Berdnikova, Vera Vasilievna

Born in 1901 in the family of a railway worker.

Studied at the female gymnasium in Novonikolaevsk ( Novosibirsk ).

In 1917, under the influence of her elder sister Augusta, she joined the Bolsheviks.

In April-September 1917, he was an instructor in the department of cultural education in the Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Deputies. On behalf of the Council, she worked in the village of Novy Kayak , opened a school there and a hut-reading room, and also, as a graduate of the feldsher courses, provided medical assistance to residents.

In December 1917 she was admitted to the RSDLP (b) .

In May-September 1918 - a teacher in a nursery in Novonikolaevsk. At the same time, she was conducting underground work.

In September 1918 she was arrested by white counterintelligence, until December 1919 she was held in prisons of Novonikolaevsk and Tomsk. Released from parts of the Red Army.

Since 1920, she worked in the Novonikolayevsk city committee of the RCP (b), an instructor in the department of public education.

In September 1920, by party ticket, she was sent to Irkutsk at the disposal of the Register Department of the 5th Red Army .

Scout

In 1920-1923 - a staff member of military intelligence. Agent pseudonyms: Cherkasova , Berzina .

From August 1920 to August 1921, she worked in the Register Department of the 5th Army .

In September 1920, having received ciphers and money, she went to complete the first assignment, given personally by the head of the Army Headquarters Register K. G. Ezeretis :

Cross the front of Ataman Semenov’s troops, make his way to Chita, the residence of the headquarters of the Semenov Army, establish contact with the Chita Military Radio Station, recruit one of its employees and link the radio station to the 5th Army Register Department in order to obtain the necessary information directly from Chita.

Three weeks later, “under the conditions of the regime created by the Semenov counterintelligence, being in danger every hour,” she successfully completed the task.

From September 1921 to October 1922 - Assistant Chief of Operations, head of the secret part of the Intelligence Directorate at the Military Council of the NRA FER .

From October 1922 to February 1923 - on illegal intelligence: "carried out a number of responsible secret assignments in the exclusion zone of the CER ." There is no concrete data on the nature of the tasks and from the results, but it is known that in Manchuria she passed herself off as the daughter of wealthy parents who emigrated from Russia.

In February 1923, she was demobilized.

She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner by order of February 23, 1928, "for military distinctions and services rendered during the Civil War," as a former soldier of the 5th Army headquarters. At the same time, the presentation of the award was signed by: S. S. Zaslavsky , former head of the 5th Army Reconnaissance Army and NRA FDA, B. M. Feldman , chief of staff of the NRA FDA, Y. K. Berzin , head of the Red Army Reconnaissance Headquarters.

After the Civil War

After the Civil War, she worked in educational institutions in Siberia.

Having married, she moved to Leningrad, where she graduated from the Leningrad Oriental Institute . She later worked in Moscow.

In 1934-1938 - again at the disposal of the RKKA Intelligence Department, in 1934-1935 she graduated from the school of the Red Army Intelligence Directorate (according to the testimony of Yan Berzin in 1938, Berdnikova and her husband were trained "on a commercial line"), since 1936 - a staff member in the rank of major .

Presumably, at that time she worked with her husband, M.P. Shneiderman , a scout, brigade commissar , who, as you know, visited Europe, Japan, China, and the USA. However, at the end of 1937 her husband was recalled from abroad and arrested, but released nine months later for "lack of evidence of guilt."

Dismissed to the reserve on July 15, 1938. Data on repression against V.V. Berdnikova is not available.

In 1939, her husband was again arrested, sentenced to 8 years in prison, released in 1948, died in freedom a year later. Rehabilitated in 1956.

She lived with two children in the village of Tomilino, Moscow Region.

In 1967, as a veteran of the party and military intelligence, she was awarded the Order of Lenin .

She died in 1996.

Samya was friends with Nikolai Ostrovsky , and, as his wife recalls, when the writer in 1935 - already immobilized - received the rank of brigade commissar, it was Vera Vasilievna Berdnikova who bought the military staff in the military unit and attached insignia - rhombs in buttonholes and a star on the sleeve. ^[four]

• Berdnikova Vera // Alekseev M.A., Kolpakidi A.I., Kochik V. Ya. Encyclopedia of military intelligence. 1918-1945 M., 2012, p. 109.
• Berdnikova Vera // Scouts and residents of the GRU outside the homeland / Valery Yakovlevich Kochik - Yauza, 2004-510 p.
• Vladimir Khristoforov - Do not see face to face // Medical newspaper, No. 53 of July 25, 2012

• Sakhnovskaya, Mirra Filippovna