Activities of the Ukrainian Underground (Resistance), 1944 - 1950 ©

The following selected CIA chronology is taken from an undated, declassified, internal document (presumably 1951):

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainian: Українська повстанська армія, UPA) was created in 1942-1943 for the purpose of fighting the Nazis and for the protection of the Ukrainian population. It is the military force of the underground government of the Ukrainian Supreme Council of Liberation (UHVR). The UPA represents the only important resistance group operating in the Ukrainian SSR.

The activities of the Ukrainian underground were and are conducted in practically all phases of life. Because of the topography and character of the western areas of Ukraine, these activities were and are more intense and systematic in Western Ukraine (the Mountains, VOLHYN - in general, west of the DNIEPER River) than in other areas. In the beginning, these activities were conducted by all possible means and methods, from armed frontal attacks by the UPA, to disruptive penetration and infiltration of the Communist Party and the Red Army.

Among the victims of the URA ambushes are some outstanding Soviet leaders:

1944 - the UPA ambushed and mortally wounded Soviet Marshall VATUTIN.

March 1947 - UPA. men attacked and killed Lt. General Karol SWIERCZEWSKI, Vice Minister of Defense of Poland (the "General. Walter" of the Spanish Civil War)

1948 - The UPA killed Lt. General MOSKOLENKO, a high-ranking MVD officer. The representatives of the UHVR claim that 35,000 officers and non-commissioned officers of the MVD and MGB have fallen at the hands of the UPA during the period 1945 to January 1951.

1945, 46, 47, 48 - In the STANISLAV Oblast, partisan groups existed in large numbers. (Airing 1945, 46, 47, and 48, many Ukrainians were arrested by the MVD. A state farm in STANISLAV region was attacked by a number of partisan troops in the Summer of 1947. All the buildings were burned, as well as all supplies that could not be carried away. Other attacks are mentioned in the report.

1945 -47 - Partisan activity in the CARPATHIAN region. Source mentions attacks on Soviet Communist Party officials at State Farms in the STRYJ area and the CZERNOWITZ oblast, and states that the movement was strongest in areas of LVOV, STANISLAV, DROHOBYCH, PRZEMYSL, and TERNOPOL.

1946-47 - frequent attacks by partisans upon State property were carried out in STANISLAV Oblast, Western Ukraine

1947-48 - an UPA unit composed of three companies battles with Soviet forces for control of LEMKIVTSI area. Also UPA. skirmishes with Soviet forces in various localities in the Western oblasts.

1948 November - an MVD dragnet in NIKOLAYEV (4658N-3200E); uncovered a partisan headquarters. With the exception of a few anti-Soviet leaflets and a printing press, the entire headquarters was evacuated in time. 

1948- small but numerous anti-Communist partisan bands have been operating along the Polish-USSR border, approximately 30 miles west of LVOV. These bands actively engaged in armed encounters with Soviet Security Forces. 

1949 - on 30 December 1949, the MOB Minister of State Security of the Ukrainian SSR, It. Gen. M. KOVALCHUK issued a proclamation to all resistance members to return peacefully to their normal occupation under the promise of a general amnesty.:

ORDER OF THE MINISTER OF STATE SECURITY OF THE UKRAINIAN SSE

Regarding the Release from Criminal Responsibility of all Members of the Remnants of the Defeated Ukrainian Nationalist Bands in the Western Oblasts of the Ukraine SSR who voluntarily appear before the Organs of the Soviet Government for the Purpose of Unconditional Surrender. No. 312,  30 December 1949, City of Kiev

In the Spring of 1950, when it was seen that this appeal had failed to make any impression, strong large-scale repressive measures were undertaken throughout Ukraine. In some areas, detachments of 1,000 to 5,000 MGB troops were used in individual operations to clean up the district. In one district, this sweep lasted about ten days. In others, they were repeated several times within a period of weeks.

Excerpts from a declassified April 1953 CIA Internal Report entitled “Ukrainian Resistance”

 

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was created in 1942-1943 for the purpose of fighting the Nazis and for the protection of the Ukrainian population. It is the military force of the underground government of the Ukrainian Supreme Council of Liberation (UHVR). The UPA represents the only important resistance group operating at present in the Ukrainian SSR. 

 

The numerical strength of the Ukrainian Underground Resistance Movement today is considerably reduced from what it was at the close of World War II, when it numbered in the tens of thousands and even, according to some figures, 100,000 active armed members.

A fair estimate of the number of illegal-living armed partisans within the Western Oblasts of Ukraine is 1,000 men, and it is certain that many more live legally and maintain some sort of contact with the illegal-living underground units. 

 

It is anticipated that by Fall of 1953, the CIA will have been able to establish the basis of its future relationship with the Ukrainian underground. 

 

Ukrainian Resistance Forces Killed in Action:

 

“The following is a compilation of known insurgents killed in Ukraine between 1944 and 1950. These figures are not complete, but will give some indication of the amount of underground activity which took place during this period:

 

Area                                        1944    1945    1946    1947    1948    1949    1950

 

Kozlovski Raion                       26         7          3         13         4                  

Mikulinetski                             28       34          8         11          8                  

Veliko-Borkovski Raion           22       37         21        8           8                  

Veliko-Glubochetsk Raion       43       40         37        14        16                  

Zalozhtsevski Raion                 40       72         34        9          23

Zborovski Raion                       34       105       13        7           5              

Bukachevski Raion                                                                                5         3

Burshtyanksi Rion                                                                                 2         1                               

Peremyshlyani Raion                                                                             8         2

Bogatinski Raion                                                                                  10        6

Vilaivski Raion                                                                                       8        1

 

“Armed clashes with Soviet Security Forces took place in the following areas. In each case an average of five UPA partisans were involved: Drohobych Raion, Pidbuzh Raion, Samborski Raion, Turka Raion, Strilkiv Raion, Rozhnitiv Raion, Wygoda Raion.”

Code Name Jackal: Action Plan Against Noel Bernard and Radio Free Europe ©

 

Wrath of the Chief Architect: Ceausescu‘s War against RFE and Romanian Émigrés

IICCR International Conference

"Ways to Consider Communism"

Bucharest, Romania

15 November 2007

(Excerpt)

Code Name Jackal: Action Plan Against Noel Bernard 

 

For 16 years, Noel Bernard was one of the most respected Directors of RFE/RL’s Romanian Broadcast Service. He died of cancer on 13 December 1981, and his death was considered suspicious. In the summer of 2007, the Romanian External Intelligence Service (SIE) released a copy of a ten-page report that gave prima facie evidence that Romanian agents murdered Noel Bernard. Below are summary highlights and analysis from an 18 August 1980 Securitate Action plan against Noel Bernard (Code Name Jackal) and Radio Free Europe (RFE) that were included in the released report: 

 

Ministry of Internal Affairs Strictly Secret Department of State Security, (DSS) Copy Nr. 1 U.M. 0544,
Nr. 225/f.9/0025323, dated 18.08.1980

Approved Measure Plan in the case of Noel Bernard, Codename Jackal

Bearing in mind the dangerousness of the activity carried on by the “Jackal” against our country, it becomes imperative and urgent to take more qualified and energetic security measures to 

 

·      Applying special measures to paralyze the activity of the RFE objective and neutralize some employees by damaging and destroying buildings and facilities of the radio, homes, and personal means of transportation, as well as by producing physical harm to the most active employees and contributors of RFE.

·      In addition to the present plan, we'll take steps to prepare radical measures against the Jackal. By March 30, 1981, we'll table the radical measures we will implement in the case of the Jackal.

·      Identifying and studying the location of the homes of some employees and the possibilities to penetrate them in order to place their containers and parcels with explosives.

·      Identifying the places where RFE employees park their cars or have them fixed in order to place explosives or to operate technical changes on their cars able to cause serious accidents.

·      To recruit Marcu, a friend and physician of the Jackal's family, so as to obtain compromising data on the Jackal and his wife, and to prepare for applying radical measures against the Jackal.

 

The document mentions the informer Kraus, a journalist and friend of the Jackal,. according to the document, 

 

·      Kraus (identified as Ivan Denes) will suggest to the Jackal that the anonymous letters against him have been typed on the typewriter of Pfeiller Adelheid, the mistress of Emil Georgescu.

·      An employee of the radio, named Vlaicu in the document, known as an enemy of the Jackal, should be recruited and used to compromise the Jackal and foment the animosity between Romanians and Jews within the Romanian BD.

 

A former informer named Manole, employed by RFE as a technician, was planned to be reactivated and used for "special measures". Also mentioned are Filip and Florica, a couple from Germany with "direct links" to the American management of RFE. These informers should be reactivated and used to discredit the Jackal and his wife as having ties to both the Soviet intelligence service and the Romanian Securitate. 

 

Also, two agents from West Germany codenamed 'Helmut' and 'Martin' were summoned to Bucharest for a special training session, attended by the leadership of CIE (according to the file). 'Helmut' was the most active agent in Emil Georgescu’s case. He even arranged the beating of Georgescu for DM 10,000. His report about that incident is included in the file.'

 

Martin' was, however, more important because he had a prominent position in the leadership of the Saxon community in West Germany, with access to the German government officials. He was instructed to spread the rumor about the Bernards' alleged affiliation with Russian and Romanian secret services. In a "Staged Report" the officers boasted about Martin’s supposed successes:

 

·      Prepare collaborator Danciu, an electronic engineer from within the country, in order to send him permanently outside and infiltrate him at RFE with the mission of causing damage to and destruction of RFE’s installations and buildings;

·      Reactivation of informant Barta Geza of West Germany, auto mechanic, who is being used by some RFE employees to repair their cars, to cause damage to their cars.?

·      Through sources Riva, Protopopescu, Kraus, Barta Geza , and others, we shall study the buildings and installations of the Free Europe radio station, the guard and security system, vulnerable points, etc., to find ways and concrete solutions for the use of adequate means with a view to damaging and destroying the buildings and installations of the Free Europe radio station, by planting explosives, causing fires etc

·      In order to give credibility to our version, we will train Ilie Ciurescu to get in touch with the Jackol‘s wife in a foreign country. (Ciurescu was a popular TV announcer, Ioana’s former colleague and friend, and a known Securitate agent.

 

According to the file, the purpose was to accredit the idea that he is supposedly the liaison between her and the Romanian security organs. The officers preferred the meeting between the two be held in a hotel in order to make it possible for those interested to verify afterward that the encounter had indeed taken place.

 

Even more incriminating documents are telegrams from Germany to Bucharest regarding Noel Bernard. For example, on 22 October 1980,:

Concerning the compromising and liquidation of N. Bernard we are attaching:

Hans Bergel, known to the studio, is interested in learning details about the way N. Bernard intends to obtain German citizenship for Aurora Magura, his mother-in-law since she is Romanian and has nothing in common with German origin. We are in possession of a photocopy of the decision by the Bavarian Authorities rejecting A. Magura's appeal. Through the means available to us, steps have been taken in order to perform the action documented by the Chief Architect. The file follows.

 

Another one is a telegram dated 1 March 1981, after Noel Bernard’s cancer became public knowledge: 

 

Noel Bernard convalescent (attached is the article translated from German). Comrade Colonel Bogdan,

The data published by B.I.R.E. confirms that the measures we took started to show effects. We should intensify measures to compromise Emil Georgescu and Ioana Magura, intimidate them, and remove them from the radio.

 

In the summer of 1992, my office arranged for a check of the Romanian Service Director’s inner and outer offices at RFE/R, plus Noel Bernard's apartment and automobile. No traces of radiation were found.

In Memory of Early Cold War Resistance Fighters in Bulgaria: The Goryani ©

Stoyanov-Tarpana

In September 1944, the Soviet Red Army invaded Bulgaria, and a reign of terror began under the Sovietization of the country. Thousands of Bulgarians who took up armed resistance to Communism were known as the Goryani (Горяни), or “Man of the Forests” or “Ones of the Forest.” At one point, the number of armed Goryani was estimated at 2000 in 28 Bands (Chetas), with another 8000 illicit helpers supplying them with food, shelter, arms, and intelligence. The Bulgarian authorities effectively eliminated the Goryani movement by the mid-1950s.

The CIA created a clandestine radio station operating in Greece called Radio Goryanin (Радио Горянин): “The Voice of Bulgarian Resistance” that began broadcasting in 1951. 

In 1951, CIA began infiltrating agents in Bulgaria: six teams of 17 men between 16 and 28 May 1951. This number included 15 agents trained in Germany during March and April, plus two others recruited in Greece for specific one-shot missions. Contacting Goryani was one objective of the infiltrations. One such team established contact with a large Goryani group in the mountains near the city of Sliven. This team made plans to fulfill their objectives of contacting resistance elements in the Teteven area through the Sliven Goryani. One agent was killed in a clash with Bulgarian troops.

The largest resistance group, the Second Sliven Band, was led by Georgi Stoyanov-Tarpana, also known as Georgi Benkovski, after a 19th-century Bulgarian popular hero. 6000 Bulgarian troops encircled the band. A battle was fought on 1 and 2 June 1951. Some 40 Goryani were killed, but the band commander fled along with his men, including the wounded. The Bulgarian secret police later captured Stoyanov. He was later tried, found guilty, and executed by firing squad on 12 December 1951, in Stara Zagora, along with ten others.

Here is the memorial to the Goryani of Silven, including Stoyanov-Tarpan.

 

The inscription on the left reads:

"In Memory of the Goryani from Sliven who died 1950-51

For them, life was a fight under the flag of freedom. Death—a worthy victory.“

 

After the collapse of Communism in Bulgaria in 1989, other memorials were created for the Goryani martyrs in the towns and villages of 

 

• Manolsko Konare, 
• Zlatosel, 
• Parvenets, 
• Trilistnik, 
• Belozem,
• Shishmantsi 

Memorials for the Goryani are marked with a four-leaf clover and chaff of wheat (emblem of the Bulgarian Agrarian Party BZNS “Nikola Petkov“), which is used to suggest that those who died were part of an idea that is shared by contemporary members of agrarian political parties as well. Nikola Petkov was executed in 1947.

 

Six CIA infiltration agents were captured and tried in Sofia in September 1951. Three were sentenced to death, and three to long-term imprisonment. The last known infiltation/exfiltation took place in October 1952. There are no monuments or memorials for the CIA agents dispatched into Bulgaria.

For more information on the Bulgarian memorials, see Valentin Voskresenski, “Monumental Memorialization of Political Violence in Bulgaria (1944 – 1989): beyond Traumatization, Contestation and Dangerization of Memory.”

For more information on Radio Goryanin, see

 

 

 

To charge or not to charge, that is the question ©

One of the "pressing" problems facing CIA in October 1953 was to “determine the feasibility and desirability of providing meals eaten at Domestic Operations Base Safe Houses free of charge to personnel assigned to duties thereat by proper authority.” 

These safe houses were used for various reasons: dealing with defectors and others who arrived in the United States under the foreign intelligence program with the cryptonym REDSOX;

• The Domestic Operations Base has been assigned the responsibility of operating a network of safe houses for REDSOX agents. These houses are located within an 85-mile radius of DOB Headquarters. 
• Government regulations provide that REDSOX agents brought to the United States under "Special Procedure Entry" must be held under twenty-four-hour per day surveillance. 

• Safehouse duties assigned to DOB Case Officers are tedious, monotonous, and demanding. Safehouse resident case officers work under conditions of tensions, and are required to put in many long hours of overtime.

• Case Officers assigned to REDSOX projects by DOB are required to spend long periods of time at isolated safe house installations without relief. 

• The only practical way to keep an account of meals served was for the safehouse cook to note the names of each person served. This was bad security practice since the agent was pointed out as the only one who did not have to pay.

• Security considerations require safe house resident Case Officers to eat their meals at the safe house.
  

Differences between the Voice of America and the original Radio Free Asia as seen by the CIA in 1951 ©

 

On September 4, 1951, at 6:30 a.m. local time, the CIA-sponsored station Radio Free Asia began live broadcasting on a test basis from a rented studio in the commercial radio station KNBC, downtown San Francisco (it was 10:30 p.m. in China). After the sound of a bronze gong being struck three times and music from Mahler’s “Song of the Earth,” the first broadcast began with these words in Mandarin Chinese, “This is Radio Free Asia...the voice of free men speaking to the people of Asia.” 

The initial news and commentary programs were 90 minutes long and divided into three Mandarin, Cantonese, and English segments. The programs were broadcast via a leased wire RCA short-wave to Manila, Philippines, and from there to China via a directional short-wave antenna.

A September 27, 1951, internal CIA document gave details of the differences between the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.

There are set forth below certain points of differentiation between the purpose and capabilities of the Voice of America and the purpose and capabilities of Radio Free Asia (RFA). It is believed that these points, while not all suited for inclusion in a formal memorandum to the Department of State, are pertinent to the problem…

Voice of America is the recognized voice abroad of the American Government. Its essential function is to interpret, support, rationalize, and defend American foreign policy. In seeking this objective, it conducts a "Campaign of Truth", a program of worldwide news reporting and analysis which, by presenting world events in their "true" perspective, seeks to influence its audience in support of American foreign policy objectives and the objectives of the Free World. For the same basic purpose, it endeavors also to establish friendship abroad for the American people and appreciation of the democratic and American "way of life." 

The point of this paper is, however, that, even at its maximum effectiveness, VOA cannot, as an organ of the American government, contribute all that it is possible for radio to contribute to the psychological warfare mission in the Far East. 

The limitations imposed by policy considerations are most clearly exemplified in the attached excerpt relating to the content of South Korean programs. Until the declaration of the U.N. that Communist China had committed aggression in Korea, policy considerations made it impossible for VOA to charge the CCP with aggression. A very potent weapon of propaganda was thus denied to this country while the CCP made headway in laying responsibility on this country for the Korean conflict. 

RFA may supplement VOA’S support of American foreign policy objectives in the following ways: 

a. It can lend hearing to honest expression of Asian views without tainting them with the stamp of official U.S.. approval, thereby increasing the free exchange of ideas and opinions necessary to healthful sell-government. 

b. It can increase Asian acceptance of the "Campaign of Truth" by corroborating the "Truth" through indigenous speakers more readily believed because they are Asian and have a reputation in Asia. 

c. It can disseminate news without the strict demands of reliability required by the "Campaign of Truth". (On the whole, it must gain acceptance as a truthful organ, but it can carry "plants" for PW purposes, whereas VOA cannot). 

d. Because it is not answerable to the American public and Congress, it can lend hearing to views and opinions which, although in the long-range interest of U.S. policy, are momentarily unpopular at home, which VOA might therefore not be able to air. 

e. Because it claims a motivation founded in Asian self-interest, it can appropriately "slant" news commentary in a manner not always appropriate to VOA 

f. By giving expression to varied sentiments of varied Asians, it may play on a variety of emotions and attitudes without regard to the consistency expected of an official voice. 

g. It may secure outlets, such as government-controlled Radio National Indonesia, now denied VOA by the Indonesian Government, and the innumerable outlets of Formosa, now unused by VOA for U.S. policy reasons. 

h. It may engage to a much freer extent than VOA in political warfare 

It is believed that the only legitimate objection to RFA would stem from a belief in its impracticality in light of the present Asian listening audience. It may be VOA's view that the current audience in Asia is too small to warrant the effort required of two major radio organizations and that VOA can successfully take care of the small audience that exists.VOA‘s attitude toward the enlargement of its own program, to a very great extent, answers such an objection. It may also be pointed out that VOA is engaged in an effort to expand the listening audience through the development of cheap radios and "drop" radios. RFA may well give effective assistance as the "cover" for the distribution of these devices, particularly in areas behind the Iron Curtain, where they may expand the listening audience of both VOA and RFA. 

Over-all Content 

In describing events in the Far East, the VOA broadcast to that area pointed out the almost unanimous support given by the U.N. to the action in Korea and the advantages of a free democracy over the regimented body-and-soul controls practiced across the Iron and Bamboo Curtains. The VOA also presented news on the life of Oriental Americans, using editorials and commentaries from the Chinese press in the U.S. as an illustration of the freedom of thought and expression enjoyed by the population in the free world. In general, the picture of life in America and the free democracies has been portrayed in VOA Far Eastern language broadcasts in much the same manner as in broadcasts to Iron Curtain countries. 

 

From a Sack of Flour to a Silver Brick ©

 

In 1864, Reuel C. Gridley, owner of the Gridley General Merchandise Store in Austin, Nevada, lost an election bet and had to carry a 50-pound sack of flour the length of the town to the tune of the song “John Brown’s Body.”

The famous American writer Mark Twain wrote about this episode in his 1870 book Roughing It:

 

A former schoolmate of mine, by the name of Reuel Gridley, was living in the little city of Austin, in the Reese River country, at this time and was the Democratic candidate for mayor. He and the Republican candidate made an agreement that the successful one should carry it home on his shoulder.

 

Gridley was defeated. The new mayor gave him the sack of flour, and he shouldered it and carried it a mile or two from Lower Austin to his home in Upper Austin, attended by a band of music and the whole population. Arrived there, he said he did not need the flour and asked what the people thought he had better do with it. A voice said: 

 

"Sell it to the highest bidder, for the benefit of the Sanitary fund." 

 

The suggestion was greeted with a round of applause, and Gridley mounted a dry-goods box and assumed the role of auctioneer. The bids went higher and higher, as the sympathies of the pioneers awoke and expanded, till at last the sack was knocked down to a mill man at two hundred and fifty dollars, and his check taken. He was asked where he would have the flour delivered, and he said: "Nowhere--sell it again." 

 

Now the cheers went up royally, and the multitude were fairly in the spirit of the thing. So Gridley stood there and shouted and perspired till the sun went down, and when the crowd dispersed, he had sold the sack to three hundred different people, and had taken in eight thousand dollars in gold. And still the flour sack was in his possession.

 

Gridley afterward traveled from coast to coast, auctioning off the flour sack. The proceeds of the auctions went to the Sanitary Fund, a forerunner to the Red Cross, to help relieve suffering created by the Civil War. The last auction was at the St. Louis Sanitary Fair when the flour was turned into small cakes and sold at one dollar each. By then, Gridley’s sack, which had originally cost $10.00, had raised over $275,000 – over seven million dollars in 2023.

 

The year of traveling around the country took a toll on Gridley's health. When he returned to Austin, he found that the silver mine had closed, and his store was close to bankruptcy. He and his family moved to California. Gridley, his wife, and four children lived in poverty in Stockton two years later. Newspaper editors in California and Nevada reacted by raising $1,400 to buy a house and a small farm for them. Gridley's health continued to decline, and he died in 1870 -- he was 41 years old. In 1876, Stockton Civil War veterans sold thousands of miniature sacks of flour to raise money for a monument to Gridley built a few years later. “The Soldiers Friend Monument” Reuel Colt Gridley" in Stockton's cemetery has this inscription:

 

Erected by

RAWLINS POST No. 23

Grand Army of the Republic

and the Citizens of Stockton

September 19, 1887, in gratitude

for services rendered Union

Soldiers during the War of

the Rebellion in collecting

275,000 dollars for the

Sanitary Commission by

selling and reselling a

sack of flour

 

Gridley’s original store in Austin, Nevada, was restored and is now on the United States National Register of Historic Places. 

 

Below is a little-known story of when Clark Gable auctioned off a "silver brick" to raise money for Radio Free Europe (RFE).

 

Nevada, the “Silver State,” had the highest percentage of signatures on the Freedom Scrolls in 1950, when 70,000 persons signed up for the first  Crusade for Freedom. The nationwide goal for the second Crusade campaign, which officially began on Labor Day, September 3, 1951, was 25,000,000 signatures, with a goal in Nevada of 73,000.

 

On Sunday night, September 30, 1951, C.D.Jackson, Radio Free Europe President, spoke in Reno, Nevada, at a large rally for the Crusade for Freedom and RFE. There were 1,500 persons in the new Reno High School gymnasium.  

 

That evening, during the three-hour entertainment show in Reno, Clark Gable acted as an auctioneer. The item to be auctioned was a "silver brick" with the inscription “Nevada 1951.” It was considered to be part of the cornerstone of the new Radio Free Europe headquarters building in Munich, Germany. It was auctioned off for $800, and film actress Ida Lupino presented the silver brick to the happy auction winner, Charles W. Mapes, Jr. In keeping with the good spirit of the evening, Mapes returned the "silver brick," which was taken the next day to Las Vegas.  

 

After the auction and evening's entertainment, Clark Gable and Ida Lupino launched two balloons and leaflets similar to those launched in Germany by the Free Europe Press. 

 

At the Las Vegas rally for the Crusade for Freedom, the "silver brick" garnered $1,000 at another auction. The winning bidder also returned the brick to the Crusade organizers. The "silver brick" was then transported by the Crusade for Freedom statewide motorcade that would tally up 7,500 miles by the time it was over in November 1951. The Ford truck of the motorcade also carried a replica of the Freedom Bell in Berlin, a Radio Free Europe transmitter tower, and the Iron Curtain.

 

By the middle of October, the "silver brick" had been auctioned off for a total of $2,500, including a winning bid of $21.75 from the Smith Valley Rotary Club in Wellington, Nevada.

 

There is no record of the "silver brick" ever being laid in the cornerstone of Radio Free Europe’s headquarters building in Munich, Germany. Nor is there any record of what happened to the "silver brick" after the Crusade for Freedom campaign ended in Nevada.