I’ve re-read your grandfather’s Congressional testimony, and the letter from “Bill” your grandfather carried from Copenhagen to send or deliver to Dr. Durant, and researched further the characters named in that letter. Now that we’re back in the U.S., I’ve had more access to resources describing those involved in the Soviet Trade Missions, and their disposal of Russian treasures in exchange for war materials to carry on their Civil War.

One of the most enlightening sources is an autobiography written in 1930 by Georgi Alexandrovich Solomon, “Unter den Roten Machthabern.” Solomon led Soviet Trade Missions in Berlin and Reval (Tallinn, Estonia). He wrote about life in the Hotel Petersburg and Hotel zum Goldenen Löwen in Reval during the time of my great-grand-father and his daughter’s stay, describing in detail the internal political strife among Lenin’s men in the Soviet Trade Missions– in the Bolshevik system where numerous party members, regardless of competence, insinuated themselves into the elite class – none desiring to be the mere “worker” they all supposedly lauded. According to Solomon, Krasin sent him from Moscow to Reval to clean up the debaucherous mess caused by Gukovsky’s incompetence. Gukovsky bribed everyone, especially foreign businessmen. Solomon even claims Gukovsky ran baths filled with champagne. Great reading to get the feel of life in the Soviet Trade Bureaus (at least, in Solomon’s opinion).

Regarding “Bill’s” letter (the P.S. after “Bill’s” signature): Given the internal strife and jealousies among Lenin’s men, it is not surprising that Litvinov (in Copenhagen and Reval) would look disapprovingly on Marten’s (New York Soviet Trade Bureau) acceptance of Boris Bobroff’s contractual offers. Martens had a mission to woo the U.S. government into acceptance of Lenin’s regime by expecting businessmen to apply the pressure. Krasin, Solomon, and Litvinov had a mission to buy arms and war supplies (especially to build railroads to move the troops), and launder the Soviet acquired gold, diamonds, and other treasures. Other countries, except France, were more easily wooed than the U.S.

It makes no sense that any U.S. official would think Boris Bobroff was “Bill.” Georgi Solomon describes well the warring cliques of Trade Commissioners leading missions and offices in Reval, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Moscow, Berlin, the U.S., and London during the Civil War. It wasn’t enough to hold back the White Armies. Lenin’s men pulled rugs from under each other.

Now, to “Bill.” I’ve traced a B. J. Gillette who lived in Hotel zum Goldenen Löwen in Reval, and who in December, 1921, vouched for my great-grand father at the American embassy in Reval in his attempt to be allowed to travel back to the U.S. The State Department questioned my relative’s dealings in Scandinavia, Estonia, and Russia, and it took many months for him to earn back his passport. In an old Los Angeles telephone book, I matched the address of B. J. Gillette, 1945 Bernard Park, with that of a William Gillette, a salesman for the Matheson Company (clothiers), located at 9 th and Hill Street.

Do you have access to an actual copy of “Bill’s” letter? Was it originally handwritten? I have samples of B. J. Gillette’s handwriting, and it would sure be worth comparing. The Congressional Hearing transcript mentions that a photostatic copy of the letter was placed in the records. Might it be possible to get a copy scanned, I wonder?

Strangely enough, my relatives worked out of the YMCA Association building in Chicago. Wilfred Humphries (mentioned in “Bill’s” letter) was in charge of the YMCA’s Russian mission, but dismissed given his growing Bolshevik sympathies. He moved on to Marten’s offices in New York.

More later … once I come up for air.

Sincerely,

Jan

Anne

Thank you for sending me the link to your grandfather’s testimony. I had difficulty attempting to access it up on my own.

Your view of Russian-Soviet historical circumstances matches my own in most respects. I believe my great-grandfather started off simply as profitting from WWI, having started his Baltic trading business in 1914, and working to supply the Tsar, Kerensky, and Lenin.

I’ll gather more information after I read your grandfather’s testimony, and provide a more detailed summary of info and documentation. After reaching a semi-plateau in my search, our correspondence should prove very fruitful for both of us.

Cheers,

Jan

P.S. I’m writing to you from our home in New Zealand, and my files are dived between two sides of the Pacific.

The story of your relatives living close to Borodin/Gruzenberg in Chicago is also fascinating.

My own stance about the Bolsheviks in general and what they were doing with tsarist gold in particular is nuanced. The Soviet autocracy was heinous. But a lot of Russians joined the Bolsheviks before the revolution because they genuinely believed they would bring a better life to people who had suffered terribly under tsarism. The recentralization of government after the revolution, reaching its peak with Stalin’s purges, profoundly disillusioned these idealistic activists – they themselves became victims of the “revolution.” I think it’s important to look at the range of Bolshevik activists and be careful not to excoriate good-hearted people who became victims themselves.

I also believe that for historic and geographic reasons (which I’ve begun to describe here: http://annebobroffhajal.com/2009/07/the-most-exposed-terrain-on-earth/), Russia has been autocratic for centuries, and will continue to be. The Soviets used the dictatorial powers they seized from the tsars in order to industrialize Russia. They also murdered well over 20,000,000 people. As we’re seeing in Putin’s Russia today, the country is not becoming democratic. It’s recentralizing, as it historically always has: opposition journalists are murdered, opposition publications are silenced, the judicial system has become a tool of government rather than an independent force for justice, the government has seized the vast wealth of e. g. oil production, and so on.

I don’t know whether you’ve had a chance to read my grandfather’s testimony before Congress here: http://books.google.com/books?id=RnwMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=bobroff+conditions+in+russia&source=bl&ots=pWjzzrQk5Y&sig=cjiVwoGJUn36CmA0fzHV6y6NS4s&hl=en&ei=p6ggTZOOO4WdlgektbXsAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=bobroff%20conditions%20in%20russia&f=false.

I had assumed (after seeing the letter found in “Bill” Bobroff’s possession by the Bureau of Investigation) that my grandfather was likely involved with the Bolshevik effort to win US diplomatic recognition by establishing trade with the US. But after reading his congressional testimony, I think the jury is still very much out. For one thing, I think it’s very likely he didn’t write the letter taken from him by the BOI. The “voice” of the letter is different from that of my grandfather’s testimony before Congress, so I think it’s likely that their sources were two different people, as my grandfather claimed.

Also, my grandfather had worked hard to get $6,000,000 in contracts for boots and other items for the Soviets. So he stood to become a wealthy American businessman if he could get the US to allow the Bolsheviks to pay for American goods with tsarist gold. I think it’s possible that making money was his sole goal, though I still don’t know that for sure.

Can you send me the titles or links for the NY Times articles about the two couriers? My grandfather was caught by the BOI, so I’m not sure why you think the one not caught was him?

I’ll be interested in learning more about your family as well as mine.

Anne

According to Dr. Richard Pipes (emeritus Harvard Prof, and former adviser to Reagan on soviet matters): The Pale of Settlement “died a natural death” during WWI when Jews, many suspected of being pro-German, were forced away from combat zones. The provisional government in 1917 abolished all restrictions, and Jews began to be functionaries in the government in and outside of the Pale.

So, in 1920, your grandfather would not have been restricted from working in Rayazan. Apparently, in the Ukrain restrictions continued.

Before restrictions were lifted, many frustrated, starving, and disparing young Jews were (understandably) active in the revolutionary parties (anarcho-syndicatlists, Bolsheviks, Social-democrats, etc.). Unfortunately, human prejudice tends to couple circumstances sans propor logic — that the first appearance of Jews outside the Pale included important revolutionaries, anti-semitic flames were fueled enough to ignite hatred that would soon after WWI put Herr Schiklgruber (Hitler) in power. Folks forget that after the restrictions were lifted, many Jews earned leadership positions in the White Armies, as well.

I truly hope we can have some conversations, especially about contacts for research in the Baltic.

Cheers,

Jan

My family history mirrors yours, with great-grandfather, his son, daughter, and neice traveling in and out of Bolshevik Russia, in their “trade haven” in Reval (Tallinn), Estonia, and throughout the rest of the Baltic from 1914 to about 1923. However, they were Danish immigrants living in Chicago, and not Russian-born; but they spoke multiple languages, including Russian.

My grandfather was also a “machinist” (engineer), working in St. Petersburg from 1916 to 1918 (when he was able to flee, given he would probably have been imprisoned, executed, or “appropriated” for life).

Certain odd family heirlooms had my family guessing for YEARS what they were up to in the Baltic. Finally, a few months ago I was perusing accomplishments of fellow Humboldt Foundation scholars in Germany, and found a book written by Dr. Dean McMeekin in 2009. IT TELLS ALL:

Title: “History’s Greatest Heist, The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks.”

I started searching documents on line, and after careful research discovered that my relatives were involved in the Bolsheviks’ scheme of gold laundering (melting down the bars in Stockholm, and replacing the Czar’s seal with that of the Swedish Crown) and trading for American goods — most of it used to fund the Bolshevik’s reign of terror, not for feeding the starving population, as their propaganda boasted. Others involved? J. P. Morgan’s bank, Armand Hammer, and a host of other international financiers.

Your grandfather probably came into contact with a man (re-)named “Borodin” (in reality, Mikhail Gruzenberg, AKA Mike Berg — founded Berg’s Progressive Preparatory School for immigrant children in Chicago, as a cover), or his co-workers. Borodin was an infamous Comintern agent who lived very near my relatives. He hung out at Jane Addams’ Hull House, and was considered a socially conscious good guy, interested not in making a livingk, but in providing immigrant Russian-Jewish children a bright future in America. He was good at his cover …

I have many questions for you, as well. I very much would like to compare notes with you. I’m a retired academic (who lectured in research methodology) who now writes historical dramas, and had no idea until now that I had some large skeletons in my closet with an incredible story .

I’m also planning a trip to trace the “trade route” in the Baltic (Estonia, St. Patersberg, and Scandinavia).

Please contact me.

Jan

P.S. The letter you mention your grandfather carried back to the U.S. … You might be interested in the New York Times archived articles about two curriers (one caught, one not). Borodin gave messages (dictated by Lenine, himself) to the two to deliver to one of the American Communist Party Headquarters (there was a split in the party in the U.S. at the time). They were able to catch one of the curriers, but not the other. Sounds like the latter may have been your grandfather.

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPATD81864&id=VgxuAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Bobroff,+Bornett+L.

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT1258305&id=jBxZAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Bobroff,+Bornett+L.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Bobroff,+Bornett+L.&hl=en&lr=&start=0&sa=N

https://www.fastcase.com/Google/Start.aspx?C=50e86b3179ff65b952d06dda6d94c091c51ebb81c61f6ea3&D=da0405e7bd1c8869aad48965dde042198450a099aca5d695

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~usgenweb/wi/cemetery/images/racine/racine-mound/racine-mound0077.jpg

http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/publications/sources1/archival_collectionsb.html

http://arcat.library.wisc.edu/cgibin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=1&ti=1,1&Search%5FArg=Bobroff&SL=None&Search%5FCode=CMD&CNT=25&PID=8-OLho4cNkFfzQYFAxFovX8__Bz&SEQ=20080330061917&SID=3

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT1981302&id=pVN5AAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Bobroff,+Bornett+L.

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT1984628&id=xXx5AAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Bobroff,+Bornett+L.

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT1969116&id=R35WAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Bobroff,+Bornett+L.

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT2269512&id=ykRlAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Bobroff,+Bornett+L.

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT2057000&id=HDVoAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Bobroff,+Bornett+L.

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT1825991&id=ApE_AAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Bobroff,+Bornett+L.

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT1157839&id=v_xGAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Bobroff,+Bornett+L.

http://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/MIND_Repository_Details.aspx?rep_id=729