Andrei Yakovlevich Sverdlov (Russian: Андрей Яковлевич Свердлов; 17 April 1911 – 15 November 1969) was a Soviet police officer, notorious for his treatment of political prisoners, who was a victim of the purge during the last years of Joseph Stalin.
During the power struggle that followed the death of the Soviet leader, Vladimir Lenin, Andrei Sverdlov backed Leon Trotsky against Stalin and as a 16 year old, in 1927, and made speeches in school supporting the Left Opposition.
Allegedly, this was a ruse: he remained on the NKVD payroll, and was acting as an informant, taking advantage of the trust other prisoners put in him because of who his father was.
She wrote later: It was painful to see him in this role because most of his famous father's comrades-in-arms had fallen victims to the terror by this time ... Andrei Sverdlov's new occupation could not be regarded as anything but betrayal.
[5]When Hanna Hanecka, 20-year-old daughter of Lenin's old comrade Yakov Hanecki, saw Sverdlov in prison, she rushed to hug with delight and relief, thinking that their old friendship meant that he would establish her innocence, but he shoved her away and swore at her by calling her a "bitch".