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Franklin Roosevelt at Yalta he introduced Beria as “My Himmler”. Upon Stalin’s death in March 1953 Beria was no longer protected and on 26th June, with the approval of the Politburo, he was denounced by Nikita Khrushchev and arrested. Khrushchev accused Beria of being in the pay of British Intelligence and of having capitalist and pro-US leanings. Did Beria really escape from Russia and fly to Spain? Gallo insisted it was true and he told of the meeting in Gibraltar which was arranged by the mysterious Spaniard. Gallo told Fuson that he had met Beria only once in Gibraltar and that it happened on September 16th. He said he parked his car outside the Embassy Rooms Restaurant and went inside to have lunch with his mother. When he saw the Spaniard approach the car he went out to speak to him. When the Spaniard asked if he had brought the guarantees from the Americans Gallo replied: “The Americans don’t believe anything you say. They want more proof”. The Spaniard took him by the arm and led him to a black Austin parked nearby. Gallo got in and said there was a badly sun-burned fat
Did Beria really escape from Russia and fly to Spain? Gallo insisted it was true and he told of the meeting in Gibraltar, arranged by the mysterious Spaniard
The former head of the Soviet Secret Police, Lavrenti Beria
Gibraltar & the Beria Hoax
words | Reg Reynolds
In October of 1953 an American newspaper reporter named Gene Fuson wrote a copyrighted story reporting that Lavrenti Beria, the most evil man in Stalin’s Russia, had been seen in Gibraltar. Fuson’s story, which was carried in many US newspapers, told of how in September that year, he had met with a Nicaraguan named Fabio Gallo. Gallo told Fuson how he had met with Beria, the former head of the Soviet Secret Police, in Gibraltar. Gallo, who was living in Torremolinos at the time, explained that Beria was on the run and seeking asylum in America. Gallo’s story was that Beria, a Russian atomic physicist and a Spaniard were seeking
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2013
to defect to the United States. He claimed that Beria and the physicist had escaped the Soviet Union by plane to Malaga and were hiding out on a farm owned by another Nicaraguan. Beria had every reason to escape. He had been head of the NKVD (later KGB) and was responsible for the murder and torture of thousands of his own people. He had many more condemned to hard labour in the Gulag. He was also hated for beating and raping women and molesting young girls. When Stalin met with President
man sitting on the back seat. “This is Beria,” said the Spaniard. After some discussion in Russian between the Spaniard and the man believed to be Beria, the fat man, speaking through the Spaniard said to Gallo, “Tell them you saw me and on account of their interest in me they will fix the arrangements.” Gallo met with the Spaniard again at Gibraltar on 18th September, and it was arranged they would purchase a radio at a local shop and meet with Beria again on the 21st. At the appointed time Gallo picked up the radio and parked his distinctive car, a Cadillac, in the designated space but Beria never showed. Fuson continued to pursue the story for the next few months but he was never able to prove that Beria was definitely ever in Spain or Gibraltar. As of 23rd December, 1953 it didn’t matter anymore as that is the day the Politburo announced that Beria had been executed. So was Beria ever in Gibraltar? It doesn’t seem likely. First I can’t imagine the Fascist Government under Franco allowing him refuge in Spain. Second there is some evidence that Beria had been executed on the day of his arrest. Beria’s son Sergo believed this and said he was told of his father’s death on 26th June. Sergo wrote a memoir which aimed to show that his father was not a monster at all, but a cultured thinker and a warm human being. Was it a hoax? If so who organised it, and why? One possibility is the Russians arranged it to provide further evidence that Beria was a traitor co-operating with the United States. On the other hand Beria may really have enjoyed a few anxious days on the Rock. n
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