361.1121 Roszkowski, Mieczyslaw/8: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10 p.m.]
313. I called on Vyshinski27 yesterday to discuss the Roszkowski, Pyk, Habicht and Devenis cases. He stated that he was familiar with the facts in the three former cases but not in the latter. Roszkowski, he said, is charged with “the illegal possession of grenades and firearms” while the charges against Irena Pyk were “very serious” and those against Mr. [Mrs.?] Habicht “more serious than you seem to think.” He agreed to review the Habicht case personally and said that he would make inquiry concerning the status of the charges against Devenis and his citizenship. Vyshinski admitted to me for the first time that all of these and similar cases are under the jurisdiction of the GPU28 and that there was little he could do other than to “inquire and express the Ambassador’s interest in them.” Towards the close of the discussion he remarked, “We have our laws and you have yours” and referred to the “severe sentence imposed by the American courts on Gorin” whom he described as “innocent of any offence.” In view of Vyshinski’s reference to the Gorin case and a somewhat similar reference by Lozovski some time ago, I infer that Umanski has given Gorin the status of a martyr in the eyes of the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs.