Gertsovsky had already sent a letter to Khokhlov on 27 April saying that according to a directive from Merkulov, the dispatch of Swianiewicz (from Kozelsk) and Michal Romm (from Ostashkov) was to be held back; see KD2/64; KDZ2/145. Swianiewicz describes this event in his memoirs, W Cieniu Katynia / In the Shadow of Katyn. The 2nd Department of GUGB was the Sekretny Politichesky Otdel [SPO—Secret Political Department], responsible for political surveillance of the Communist Party, the intelligentsia, and religious and other groups; see Knight, KGB, p. 279.