3 ITEMS
[1]
A week before the trial of Ponomaryov and Nedobora (CCE 13.4), a witness engineer L. Kornilov was dismissed from his post for “not having passed renewal-of-contract procedure”. The renewal of contract procedure had actually taken place at his factory two months previously.
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[2]
The day after the trial of Ponomaryov and Nedobora, the sister of Arkady Levin (who had not then been convicted, CCE 13.5), was dismissed from her place of work. Here is the full text of the contract renewal board’s decision:
“Comrade T. Z. Levina graduated in 1955 from Kharkov’s Lenin Polytechnic Institute as a specialist in automation, telemetry and instrument technology.
“From 1959 to 1960 she worked as an engineer in a firm whose address was P.O. Box No.201. In 1960 she was taken on to work as an engineer in the Ukrainian Power & Ferrous Metallurgy Combine (Ukrenergochermet), where she worked until 1966.
“From 1966 onwards she worked in the automation department of Giprostal Institute first as an engineer then, from February 1966 as a senior engineer.
“Comrade T.Z. Levina is a qualified engineer with a good knowledge of design work. She improves her technical knowledge by reading technical literature and following technical study courses in her department. In the current year she is not improving her political knowledge through the political education network.
“Her standpoint on the evaluation of political events is incorrect. There was an instance when Comrade Levina spoke publicly in defence of the writer Solzhenitsyn.
“On 26 November Comrade Levina infringed work discipline by being absent without leave and was reprimanded for this by order of the Director.”
(Editors’ note: on 26 November 19691 the day of Genrikh Altunyan’s trial, T.Z. Levina came home from a business trip for one day. She sent an explanatory note to the office that same day, and afterwards meticulously executed all she was supposed to have done on the day in question.)
“A general meeting of the automation department requested the Institute’s local committee to relieve comrade Levina of the title of “Communist Shock Worker”.
“In terms of technical training comrade T.Z. Levina is fitted for the post of senior engineer, but bearing in mind the shortcomings listed here, she should not at present be entrusted with, important supervisory work within the collective.”
“The results of the secret ballot on the recommendations of the contract renewal board were:
“Fitted for the post she occupies, 1; Unfitted, 5.
“I confirm: Comrade Levina is to be dismissed from the Institute.
“Litvinenko, Director.”
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[3]
On 10 March, it was put to one of Levina’s colleagues, a young specialist called Roman Kaplan, that he should resign “of his own free will.” (He had tried to get into Ponomaryov’s and Nedobora’s trial.)
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A Chronicle of Current Events 