Andrey Geray (a.k.a. Andrew Geray)
Born: 1879, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Miner
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife and two children remained in Russia when he migrated. He joined the Union of Russian Workers in Greensburg, Pennsylvania in July 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported to Soviet Russia aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/477; FBI file OG 388189.
Grigory Gerish (a.k.a. Harry Gerrish)
Born: 1897, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Jewish
Occupation: Student; laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1908
Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Immigrated to the United States with his family as a child and later attended the University of Pennsylvania for one year before financial necessity forced him into wage labor. In 1918 he married his childhood sweetheart, Tillie Karetsky. The couple became politically radicalized in Philadelphia, first joining the Socialist Party and later the United Communist Party. Gerish served as secretary-organizer of the Jewish Young Socialist Federation. Both he and his wife were arrested and deported to Soviet Russia on February 1, 1921.
In Russia, Gerish rose to prominence within the Communist movement and became a member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. During the Stalinist purges, he was accused of Trotskyist sympathies, expelled from the Communist Party in 1937, arrested, and executed.
Sources: INS file 54810/821; Philadelphia Inquirer, February 1, 1921; Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov, Harvey Klehr, and John Earl Haynes, Secret Cables of the Comintern, 1933-1943; Michael Buckmiller and Klaus Meschkat, eds., Biographisches Handbuch zur Geschichte der Kommunistischen Internationale: Ein deutsch-russisches Forschungsprojekt.
Tilly Gerish (née Karetsky; a.k.a. Tillie Gerrish)
Born: 1899, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Jewish
Occupation: Dressmaker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Immigrated to the United States in 1913 to reunite with her childhood sweetheart, Grigory Gerish, whom she married in 1918. Active in the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union. Together with her husband, became politically radicalized in Philadelphia, first joining the Socialist Party and later the Communist Party. She was a member of the party’s Central Jewish Branch. Arrested in January 1920, she was deported with her husband to Soviet Russia on February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/126; Philadelphia Inquirer, February 1, 1921.
Mikhail Gernet
Born: 1898, Arkhangelsk, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Lathe operator
Migration: Migrated to US 1916
Affiliation: Socialist Party of America
Entered the United States via Canada without inspection and worked as a lathe operator in Detroit. Became a member of Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party of America. Arrested in April 1919 for allegedly causing a disturbance during a lecture by Catherine Breshkovsky that was critical of the Bolsheviks. Later testified that police beat him unconscious during his arrest, leaving him unable to raise his arms or eat without pain. Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919, under the pretext that he was “likely to become a public charge.”
Sources: INS file 54616/172.
Natale Girolimetti
Born: 1899, Ancona, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration: Migrated to US year unknown
Affiliation: Anarchist
An individualist anarchist described by Italian authorities “an individual of impulsive and violent character.” Deported to Italy sometime before 1921.
A “violent, irreducible” opponent of fascism, he was brutally beaten by Fascists upon his return to Italy. In 1921 he fled abroad, living successively in France, Luxembourg, Germany, and again in France, where he remained active in Italian exile radical circles. In 1926 he returned to Italy seeking medical treatment for head injuries sustained during earlier beatings and was immediately arrested for possession of antifascist literature. Released on parole, he was again assaulted by Fascists and arrested in 1927 while attempting to return to France. His mental condition deteriorated, and in 1928 he was confined to a psychiatric institution, where he died in 1932.
Sources: CPC busta 2446; Fabrizio Giulietti, Il movimento anarchico italiano nella lotta contro il fascismo, 1927–1945.
Bonaiuto Giusto
Born: 1888, Castel di Casio, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Shoemaker; miner
Migration: Immigrated to US 1909
Affiliation: Anarchist
Became an anarchist in the United States and joined the Circolo dei Studi Sociali in Kensington, Illinois. Traveled to Mexico in 1917 to avoid registering for the U.S. military draft and returned to the United States without inspection in 1918. Arrested in May 1918 during a raid on the Circolo and later detained in Chicago on the grounds of unlawful entry. Deported on December 20, 1919.
After returning to Italy, continued his anarchist activities in Castel di Casio. Arrested in 1923 for opposing the Fascist government and again in 1926 for resisting conscription, but was acquitted both times. Remained under government surveillance until at least 1940.
Sources: INS file 54616/213; CPC busta 711.
