Spas T. Raikin
Spas T. Raikin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1922 |
| Died | 2014 |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
Spas T. Raikin (1922-2014) was a Bulgarian historian and anti-communist activist. His historical work focused primarily on the history of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church both prior to and during Communist Bulgaria.
Life
Raikin was born in Zelenikovo, 26 October 1922. He studied theology before defecting in 1951 by crossing the Greek border.[1] He eventually reached New York, United States and studied political science at Columbia University.[2]
Career
He held a professorship at East Stroudsburg University[3] and upon retirement became professor emeritus.[4] His papers are held at the Hoover Archive of the Hoover Institution.[5] He was also involved with the Church World Service[6] and the World Council of Churches.
In 1957 he was hired by the Joint Publications Research Service. For this role he was given a CIA clearance, as Raikin was under contract with the CIA, although without being informed of his true employer.[7][8] Raikin wrote letters to the head of the CIA, Allen Dulles, and the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, sending them material from various organizations he was involved with.[9]
Raikin was a member of the far-right Bulgarian National Front (BNF) until 1964[10][11] and the editor of the group's newspaper 'Borba' (Struggle).[12] One of the things Raikin did during his involvement with the BNF was approach new arrivals from Europe and attempt to recruit them for the organization.[13] He was also Secretary-General of the 'American Friends of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations' from 1960 till 1962.[14][11] In this capacity he established contacts with the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League.
Beginning in 1962 Raikin was involved in the Travellers Aid Society. He met with Lee Harvey Oswald upon his return to the United States from the USSR at the port of Hoboken, New Jersey, after being contacted by the US Department of State.[15]
In 2001, he published his memoir 'Rebel with a Just Cause: A Political Journey against the Winds of the 20th Century'.[16]
The character of 'Stephen Raikin' in the film Journey to Freedom (1957) by Bulgarian filmmaker Stephen C. Apostolof takes his surname from Raikin and shares many biographical similarities to him.[2] Raikin is played by Warren Mitchell in Lee Oswald - Assassin, an episode of the BBC series Play of the Month.[17]
Bibliography
- The communists and the Bulgarian orthodox church, 1944–48: The rise and fall of Exarch Stefan (1984) in Religion in Communist Lands, Vol. 12 Issue no. 3, pp. 281–292.
- Nationalism and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (1988) in Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics ed. by Pedro Ramet, pp. 187-207.
- The Predicaments of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church Today (1992) in Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 12, Iss. 1.
- The Schism in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, 1992–1997 (1998) in Bulgaria In Transition: Politics, Economics, Society, And Culture After Communism ed. by John D. Bell.
References
- ^ Detrez, Raymond (2014). Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 409–10.
- ^ a b Blevins, Joe; Todorov, Jordan (2020). Dad Made Dirty Movies: The Erotic World of Stephen C. Apostolof. McFarland. pp. 49–50.
- ^ Webster, Alexander F.C. (Winter 1993). "Kingdoms of God in the Balkans?". East European Quarterly. 27 (4).
- ^ Todorova, Maria (2009). Bones of Contention: The Living Archive of Vasil Levski and the Making of Bulgaria's National Hero. Central European University Press. p. 359.
- ^ "Oswald's Bulgarian Connection: The Spas Raikin Papers". hoover.org. Hoover Institution.
- ^ "Raikin (Spas T.) papers". Online Archive of California.
- ^ "ARRB-CIA ISSUES: COMPLIANCE WITH JFK ACT-PERSONAL DECLARATIONS" (PDF). archives.gov. National Archives.
- ^ "MEMORANDUM:REQUEST FOR CLEARANCE OF CONTRACT PERSONNEL". maryferrell.org. Mary Ferrell Foundation.
- ^ "CIA Reading Room". archive.org. Internet Archive.
- ^ Bellant, Russ (1991). Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party. South End Press. p. 6.
- ^ a b Mazurkiewicz, Anna, ed. (2019). East Central European Migrations During the Cold War: A Handbook. De Gruyter. p. 93.
- ^ Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 87th Congress First Session - Volume 107 Part 3. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1961. p. 3290.
- ^ "INFORMATION CARD ON RAIKIN, SPAS TODOROV" (PDF). archive.gov. National Archives.
- ^ Glenn, David (Oct–Dec 1977). "Lee Harvey Oswald's Japan tour". Japan Quarterly. 44 (4): 80–90.
- ^ Frank, Howard. "Witness to history: Stroudsburg man remembers his strange encounter with Lee Harvey Oswald". Pocono Record.
- ^ Neuburger, Mary C. (2022). Ingredients of Change: The History and Culture of Food in Modern Bulgaria. Cornell University Press. p. 216.
- ^ "Lee Oswald - Assassin (1966)". Screenonline.