Editing Doctors' plot (section)

==Arrests==
[[Image:Vrachi-timashuk.png|thumb|[[Ukaz]] awarding Lydia Timashuk the Order of Lenin for "unmasking killer-doctors"]]
Abakumov was arrested and tortured soon after being dismissed as head of the MGB.<ref>[[#refSebag2007|Sebag-Montefiore 2007]], pp. 613–614.</ref> He was charged with being a sympathizer and protector of the criminal Jewish underground.<ref>[[#refSebag2007|Sebag-Montefiore 2007]], p. 612.</ref> This arrest was followed by the arrests of many agents who worked for him in the central apparatus of the MGB, including many Jews.<ref>[[#CITEREFMedvedev2003|Medvedev 2003]], p. 157.</ref>

The killer doctors case was revived in 1952 when the letter from cardiologist {{ill|Lydia Timashuk|ru|Тимашук, Лидия Феодосьевна}} was dug up from the archives. In 1948, Timashuk wrote a letter to the head of Stalin's security, General [[Nikolai Vlasik]], explaining that Zhdanov suffered a heart attack, but the Kremlin doctors who treated him missed it and prescribed the wrong treatment for him. Zhdanov soon died and the doctors covered up their mistake. The letter, however, was originally ignored.<ref>[[#refSebag2007|Sebag-Montefiore 2007]], p. 579.</ref><ref>[[#Zhukov2005|Zhukov 2005]], pp. 579–580</ref> In 1953, Timashuk was awarded the [[Order of Lenin]] (later revoked) "for the assistance in unmasking killer doctors", and for a long time Timashuk had an unjust stigma of the instigator of this persecution of doctors after Khrushchev in his "[[Secret Speech]]" mentioned her in this respect.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lgz.ru/archives/html_arch/lg372003/Polosy/art5_1.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031114033523/http://www.lgz.ru/archives/html_arch/lg372003/Polosy/art5_1.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 November 2003|title=ЧЕЛОВЕК|date=14 November 2003}}</ref><ref>[http://www.critical.ru/guestroom/opus/bobrov/pages/b8.php Как был создан миф о Л.Ф. Тимашук? ] (How the myth about L.F.Timasuk was created?); from: Бобров, О. Е., "Медицина (нравы, судьбы, бесправие)", Донецк : Регина, 2004, <!-- {{ISBN|966-705198-8}}, ISBN is invalid (checksum), listed invalid ISBN? Please verify. --> pp. 93–102</ref>

The arrests started in September 1952.<ref>[[#CITEREFMedvedev2003|Medvedev 2003]], pp. 168–170.</ref> Vlasik was fired as head of Stalin's security and eventually also arrested for ignoring the Timashuk letter.<ref>[[#Sebag2005|Sebag-Montefiore 2004]], p. 630.</ref><ref>[[#Zhukov2005|Zhukov 2005]], pp. 580–581.</ref>

Initially, 37 people were arrested including 17 Jews.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe |url=https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/71 |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=encyclopedia.yivo.org}}</ref> Under torture, prisoners seized in the investigation of the alleged plot were compelled to produce evidence against themselves and their associates.<ref>[[#Sebag2005|Sebag-Montefiore 2004]], p. 636.</ref><ref name=Medvedev181>[[#CITEREFMedvedev2003|Medvedev 2003]], p. 181.</ref>

Stalin accused the MGB of incompetence. He demanded that the interrogations of doctors already under arrest be accelerated.<ref>[[#Sebag2005|Sebag-Montefiore 2004]], p. 620.</ref> Stalin complained that there was no clear picture of the Zionist conspiracy and no solid evidence that specifically the Jewish doctors were guilty.<ref name=Medvedev181/>

[[KGB]] archives provide evidence that Stalin forwarded the collected interrogation materials to [[Malenkov]], [[Nikita Khrushchev|Khrushchev]] and other "potential victims of the doctors' plot".<ref>Reported by ''[[Izvestia]]'', 1989, p.155; also ''Istochnik'', 1997, p.140–141.</ref>