Rudolf Klement

Rudolf Alois Klement (November 4, 1908, in Hamburg – 13 July 1938, in Paris) was a German member of the Trotskyist Left Opposition and Fourth International. Fluent in five languages, he joined Trotsky as his secretary in Büyükada (Prinkipo), Turkey, in 1933, where he learned a sixth language, Russian. Klement accompanied Trotsky to France, where he remained after Trotsky was expelled and ultimately found a home in Mexico. Klement came to lead Trotsky's International Secretariat from France. He was assassinated by the NKVD in Paris in 1938, while preparing a political report that included an investigation of NKVD agent Mark Zborowski, who had infiltrated the Trotskyist movement in France.

Early life

Klement was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1908, his father an architect in the city. A student of philosophy at Hamburg, he spoke five languages. He joined the communist party in his youth, but after expressing interest in Trotskyist political positions, was expelled in 1932.

Investigation into Etienne

Prior to his murder, at Trotsky's direction, Klement began a report investigating the assassinations targeting the Trotskyist Left Opposition. A number of Trotskyists suspected Lev Sedov's close associate Mark Zborowski, known in France at that time as Etienne, and later confirmed to be working for the NKVD.

Death

Klement was last seen by his French colleagues on 12 July 1938.

A few days later Klement's colleagues visited his home at Maisons-Alfort, a suburb of Paris, and found a prepared dinner uneaten. were never found.

Though Klement was known by his colleagues in the Left Opposition to have been preparing a lengthy political report for the Fourth International prior to his death, as recounted by Pierre Naville, his papers disappeared and were never found. Klement's murder would have been ordered by Stalin's Department of Special Tasks.