Yakov Gilyarievich Etinger

Who was Yakov Gilyarievich Etinger?

Yakov Gilyarievich Etinger was one of the physicians accused in the Doctor's Plot in 1952-1953, an alleged Zionist plot to kill off the Soviet leadership. Dr. Etinger was tortured by M. D. Ryumin, the Deputy Minister of State Security, who then reported to Minister Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov, who did not believe there was a plot although he and Ryumin were both present at a later interrogation of Dr. Etinger. Yet another interrogation in the presence of Abakumov was to follow the next morning, in Ryumin's hope to convince Abakumov that such a case existed, but Etinger died under interrogation during the night.