Brian Goold-Verschoyle

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Brian Goold-Verschoyle (1912 – 1942) joined the communist party in the 1920s, at a time when communist parties were springing up all over Europe.

He was said by MI5 to be a "naïve supporter" of the Soviet Union; unaware that he was being used to courier messages for Russian intelligence while he lived in London. He was controlled by Henri Peick. Goold-Verschoyle couriered UK agent’s reports, mainly from Foreign Office clerk John King. In 1936 he traveled under an assumed name to Moscow to undergo wireless training. Previously he had been working as an engineer, he also fell in love with a German Jewish refugee, Lotte Moos. He took her to Moscow against orders and fell foul of his Soviet masters. He was then sent to the Spanish Civil War (Barcelona) on the condition that he broke off all contact with Lotte. However he disobeyed this order and was kidnapped by the OGPU. The flash point was a disagreement with the Russian Ambassador in Valencia, for whom he was working. His increasing anti-Stalinist sentiment could have been a factor in his split with Moscow, as he quickly realised the Stalinists had no real interest in a world revolutionary movement which would be independent of Moscow. Brian’s letters home reveal a growing sympathy for the Socialist Party and the Trotskyist-influenced Poum. In April 1937 he was asked to report to Barcelona harbour to repair a ship’s radio. When he embarked he was escorted to the radio cabin and the door was locked behind him. He had in effect been kidnapped and when the ship arrived in Russia he was immediately transferred to the Lubianka prison in Moscow. He was sentenced to eight years for counter‑revolutionary Trotskyist activities.

Mrs. Goold-Verschoyle, pleaded with Major General Walter Krivitsky for any information relating to the whereabouts of Brian. Krivitsky was a senior member of the Fourth Department (Soviet Military Intelligence) and the first military intelligence officer to defect to the West. It is not known whether he answered he letters regarding her son. Krivitsky was later murdered in Washington during his stay at a hotel.

According to MI5, in 1941 Brian was killed in the Soviet Union whilst on board a train that was hit during a German bombing raid. Where the train was coming from or going is unknown at present. However Left to the Wolves indicates that he died in confinement in 1942.

This family is of the collateral branch of the Verschoyle family.

[edit] References

  • I was Stalin's Spy, Major General Walter Krivitsky. pp 115-116. Ian Faulkner Publishing Ltd, Cambridge, 1992.
  • Left to the Wolves: Irish Victims of Stalinist Terror, Barry McLoughlin
  • International Socialism Journal – Stalin’s Irish Victims
  • BBC News – Irish Victims of Stalin uncovered
  • The IRA in the twilight years 1923-1948, Uinseann MacEoin
  • The Family on Paradise Pier, Dermot Bolger
  • Verschoyle Official Site
  • Ireland & the Spanish Civil War