A MILITARY TRIBUNAL A SECOND BERLIN TALE { JANUARY 2017 )

ONE FRIDAY AFTERNOON, WE RECEIVED A PHONE CALL FROM A REPRESENATIVE OF THE

FRENCH ARMY, LE DEUXIEME BUREAU (OUR MILITARY COUNTERPART), STATING THAT THEY HAD

VERY RECENTLY RECEIVED THE RETURN OF 16 FRENCH ARMY DESERTERS WHO HAD BEEN JAILED

BY THE SOVIETS IN THE NATORIOUS VOORKUDA(PHONETICALLY) GULAG. I AND ANOTHER AGENT

WERE ASSIGNED ,SINCE WE WERE QUALIFUED FRENCH LINGUISTS, TO VISIT THEM ON SUNDAY.

ACTUALLY, WE ALREADY KNEW ABOUT THIS. WHEN THERE WERE OVER 20 ALLIED MILITARY AND

CIVILAN INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES OPERATING IN W. BERLIN, SUCH NEWS SPREAD VERY QUICKLY.

WE HAD INTEREST IN VOORKOODA WHICH WAS IN NORTH RUSSIA NEAR THE ARCTIC CIRCLE.

AT TIMES, WHILE VETTNG A POTENTIAL SOURCE, ONE WOULD CLAIM TO HAVE BEEN A PRISONER

IN VOORKUDA. THERE WAS NO WAY TO VERIFY THIS. THUS, IF WE COULD GET A BIT OF A PROFILE

OF THE GULAG AS TO PHYSICAL PLANT, THE GUARD SYSTEM ETC., WE COULD HAVE A BETTER

INSIGHT DURING THE VETTING PROCESS. WE DEVELOPED A SHORT OPEN-ENDED SET OF QUESTIONS

WHEN WE ARRIVED AT THE FRENCH MILITARY COMPOUND ,WE WERE ESCORTED TO A MEDICAL

AREA WHERE THESE MEN WERE BEING HOUSED. IT SEEMED THAT ALL OF THEM HAD TUBERCULOSIS-TB.

WE WERE ISSUED FACEMASKS, WARNED NOT TO SHAKE THEIR HANDS AND TO STAND A

SHORT DISTANCE FROM THEIR BEDS. THESE WERE VERY SICK PERSONS. WE EACH CHOSE 3 MEN TO

INTERVIEW. THEY SEEMED TO APPEAR MOST WILLING TO REPLY TO OUR QUESTIONS EVEN THOUGH THEY

APPEAREDTO BE QUITE TENSE. ONCE COMPLETED, WE WENT TO THE OFFICE TO WASH OUR HANDS.

OUR HOST THEN OFFERED, AND WE ACCDEPTED, A DRINK OF COGNAC. WHEN I QUESTIONED

OUR FRANCO FRIEND AS TO WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THEM, HE SAID,” SOON, THEY WILL BE

RETURNED TO PARIS, BE TRIED BEFORE A MILITARY TRIBUNAL AND THEN BE SHOT.”

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT DID HAPPEN. I NEVER FOUND OUT IF OUR GULAG PROFILE WAS HELPFUL.

SHORTLY THEREAFTER, I RETURNED TO THE Z.I.

JIM RYAN, MIANE SCRIBE