Sergei

by Sergei Kourdakov, Nelmari de Kock (Translator)

The Persecutor (alternatively titled Forgive Me Natasha or Sergei; known as El Esbirro in Spanish) is the autobiography of Sergei Kourdakov. It details his early life and life as a KGB agent persecuting Christians in the Soviet Union, as well as his defection to Canada. The first draft of this book was finished shortly before his sudden death on January 1, 1973.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Christian, Russia, Faith, Memoir

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Sergei Kourdakov was a young defector from the Soviet Union who was born on March 1, 1951. According to his autobiography, he persecuted countless Christians as a KGB agent while a student and youth communist leader at the Petropavlovsk Naval Academy in Eastern Russia. In 1970, he began reading the Gospel of Luke and was transformed by it. Oh September 3, 1971, while a naval officer, he defected to Canada by jumping off of the ship he was stationed on. Kourdakov later converted to Evangelical Christianity, moved to the United States, and joined Underground Evangelism, an organization that smuggled Bibles and other religious materials into the Soviet Union. On January 1, 1973, Kourdakov was found dead by a gunshot to the head at a motel in California.

Reviews

[Jayna Baas · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a challenging, powerful story. Over and over, I thought of the Apostle Paul—this story so strongly paralleled his in the ways Sergei believed he was doing the right thing by persecuting believers. It was amazing to see how God is still at work and how his power can intervene in the lives of those we would never expect to come to Christ. It was even more amazing to see how his power filled the lives of the Believers in Russia. I think sometimes I have a picture of persecuted saints as being somehow superhuman or at least superChristian. But the Believers were such everyday people. They were afraid. But they had something worth dying for. I want my life to be like that.

It’s not an easy read. It’s sobering to realize what Christians have suffered not so very long ago and are still suffering in some countries. Persecution didn’t stop with the Inquisition. For those reasons, I recommend caution if you’re sensitive to violence, abuse, and honest depictions of cruelty, both toward the Believers and also toward Sergei and the other children in the Communist orphanages. I commend Sergei for his honesty—especially when it came at such a high cost for him. At the same time, the power of God is on display in miraculous ways as he awakened Sergei to what he was doing. This is a story filled with hard things, a mighty God, and amazing grace.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kakav život!
Autobiografska.

U noći 3. rujna 1971. sjajni mladi časnik sovjetske mornarice, s obećavajućom karijerom, skače s ruskog ratnog broda u ledene crne vode Newfoundlanda, u Tihom oceanu, pokušavajući doći do obale Kanade. Imao je 20 godina i zvao se Sergej Kourdakov. Njegova autobiografija "Oprosti mi Nataša" objašnjava razloge tog skoka.

Sergej Kourdakov umro je pod u sumnjivim okolnostima 01.siječnja 1973. nakon što je dobio politički azil u Kanadi pod pritiskom javnog mnijenja. Umro je jer Sovjeti nisu mogli tolerirati da bivši komunistički vođa otvoreno govori o zločinima počinjenim u ime komunizma. Borio se do kraja za vjernike progonjene u SSSR-u.

[Vlatka · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Jeff Shelnutt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Sergei Kourdakov, as told by himself, was as compelling as it was bleak. Coming of age in 1960's Soviet Russia, Sergei, along with other children whose parents had been taken from them by the authorities, grew up in the atrocious environment of the communist children's home. He learned to pray to Lenin and worship the state.

Anytime I read a biography of this sort describing the life of someone who experienced all the horrors of a tyrannical, socialist system, I have to constantly remind myself how relatively near to the present time these events occurred. We are only living several decades away from Mao's "Great Leap Forward" and Stalin's "Five Year Plan." The twentieth-century was simultaneously the era of technological wonder and the age of state-sponsored mass murder.

You wonder how a bright young man could be duped by the promises of communism when society around him was falling apart. Sergei bought into the lie that was sold to him: the masses are necessarily suffering now because they are in the process of building a utopic future. But as in the case of most who become disenfranchised with reality, he gradually realized only the ruthless and manipulative rise to the top. Only they receive the benefits of the "system."

Sergie was a faithful communist youth league leader and naval officer-in-training when he was hand chosen to lead a special police task force. He was told that he and his men would go after the worst of the worst. Run-of-the-mill murderers and thieves were nothing. They were no threat to the state. But these people, these religioznik, threatened to topple the entire system. They had to be stopped. But it had to be done quietly.

The more secret meetings of these enemies-of-the-state that Sergie raided, the more he questioned what he was doing. He usually only caught these believers praying, singing or reading the Bible. He'd beat and intimidate them, then haul their leaders down to the station. He confiscated literature, much of which was hand-written scripture verses on notebook paper. But he could not quell the growing doubts that these quiet, unassuming folks really posed a legitimate threat to the power-structure.

But of course, they did. A political system that operates in the darkness, one built on lies and deceit, cannot abide a group of people who insist upon the truth. All the authorities had at their disposal were threats and brute force. But the religioznik had faith in the living God and they insisted upon dragging all that was sordid and depraved about human nature out into the light. This was intolerable.

The faith and lives of these believers testified boldly against the evils of the communist system. Sergei began to notice. Because of course if he didn't, there wouldn't be much of a resolution to the story.

[Khari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was... a difficult book to read.

It's a very good book, but quite different than the other books I have read about this period. Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago is told from the perspective of a prisoner suffering at the hands of communists. Alexievich's Secondhand Time tells the stories of those who long for the meaning that the time of the soviet union gave them. But this. This tells the story of a young boy raised under Soviet rule, who becomes one of their secret police and persecutes other people.

It was brutal.

I understand why he became so hard. Reading the stories of his childhood in the soviet orphanage system wrenched my heart out. Children building their own societies, having systems of weeding out informers, hazing rituals, it sounded like The Lord of the Flies. They would build towers of chairs reaching tens of feet in the air and force children to climb up them then make the tower collapse to test if a newcomer was a snitch or not. It's amazing no one died. His stories of the comrades in charge who hated children and would steal food from them and beat them read like Oliver Twist, only it wasn't a novel.

Horrible. Absolutely horrible. It's no wonder all of the children from those places ended up either dead, in the criminal underworld, or torturing other people.

His own story of how he would go in and break up religious meetings with his fists and his rubber covered steel club were gut wrenching too. He calmly talked about knocking out people's teeth, breaking the arms, or punching them in the throat. Men, women, old, young, it didn't matter.

But the thing that got me was what broke his brainwashing by the communist party, and brainwashing it was. Just listening to what his superior officers said to him made me shake my head and think 'didn't he realize this was just a bunch of fluff with no facts?' They would say things like "You have to kill believers because they are poisoning our youth. Even though they are in hiding and have no money because they don't work like normal communists, they are powerful enough to make Moscow worry about how they are poisoning our youth, they are luring them away from communism by telling them lies and brainwashing them." 'How?' 'Haven't you been listening?' I did listen, I read it. They never explained how. How did such small groups manage to do all of these terrible things? It's never explained, details are never given, it's a grand narrative that you must just pledge your life to, that you take on faith because it's repeated so many times. It's frightening because we have our own grand narratives like this: America has systemic racism everywhere. The United States has systemic sexual injustice. The United States government is trying to stamp out white people. These things are too general and too amorphous to be true. Are there cases of individual racism? Yes. Are there cases of sexual injustice? Yes. Are there cases of white people not receiving proper representation? Yes. But none of these things are a system. They are cases of individuals practicing evil things and not being called on it. Whenever you are given a one-size-fits-all statement as an explanation. It's wrong. But, I can't really blame him for giving in to this kind of pseudo-intellectualism. When you are not taught to think critically you only have the capacity for over-generalizations and sweeping assumptions.

The thing that truly struck me was the strength of some of the believers. The famous one is Natasha. The girl who came back to church meetings three times even after having been beaten to the point of hemorrhaging blood and flesh the second time. But, she wasn't the one who convicted me. No the one convicted me was the woman who prayed for Kourdakov as he lifted his club to beat her, asking God to forgive him for what he did and guide him to true faith.

I cannot fathom the faith of that woman. I am not belittling the strength it must have taken for Christ to forgive his executioners, but it's one thing for the incarnate Son of God and the savior of mankind to hang from a cross and ask forgiveness for those who persecute him. It's quite another to have a frail old fully sinful human woman do it. I have a hard enough time praying for politicians that I disagree with, to ask forgiveness from God for someone who has just slaughtered some of my closest friends and is preparing to beat me? I don't think I could.

[Böðvar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read this book 2 or 3 times over and was very moved by it, even translated it to my own language. When I finally was trying to find a way to have it published I stumbled up on a documentary that showed that it was at least not fully true. An American journalist of a local paper in some town in Texas took a trip til Russia accompanied by a camera guy and found many of the people mentioned in the book. She found out that these people had a different story to tell. Things had not been as extreme by far as illustrated in the book. However an American psychologist who had studied this documentary is certain (and I agree) that this journalist was way to inexperienced to take on such a task and found that the body language of many of those interviewed indicate that they were not telling the truth, at least not the full truth. So for my part I have abandoned the idea of publishing this translation of mine until some better evidence shows up that confirms Kourdakov's story.

[Danny Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

The true story is about a man in communist Russia. His job for the KGB was to discover, monitor, and when called upon break up Christian meeting with extreme prejudice. The Christians under socialist rule usually made it to jail beaten and battered if at all. Through his persecution of Christians, he began to learn about them. He discovers God and escapes to Canada. There he dies mysteriously. It is a graphic book with violence and also a touching book of redemption. I read this book more than forty years ago and it remains on my mind today.

[Juan Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dejando a un lado las controversias y los cuestionamientos sobre la autenticidad de lo que en algunos pasajes se relata, el libro me gustó.
Lo que más valoro del libro de Kourdakov es que no se reduce a un burdo intento de buscar redención o justificación, me parece en cambio que se trata de una confesión fuerte y honesta y sí, realmente me gusta pensar que es honesto en lo que nos cuenta.

[Elizabeth]

“These religiozniki are not our brothers! They are like murderers. They kill the spirits of our children. They cripple people with their poisonous beliefs. We must rid our country of these people. This seeming pity for these people is an infection, nothing less! These Believers are the ones who are disturbing our people and causing troubles. They force our government to spend huge amounts of money fighting them, money which should go toward building our country and helping our people. These people working from the inside can hurt us by undermining the faith of our people in communism and replacing it with a faith in some imaginary Jesus Christ.”

what a profound testimony of a young man who was raised up to believe in a system that had a bleak outlook on life. i cried, i was shocked and i was envious of the believers and their fervent faith. i had no idea of the brutality of the communist party. i knew they were brutal but not to the point of the shamelessness they had. you hear stories from your grandparents, or your parents about how they were treated. This point of view, from someone who was taught exactly how to persecute believers, leaves a much more raw imprint. Sergei Kourdakov, an orphan at a young age, went from home to home, streets to orphanage, back on the streets and then to the orphanage until he joined the soviet naval academy, which inevitably led him to be recruited by the KGB. They beat, abused, ridiculed and absolutely demolished believers. men, women, old, young. all were subject to the horrors of the KGB. he was different though, because he had empathy which was uncharacteristic of any of the soviet people as they were brought up to be rigid and fearless. his first raid, he felt embarrassed because the believers just complied, they didn’t run, they didn’t fight back. that’s when they were commanded to “change their faces” and his violence towards this group escalated. his outlook on believers came to a head when he was about to beat a young woman for the third time. “had she not learned her lesson?” he was fascinated that despite being brutally beat and i mean brutally, reading the part where he had his turn made my mouth drop. i cried for these believers, because it was so awful. the third time was different, he commanded them to stop. this was a turning point for him. his last raid, he was ready to beat another woman and she ended up praying for him! this made him angry, “why would a lowly believer pray for me?!?”. as he was about to hit her with his club, his hand stopped from swinging. he said it was as if someone grabbed me but no one was there. he ended up running and leaving this line of work. this pushed him to his plan of escape, which was told right at the beginning and was a great way to hook you in. what a remarkable story. i think it’s a must read for any believer.

Our God is mighty to save. He is mighty to heal, not just physically but mentally. Our God is merciful and this is huge testament to God’s mercy. I pray and hope to have the same amount of faith in times of persecution.

“They began to pray, and I did the same, but not knowing what to say, I felt awkward and unworthy to be in this house of God. I had beaten and killed Believers. I had broken up more than 150 secret meetings in Russia. I had burned Bibles. I had injured old women and many Believers. I was unworthy to be in God's house. But I felt a calm sense come over me and I talked to God, as I had done in the ocean and in the jails.
My heart was so painful, like a man who is looking for bread but cannot find it. I knew I was close to God in the beautiful church, but I wanted to be closer. I felt a beauty, a peace, a lifted burden. I wanted more of this. If this is what God gives, I wanted it very much. After three hours of prayer, I felt as if I had been helped, but my heart was searching for something even more, something like what the Believers in the secret churches had. I wanted what Natasha had.”

[Christa Blakey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Persecutor is an intense and compelling life testimony of Sergei Kourdakov, it was hard to put it down! It was such a clear display of what Isaiah 58:1 says “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear.” God will use any people and any circumstances to accomplish his purpose in salvation—he can melt the heart of stone!

The fact that this autobiography was written in such recent history, published in 1971, made it eye-opening to consider what life can be like for Christians in some countries from the actual perspective of a one who initially persecuted them. The detailed accounts of Sergei’s childhood as a street orphan and then his years in the children’s homes of communist Russia were heart wrenching. Many parts of the book were unsettling especially as Sergei advanced in the communist youth organization and eventually was commissioned by the secret police to “combat the evil and contaminating influences of religion in Soviet life”. (p. 124)

The believers that Sergei persecuted would never fight back and never give up, they even would try to convert the secret police! It amazed me to read of Christians quietly finding ways to gather in secret places to pray, or late at night in a home to sing hymns. They would write Scripture on little scraps of paper and pass it amongst themselves. This was considered “illegal literature” to be confiscated and the one in possession of it would be punished. Young and old spoke boldly of Jesus to these persecutors and would ask God to forgive them even in the moments just before being violently beaten.

One account that stood out to me was of several new believers gathered at a river to be baptized. Sergei writes that a spy had informed on the gathering and how he and his men waited in the forest to descend upon them. The believers had gone to be obedient in baptism and it turned into a time of terror. Their pastor, who was thirty-eight years old, was brutally killed that day, considered an “enemy of the state”.

Another memorable account was of a young woman named Natasha who was found at three different raids they made on secret church gatherings. Sergei writes that could not understand how someone who had gone through such unbelievable suffering at their hands could possibly be there again, time after time. It is incredible that at the end of the book, Sergei writes, “And finally, to Natasha, whom I beat terribly and who was willing to be beaten a third time for her faith, I want to say, Natasha, largely because of you, my life is now changed and I am a fellow believer in Christ with you. I have a new life before me. God has forgiven me; I hope you can also.” (p. 251)

One final account I have to share, Sergei writes about an interrogation where he told the men what stupid fools they were for letting their meetings be discovered. The pastor replied, “We know there are spies. But we have a great responsibility to invite people to come to God. How could we invite people to God and spread our faith and keep outsiders away? We feel that our responsibility to share with others is more important than our own safety.” (p. 193)

What a powerful resolve and witness they had! Just like Acts 5:21 which tells of the apostles having been beaten actually “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” I am grateful for this book, it has stirred me to pray that God would use me, and all who believe, as his witnesses in this dark world, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the autobiography of Sergei Kourdakov, raised as an orphan in Russia who found his identity and 'family' in the Communist Party. As a violent, teenage thug, he soon found himself rising quickly through the ranks and gaining prestige by prosecuting (a nicer term for 'brutalizing' or even killing) the Russian Christians who quietly and secretively practiced their faith and worshipped their God hidden within their homes.

Sergei's exposure to the Believers eventually caused him to doubt the lies of the Communist Party and ultimately lead him to literally jump ship in the midst of a terrible storm in the cold waters off the coast of Canada in 1974 and swim for freedom.

Threatened with deportment back to Russia, Sergei finally was given citizenship in Canada where he wrote this book so the truth of what was happening in Russia would be known by the world. But Russia didn't let him go easily. His involvement at the higher levels of the government and military meant he had many secrets that they wanted protected at all cost. As a result, at the very young age of 22, Sergei was murdered on the ski slopes of California. He had not been free from Russia very long. And their threats on his life could not silence him. He had seen other Christians give their lives for the truth and he knew he could do no less.

Mission accomplished, Sergei.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was assigned to read this book way back in 6th grade. When I got about halfway through the book some parents complained to the school about the content and we were told to stop reading the book and turn it back in to our teacher. So of course this made me insatiably curious and a little pissed. I found it later and finally read it in its entirety. It's the true story of Sergei Kourdokov. He was a highly regarded soldier in the Soviet Military. He was later assigned to a special squad of police who would search for and 'disrupt' underground Christian churches throughout the Soviet Union. By disrupt I mean.. beat them within an inch of their life or just outright kill them. I can't say anymore without giving too much away. It's a fine story.

[Nataša]

I način na koji je i vreme kada je ova knjiga došla u moje ruke čine je velikom u mom životu. Priča u knjizi, ali i ona oko nje, čine da je teško odvojiti pravu istinu od istorijske istine. Neka svako za sebe odluči u koju će priču verovati: šta će dodatno proveriti, a u šta će poverovati bez ustezanja.

[Belma Simić · Rating 5 out of 5]

U bilo kojoj svetoj knjizi će te pročitati da je ljudski praštati,a Božiji posao je kažnjavati ja bih dodala. Nakon izdavanja knjige Sergej je ubijen,možda je pravda zadovoljena,možda ne?
Ova knjiga je sigurno njegovo iskupljenje. Pisana jednostavno,opet suze ne možeš zaustavit.Bilo je to šezdesetih godina u Petropavlovsku u Rusiji. Nikiforov je predvodio političku čistku u tom kraju. Trebalo je pohvatati i prebiti, a ako treba i ubiti kojega od vjernika, kako bi se ostali prestrašili i jednom zauvijek napustili tu njemu i cijeloj komunističkoj partiji nepodnošljivu vjeru u Isusa. Stvar je pravo krenula kad se obratio mladim poručnicima iz obližnje marine.
Među njima posebno se isticao Sergej Kourdakov, jedan od najsposobnijih aktivista. Kad bi se on sa svojim dečkima, sve redom provjerenim razbijačima, pojavio u selu, sve bi zahvatio strah, ali nisu bježali. Nisu bježali ni kršćani, skupina mladih koja se sastajala svake nedjelje na čitanje Svetoga pisma i molitvu. Bilo ih je divno slušati jer su molili i pjevali iz dna duše. Baš zato im je Sergej silom trpao pijesak u usta sve dok se nisu počeli gušiti. Ostale su tukli nemilice gdje su i koga stigli. Onda su ih onako krvave i izranjene ostavljali na studeni.

Izveli su oko 150 racija, hvaleći se uspjehom i još više se čudeći kako su nemoćni u svoj silovitosti. Ti mladi kršćani uvijek bi se iznova sastajali i molili kao da nisu bili batinani. Još bi znali lijepim riječima uvjeravati progonitelje da nikome zla ne čine i da tolike nepravde nisu ničim zaslužili.
Jednom je Sergej u skupini molitelja našao djevojku plave kose i očiju bistrih kao najvedrije proljetno nebo.
– Nataša, zar i ti među ovim fanaticima? – reče, prepoznavši kolegicu s tečaja o Lenjinovoj viziji budućnosti svijeta.
– Ja sam kršćanka, vjerujem u Boga.
– Kako možeš? – prekide je Sergej. – Znaš dobro da Boga nema. Da postoji, došao bi vas izbaviti, a vidjet ćeš da neće doći!
– U bijesu se sručio na sve molitelje, tukao ih nemilosrdno dohvativši i Natašu.
– Vidi li sada, luđakinjo, da ga nema? – izderao se na djevojku bijesan i smeten tim njenim likom.
– Ti to ne možeš razumjeti, nije ti dano, ali mogao bi biti čovječniji. Zar nas nisu ponekad i tome poučavali? – primijetila je Nataša.
– Ma što ja to ne mogu razumjeti?! Ja sam uvijek sve shvaćao prije od ostalih; ovdje je kvocijent natprosječne inteligencije testiran u oficirskom štabu – vikao je Sergej dodirujući plavi čuperak na vrhu čela.
– U srcu je ono o čemu ti govorim. Isus je živ u srcima vjernika, zar ti to još nije jasno? – zaključila je Nataša i mirno se uspravila osjećajući muklu bol u vratu. Uplašila se tek kad je opazila da rana na usni sve više krvari. Obrisala je topli mlaz i potražila krajičkom pogleda Sergejev lik. Imao je ruku na očima, a njoj se učinilo da čuje tajanstveni glas: “Evo, šaljem vas kao janjce među vukove… Kao što su mene progonili i vas će progoniti… Nema veće Ijubavi od one da netko život svoj položi…” ali njemu, razbijaču i okorjelom grubijanu, bilo je na pameti kako mora spaliti sve te spise što ih je zaplijenio u skupini. Kad su se svi razbježali, uzeo je komad istrgnutog papira iz bilježnice i vidio da su prepisivali Evanđelje.
Nataša se ubrzo vratila u rodni kraj. O progonima je čula samo iz pisama. Bili su okrutni kao i njihovi progonitelji. Sergej je obavio još tko zna koliko racija i među pretučenim bijednicima uvijek iznova vidio Natašu i njezinu ranu na raspukloj usni.
Nemoguće! A ipak mjesecima tako. Konačno je odlučio pobjeći iz Rusije. U jesen 1971. godine bacio se s broda u valove moleći Boga da ga spasi. Pronašli su ga na obali otoka Queen Charbotte. U Kanadi se oporavio i, naravno ostao na Zapadu svjedočeći svoje obraćenje novim uzornim kršćanskim životom.
Napisao je knjigu koja je prevedena na nekoliko svjetskih jezika
Na kraju knjige čitamo i ove riječi: “Nataši, koju sam užasno udarao i koja je bila spremna i po treći put biti pretučena za svoju vjeru, želim reći: Nataša, moj se život uglavnom radi tebe izmijenio i sada sam tvoj brat u Isusu Kristu. Bog mi je oprostio nadam se da ćeš mi i ti oprostiti!”

[Esther Filbrun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whew! What a story. I wasn’t sure, when I first picked it up, if I’d find it interesting enough to get through (my impression of books like this is that they tend to be fairly dry), but it was surprisingly well-written and engaging. But what a difficult story! I wanted to cry over the different situations described here, and the horrors of the brutality inflicted on people were almost too much at times. Knowing the end of the story before I started helped, though, and it was amazing to see how God worked in Sergei’s life to turn him around.

If you enjoy stories that challenge and encourage you, I’d highly recommend this book to all adults who enjoy reading about how God works in different people’s lives. This isn’t necessarily an easy one to read, but it has given me a desire to pray for the persecutors of Christians as well as the persecuted, and I appreciate that. Written with honesty and courage, this is a book that will stick with me for a long time.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, beautiful read. This book truly shows that God, out of his divine love, can change even the cruelest man's heart. A very, very inspirational book, and how much it shows that these government people and Communist leaders will do anything to silence God's elect.

Beautiful.. just beautiful. I will never forget you Sergei, thank you for sharing with us this wonderful book of your life. RIP

[Anna Latimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been having a hard time getting into any books lately, but this book changed that. This was straightforwardly written and captivating, though the events captured are horrific.

[Taylor Picker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The true story of a Russian KGB police officer who had given his who life to the communist party and becomes disillusioned and begins to seek the faith of those he brutally persecuted. From chapter one, I was hooked. I mean, who doesn’t love a daring escape from a Russian Naval ship into freezing Canadian waters? The fact that this book gives the perspective of the one who is persecuting instead of the one being persecuted was so fascinating to me. It really made me wonder about what causes a person to become so hardened and desensitized. This book is especially relevant because of the fact that the same tactics that were used to indoctrinate communist youth could still happen today. A fantastic read about how God can save even the most unlikely person. 10/10 would recommend

[Juan Oxotko · Rating 4 out of 5]

A veridical story that shows how the Soviet communism worked from the experience of one of the most awarded young men for their contribution to the Communist Party. The irrational and contradictory orders given to him get to change a hard man who hurts innocent Christians to death to a man who travels around North America denouncing this persecution and converted to Christianity. It really impacted me all the hardships and craziness that happened and made me want to continue reading to know how he and that society worked and survived.

[Katherine S]

This was a very compelling story that I found fascinating.
But. now I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Some people have put forward evidence that some (if not most) of the happenings in this book are fraudulent. however. much of the so called "evidence" seems inconclusive at best. there were a few oddity's in the book that made me wonder how much of it may have been written by ghost-writers. but. it also bears some marks of being written by someone who only recently learned English. or of being a "plain" translated into English.
I'll be researching this more.

[Janelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Especially having grown up in Ukraine.

Former KGB agent exposes the brutality against the believers (that he led) in the Soviet union. Their love for Jesus gets to him and he escapes and converts. His story of his life in an orphanage and commentary on communism was interesting too.

[Dalton Linn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A modern Saul to Paul story. One of if not the most powerful testimony I’ve ever heard

[Domenico Francesco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro molto controverso pubblicato nel 1973 e divenuto un vero caso letterario in Nordamerica guadagnandosi negli anni anche diverse traduzioni all'estero e ristampe. Il libro è l'autobiografia di Sergei Kourdakov, giovanissimo dell'Unione Sovietica che nel 1970 mentre era di turno su una nave fuggì a nuoto fino alle acque del Canada. Divenne un personaggio popolare nei mesi successivi frequentando numerose chiese e tenendo numerose conferenze per gli Stati Uniti dove raccontò del suo passato, apparentemente membro di uno "Squadrone Anticristiano" stabilito dal KGB e dal governo sovietico che si dedicava alla persecuzione e alla violenza fisica sui cristiani e sulle chiese clandestine. Nel libro viene anche raccontato di come dopo anni di persecuzioni cambiò idea sulle sue azioni, in particolare dopo l'incontro con la Natascha del titolo, una ragazza che nonostante le torture e i pestaggi continuava a ripresentarsi ogni volta che Kourdakov e il suo squadrone attaccavano una funzione religiosa, questa maturazione lo portò ad allontanarsi dall'ideologia dell'Unione Sovietica del suo tempo e di fuggire.

Kourdakov morì per un colpo alla testa nella notte di Capodanno del 1973 ad appena 21 anni mentre si trovava in una capanna nei boschi a festeggiare con una ragazza e dopo essersi fatto prestare dal padre di lei la stessa pistola che lo uccise, apparentemente per autodifesa poiché Sergei sembra avesse affermato ad alcune persone vicine di non essere al sicuro. Apparentemente dopo l'autopsia venne escluso il suicidio ma la sua morte venne ritenuta accidentale, come sembra sia stato testimoniato anche dalla ragazza in sua presenza, Kourdakov nonostante la sua preparazione in Russia era comunque totalmente inesperto di armi da fuoco. Ma per molti, comprensibilmente, i dubbi sono rimasti e non pochi.

La storia indubbiamente è molto affascinante, e in più momenti leggendola mi sono sentito molto colpito dalle sue parole, dalla sua maturazione e dagli eventi passati, che potrebbero dare un'idea di cosa significasse vivere in Russia tra gli anni 50 e 60) seppur leggendolo allo stesso tempo sembra quasi palese che molte cose siano romanzate: non metto in dubbio che la vita all'epoca fosse molto dura ma le vicende di Kourdakov sono degne di un bambino di un racconto di Dickens, strapiene di sfiga in una maniera seriale quasi irreale ma alla fine per pura casualità si verifica un episodio di coincidenza miracolosa che lo salva o che gli insegna qualcosa. Nonostante ciò ho voluto informarmi di più scoprendo un documentario del 2006 chiamato Forgive me, Sergei in cui la regista, molto religiosa e grande fan del libro, ha voluto documentare e ricostruire la storia di Sergei visitando i posti da lui menzionati e se possibile contattare tutte le persone da lui incontrate nel libro arrivando alla fine alla conclusione che la stragrande maggioranza degli eventi narrati sono stati inventati di sana pianta da Kourdakov e molti fatti distorti (confermandomi alcuni dubbi avuti durante la lettura) col fine di facilitare la sua richiesta di cittadinanza negli Stati Uniti.

Come se non bastasse a questo si sono anche aggiunte critiche al movimento dell'Underground Evangelism (gruppo militante protestante che si occupava di diffondere Bibbie e materiale nei paesi in cui i cristiani sono perseguitati e non esiste libertà religiosa) apparentemente per aver esposto troppo Kourdakov nei loro tour di conferenze, di averlo sfruttato economicamente e psicologicamente arrivando forse, come qualcuno ha ipotizzato, a rimpolpare ulteriormente la sua autobiografia di elementi che glorificassero il ruolo dell'Underground Evangelism e di episodi sensazionalistici che demonizzassero il comunismo e rendessero il libro più appetibile economicamente. Con ciò bisogna tenere a mente che il libro uscì dopo la morte di Kourdakov, di conseguenza è possibile che un lavoro di "abbellimento" sia stato effettuato. Una storia affascinante nonostante tutto, e non solo per i contenuti veri o falsi che siano, ma anche per le vicende editoriali e del suo autore questi ultimi motivi a cui essenzialmente va il mio voto.

[Marko Bojkovský · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pisano jednostavnim jezikom relativno slabo obrazovanog dvadesetogodišnjaka, odnosno slabo školovanog u pravcu književne umetnosti ili bilo čega što bi se na stil pisanja odrazilo. No, to ne da ne smeta, nego je možda i najveća vrednost ove knjige.

Tematika je odrastanje u upokojenom SSSR-u, prolazak kroz sirotišta, vojne škole, ideološku indoktrinaciju, ulazak u tajnu policiju i komunistički progon hrišćana na krajnjem istoku države. I naravno - postepeno prelaženje fanatičnog mladog čoveka iz ubeđenog komuniste u ubeđenog hrišćanina.

Nekako mi je ovo delo omekšalo srce i sve mane sam zanemario, isplakao se kao kiša i to je to.

[Armando Maese Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found 'The Persecutor' to be excellent. It has a very good pace and all the facts given are relevant and add to the narrative of Sergei Kourdakov's life. The tone is one of honesty, yet one does wonder if Kourdakov exaggerates his successes.

The account of how Kourdakov's police task force became increasingly more brutal after having been first reluctant reminded me of Police Battalion 101 in Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning. These were just 'ordinary young men.' Their faith was not so much in communism, but rather more in improving their own station and making money. This, of course, is ironic as it is the direct opposite of the socialist ideal. Even early on, Kourdakov believed that his choice was either to be a 'business man' (criminal) or to be a communist. What he comes to find out is that the activities of either are very much the same. Once the illusion of communism faded, Kourdakov soon found that his belief was in what he believed communism could be and not what it really was.

I do wish he spoke more of his conversion. It is clear that he came to the realization of his sins against the believers, which he had suppressed for so long. At most, he tells how he began to pray while he was fearing that he would be returned to Russia by the Canadian authorities. He says he did not know 'how' to pray, but expressed himself openly to God and found Him.

[Vold Kira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Si eres cristiano o de menos católico, seguramente podrás sacarle más provecho a ésta lectura de proselitismo religioso.
Empieza bastante interesante, pero poco a poco el mensaje de la fe en Dios y los toques beatos se hacen más y más presentes. Sé que es la intención, sé que es el mensaje, pero no es de mi agrado.

Además se me hace un poco extraño que escribiendo un libro para hacer conversos a los ateos narre con tanto detalle las crueles golpizas que el mismo autor propinaba a los inocentes creyentes. Sospecho que es precisamente con la intención de realzar el poder de Dios al momento de su "iluminación".

Entretenido, quitando la beatitud del texto.

[Dave Cox II · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much liked reading this book. At least I could get through it... I only got halfway through Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago"
The book is a testimony and though to nearly the end there is a tension - When will it happen - When will he know God?!
Well written. To say that I liked it however, is not to say I liked the difficult parts - but they were not so exposed, as they were in the 'Gulag' and so I could endure it. The book was reasonably polished, but as this was a 1st draft there are a few spelling errors (very few) due to the authors demise... which I will leave unsaid. No Spoilers, you know!

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a hard-to-find, out-of-print book that I heard about during a college summer book club. It sounded uninteresting at first, but it was so great to read. It's about a young Russian man who persecutes Christians due to being raised believing they're evil, then ends up becoming one and suffers because of it. I've read it several times. It's not a quick, exciting read by any means, but a GOOD read.

[Bethany B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Persecutor" has no shinny turns of phrase or literary warm fuzzies, but it's written directly and honestly. It doesn't pretend to be anything more than the story of one man among thousands who suffered in communist Russia. Painful, powerful, and beautiful.

Kourdakov was shot only months after this book was finished. This is his true testimony to the world and his petition for forgiveness to the many Believers he persecuted. His prose are full of honor and respect.

[ᴊᴀᴢᴢ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the most uncomfortable books I have ever read. Reading about all the horrible things that he did to the believers was just so heartbreaking and extremely hard to read!
He did a good job of making the story of his life interesting and readable by using a contrast between bad and good events. It was nice to see Kourdakov do a life one-eighty at the end.
I recommend this book to anyone above thirteen.