion.

Exposing the fascist lies about the burning of the Reichstag and fascism in general, G. Dimitrov boldly defended the cause of the working class, revealed the goals and principles of the international communist movement. The heroic behavior of G. Dimitrov at the trial, his principled posing of the question: everyone who cares about democratic freedoms and the national independence of their country must resolutely oppose fascism and block its path - put the Leipzig trial at the center of attention of the world community.

The movement for the release of Georgy Dimitrov reached a huge scale. The process stirred up millions of people in many countries - workers and employees, representatives of the petty bourgeoisie, who had previously stood aloof from politics and knew little about fascist arbitrariness in Nazi Germany. “Never has a trial,” Marcel Cachin wrote in L'Humanité, “aroused such heated protests. Never before has any government or court caused such outrage.” An international commission of inquiry was set up in London, in which prominent bourgeois public figures took part. The day before the start of the Leipzig process, the commission published its report. On the basis of irrefutable documents and the testimony of witnesses whom the Nazis were afraid to admit to the trial, it was clearly proved that the Nazis themselves were the arsonists of the Reichstag. The documents presented in London were published by the anti-fascist "International Committee of the Victims of Hitler's Fascism" and went around the world.

German fascism suffered a serious moral and political defeat at the Leipzig Trials. The fascist court was forced to acquit G. Dimitrov and other accused communists. “By setting fire to the Reichstag,” W. Pieck wrote, summing up the Leipzig trial, “German fascism wanted to compromise the Communist Party and isolate the working masses from its influence. In fact, he achieved that he compromised himself and contributed to the formation around the Leipzig process of that united front of the proletariat, which in the end averted the fascist ax raised above the heads of the Leipzig prisoners.

The Leipzig process had a great influence on the further development of the anti-fascist movement in Germany. With his courageous struggle, G. Dimitrov inspired hundreds of thousands of Germans to active, activity against Nazism, who were already beginning to despair, languishing under the fascist yoke. The process showed that no matter how raging the Nazis were, they did not succeed in crushing the working class, the communist movement, that the final victory would be on the side of the forces of peace and democracy.

From the rostrum of the fascist court, G. Dimitrov called on the working class of Germany to learn the lessons of history and launch a resolute, uncompromising struggle against the Nazis and the aggressive imperialist circles that stood behind them.

“I allow myself ...,” said G. Dimitrov, “to quote a poem by the greatest German poet Goethe:

Just in time, prepare your mind.
On the scales of great happiness
Chalices are rarely given rest:
You must rise
Or fall down;
Dominate or submit
With triumph - or with grief know,
Soar with a heavy hammer -
Or stand on the anvil.

Yes, who does not want to be an anvil must be a hammer!

The Leipzig trials are the first victory of the communists over the fascists September 21st, 2016

On September 21, a lawsuit about the burning of the Reichstag in Berlin started in Leipzig. There were five people in the dock, four of whom were communists. The accusation against them was collected so roughly that in the end, on December 23, the process ended with the acquittal of four of the five defendants due to insufficient evidence.

The first of the suspects was a certain Marinus van der Lubbe, a citizen of the Netherlands, who, as it turned out later, left the communist movement back in 1931. Ernst Torgler, the leader of the parliamentary faction of the Communist Party of Germany, was next arrested. Since the German press was full of unfounded accusations against the Communists, he himself appeared in the police, where he intended to state his position, but was captured and put behind bars. Three more people were arrested on a tip from a waiter at one of the establishments, who, in order to receive easy money announced for a reward for the capture of accomplices of Marinus van der Lubbe, slandered three visitors to the restaurant. They turned out to be Bulgarian communists Blagoy Popov, Vasil Tanev and the leader of the Comintern underground, Georgy Dimitrov. The Bulgarians immediately began to completely deny any connection with Marinus van der Lubbe, since they did not even know him.

But in order to understand the background of the trial organized by the Nazis for the burning of the Reichstag, one must recall the historical context of those February events.

And this was the situation in Germany at the beginning of 1933. Despite the fact that by that time the Nazis had already come to power (Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933), they did not at all feel confident in their victory in the upcoming elections in early March. The influence of the German Communist Party and the trade unions was high enough to prevent the Nazis from gaining a majority in parliament.

On February 27, 1933, an event took place in Berlin, which has firmly gone down in history as another provocation of the German Nazis. On the evening of that day, the Reichstag building was set on fire, which was badly damaged and subsequently not used for a long time. The press controlled by the Nazis unanimously began to accuse the communists of arson.

The law abolished the freedom of the individual, assembly, unions, speech, press. The secrecy of correspondence and the inviolability of private property were abolished. The German Communist Party was banned. Over the next few days alone, several thousand communists were arrested, as well as leaders of liberal and social democratic movements. All printed publications opposed to the Nazis were closed. But even despite such measures, the Nazis did not manage to get the necessary majority. As a result, they deprived the communists and a number of social democrats of their mandates and passed through the parliament the “Law for the Elimination of the Disasters of the People and the State”, after which the seizure of power by members of the Hitlerite party in the localities began. This is how the Nazi dictatorship began in Germany.

Already these events give a clear understanding of who actually benefited from the arson of the Reichstag building. Research later showed that the fire was the work of a group of stormtroopers led by Karl Ernest, trusted people of Rem, who acted with the assistance of Goering and Goebbels. Indeed, only in the course of extinguishing the fire, the firefighters who arrived at the scene found 65 fires throughout the building, which clearly indicated the coordinated actions of a large group. Many facts unpleasant for the Nazis were already revealed during the investigation of the arson, but the Nazis methodically and ruthlessly destroyed all witnesses and participants in those events.

But let's get back to the process, which, according to the idea of ​​the Nazis, should be an exemplary trial of the Communists, who, according to the Nazis, after setting fire to the Reichstag, intended to start a coup and an illegal seizure of power. Let me remind you that it took place from September 21 to December 23, 1933. In total, 54 meetings were held, the course of which was covered by 120 journalists from all over the world, with the exception of the Soviet ones (the Nazis did not allow them to the process).

It should be noted that before the start of the trial, this case was considered in London by an international commission, which included prominent public figures from European countries. German emigrants raised the entire international community to their feet and collected many facts pointing to the involvement of the Nazis in the Reichstag fire. By the time the commission's work was completed, it became clear that Marinus van der Lubbe was indeed an arsonist, but served only as a tool in the hands of the Nazis. At the trial in Leipzig, the prosecutors did their best to ensure that the facts revealed by the commission were not submitted to the trial.

The four defendants did not cause any trouble to the court and the prosecution, but Georgy Dimitrov, who acted as a defense lawyer (the German authorities appointed a lawyer for the defendants, whose tactics did not suit the Bulgarians), did it so brilliantly that he practically turned the process around. He did everything to reveal the criminal acts of the Nazis and, in fact, acted as an accuser.

The brilliant defense of Dimitrov at the trial was highly appreciated, because the process came under the close attention of the whole world. The trial was widely covered in the press and broadcast on the radio. Georgy Dimitrov's speeches at the trial are described in Kamen Kalchev's book "Dimitrov: Son of the Working Class" (Young Guard, Moscow, 1962). Here are some quotes from speeches at the trial by Dimitrov himself, who behaved confidently and calmly at the trial, as he could prove that he was in Munich at the time of the arson of the Reichstag building:

— I am here to defend communism and myself.

— I defend myself as an accused communist. I defend my own communist revolutionary honor. I defend my ideas, my communist convictions. I protect the meaning and content of my life. Therefore, every word I utter before judgment is, so to speak, blood from my blood and flesh from my flesh. Every word is an expression of my deepest indignation at the unjust accusation, at the fact that such an anti-Communist crime is attributed to the Communists.

— Further, it is also quite correct that I am for the proletarian revolution and for the dictatorship of the proletariat. I am deeply convinced that this is the salvation and the only way out of the economic crisis and the military catastrophe of capitalism. And the struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat and for the victory of communism is undoubtedly the content of my life. I would like to live at least another twenty years for communism and then die in peace. But that is precisely why I am a resolute opponent of the methods of individual terror and putschism. I have absolutely nothing to do with the burning of the Reichstag, either directly or indirectly. Van der Lubbe, the arsonist of the Reichstag, I see for the first time here, in this hall.

— The entire preliminary investigation against me was carried out with prejudice and with the clear intention, at any cost, contrary to all the contradictory facts, to fabricate out of me for the imperial court the arsonist of the Reichstag, after the preliminary investigation that lasted for months proved unable, as it is now clear to me, to find real culprits.

— Who is Van der Lubbe? Communist? By no means! Anarchist? Not! He is a declassed worker, he is a rebellious lumpen proletarian, a creature that has been abused, that has been used against the working class. No, he is not a communist. He is not an anarchist. Not a single communist in the world, not a single anarchist, will behave in court the way Van der Lubbe behaves. Genuine anarchists do meaningless deeds, but in court they hold the answer and explain their goals. If any communist did something like that, he would not be silent in court, when innocent people are sitting on the dock. No, Van der Lubbe is not a communist, not an anarchist; he is a tool abused by fascism.

Dimitrov spoke so brilliantly that he brought Goering, who spoke at the trial as a witness, to hysteria. A vivid description of the duel between Dimitrov and Goering was given by the Viennese social-democratic newspaper Arbeiterzeitung:

“The man who, in Leipzig, proudly, courageously, fearlessly stands before the vile judgment seat, will live like one of the heroes of this dark time: Dimitrov, the Bulgarian communist. His every question breaks a hole in the wall of stupidity, meanness and meanness that the German rulers have erected around crumbling capitalism. Through these gaps the breath of the future is blowing, full of freedom, greatness and human dignity. Each of his questions is an attack, and not one of his questions serves his personal defense: this man doomed to death is not fighting for his life, he is fighting for the high cause to which he subordinates his life, for socialism, which fills him with self-consciousness, confidence in victory. It was rare to see something as amazing, something as shaking and inspiring as this man's struggle against the German rulers. They, these bloodied conquerors, have a ministry of propaganda, they have gigantic fireworks and gigantic demonstrations, they have loudspeakers and machine guns, assembly halls and courts—and this accused Bulgarian, this lonely Dimitrov, has nothing but his mouth, his courage, his fanaticism. And yet the German dictators, gnashing their teeth, feel that this man doomed to death is stronger than their entire apparatus of power, that his every question has a stronger effect than all their devilishly functioning propaganda. All this was discharged yesterday, pouring out into a scene in which the essence of the proletarian revolution collided with the vileness of the fascist dictatorship. Göring, the murderer, arsonist and morphine addict, the all-powerful Minister for Terror and Death, was a witness at the trial yesterday ... The morphine addict's nerves could not stand it ... The most powerful man in Prussia, the man who is most feared in Germany, lost his temper, began to roar and squeal, Like a crazy".

At a rally of Soviet and Cuban youth in Moscow in 1962, Nikita Khrushchev described Dimitrov's trial as follows:

“At the Leipzig trial, he was, as it were, in a cage with tigers. It is impossible to read without excitement what Georgy Dimitrov said there. He spoke as if he was not judged in Leipzig, but he was judging, judging Goering, judging Goebbels, judging Hitler, judging fascist bosses and monsters, judging the fascist regime..

As a result, the Leipzig process did not end at all as the Nazis had planned. Only the arsonist himself, Marinus van der Lubbe, was sentenced to death. The remaining defendants were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. Despite pressure from the Nazi leadership, the judges never ventured to convict the innocent. However, all four acquitted Goering sent to prison. And only on February 27, 1934, under strong pressure from international public opinion, three Bulgarian communists were released, and the German communist Torgler was immediately sent to a concentration camp.

It should be recalled that the Nazis were also preparing a trial of the leader of the German Communist Party, Ernst Thalmann, but after the failure at the Leipzig trial, they did not dare to arrange it. Ernst Thalmann spent the entire time of the Nazi dictatorship in the dungeons, and in 1944 he was executed without trial or investigation in Buchenwald.

A year later, in May 1945, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, led by the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks, will win a great victory over fascism, and the Red Banner of Victory will "flame" over the Reichstag building - the lair of the Nazi beast. And soon the accusers of the Leipzig Trials themselves will find themselves in the dock of the international tribunal in Nuremberg.

Georg Dimitrov and the Leipzig trial. 1933

“Fascism is an open terrorist dictatorship
the most reactionary, the most chauvinistic,
the most imperialist elements of the financial
capital ... Fascism is not a supra-class power and is not
the power of the petty bourgeoisie or the lumpen-proletariat over
financial capital. Fascism is the power of finance capital itself. This is the organization of terrorist reprisals against the working class and the revolutionary part of the peasantry and intelligentsia. Fascism in foreign policy is chauvinism in its grossest form, cultivating zoological hatred against other peoples.
(G. Dimitrov).

“I was born on June 18, 1882 in Radomir, near Sofia.
He left school after finishing the second grade. Until 1904 he worked as a typesetter.
The son of the working class of Bulgaria .. ”- from the synopsis of the first speech before the court, compiled in prison on September 25, 1933.

1933 was a turning point for Germany. The Nazis came to power. Repressions against communists, workers and social democrats swept across Germany. The processes were churned out like Ford cars coming off the assembly line for the future greatness of the Empire. But at one trial, even the unprincipled cutthroat imperial machine broke its teeth. It was the trial of the Bulgarian communist Georg Dimitrov. Many people living today do not even know: after whom it is named. say in Leningrad-Petersburg Dimitrova street?

Meanwhile, accused by the Nazis of setting fire to the Reichstag, along with other communists, this man challenged not only imperial justice, but also the fascist ideology itself, the Nazi party itself and its executioners, who launched this process in the fall of 1933. Not only did Dimitrov spread all the false accusations while in shackles, he made this process the property of the world community and an arena for propaganda of communist ideas, despite the fact that the court had to remove him from the courtroom many times.

And to this day, an angry accusation against all fascist executioners, all killers of a bright future for mankind, all champions of elite ideas sounds and will sound his word of defense, pronounced in a Leipzig court on December 16, 1933. His speech served as a model for similar defensive speeches by communists from different countries Toivo Antikainen, who was called "Northern Dimitrov", in Finland, Nikos Beloyanis in Greece, Bram Fisher in South Africa.

It sounds to all those who want to build empires on mountains of corpses, to all those who push peoples to slaughter, hunger, poverty, who sow discord, not reconciliation, who sow devastation and fear, who take away the future, the Motherland from people, forcing them to wander around Earth.

Don’t you notice, having adapted on soft sofas, how neo-fascism, hiding behind the mask of bourgeois freedoms, is again building a system of elitism, chosenness? In which there is no entrance to you, ordinary people. Do you want to be deceived when people's faith in a bright future, coming from the now slandered past - the October Revolution, the Civil War, World War II, the Cold War is being destroyed bit by bit. The lie about these events is your future taken away.

I am writing this for a future process. After all, this will happen sometime, when imperial fascism finally becomes insolent. And then, a communist like Georg Dimitrov accused of setting fire to the planet Earth will stand up and the planet will shake under the feet of liars and misanthropes.

Excerpts from the transcript of the last word:
Dimitrov: I admit that I speak in a harsh and harsh language. My struggles and my life have also been harsh and harsh. But my language is frank and sincere...
I defend myself as an accused communist.
I defend my own communist revolutionary honor.
I defend my ideas, my communist convictions.
I protect the meaning and content of my life.
Therefore, every word I utter before the judgment is, so to speak, blood from blood and flesh from my flesh. Every word is an expression of my deepest indignation against the unjust accusation, against the fact that such an anti-communist crime is attributed to the communists”, p. 167

Already from the very first words, one can feel the realization that the burning of the Reichstag is just a pretext for the trial of communism.

“It is true that Bulgarian fascism is wild and barbaric. But the Bulgarian working class and the peasantry, the Bulgarian people's intelligentsia are by no means savages and barbarians ... The people who lived for 500 years under a foreign yoke, without losing their language and nationality, our working class and peasantry, who fought and are fighting against Bulgarian fascism, for communism , - such a people is not barbaric and wild. Savages and barbarians in Bulgaria are only fascists. But I ask you, Mr. Chairman: in what country are the fascists not barbarians and savages?
Chairman: (interrupting Dimitrov): You're not hinting at political relations in Germany, are you? - pp. 168-169

“This is not the first time such an attempt has been attributed to the communists… I am reminded of the railway accident here in Germany, near Uteborg, committed by a psychopath, an adventurer, a provocateur. At that time, not only in Germany, but also in other countries, the assertion was spread for weeks that this was the work of the Communist Party of Germany ... Then it turned out that the psychopath and adventurer Matushka had done it.
Let me remind you of another example - the assassination of French President Gorgulov. Then, too, in all countries they wrote that the hand of the communists is visible here. Gorgulov was portrayed as a communist, a Soviet agent. What turned out? This attempt turned out to be organized by the White Guards, and Gorgulov was a provocateur who wanted to break off relations between the Soviet Union and France.
I also recall the assassination attempt in St. Sophia Cathedral. This assassination attempt was not organized by the Bulgarian Communist Party, but because of it… Two thousand workers, peasants and intellectuals were brutally murdered by fascist gangs… Back in 1920, Prutkin, chief of the Sofia police, himself organized a bomb explosion during a railroad strike in order to provoke the Bulgarian workers.”

Everyone knows today that this tactic of discrediting communism has been employed by bourgeois reaction throughout history. So, in the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul 2, the Bulgarian special services were accused, Bulgaria, as a country of socialism. Whereas, in fact, the roots of the assassination lurked in Turkey among the fascist organization "Gray Wolves".

Dimitrov goes on to address another important issue of false accusations:
“I will remind you of one more thing – forgery of documents. There are a large number of falsehoods against the working class... I will recall at least the so-called "Zinoviev's letter". It was forged…”

Dozens of false documents fabricated in different years saw the light in books, newspapers, magazines. The Solzhenitsyns and the Suvorovs rattled this lie all over the world. A breakdown of some of them is given here: http://scepsis.net/library/id_2239.html

At all times, capital and its mercenaries - the Nazis were not original: provocations, terrorism, murders - everything is done by their dirty hands to enslave humanity. Knowing history is our direct duty. And even more so to know the history of our victories and our defeats.
Georg Dimitrov is undoubtedly one of the greatest figures of the communist movement in the west in the first half of the 20th century. His courage and bravery is an example to follow for all who are at the head of human progress.

…………………………………………………………

Georg Dimitrov and the Leipzig trials. 1933

"Fascism is an openly terrorist dictatorship
ny-reactionary, ny-chauvinistic,
nai-imperialist elements on the financial
capital ... Fascism is not a supra-class force and
silat against the rubbish bourgeoisie or lumpen against the proletariat over
finance capital. Fascism - Comrade's power over the finances of capital. Comrade terrorist organization of reprisal against the working class and the revolutionary part of the villagers and intellectuals. Fascism in the foreign policy - Comrade and chauvinism in its grossest form, cultivating the zoological omraz cross-breeding other peoples.
(Gr. Dimitrov).

"Roden on June 18, 1882 in Radomir, near Sofia.
School leave a trace of the edge for the second grade. Until 1904 he was a compositor.
Sin to the worker class in Bulgaria .. "- from a summary of the parvata of speeches before the session, made in the shutter on September 25, 1933.

The year 1933 is a turning point for Germany. On power idvat nazis. In tsyala Germany from bukhnaha repressions I will cross communists, workers, social democrats. Processes were stamped like vehicles descending from transporters on Ford for greatness on the Imperium. But in a single process, Dory's unprincipled cutthroat imperial machine broke your si. There is only one trial before the Bulgarian communist George Dimitrov. A lot of people live now and they don’t know: in honor of someone else, I’m cringing. let's talk in Leningrad-Petersburg Dimitrova street?

And in the meantime, he was accused from the Nazis of falling on the Reichstag, together with other communists, tozi people contempt not just imperial justice, but also the very fascist ideology, the nazi-Nazi party and the neunoto executioners, who were placed on the tozi process of the president for 1933. It’s not just that Dimitrov scattered all sorts of false accusations and put them in fetters, but he sent the process to the light public arena for propaganda on communist ideas, despite the fact that there were a lot of shakes and shakes from the public hall.

And to this day, an angry accusation against the fascist executioners, an attack against the murderer is a bright thing for humanity, all the supporters of the advocates, give ideas, and still sound indignantly, a defensive thought was said at the meeting in Leipzig, December 16, 1933. Serve me as a model for a speech defending the communist of various countries Toivo Antikainen, named "Severen Dimitrov", in Finland, Nikos Beloyanis in Gurtsiya, Brahma Fishara in South Africa.

You sound, sound and on onesi's vows, some seek and shield the empire in planinite on a corpse, on onesi's vows, some people collide in the clan, smoothness, poverty, some of this disagreement, not reconciliation, some of this devastation and fear, some of the robbery of the khorat on there will be on Rodinata si, forcing them to wander along Zemyata.

Nima not whitewashing vie, having adapted to the meks of the divan, cato neo-fascism, hiding behind the mask of bourgeois freedom, again fence the system against elitism, elect? There is no entrance to the koyato, open the choir. Nima wish to bdat izmeni, kogato little by little degrading vyarat to khorat in a brighter future, moving away from this slandered minaloto - October revolution, Civil war, Vtorata svetovna, student war. Lie for the theses of the fall - and this is taken away badly.

Writing comrade for the future of the process. To the edges on the edge of the takiva, sometimes it’s just a few things, sometimes the imperial fascism will finally become insolent. And togava, accused of falling on the planet Zemya, this is the same as the communist cato Georg Dimitrov - and the planet is put at risk for lying and misanthropes.

Get off the transcript for the last thought:
"Dimitrov: I admit that when I say yazik, it is harsh and rude. Washing the borba and washing the stomach was slashed in a sharp and sharp way. But they wash the ezik - the ezik is frank and sincere ...
Az defending yourself as a kato answerer is a communist.
Az protect you own and communist revolutionary honor.
Az protect you your ideas, your communist convictions.
Az protect you understood and kept on your stomach.
Zatova every utterance is less before the thought of thinking - tova e, so and so it seems, krv from krvta and platt from plutta mi. Every time I think about my nay-dalboto indignation, unfair accusations without a fact, what an anti-communist crime, these are attributions to communism", page 167

Veche with nay-parvite think now that you are realizing that it was fired at the Reichstag - this is just an apology for the trial of communism.

"Vyarno, the Bulgarian fascists are divas and barbarous. But in the Bulgarian worker class and the villagers, the Bulgarian intelligentsia is in no way a sad divatsi and not a barbarian ... The people who lived for 500 years under a foreign yoke, do not ruin your own ezik and nationality, our worker class and the villagers, who have fought and are fighting against the Bulgarian fascism, communism, - so the people are not barbaric and marvelous. Divatsi and barbarians in Bulgaria are themselves fascists. fascists are not barbarians and not divatsi?
Chairman: (presbytery Dimitrov): Are you hinting at political relations in Germany?" - paragraphs 168-169

“It’s not for the first time that it’s like an attack on the communists ... let me remind you for the catastrophe here, in Germany, close to Juteborg, good psychopath, adventurer, den. Togava not in Germany itself, but also in other countries for a week, must be Confirmation, the fourth thing is on the rise of the communist party against Germany... The trace of this turned out to be the psychopath and adventurer Maikata.
Let me remind you of another example - the assassination of the French President Gorgulov. Togava wrote in all the pages of the country, what a view of the rakat on the communist. Gorgulov is depicted as a communist, Soviet agent. How did it turn out? Comrade's attack was organized by the White Guards, and Gorgulov - den, some lawsuit and comprehended the squabble between the Soviet Union and France.
Let me remind you exactly of the visit to the Sofia collection. Comrade’s persecution was not organized more by the Communist Party of Bulgaria, but for its sake ... Two sickly workers, peasants and intellectuals brutally killed fascist gangs ... Even before 1920, Prutkin, the head of the Sofia police, organized strikes in time self-explosion on the bomb in all provocations of the Bulgarian worker"

For now, it is not known by all means that the tactics for discrediting communism were not applied by bourgeois reaction to history. So, in experience for the assassination attempt, I will cross the Pope of Rome John Paul 2 sa accusations of the Bulgarians serve, Bulgaria, kato darzhava on socialism. Togava, as a root for murder, was hiding in Turkey on Wednesday about the fascist organization "Sivite Valtsi".

Natatik Dimitrov, all of this is one of the most important problems of falsehood:
"Let me remind you of one more moment - falsified documents. I will cut a lot of worker class from my face ... I will remind you that it is called" a letter to Zinoviev. "It is forged..."

Dozens of false documents and produced in various years, Svetlin's views in books, messengers, write-offs. Solzhenitsyns, Suvorovs rang out the tazi lie for the whole holy. Dismantling on some of them is given here: http://scepsis.net/library/id_2239.html

In all times, capital and negovite mercenaries - the fascists are not original: provocation, terorizm, murders - in any case, right now, think about it for slandering humanity. Know the history of our direct debt. And even more, yes, they will know from the history of our victories and our defeats.
Georg Dimitrov is without a doubt one of the greatest figures in the communist movement to the west from the 1st half to the 20th century. Negovata boldness and courage - an example for imitation for everyone, some varvi started on Czech progress.

There are such significant events that were the work of individual efforts of one particular person. In this sense, it gained wide popularity in the 20th century. Leipzig process. Conceived as a tribunal condemning international communism, it turned into a tribunal condemning Hitler's fascism. This happened solely as a result of the heroism and titanic will of the Bulgarian communist Georgy Dimitrov.

And the so-called "Dimitrovian" definition of fascism, presented in the resolution of the 13th Plenum of the ECCI and repeated at the 7th Congress of the Comintern by Georgy Dimitrov, a speaker on this issue, sheds light on the minds of our contemporaries as well. “Fascism is an open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, the most chauvinistic, the most imperialist elements of finance capital... Fascism is not a power above class, nor is it the power of the petty bourgeoisie or lumpen proletariat over finance capital. Fascism is the power of finance capital itself. This is the organization of terrorist reprisals against the working class and the revolutionary part of the peasantry and intelligentsia. Fascism in foreign policy is chauvinism in its grossest form, cultivating zoological hatred against other peoples.(G. Dimitrov).

G. Dimitrov (1882-1949), who emerged from the environment of printing workers, grows up and hardens in the struggle against capitalist exploitation, for freedom and social justice. A student and colleague of Dimitar Blagoev is established as a proletarian revolutionary. At the age of 20, he joined the ranks of the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party. This happened at the height of the struggle between the Marxist and opportunist wings in its ranks. Without any hesitation, Dimitrov takes the side of the Marxists and takes an active part in the struggle against the opportunists. The party purged its ranks of Bersteinism (1903), and after the victory of the October Revolution it began to call itself the Communist Party and, together with other parties, participated in the creation of the Communist International. In it, Georgy Dimitrov went from an ordinary member to the first leader, always being in the forefront of the struggle. The world's first anti-fascist uprising, which broke out in Bulgaria in September 1923, is also associated with his name.

The fire in the Reichstag found G. Dimitrov the head of the Western European Bureau of the Communist International. This provocation did not surprise him. It was clear to him that it fit into the policy of the German bourgeoisie, which, frightened by the growth of the revolutionary movement, the growth of the authority and influence of the Communist Party of Germany, put Adolf Hitler in power. On January 13, 1933, Reich President von Hindenburg appointed him Chancellor of Germany. An open fascist dictatorship was established in the country, threatening terror and destruction to all the progressive forces of the country. And it is not surprising that the first thought that dawned on Dimitrov at the news of the fire was: "It's starting!"

By some "accident", A. Hitler, G. Goering and J. Goebbels find themselves in front of the Reichstag engulfed in fire. Hitler shouts: “This is a sign from God! If this fire is, as I am convinced, the work of the Communists, then we must crush this deadly plague with an iron fist. These words were an indication, an order, an order to act. And the action is not long in coming. The next day, von Hindenburg signs the Decree on the Protection of the People and the State, on the basis of which mass terror begins throughout the country. The first victims are the Communists, followed by the Social Democrats and other anti-fascists. In the first days of March 1933, the leader of the Communist Party of Germany, Ernst Thalmann, was arrested. On March 9, a group of three Bulgarian communists, Georgy Dimitrov, Vasily Tanev and Blagoy Popov, was added to the group of arrested German communists.

In the order for the arrest of G. Dimitrov, the charge is formulated as follows: “... February 27, 1933, together with the bricklayer Van der Lubbe:

1. made an attempt to change the state structure of Germany by violence;
2. deliberate arson of the Reichstag building ... with the intention of using it as a signal for an uprising ... ".

The fact that the process has a political background did not surprise Dimitrov, but he was outraged that a criminal atrocity became the reason for the process. He believed that by linking his activities with such a crime, they encroached on his honor and dignity as a person and a proletarian revolutionary. Therefore, Georgy Dimitrov sends a letter of protest to the police investigating authorities. In it, he indignantly rejects any suspicion of any direct or indirect participation in this anti-Communist act, in this atrocity, reprehensible from any point of view, and strongly protests against the unheard-of injustice committed against him in connection with his arrest in connection with this crime. “As a communist, as a member of the Bulgarian Communist Party and the Communist International,” he declares, “I am fundamentally against individual terror, against all senseless arson, because these acts are incompatible with communist principles and methods of mass work, with economic and political work, because they bring only harm to the liberation movement of the proletariat, to communism.”

As for the accusation that he participated in the crime attributed to him together with Van der Lubbe, G. Dimitrov explains that he learned about the fire from the newspapers on February 28 on the train when he was traveling from Munich to Berlin. Then for the first time he recognized the name and saw a photograph of the "arsonist". He explains that during his stay in Germany he did not interfere in the internal affairs of the country, did not take any direct or indirect part in the political struggle in Germany. Resolutely rejecting any suspicion of participation in this monstrous crime, Dimitrov notes: “In my deep conviction, the fire in the Reichstag can only be the work of distraught people or the worst enemies of communism, who wanted by this act to create a favorable atmosphere for the defeat of the labor movement and the Communist Party of Germany. However, I am neither a madman nor an enemy of communism. Here the address of the real arsonists is clearly indicated.

Georgy Dimitrov's letter of protest shows that he very well and correctly understood the plan of the Nazis. This plan was that either G. Dimitrov should become their blind tool, which they would use for their own purposes as the ruling force of the German big bourgeoisie to defeat the Communist Party of Germany, or he would have to part with his violent and recalcitrant head. Dimitrov responds with a well-thought-out strategy and tactics of political defense on the eve of the upcoming process and adheres to its main features during the entire process.

Unlike Georgy Dimitrov, the police and the judiciary were unable to decipher his message as expressed in the protest letter. If they had managed to do this, they would not have suffered the humiliation that they had to endure in connection with the acquittal, which became possible due to the courageous behavior of G. Dimitrov.

During the process, two unequal, two unequal quantities met and fought. Unequal and unequal because they were representatives of two different worlds - the old, outgoing and the new, which came to replace it. And A.I. Herzen also said that one inexorable law operates in nature, according to which babies die sometimes, and old people always die.

In response to Dimitrov’s letter of protest, the Nazi authorities, represented by the investigation and the court, decide to break the strength and will to fight of the “dark Balkan subject,” as the Nazis called it, through physical violence, hunger, etc. Only a week after his arrest, he was transferred to Moabit prison, and through another they put handcuffs on him, which are not removed day or night for five months. To all this, open threats of reprisals are added. During one of the interrogations, the adviser of the Imperial Court, Vogt, to Georgy Dimitrov’s statement that he vouches with his head for the innocence of Popov and Tanev, since they and he “have nothing to do with the burning of the Reichstag”, warns him not to vouch for her so generously, because he would have to break up with her anyway. And Goering, from the height of his position as Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, threatened him with reprisals as soon as he left the courtroom.

The harsh prison regime for the Bulgarian defendants, the constant threats of reprisal from high-ranking officials make G. Dimitrov feel that he is at a “sacred crossroads”. Already the first clashes with the accusers suggest to him that, by chance, not only his personal fate as a proletarian revolutionary, but also the fate of the communist movement, to which he dedicated his life, is in his hands. Realizing that he is facing a difficult duel, he begins to prepare very seriously: he enriches his knowledge of philosophy, studies the history of the German people. This allows him to better understand the events that took place in the early 30s in Germany. Dimitrov comes to the conclusion that these events are temporary and in many ways are a return back to the past. On May 3, 1933, he writes in his prison diary: "In prison I read about 6,700 pages on the history of Germany." Along with the study of various works on history, he also studies the work of Goethe, Shakespeare, Byron, etc. According to his confession, Goethe's aphorism made a very strong impression on him: “If you lose property, you lose little. If you lose honor, you lose a lot. If you lose your courage, you lose everything! And again: "The wolf will tear to pieces the one who behaves like a lamb." And on May 1, on the Day of International Solidarity of Workers, he notes: “... I am imprisoned in Moabit, in handcuffs! Very disgusting and sad. But... Danton: "No weakness!"

All the documents of the process show that from the day of his arrest until the moment of his release, G. Dimitrov does not allow any, absolutely no weakness. Both during the police investigation and during the trial itself, he does not lose his courage and therefore does not lose both his honor and his dignity as a proletarian revolutionary.

The announcement of the arrest of Dimitrov, Popov and Tanev and the false accusation brought against them outraged the progressive world community. Committees are springing up in many countries to protect the victims of the Nazi dictatorship in Germany. In many cities and villages of European countries, people express their indignation. The International Committee for the Protection of the Victims of German Fascism is being created, headed by the English lawyer Denis Nowell Pritt. This committee forms the International Commission of Inquiry, whose task was to find out the truth about the Reichstag fire. It became known as the "London Counter-Trial". The counter-trial conducts an investigation and on September 20, 1933, disseminates its conclusion that the accused communists are innocent. The commission expresses its fundamental suspicions that the Reichstag was set on fire either by the leaders of the fascist party themselves, or this happened on their behalf. These suspicions had a very strong influence on the expansion of the protest movement throughout the world and placed the court in Leipzig, which opened on September 21, in a very delicate position.

The absurd accusations are repeated in the indictment handed over to the defendants on August 3, 1933. This does not surprise Georgy Dimitrov. It became obvious that the Nazis firmly decided to make the accused arsonists at all costs. And this means that their goal is to deal a crushing blow to the German Communist Party and the international communist movement, to act as saviors of the world from communism.

To achieve this goal, the Nazis impose another provocation. They deprive G. Dimitrov of the right to legal protection. 25 lawyers from different countries declare their readiness to appear in court as its defenders, but not a single one of them was allowed to appear in court. Dimitrov was left with only a service defender. It was Dr. Paul Teichert. He did not support Dimitrov's decision to politicize the defense. Then Georgy Dimitrov declares that he will be responsible only for those actions and proposals of Teichert, which will be previously agreed with him. In this case, G. Dimitrov was both the defendant and the defender at the same time. The prosecution invited more than 60 false witnesses to the trial, which were supposed to prove the guilt of the defendants, but they failed. Dimitrov followed with great attention their every word, analyzed their testimony, asked them questions, and they, taken out of the context of suggestions, became completely helpless. The prosecution claimed that the purpose of the arson was to signal an uprising, but none of the witnesses could give an example of the preparation of anything like that. Georgy Dimitrov concludes that there was nothing of the kind and therefore the accusation is false.

The climax of the duel comes when he is given the floor for the closing speech. It takes place on December 16, 1933. In this speech, the whole of G. Dimitrov is manifested, both as a person and as a proletarian revolutionary, patriot and internationalist. At the beginning of his speech, he expresses his deepest indignation at the unjust accusation that such an anti-Communist crime is attributed to the Communists. At the same time, he admits that during the trial his language was sometimes harsh, but this happened because he was defending himself, defending the meaning and content of his life, his communist convictions. Therefore, "every word I utter in front of the Imperial Court is blood of my blood and flesh of my flesh." He cannot speak in a calm language when his people are called wild and barbaric. A people that has been under a foreign yoke for 500 years, without losing its language and national image, the working class and the peasantry, who courageously fight against fascism and for communism, such a people cannot be wild and barbaric. Savages and barbarians in Bulgaria are only fascists. “I have not the slightest reason to be ashamed of the fact that I am Bulgarian. On the contrary, I am proud that I am the son of the Bulgarian working class.”

Dimitrov attacks the main thesis of the indictment, that the burning of the Reichstag is the work of the KPD and the international communist movement, that the fire was supposed to serve as a signal for an uprising in order to change the political system in Germany. He makes a deep analysis of the political situation in the country on the eve of the arson, revealing the contradictions in this country, the class basis of the fascist dictatorship and the harassment of the capitalist magnates. Georgy Dimitrov points out that the political situation of this period is characterized by two main points: on the one hand, the desire of the fascists for autocracy, on the other hand, the desire of the KKE to create a united front of workers to counter the capitalist class and the violence of the fascist dictatorship. Under these conditions, the Nazis need a pretext to carry out the terror they have planned against the working class and its vanguard, the KPD. This occasion is created by setting fire to the Reichstag. This is eloquently proved by the fact that the very next day after the arson, the Decree on the Elimination of Democratic Rights and Freedoms of Citizens appears. Revealing all this, G. Dimitrov reproaches the judicial investigation for going in the wrong direction, looking for arsonists where they do not exist and cannot exist. “Thus,” concludes Dimitrov, “this crime was born, as I believe, from a secret alliance between the political madness of Van der Lubbe and the political provocation of the enemies of German communism ... The representative of political madness is here on the dock, the representative of political provocation, the enemies of the German working class missing, he disappeared. Van der Lubbe could not have known that when he made awkward attempts to set fire to the restaurant, the corridor and the lower floor, at the same time others set fire to the plenary hall. Georgy Dimitrov categorically states: “Who is Van der Lubbe? Communist? No… Van der Lubbe is not a communist or an anarchist, not a real worker, but a lumpen proletarian, a declassed worker, an unfortunate tool that was abused by the enemies of communism, the enemies of the working class from which he emerged.” Analyzing the results of the judicial investigation, G. Dimitrov draws the following conclusion: “The legend that the fire in the Reichstag was the work of the Communists has completely collapsed ... The fire in the Reichstag has nothing to do with the activities of the Communist Party - not only with the uprising, but even and with a demonstration, with a strike or with another action of a similar kind ... It is proved that the fire in the Reichstag was a pretext, a prelude to a broadly conceived annihilating campaign against the working class and its vanguard of the German Communist Party.

Georgy Dimitrov highly appreciates the struggle of the KKE and the international communist movement. He understands that the fascist dictatorship placed the German communists in very difficult conditions. But this by no means means that the KKE is showing an inclination towards adventurist actions. The international experience of the communist movement shows that communists can wage a victorious struggle even in illegal conditions. A vivid example of this is the Bolshevik Party, which managed to carry out a socialist revolution under such conditions. He supports the KKE's policy of creating a united workers' front and rejects the thesis of those who said that the KKE had no other choice but to organize an armed uprising. The KKE is pursuing the line of the Communist International towards mass work, mass struggle, mass resistance, a united front, rejecting adventures.

At the end of the speech, before the chairman of the court deprives G. Dimitrov of the floor, he speaks about the proposal of the prosecutor to pass a verdict of not guilty due to lack of evidence. “I,” he says, “is absolutely dissatisfied with this ... This would not eliminate suspicion ... We ... must be acquitted not for lack of evidence, but because we, as communists, can have nothing to do with this anti-communist act.”

Both during the entire trial and during his final speech, G. Dimitrov was repeatedly interrupted and threatened that he would be deprived of his word. This forced him to rush to have time to say everything he had planned. At the very end of the speech, he manages to point out the lesson that the German proletariat must keep in mind, relying on history. He formulates this lesson by quoting Goethe:

Soar with a heavy hammer -
Or stand on the anvil.

Dimitrov's last words in his closing speech at the trial express his unconditional faith that the cause to which he dedicated his life will triumph: "The wheel of history is turning ... it will turn until the final victory of communism!"

December 23, 1933. Last meeting of the Imperial Court. After a three-month duel, the court was forced to acquit G. Dimitrov, B. Popov, V. Tanev.

The world anti-fascist community is unanimous in its assessment of the Leipzig process, believing that it dealt the first moral and political blow to German fascism. Anti-fascists believe that the verdict of the court is evidence of the highest heroism and will to victory of the Bulgarian communist Georgy Dimitrov.

(In abbreviated version)