An exhibition about the life of intelligence agent Yuri Panchenko opened in Kitskany

01/25/21 19:20

An exhibition about the life of intelligence agent Yuri Panchenko opened in Kitskany

A village school teacher was a Soviet resident in China

Slobodzeya Region, January 25. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. “Our Kitskany Sorge” is the name of the exhibition of documents and photographs that opened in the museum of Kitskany village in honor of Yuri Panchenko, an English teacher who worked in China as a resident of the General Intelligence Department during World War II.

Everyone remembers him as a talented teacher and school director, but very little is known about his agent activities. Call sign "Chinese", work undercover in the secretariat of the Soviet embassy, ​​collecting information about the Japanese army, which was stationed in Manchuria on the border with the Soviet Union. His intelligence was eagerly awaited: it was highly likely that Japan would invade from the east at the moment when the Red Army tried to stifle an offensive of the German Wehrmacht.

Fellow villagers only found out about these "keyed" years of Yuri Panchenko's life in the 80s of the last century, when military orders and medals appeared pinned on him.

Yuri Panchenko was born on January 25, 1917 in the village of Vasilyevka, Odessa Region, but then, together with his mother, a primary school teacher, he moved to Blizhny Khutor, where he spent his childhood.

After graduating from the Ukrainian Model School No. 8, Yuri worked as a Ukrainian language teacher in the village of Blizhny Khutor, while studying at the Tiraspol Institute. Life changed dramatically in 1939. First, there was the army, service in the North Caucasus in signals company. Then there was acquaintance with "morsaika". After that he was sent to the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow. There was in-depth study of the Chinese and English languages, a business trip to China as a diplomat in Harbin - a city of Russian emigration, captured by the Japanese in the 30s. He will have eight years on this job. He will return home only in 1950.

“During these years, he was engaged in collecting information vital to his homeland, risking his life and freedom. There was a case when the Japanese, who occupied China at that time, detained him under a far-fetched pretext. And only the endurance and calmness of a real scout helped him to get out of a difficult situation. Or there was a case of one of his informants` failure, when he destroyed documents incriminating him during the night, every minute expecting an arrest. Unfortunately, Yuri Petrovich did not tell such stories often. Perhaps he couldn`t talk about everything,” Tamara Ignatenko, Head of the Museum of History of Kitskany village says. 

Subsequently, the intelligence agent recalled how in Harbin local residents expressed support for the Soviet Union, which fought against Nazi Germany. 

“Citizens brought their personal jewelry to the embassy doors – gold and certain stones in order to somehow support the Red Army financially,” Yuri Panchenko said.

Only decades after the war, the intelligence agent was awarded the Order For Contribution to Victory, the Order of the Patriotic War, and the Medal For Military Merit. The Main Intelligence Directorate employees were aware that this profession is not fond of publicity.

Yuri Panchenko had lived 93 years, of which over 50 he worked in educational institutions in the village of Kitskany.

He received many awards for his work: he was an Excellence in Public Education of the MSSR, was awarded the medal For Labor Valor, he was awarded the Order of Honor of the PMR for many years of public work to honor his 90th birthday.

Yuri Panchenko passed away in 2010.

 

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