Jacob Mironovich Lomakin (; November 4, 1904 – August 16, 1958) was a Soviet diplomat, journalist and economist.Vladimir Pozner, Parting with illusions, The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990, p. 44Christopher Hampton, Tales of HollywoodSusan Lisa Carruthers, Cold war captives: imprisonment, escape, and brainwashing, University of California Press, 2009, Chapter 1, pp 53-54
World War II US–Soviet Alliance (1942–1944)
In 1939 the graduate of the Moscow Textile Institute (with expertise in engineering and economics) and editor of newspaper “Light Industry” was appointed as TASS journalist in New York City.cdn.un.org/unyearbook/yun/pdf/1947-48/1947-48_1108.pdf The eruption of WWII initiated Lomakin's diplomatic career: in 1941 as Vice-Consul in New York and in 1942–1944 as Consul General in San Francisco.https://sanfrancisco.mid.ru>en_US/istoricheskaa-spravka
During the WWII U.S.–Soviet Alliance he was active in the Lend-Lease program and at meetings for raising funds to aid the Red Army. These meetings were funded by numerous anti-fascist organizations, among them the International Committee of the Red Cross, American Russian Institute and Russian War Relief. Together with progressive cultural figures, and military and governmental officials of the United States, Lomakin advocated the opening of the Second Front.Christopher Hampton “Tales of Hollywood”Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art, Robert W. Cherny, Univ. of Illinois Press, 2017, p. 138 Sausalito News, vol. 58, number 47, 25 November 1943 – California Digital Collection
Cold War (1946–48) – United Nations subcommittee on Freedom of Information and the Press
In 1946–1948 Lomakin combined the duties of Consul General in New York City with work at the United Nations (UN) subcommittee on Freedom of Information and the Press. "Mr. Lomakin was elected as an individual – rather than a member of the Soviet delegation by the Economic and Social Council. Members were to be chosen by the Human Rights Commission, in consultation with the Secretary General Trygve Lie."Herald Tribune, Thursday Aug.26, 1948New York Times, March 26, 1947 “Lomakin’s election confirms that his erudition in economics and journalism was widely known.”Herald Tribune, March 28, 1947 “A near-facsimile of cinemanful James Cagney, ebullient Consul Lomakin had no battery of deadpan advisers... Unlike icily aloof Andrei Gromyko, Lomakin chatted easily with whose near him. He called the other delegates “fellow experts” and he uttered such un-Soviet statements as “We don’t need to be consulting Moscow all the time,” and ”I will go along with what the majority thinks. …(when) the subcommission promptly voted – nine against Lomakin – to put censorship problem on the agenda. They seemed almost sorry to do it; he was such an agreeable Russian.”Time Magazine, June 2, 1947, "United Nations: Such an Agreeable Russian" “Lomakin looks like a member of the Notre Dame backfield and talks like Sir George Bernard Shaw.”UN press Journal “United Nations World”, March, 1948, p. 59, Twelve Men in Search of Freedom
At UN sessions, Lomakin opposed the incitement of hostility between the USSR and its WWII Allies, which, he said, day after day manifested itself in various forms in print and radio, and offered to focus on eradicating the consequences of fascism. He pointed out that if the media picks up and replicates the same version, then this lack of alternative is in itself censorship. Lomakin warned about the unlawful incitement of hatred. He insisted that journalists should be held accountable for the information they bring to the court of readers and listeners. According to him, “if the media is given too much freedom, they start trading news, as selling tobacco, thinking only about making the most profit.”Time magazine, Feb. 2, 1948. The Press. You're anotherexcept from Jacob Lomakin’s speech on January 22, 1948 at the meeting of United Nations subcommittee on Freedom of Information and the Press In August 1948 the truthfulness of this remark came to life during the Kasenkina Case.Kasenkina Case
August 1948, Kasenkina case
According to Ellis M. Zacharias (a retired Rear Admiral and senior Intelligence Officer of the US Navy) the personal tragedy of a mentally unstable Soviet school teacher, Oksana Kasenkina “was immensely overheated by the mass media into a noisy and ambiguous affair.” Her erratic behavior at the time of McCarthyism and the Berlin Blockade “was promptly used as a welcome opportunity for effective anti-Soviet propaganda... It was Mme Kasenkina whose fears and indecisions precipitated the crisis.”Ellis M. Zacharias, Behind Closed Doors: The Secret History of the Cold War, G. Putnam”s sons, New York, 1950, Chapter 8, p. 85 On July 31, 1948, she deserted her Soviet employers on the eve of her projected departure for Moscow. Vladimir Zenzinov, a former member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party brought her to Reed Farm belonging to the Tolstoy Foundation. Countess Alexandra Tolstoy provided her shelter and a job. She worked in the kitchen serving farm workers, many of whom were previously active in the White movement.
Five days later. the Soviet teacher smuggled a letter to Consul Lomakin. "The letter certainly imparted no suggestion that its author was driven by an overwhelming desire to begin life over in United States, borne aloft by her ardor for freedom and hatred of Soviet tyranny..." The letter's most unambiguous statement is in its concluding plea to the Consul: "I implore you, I implore you, don’t let me perish here. I have lost my will power."Cold War Captives. Imprisonment, Escape and Brainwashing, Susan Carruthers, University of California Press, 2009, Chapter 1Consulate-General of Russia in New York City The letter ended with the handwritten address of the farm.State Department Decimal File, 1945–1949, Box 3069 NACP Consulate primary activities include the protection of interest of their citizens temporary or permanently residing in the host country.Consul (representative) Her plea for help was so imperative and personal that left Lomakin no alternative to take the dangerous mission to Reed Farm himself.
Before heading to the farm the Consulate requested help from the Police Dept. of New York – “the Consul General was going to Reed Farm to get a woman who was in a highly nervous state and asked for help”.New York Herald Tribune, Aug. 8, p. 29, Thriller: Red vs White; Soviet Consul, a Countess, F.B.I. in it When Lomakin arrived Kasenkina came out with a suitcase. A number of men attempted to forcibly restrain the executive car from leaving. After talking to Kasenkina Countess Tolstoy stopped them saying that the teacher decided to leave with the Consul “on her own free will”.Official Memorandum – US Government. National Archives Administration, Washington, DC, document FW 702.6111/8-948, State Department Decimal File, 1945–49, Box 3060, RG 59, NACP) As soon as the car left she called the nearby police station with a complaint. “Shortly after federal help had been enlisted a policemen who had been sent to the Farm returned with the information that the allegation that Kasenkina had been taken away by force had been withdrawn. Farm authorities, the policemen said, told him that they believed she had gone willingly.”New York Herald Tribune, Aug. 8, p. 29, Thriller:Red vs White; Soviet Consul, a Countess, F.B.I. in it Three hours after arriving at the Consulate Lomakin invited a large group of mass media workers for an emergency press conference. He showed Kasenkina's handwritten letter and read extracts in English translation. Photostatic copies of the letter were given to the United States Department of State and Federal Bureau of Investigation hoping for a fair resolution of the conflict.Susan Lisa Carruthers, Cold war captives: imprisonment, escape, and brainwashing, University of California Press, 2009, Chapter 1, 53–54
On August 8, 1948, articles detailing the conference as “Red vs White woman “kidnapping” were printed in the Internationally circulated New York newspapers.New York Times, Aug. 8, 1948, pp. 1 and 48, Russian Factions here, was over “kidnapping” womanNew York Herald Tribune, Aug. 8, pp. 1 and 29, Thriller: Red vs White; Soviet Consul, a Countess, F.B.I. in it Karl E. Mundt the representative of the House Un-American Activities Committee wanted to quiz the Soviet teacher as a link to spy case. “She must be trusted by the Russians because she had been selected to teach Russian children – “a job given only to people they can trust”.New York Herald Tribune, Aug. 8, pp. 1 and 29, Mundt sees link to spy case, says he wanted to quiz soviet teacher The following days the press and radio accused Lomakin of forcibly kidnapping Kasenkina and the letter was called a fake. Day and night the Consulate building on East 61st street was surrounded by reporters and anti-communists. On Aug.12, 1948 the New York State Supreme Court Justice Samuel Dickstein approved a habeas corpus, requiring Lomakin to produce the teacher to court.New York Herald Tribune, August 12, 1948, Writ Orders Mrs. Kosenkina be brought into Court Today, by Charles Grutzer Paradoxically, in 1999 declassified Soviet files revealed that Dickstein, a former Democratic Congressmen, also known as the "father of McCarthyism", for many years was a paid spy for Soviet Secret Service NKVD.Weinstein, Allen; Vassiliev, Alexander, The Haunted Wood:Soviet Espionage in America – The Stalin Era. Modern Library, pp. 140–150. New York Times, May 22, 2013; A Soviet Spy in Congress still has his street, by Sam RogersThe Congressman who spied for Russia. The strange case of Samuel Dickstein, by Peter Duffy, Politico, 2014, 10The Manhattan street (still) named after a Soviet spy, New York Times, May 10, 2017, by Tammy La Gorce Lomakin refused, saying the teacher is sick.
The same day Kasenkina fell from a high third floor window to a concrete fenced yard. In Lomakin”s version, she jumped in suicidal despair. “At the hospital Kasenkina explained her action by the fact that she wanted to end it all." No statements about the desire to obtain political asylum. In the hospital communication of Kasenkina with Soviet representatives was banned, while visits by Vladimir Zenzinov, countess Tolstoy and reporters were permitted. The mass media called her action as "leap to freedom."Susan Lisa Carruthers, Cold war captives: imprisonment, escape, and brainwashing, University of California Press, 2009, Chapter 1, 53–54 and harshly predicted: "Soviet Consul May Face Firing Squad" and "Failure to Hold Kasenkina May Mean Death".New York Enquirer, August 16, 1948 “With headlines blazing and loudspeakers blaring … The judgement of some men who rushed headlong to Mme Kasenkina’s bedside to take charge of her relations with press and radio were not to be trusted… By inspiring headlines and stimulating the news stories below them, they drove the State Department to a diplomatic action whose severity was out of proportion to the incident.”Ellis M. Zacharias, Behind Closed Doors: The Secret History of the Cold War, G. Putnam Sons, New York, 1950, Chapter 8, 85