Cold War: Kasenkina Affair (1948)

Figure 1.---These are the children of Soviet Consul Jacob M. Lomakin. An FBI agnt is safeguarding the children as he escorts them the port of New York after their father was expeled by the State Department as a result of the Kasenkina Affair. The press caption read, "Lomakin Children Board Ship -- Escorted by a man wjo declined ton identify himself, the two children of Joseph Lomkin, Alex 6. and Lori,11, walk on the pier to the liner 'Stockholm' shortly before departure today for Moscow via Sweden." The photogrph was dated August 28, 1948. This was just before aircraft began to become the norm for internatioinal travel. One of the reasons that Stalin blockaded Berlin. He did not belive Berlin could be supplied by air. The result was the Berlin Air Lift. Soviet propagandists, embarassed by Europoean reaction to the humanitarian crisis created by Stalin's unprovoked blockade tried to blame the ensuing crisis on the Kasenkina Affair.

The now largely forgotten Kasenkina affair was a Cold War incident involving a Russian school teacher, Oksana Kasenkina, was ordered back to Moscow. She had been teaching the children of Soviet diplomats in New York. She was taken in by Soviet dissidents. The Soviets insisted that she was mentally unstable and at any rte had changed her mind. It became a Cold War incident when Soviet Consul, Jacob M. Lomakin, personally returned her to the Consulate. He claims to have received permission from the New York City police. Lomakin was not a typical stone-faced Soviet diplomat. He was posted to New York as a journalist by TASS, but after the Germans invaded the Soviet Union (June 1941) he became involved with Lend-Lease. Lend-Lease became a priority for the Soviets and most Soviet personnel in the United States became involved. The Soviers after the War and Russians today attempt to minimize the importance of Lend-Lease. During the War, their attitude was very dffernt. Lomakin was personable and would talk amicably with the Americans and U.N. personnel he worked with. This is not to say he was not fully committed to Stalinism. He argued vehemently for censorship as a positive tool while working on the United Nations subcommittee on Freedom of Information and the Press. At U.N. sessions, Lomakin opposed the increasing hostility between the Soviet Union and the West, but blamed in all on America and Britain. When the Kasenkina Affair was picked up by he press, Lomakin attacked the McCarthyites in the press. The actual facts in the incident are murky, but notably Lomakin was involved in a similar incident on the West coast (1943). ["Former FBI"] As a result of the Kasenkina affair, the State Department declared him personna non grata and deported him (August 1948). Here we see his two children in the Port of New York about to board an ocean liner to join their father in Moscow (figure 1). After growing up in America they are about to experiebnce a little culture shock. We note that the existing Wikipidea article (August 2022) sounds like it was written by a Soviet Cold War propagandist, especially blaming the continuation of the Berlin Air Lift on the Americans. The 'mentally unstable' comment is also suspicious given how the Soviets often confined dissidents to mental hospitals.

Sources

"Former FBI agent recalls the involvement of Lomakin in 1943 West Coast 'Shanghaiing'" New York Times (August 16, 1948), p. 3.

Created: 4:27 PM 8/27/2022
Last updated: 4:27 PM 8/27/2022