He was often called in the Russian way - Igor Kharitonovich. But his real name is Ibrahim Khatyamovich. He was from the Mordovian village of Surgadi.
How did he learn German? He had an uncle - Alexei Nikolaevich Agishev, who lived in the city of Engels, before the war - the capital of the Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans. He persuaded his parents to give him Ibrahim for upbringing. Ibrahim graduated from a German school. Language practice was in the city at every step. Ibrahim was fond of classical German literature. His uncle Alexei Nikolaevich also studied German. But, as he believed, for a practical purpose. He believed that with a knowledge of the language he could help the German workers free themselves from Hitler. However, fate will decide differently …
Alexei Agishev will volunteer for the front and die near Tula from a German bullet. And his nephew, wearing a German uniform, will become a scout and will receive terrible mental burns for life, having seen the crimes of the Gestapo with his own eyes.
After graduating from school in Engels, Ibragim Aganin in 1940 entered the Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School. I studied for only a year. In 1941 he went to the front. At first he fought in Ukraine, and he often had to interrogate prisoners. Aganin was seriously wounded in the battle. After the hospital, he was sent to the courses of translators. “We were taught by teachers from Moscow State University, the Institute of Foreign Languages, as well as senior officers of the special services. We studied the charter of the German army, its structure, insignia.
The teachers tried to reveal to us the psychology of the German soldiers. We have translated dozens of German documents and soldiers' letters.
Then, finding myself in the German rear, I remembered my teachers with gratitude. At first I thought that this knowledge would help me better conduct interrogation of prisoners of war. But it turned out that I myself would have to get used to the role of a German officer,”he told me when we met, when I, as a war correspondent, sought him out and wrote down his memoirs for three days.
Lieutenant Aganin was sent to the 258th division, which fought at Stalingrad. “When I had to interrogate captured Germans, I was often surprised at how strong a conviction they possessed. Let me give you an example. I asked a captured German officer questions: I demanded to name the name of which division he was from … And he said that he would take care of saving our lives if he was treated well. So he was sure of victory."
Aganin commanded a reconnaissance platoon. “As I found out later, the higher authorities came up with a plan for my“reincarnation”as a German officer. I was brought to the headquarters of the Southwestern Front. And I was shocked to learn about the task that I had to complete. I was informed that the German lieutenant Otto Weber, who was returning from Germany from vacation, was captured. Part of it was surrounded and defeated. He didn't know about it. Wandered across the steppe, was captured. I had to go to the German rear with his documents. First I was placed in a POW camp, where I was next to Otto Weber. He talked about his family, relatives, friends. Together with his mother, Weber went to Germany from the Baltic states. Like me, he also spoke German with a slight Russian accent. He, like me, was 20 years old. He also commanded an intelligence unit.
Now Otto Weber's fate was to be mine. I caught and memorized every word he said. And he also said that his own uncle was in command of the regiment at Stalingrad. He only didn’t know that this regiment was also defeated, and his uncle was killed”.
Preparations for the reincarnation of Aganin in the German officer Otto Weber was rather short: he could not, according to legend, wander the steppe for too long.
In the documents that were handed to Aganin, other notes were made about Weber's stay in Germany. In his backpack were home-knitted woolen socks. Everything about Aganin's outfit was genuine, German.
In mid-February 1943, Aganin was brought to the steppe river, behind which, according to the scouts, there were German units. After the encirclement of enemy troops at Stalingrad, in the steppe in many areas there was no continuous line of defense. Crossing the frozen river, Aganin fell into a wormwood. On the shore, he poured water from his boots. He took refuge in a haystack. In the morning I saw a dirt road in the distance, along which rare cars passed. He headed in that direction. Raising his hand, he stopped the truck. "Where are you going?" "To Amvrosievka!" "Fine! I go there too!"
Sending Aganin behind the front line, no one could know which military unit he would end up in. However, the underground reported that officers and soldiers from disparate units were being sent to Donetsk. Here a "revenge army" is being formed, which will take revenge for Stalingrad. The scout Aganin had to try to get to Donetsk. In this city there was still a hope of arranging a "post box" for him. His own aunt lived here. According to the intelligence department's plan, Aganin will transmit through her an encrypted note, which the Donetsk underground fighters will take away. It was not an easy scheme …
Arriving at Amvrosievka, Weber-Aganin went to the commandant's office. He submitted documents to the commandant and made a personal request: “At Stalingrad, the regiment is commanded by his own uncle. He would like to say hello to him from his family. " And then the commandant perked up. It turned out that he knew this colonel. “I served under his command. He saved my life. Glad to see his nephew. " Meanwhile, Aganin felt that he had caught a cold. He shivered. The commandant noticed his condition. "You are sick? You will be taken to the hospital."
Aganin-Weber was among the wounded and sick. He kept silent more, saying that he was shell-shocked. Meanwhile, he wasted no time. In the hospital I watched the manner of communication, memorized anecdotes and jokes, the names of sports teams, songs that were sometimes dragged out here.
“I had genuine documents. They could not arouse suspicion. I was afraid to make mistakes in the little things, at the everyday level. It would be strange not to know, say, a song popular in Germany,”Aganin recalled.
He was discharged from the hospital. And he again goes to the military commander. He says: “Take courage, Otto! I made inquiries. Your uncle is dead. I can see how sad you are. " In memory of his deceased friend, the commandant promises to take care of Otto Weber. "You're too weak to go back to the trenches." He's calling someone on the phone. The conversation was about the field Gestapo. Aganin hears that the Gestapo needs translators.
Weber-Aganin goes to Donetsk. Here he learns that he is being appointed as an interpreter for the field Gestapo unit, which is listed as GUF-721. The field Gestapo was a special punitive body created in the Abwehr system.
Field Gestapo officers followed the advancing Wehrmacht troops and were intended to fight the underground and partisans. No wonder they were called "chain dogs". GFP-721 operated at a great distance - from Taganrog to Donetsk. And this meant that intelligence agent Aganin would be able to collect information over a large territory.
“On the very first day, the head of the GUF Meisner led me through the torture room,” Ibrahim Aganin said. - On the table lay a wounded man who was beaten on his bloody back with rubber sticks. The battered face turned into a mask. For a moment I saw eyes that were clouded with pain. And suddenly it seemed to me that this was my older brother Misha. I got scared. Did he see me among his tormentors? All my life this memory haunted me. After the war, I found out: my brother Misha, the tank commander, disappeared near Donetsk …
Once in a strange environment, Aganin, despite his youth and inexperience, showed remarkable resourcefulness and cunning in order to break through to clerical work. So he could not only save his life, but also evade participation in actions, as they called here operations against partisans and underground fighters.
“My appointment as a translator was not something special,” Aganin said. - Next to me was an interpreter, the son of a policeman, who knew German at the level of high school. So, with my knowledge of German and Russian, the authorities needed me. I tried my best. They brought me piles of papers. Among them were many orders addressed to the local population. With all the meticulousness I translated every line. I had good handwriting. In my mind, I thanked my teachers. When the employees, taking weapons, were going to the operation, and I was sitting at the counter, I was frankly called a coward. They made fun of me. There was even a nickname: "Otto is a paper mouse."
In Donetsk and the environs, Aganin saw the location of military units, airfields, warehouses. But how to transfer this information to the intelligence department behind the front line? He did not and could not have a radio.
And then he decided to try to transmit the encrypted note through his aunt's house. “Once we went to the cinema in a big company,” Aganin said. - I said that I had a headache and left the hall. Dodging through the streets, I went to my aunt. At first she did not recognize me. "Misha! It's you?" - mistook for an older brother. Without explaining anything, he handed her a note, which contained the usual birthday greetings. He asked me to give a note to the person who will tell the name of my mother. My aunt understood something and cried: "We will be hanged!" I am ashamed to remember how harshly I spoke to her. Still, she agreed to take the note. (Then her family helped me a lot). I was hoping the intelligence department would pass on my aunt's address to the local underground. I will have a connection. And in fact, when I came to my aunt again, she gave me a note with the same outwardly meaningless words. When I deciphered the text, I learned that the address of a laundress named Lida was handed over to me. I began to take her clothes to the wash and put my encrypted messages inside.
I did not ask the washerwoman Lida any questions. I don't know if she had a walkie-talkie or if she transmitted my encrypted messages to the underground. One thing I can say - this connection worked. After the war, I found 14 messages from Donetsk in the archive.
The Gestapo carried out arrests of members of the underground.
It is only in the movies that the scout goes unrecognized by attendance and warns the underground.
Aganin was then a small fry in the Gestapo. He was unaware of many upcoming operations. And yet, as best he could, he helped the underground workers to avoid arrest. “If I found out about the impending operation against the underground, I took the note to the washerwoman. But sometimes I didn't have time for that. I remember such a case. The arrest of a group of underground workers was being prepared. One of them is a projectionist. I brought the projectionist to the police, took a vacant room and started shouting at him: “We know that you are a bandit! And your friends are bandits! You can be saved if you work for us! Go and think! I will be waiting for you in two days. The guy was leaving, and I was hoping he would warn the group.
“Did I take the risk of intimidating the projectionist? But nobody knew my name. And what he shouted and demanded - such an officer's behavior was customary."
I asked Aganin - what were the Gestapo men like in everyday life, what struck him the most in the field Gestapo. After all, he lived with them, participated in parties.
“There were special masters of provocations. A local translator served in our unit. His classmates organized an underground group. The Gestapo developed the following operation: this translator comes to his classmates and asks for their forgiveness. Like, he went to serve in order to receive food. In my heart I remained a patriot, I ask you to join the group and propose to blow up the ammunition depot at the station. And they really believed him. He persuaded the guys to gather in one house. He said that he would drive up in a truck and take the group to the warehouse. At the appointed hour, two covered cars drove up to this house, from which German soldiers jumped out, surrounded the underground. Translator Victor shouted into the megaphone to the guys to leave the house with their hands up. In response, the underground fighters opened fire. The house was set on fire. So everyone died."
“And one day, opening my closet, I noticed: someone was rummaging through my things. I got cold, - Aganin recalled. - Suspect me? But in the service everything went as usual. Of course, I was very worried. But then I saw that such searches were common here. They checked everyone constantly. I have never kept anything secret. I kept everything in my memory. They could not find anything from me."
But one day the danger came very close to Aganin.
Reading the mail, he saw that a response had come from Berlin to an inquiry about Otto Weber's mother. Aganin knew that she was no longer alive. But the order was such that they would continue to look for all the relatives. It was necessary to leave Donetsk.
When he was sent behind the front line, there was such an agreement: in case of danger, he would go to the front line and, as a prisoner of war, would fall into the trenches of the front edge of the Red Army.
This is what Aganin was going to do. But through the washerwoman Lida he received another order: to stay in the territory occupied by the Germans. If it is impossible to stay in Donetsk, try to find other documents and continue to conduct intelligence.
Aganin had a business trip to Kiev. He decided to take advantage of this. At the train station in Kiev, he met Lieutenant Rudolf Kluger. Together we issued tickets. We ended up in the same compartment. Aganin treated his fellow traveler. He talked about himself - where he was from, where he fought and so on. It was very hot in the compartment. They took off their uniforms. Aganin suggested that his fellow traveler go out to the vestibule - to get some air. In war, as in war: Aganin stabbed Kluger with a knife and threw him under the wheels of a train. Returning to the compartment, he put on Kluger's uniform, where his documents were in his pocket. Kluger managed to tell Aganin that he was going from the hospital to a sanatorium located in the village of Gaspra.
Aganin got off the train at the Sinelnikovo stop and went to the market. In full view of the whole car, he ran after the train with apples in his hands. But he lagged behind the train. I went into a shady square, took out Kluger's documents, pasted in my photograph, and forged a corner of the seal. Issued a new ticket. Meanwhile, his uniform with documents in the name of Otto Weber remained in the compartment of the departed train. In Donetsk, a message was received that Otto Weber, an employee of the GFP-712, died under the wheels of a train. The officer's face and body were disfigured.
Aganin with a voucher in the name of Kluger arrives at the sanatorium. He immediately decided - here he needs to find a patron. After all, it is impossible for him to return to the unit where Kluger served. I chose Colonel Kurt Brunner from vacationers. He commanded an artillery unit in Kerch. “I became his voluntary servant,” Aganin said. - Fulfilled any of his wishes. If he wanted to go hunting, I looked for a picnic spot. If the colonel wanted to meet a girl, I ran to the beach, negotiated with someone, looked for an apartment to meet. My relatives would have looked at me then … I did not recognize myself. But my plan was successful. The colonel is used to my services.
I said that I would like to serve under him. He wrote an appeal to some higher authorities and announced to me that from the sanatorium I would go with him to the artillery regiment. Once there, I realized that the view for a scout here is too small.
I told the colonel that I would like to serve in the Abwehr unit. I have a penchant for this kind of activity. Besides, I speak Russian. The colonel went to meet me. So I ended up again in the field Gestapo - GFP-312, which operated in the Crimea.
I saw that they hired young people from local people who proved to be provocateurs to work as translators. But their knowledge of the German language was within the scope of the school course. Among them, of course, I was different. I again tried to excel in clerical work, pretended to stick to the head of the department, Otto Kausch. As soon as he appeared, I helpfully picked up his briefcase. They laughed at me. That was my protective mask."
What struck him in these people, among whom he was forced to find, was their insatiability. “Usually at the table they liked to brag about who sent how many parcels home. What does this mean? This is even difficult to imagine!
A German soldier or officer had the right to enter any house and pick up whatever he liked. Rummaged in closets, chests. They took coats, dresses, toys. Used buses to take away the loot. There were special mailboxes ready for such parcels.
The weight of one was 10 kilograms. It seemed that there was nothing to take from the houses. But they even took away sunflower seeds, calling them “Russian chocolate” with contempt.
Aganin is painfully looking for a way out to his own. Nobody knows where he is. And how to convey the valuable information that he collected in the Crimea? He is taking a risky step. In the office, he came across a denunciation of the Romanian officer Iona Kozhuhara (he had a different surname). This officer, in a circle of friends, expressed defeatist sentiments, said that he did not believe in the victory of Germany. Aganin decided to take advantage of this story. He found Kozhuhara and said that he was facing a military tribunal. Aganin told Kozhukharu that he wanted to save him, and the officer had only one chance - to surrender to the Russians. “Nothing will threaten his life if he fulfills one assignment,” Aganin recalled. “We will sew a note into his clothes that I allegedly received from the arrested person during interrogation. The note was written about the death of the underground group, the names of those who were shot were named. In fact, with the help of a cipher, I informed my leaders that I was alive, I was in Feodosia, I ask them to send a messenger so that the note would reach those to whom it was intended, I gave the password, which I allegedly also learned from the arrested person. Over time, I became convinced that Kozhuharu followed my instructions exactly.
About a month later, in Feodosia, a pretty girl approached me on the street. She suddenly, as if in a fit of feelings, kissed me, whispered the password in my ear and the place of our meeting in a cafe. So my grueling risk made sense again. Later I found out that the girl is connected with a partisan detachment, which has a walkie-talkie."
He gave her the schemes of airfields, fortifications built, and the location of German troops. I hoped that this information would help save soldiers' lives when the liberation of Crimea began.
Here Aganin had to learn about the operations carried out by the field Gestapo. In one of the Crimean cities, allegedly, a seaman of the Black Sea Fleet appeared. He was a tall, handsome guy. At dances, in the cinema, he met young people. I noticed that a girl stands out among them, let's call her Clara. She is a clear leader. The "sailor" looks after her. Escorts, penetrates into her house. The girl is fascinated by this "sailor". He says that he would like to fight again, to avenge his friends. How could you not believe him? He has such honest eyes. On the recommendation of Clara, he was accepted into an underground group. He managed to find out the addresses of the underground. They were arrested one night. Clara could not believe that the "sailor" was a traitor. At the confrontation, she asked him: "Tell me - have you been intimidated?" He laughed in her face. Clara was desperate. Because of her gullibility, an underground group perished. They were all taken to be shot. Among the punishers was an imaginary "sailor".
In March 1944, employees of the GUF, in which Aganin was located, began to leave the Crimea. He set off with them on the road. We drove through Chisinau. And then there was a traffic jam on the narrow road. Aganin got out of the car and, to his horror, saw German officers he knew from Donetsk on the sidelines. They approached him: "We were told that Otto Weber died on the railway, and you, it turns out, are alive?" Aganin began to assert that he had never been to Donetsk, he was mistaken for someone else. Demonstratively got out of the car, walked along the highway. He saw - officers from Donetsk were watching him. And then the bombing began - Soviet planes flew in. All of the cars rushed into the forest. “I also dodged between the trees, moving away from the road,” Aganin said. - I told myself - now the moment has come when I need to leave the Germans, go to my own. I knew the location of the leading edge. With my hands up - I'm in German uniform - I found myself in the trenches among my soldiers. Got a cuff while walking down the trench. The unit commander insistently repeated: I need to contact the counterintelligence officers, I have important messages."
A few days later, state security officers came for him. He gave the password. Of course, he was interrogated. But then he became convinced that his story was not lost among others during that war.
“For the first time I was among my own people. Could throw off the hated German uniform. I was taken to a house where I could rest. Peace and quiet. But then I had a nervous breakdown. The pictures of the brutal massacres that I had seen in the Gestapo again rose before me. I could not sleep. Not this night, not the next. I was sent to the hospital. But for a long time, neither the doctors nor the drugs could get me out of this state. The doctors said: exhaustion of the nervous system."
Despite his illness, he returned to the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. Graduated from high school, studied in graduate school. He defended his Ph. D. thesis. I got married. His son was growing up. When I met I. Kh. Aganin, he worked as a teacher at the All-Union Correspondence Institute of Textile and Light Industry.
But there was another side to his peaceful life. "Ashes burned his heart" - this is about him, Ibrahim Aganin.
As a witness, he spoke at many trials where fascist punishers and their accomplices were tried. He told me this story. At one of the major trials in Krasnodar, Aganin again gave detailed testimony. There were relatives of the victims in the hall. Suddenly there were shouts to Aganin: “Who are you? How do you know all the details? There was a noise in the hall. Chairman of the military tribunal S. M. Sinelnik announced a break. Having called Moscow, I contacted the competent authorities. He received permission for the first time to name the intelligence officer at the trial. The audience rose to greet Aganin.
He participated in many processes. They began to call him the main witness for the prosecution. Often Aganin was the only one who could expose the punishers, call their names, so that justice could be done.
At the institute where he worked, he once spoke to students, told about how many underground fighters died unknown. This is how the "Search" detachment appeared. Together with the students, Aganin visited Donetsk, Makeyevka, Feodosia, Alushta, and other cities where the underground was active. The "Search" detachment was looking for those who were in the cell with the convicts, who saw how they were taken to execution, remembered their last words. Searchers found inscriptions on the walls of prison cells. From scattered information, it was possible to learn about the fate of the victims, and sometimes to clear their names from slander. Aganin had a difficult fate not only to look for the relatives of the executed, but also to tell them what happened to their loved ones.
For Ibrahim Aganin, the war did not end in 1945. Despite his failing health, he continued to travel to the cities where the punishers were tried. He was often called the main witness for the prosecution. Once I also happened to be present at such a trial.
… Aganin died, returning from the last trial for him. He died like a soldier on duty, having fulfilled his duty to the end.
