Jan Rokotov: biography and photos

Ian Rokotov ... Who is he? In the modern world, when there is almost always a currency exchange point at almost every corner, it is very difficult for people to understand why in 1961 three Soviet currency dealers were shot: Rokotov, Faybishenko and Yakovlev.

Because of the ideology of that time, which said that every person should be happy in his poverty, three quite outstanding people died. And Rokotov Yan Timofeevich, who modernized the currency sphere, remained a thief and enemy of the people in history.

Jan Rokotov: family, brief biography

To date, in the biography of Jan Rokotov, there are a lot of inconsistencies. It is known for certain that the man was born into a family of Jews, but in connection with the persecution of representatives of this nationality he was separated from his parents. The further fate of the family of Jan Rokotov is not known.

The young Jewish boy who was left without guardianship was noticed by the representative of the creative intelligentsia of the Soviet Union - Timofey Adol'fovich Rokotov. He does not know much about the life of his foster father either, as it can only be asserted that in the period from 1938 to 1939 he was the editor of the journal International Literature. Before that time he worked in the Far East, took part in the construction of the Gas-Helium Plant.

The fate of the family of Jan Rokotov (the reception) also did not work out in the best possible way. The adoptive mother of the boy, Tatiana Rokotova, died when he was just 3 months old. The woman died as a real heroine, with the protection of Soviet power from the gangs of Green. Most of the time, the education of little Yana was done by my grandmother.

According to one source, Jan Rokotov graduated from a seven-year school, and then dropped out. Other sources say that the young man had a legal education (interrupted due to arrest). It should be noted that in the first grade, one of the classmates Rokotova poked his eye with a pen, which subsequently led to partial blindness.

Despite his excellent mental abilities, Ian Rokotov, whose facts of life are of great interest, could not find himself, his calling, and spent all his free time on the parties.

An interesting fact is that when the first passport was received, the young man asked to be entered into the graph by the Ukrainian. Many modern scientists who studied the biography of Rokotov, explain this by the fact that his mother (foster-child) was Ukrainian.

In the post-war period, having been unattended by his foster father (Timothy Rokotov was arrested before the war, and then shot), the young man "set out on all the worst." A number of offenses led to several arrests.

First arrest of Rokotov

For minor offenses in 1946, a decree was issued to arrest Rokotov. Investigators came unexpectedly into the dwelling of the man, but he did not lose his head and during the search he escaped from the house, using the window in the toilet. After a successful escape, the young man immediately went to the apartment of investigator Sheinin (his wife was a relative of Rokotov), where he received a fairly large amount of money. This financial assistance allowed him to go unnoticed to the south. But luck turned from Rokotov, and in 1947 he was arrested already in the south.

It is noteworthy that the term of imprisonment was increased, in connection with the addition to the article of the paragraph "For escape from the place of imprisonment," although during the escape the man was not yet arrested.

After the arrest of Rokotov Ian Timofeevich was sent to the camp, to the regime brigade. In addition to the fact that the man was forced to work on the logging site, he was daily subjected to severe beatings from cellmates, as his physical strength prevented him from fulfilling the daily working norm. Such a life has contributed to significant health problems, namely, loss of memory and mental disorders.

A year before the release, the Rokotov case was revised. As a result, he was completely released with rehabilitation, which included the restoration in the school in the second year. But seven years in prison left a huge imprint on the soul of a man, so his further education did not work out. After several months of study, Ian Timofeevich Rokotov decided to leave the institute. From this moment begins its "immersion" in the currency sphere.

The role of Kosoy, Vladik and Dim Dimych on the black market

In the 1960s, the "black market" of Moscow was practically no different from the various currency thrusters of the Arab East.

In this area, even had its own hierarchy, which included the following groups:

• Runners;
• Second-hand dealers;
• Keepers of goods;
• Connected;
• Security guards;
• Intermediaries;
• Merchants.

Merchants are people who held a firm position in the "black market", but their identity was hidden in the shadows. It was this group that included Rokotov, Faybishenko and Yakovlev.

After the release from prison, Jan Rokotov, whose photo you see in the article, almost immediately engaged in work on the "black market", which brought a significant income. These funds are quite enough for a life in which you can not refuse anything. The man did not work and constantly spent time surrounded by "girls of easy virtue".

The development of his case was facilitated by cooperation with employees of various embassies stationed on the territory of Moscow, and with Arab soldiers who studied at Moscow academies. This group of people continuously supplied Rokotov with gold coins.

People who bought the coins from Yang Timofeyevich Rokotov, transported them through the border, using secret belts under clothing. Each belt was able to contain about 500 coins with a face value of 10 rubles. Each such was sold on the "black market" at a price of 1500-1800 rubles apiece.

It is noted that Jan Rokotov, whose biography turned out to be not very simple, was one of the first to create a complex system of runners, since it was easy for him to identify gullible people and draw them into his business.

For a long time, Yan Timofeevich was under the protection of the OBKhSS, since he held a secret informant for them. A man without a twinge of conscience betrayed young students who just wanted to make money. At the same time, Rokotov protected his main accomplices in all possible ways.

The second figure of their three merchants was Vladislav Faybishenko. His acquaintance with Rokotov occurred at the Moscow Festival of Youth and Students, when Faybishenko began to trade in Fartsovka. It was 1957, the man at the time was just 24 years old.

Despite his youth, Faybishenko possessed an extraordinary mind, this is manifested in the fact that the guy he kept kept in a special cache, in an apartment he rented from a single woman.

And, of course, it should be noted Dmitry Yakovlev. Being a native of the Baltics, it was there that he turned most of his activities related to the currency sphere. Yakovlev grew up in a well-to-do and intelligent family. He had extensive literary knowledge and spoke fluent in three languages. Such intellectual abilities greatly helped him in the foreign exchange business, because he simply magically managed to hide from surveillance.

But young people should not have expected luck to be on their side forever. In early 1960, the operations department found out that it was these three people that dominated the "black market". But the lack of complete information about their accomplices and hiding places forced the police to postpone the arrest for a while.

Nevertheless, in the spring of 1961, Dmitry Yakovlev, Yana Rokotov and Vlad Faibishenko were arrested.

Second arrest of Rokotov

The second arrest of Rokotov fell on the last spring month of 1961. This time the man was convicted along with his friends Vladislav Faybishenko (nickname "Vladik") and Dmitry Yakovlev (nickname "Dim Dimych"). The reason for the arrest was the organization by young people of a complex system of intermediaries for the purchase of money and other things of foreign production from tourists. It was this arrest that became the final in the life of young people.

The First Court

After the arrest of Rokotov and his accomplices, law enforcement agencies began to remove from the caches of young people all foreign and domestic finances. According to the calculations, only their Rokotov cache was confiscated 344 rubles, 1524 gold coins and a large amount of foreign currency. If you translate everything found in a cache in dollars, then the amount will be one and a half million.

An interesting point is that all people who were familiar with Rokotov argue that he was a rational enough person and would not have kept money in just one cache. It is possible that some of Rokotov's savings are still stored in yet another secret place.

According to the court decision, young people were threatened with imprisonment for up to 8 years with full confiscation of all financial assets and various securities.

While in the cell, Jan Rokotov, arrests for which already became a matter of habit, did not worry at all, since the investigator reassured him, saying that in case of exemplary behavior a young man would be released in 2-3 years.

Secondary court hearing

In 1961, Khrushchev visited Berlin, where he was reproached that the "black market" is flourishing in the Soviet Union, and its scale is so great that no country in the world can compete with it. And most importantly, that lasciviousness is under the custody of law enforcement agencies.

Angry with such statements, Khrushchev decided that it was time to get acquainted in detail with all the major currency deals. And, of course, he had access to information about Rokotov and his gang.

Learning that Rokotov and his friends were sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment, Khrushchev became angry even more. According to certain information, he even threatened the Prosecutor General Rudenko that if the time does not increase, he will leave his post.

In addition, Khrushchev read a letter sent by the workers of the Moscow Instrumentation Plant. The essence of the letter was that Rokotov and his friends were no longer normal people, that they dared to encroach on the "holy" - the Soviet system. It was noted that for such actions should be the highest penalty, namely the shooting. A lot of signatures were attached to the letter.

At the moment there are huge doubts about the fact that this letter was genuine. As somehow very successfully it fell into Khrushchev's hands, when all correspondence passed through the hands of his assistants, and only a small fraction of letters came to him.

Khrushchev's actions led to a review of the case, as a result of which the term of imprisonment was increased to 15 years.

Third trial

But similar changes in the sentence also did not satisfy Khrushchev, because at that stage he tried with all his might to prove his worth as a leader.

After the second trial, Khrushchev decided to act openly, so a new law was adopted, which indicated that currency traders and speculators could be shot.

After the release of this law, the verdict of Rokotov and his comrades was again changed. Instead of 15 years of imprisonment, men were sentenced to be shot.

The next day after the trial, the verdict was executed.

Such a decision caused a lot of protests, not only from ordinary citizens, but even from law enforcement officials.

In such a decision there were a lot of illegal actions, the main of which is that the law on the shooting was released after the commission of illegal currency operations by young people. Accordingly, the court was obliged to try them according to the law that operated during the period when they committed unlawful acts. From this it appears that more than 8 years of imprisonment for young people could not be shown.

Also worth noting is the moment that Yakovlev, who provided the court with a lot of useful information and besides was seriously ill, did not receive any mitigation.

After this trial, the chairman of the Moscow City Court Gromov also suffered, he was removed from his post because of an unfair initial verdict.

Letter to Khrushchev

In July 1961, when Rokotov learned that he and his comrades were facing death, he tried in every possible way to enlighten the representatives of the law. Then I decided to send a letter to Khrushchev to write. The step was quite decisive. But what happened from this?

The essence of the letter sent to Khrushchev was that Ian Rokotov, whose biography was shrouded in curtains of secrets, asked for pardon. The man claimed that he was not a murderer, a spy or a bandit and, despite a number of his mistakes, he did not deserve to die. Rokotov said that the approaching execution had degenerated him, he had realized his own mistakes and was ready to change. He noted that he would become an indispensable member of the communist society.

It is for sure not known whether the letter reached Khrushchev. But even if it did, the statesman did not consider it necessary to change his own decision.

The only good news is that such actions of Khrushchev did not provoke the approval of the masses and he did not manage to rise on other people's deaths.

Jan Rokotov: quotes

Yang Timofeevich, despite the fact that he lived a very short life, was a clever enough man who did not even wear off in the face of death. This is confirmed by one of his quotes: "They will shoot me anyway, their life is impossible without execution of executions, but at least for several years I lived as a normal person, and not as a trembling creature."

In a letter to Khrushchev, the young man claimed that he had changed and was ready to take part in the building of communism, this was a big step for him. Since Rokotov had clearly expressed his opinion about the communist society before: "When considering the question of building a communist society, I have always maintained that it will be built no less than 2,000 years, and, accordingly, never. In other words, I never believed in the idea of building a communist society. "

Sayings of famous people about Rokotov

There are the following statements about Rokotov from the lips of famous people:

1. Issak Filshtinsky (historian, literary critic): "Rokotov has a highly developed entrepreneurial vein. Everyone despises him for it, and I, on the contrary, admire him. If he got into some capitalist country, he would definitely become a millionaire. "
2. Lev Golubykh (Doctor and Candidate of Science): "I am unfamiliar with people sentenced to death, I know only from printed publications. At the same time, like most people, I am convinced that such actions are not justified by any moral considerations or the state system in the country. Their death will not add money to the state bank. Cancel the sentence. Revenge should not rule in the Soviet Union. " This sentence is from a letter to Khrushchev.
3. Garegin Tosunyan (banker): "Rokotov was one of the largest businessmen, he was able to organize the sale of foreign currency and imports in the Soviet Union. German bankers believed that he was worthy of the Nobel Prize. "

Rokotov's life in films and literature

At the present time, all the communist foundations are in the past. Therefore, the stories of a large number of people who are affected by the desire of various kinds of leaders to achieve even greater power are considered. And, of course, you can not just pass by the history of Rokotov and his friends.

That's why two documentary films and one feature film were shot about the life of this well-known currency dealer.

The section of documentaries about Rokotov includes the following:

• "Chronicle of one execution. Khrushchev against Rokotov ";
• "The Soviet mafia. Slaughter of the Scythe. "

These films are recommended for viewing to anyone who is interested, what kind of person was Jan Rokotov. The film "Fartz", which was released in 2015, falls into the section of artistic television projects. It's 8-serial. The role of Ian Rokotov was performed by the famous Russian actor Yevgeny Tsyganov.

The plot of the film is that a young man named Konstantin Germanov lost a huge amount of money to bandits. The terms of the debt repayment are approaching, but there is no money. Therefore, in order to somehow help Kostya, his three friends - Sanya, Boris and Andrew, decide to rally again. Four heroes are forced to take on the role of fartsovschikov and speculators, because only in this way you can make money quickly.

Naturally, the film is built not only on the biographical data of Rokotov, there is inserted a lot of invented information.

According to the producers of the motion picture, at least 3 more seasons are planned, each of which will be from 8 series.

Photo by Ian Rokotov is not preserved many, as well as reliable facts from his life. But as a result of the information received about Rokotov and his comrades, one can draw an unequivocal conclusion: his death was not deserved. Yes, Rokotov was not a model of purity and virtue, but he did not deserve such a death.

Khrushchev wanted to prove to all countries and peoples his importance as a statesman, but by such actions he only wreaked havoc on the wounds of Soviet citizens. Tranquility in the country was shaken, as no one was sure that the government was fair. And Khrushchev's days at the post were numbered.

As a result, the death of seemingly simple currency traders, influenced the lives of all people living in the Soviet Union. Their world view has changed forever.