Ochrana

Originally published in 1930, these are the memoirs of the last Tsarist chief of police, Okhrana, who was arrested by the revolutionaries, refused to be a Bolshevik spy, escaped to France, became a railway porter and died penniless.

The book tells of the part he played in Rasputin’s death and his experiences during WWI and the Revolutions, and the comparison between the Okhrana and the Cheka, the S...