You’re not ready for this Cold War plot twist. Forget spy novels — this one’s real. In 1952, while the Korean War was raging and the Cold War was at its peak, Joseph Stalin pulled off one of the most insane diamond deals in history… by using a former Nazi SS officer as leverage! 😱
🧊💎 The Setup:
After the West slapped an embargo on diamond sales to the USSR in 1950, De Beers — the world's diamond cartel king — was 100% onboard. No Soviet sales. Full boycott. Game over, right?
Not quite.
🚨 In 2018, declassified Russian documents revealed the truth:
👉 In 1952–53, the Soviet Union secretly bought 400,000 carats of industrial diamonds from UK firms connected to De Beers — worth 20 million gold rubles
👉 The deal was top secret, signed by Stalin himself 😶
👉 Prices? MASSIVE discounts — up to 20% below market rate 💰
😱 But here’s the craziest part:
Stalin blackmailed the British with documents from a Nazi SS officer named Erich Purucker, who had organized diamond shipments from De Beers to the Nazis during WWII — via Spain.
💥 Why it mattered:
At a time when war crimes and Nazi collaboration were still a global scandal, Stalin threatened to reveal that UK companies — and De Beers itself — had secretly traded diamonds with the Nazi regime. 👀
🎯 The Result?
👉 Britain broke its own laws (and COCOM embargo) to sell diamonds to the USSR
👉 De Beers helped delay Soviet competition from Yakutia mines
👉 The USSR stocked up enough diamonds to ignore Western sanctions for years 😎
👉 All while the British and South African press ran disinformation campaigns about "Soviet diamond smuggling" to cover their tracks 🤐
📉 Aftermath:
- Yakutia diamonds didn't hit markets until 1957
- The SS officer, Purucker, died suddenly that same year 😬
- The world... never found out — until now
🔥 It’s not just a secret deal — it’s diamond-fueled geopolitical blackmail starring Nazis, Cold War spies, and corporate betrayal. Netflix, your next thriller is waiting. 🎬💎🕵️♂️