" G.P.U. JUSTICE "
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—As the German engineer whose narrative Maurice Edelman presents in his book, G.P. U. justice, I would ask you and your reviewer, Mr. E. H. Carr, to correct the statement in his review of the book that I was held by the G.P.U. in custody for " Trotskyist affinities." This is nowhere stated, nor even implied, in the book. It is, in fact, an invention of Mr. Carr, who could hardly have both read the book and missed the charges on which the story hinges.
The charges were actually of currency offences and economic espionage, to the former of which I pleaded guilty through ignorance of the regulations ; the latter charge, to which I pleaded not guilty, was, after proper examination, dismissed.
Incidentally, how significant it is that when first-hand evidence is produced showing the G.P.U. to be an intelligent, judicial instrument of social defence instead of an instrument of torture and oppression, even an " objective " critic should, by implication, dismiss it a priori as being prejudiced.—Yours Whewell House, Mill Hill.
[Mr. Carr writes : Mr. Kleist was accused of " espionage, theft and economic espionage " (p. 61) and of having received money from " a German spy " (p. 66). He tells us that " in the U.S.S.R. Trotskyism is the name applied . . . to all forms of wrecking, sabotage and spying " (p. 136). My offence is, therefore, that of having used the current jargon.]
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