The fate of the resident: what was the legendary intelligence officer Rudolf Abel like. Patriotic stories
FBI Director Edgar Hoover once gave a kind of description of his professional qualities: “The persistent hunt for spymaster Abel is one of the most remarkable cases in our asset...” And the long-time head of the CIA, Allen Dulles, added another touch to this portrait, writing in his book “The Art of Intelligence”: “Everything that Abel did, he did out of conviction, and not for money. I would like us to have three or four people like Abel in Moscow.”
His biography is a ready-made script not even for a feature film, but for an exciting serial saga. And even if something has already formed the basis of individual film works, not in every film you will see what this person really went through, what he experienced. He himself is a cross-section of history, its living embodiment. A visible example of worthy service to his cause and devotion to the country for which he took mortal risks
Don't think down on seconds
Rudolf Ivanovich Abel (real name William Genrikhovich Fischer) was born on July 11, 1903 in the small town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, into a family of Russian political emigrants. His father, a native of the Yaroslavl province, was from a family of Russified Germans, actively participated in revolutionary activities and was sent abroad as “unreliable.” In England, he and his chosen one, the Russian girl Lyuba, had a son, who was named William - in honor of Shakespeare. My father was well versed in natural sciences and knew three languages. This love was passed on to Willie. At the age of 16, he successfully passed the exam at the University of London, but at that time his family decided to return to Moscow.
Here William works as a translator in the international relations department of the Executive Committee of the Comintern, and studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies. There was also conscription military service - her future intelligence officer served in the radiotelegraph regiment of the Moscow Military District, as well as work at the Red Army Air Force Research Institute. In 1927, William Fisher was hired into the foreign department of the OGPU as an assistant commissioner. He performed illegal intelligence tasks in Europe, including acting as a station radio operator. Upon returning to Moscow, he received the rank of state security lieutenant, but after some time he was unexpectedly dismissed from intelligence. It is believed that this was Beria’s personal decision: he did not trust the personnel working with “enemies of the people,” and Fischer managed to work abroad for some time with the defector Alexander Orlov.
William got a job at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, later worked at an aircraft manufacturing plant, but at the same time bombarded his former “office” with reports of reinstatement. His request was granted in the fall of 1941, when the need arose for experienced, proven specialists. Fischer was enlisted in a unit that organized sabotage groups and partisan detachments behind enemy lines, in particular, he trained radio operators to be deployed behind the front line. During that period, he became friends with his workmate Abel, whose name he would later use when arrested.
After the war, William Fisher was sent to the United States, where, living on different passports, he organized his own photo studio in New York, which played the role of an effective cover. It was from here that he directed the vast intelligence network of the USSR in America. In the late 40s, he worked with the famous intelligence officers the Cohen couple. This activity was extremely effective - important documents and information were received into the country, including on missile weapons. However, in 1957, the intelligence officer ended up in the hands of the CIA. There was a traitor in his circle - it was radio operator Heikhanen (pseudonym “Vic”), who, fearing punishment from his superiors for drunkenness and waste of official funds, passed on information about the intelligence network to the American intelligence services. When the arrest occurred, Fischer introduced himself as Rudolf Abel, and it was under this name that he went down in history. Despite the fact that he did not admit his guilt, the court imposed a sentence of 32 years in prison. The intelligence officer also rejected persistent attempts by American intelligence officers to persuade him to cooperate. In 1962, Abel was exchanged for the American U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Powers, who was shot down two years earlier in the skies over the Urals.
After rest and treatment, William Fisher - Rudolf Abel returned to work in the central apparatus of Soviet intelligence. He took part in the training of young specialists who were to go to the “front line” of foreign intelligence. The famous intelligence officer passed away on November 15, 1971. The SVR website notes that “Colonel V. Fischer for outstanding services in ensuring the state security of our country was awarded the Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, the Red Star, many medals, as well as badge “Honorary State Security Officer”.
They whistle like bullets at your temple
The name of Abel-Fisher is known to the general public, by and large, only from the final episode of his work in America and the subsequent exchange for a downed US pilot. Meanwhile, his biography had many bright pages, including those about which not everyone knows everything. Special services historian, journalist and writer Nikolai Dolgopolov, in his book “Legendary Intelligence Officers,” focused on only some facts from the life of the legendary intelligence officer. But they also reveal him as a real hero. It turns out that it was Fischer who conducted the radio game on behalf of the captured German Lieutenant Colonel Schorhorn.
“According to the legend planted on the Germans by Pavel Sudoplatov’s department, a large Wehrmacht unit operated in the Belarusian forests and miraculously escaped capture. It allegedly attacks regular Soviet units, while simultaneously reporting to Berlin about the movement of enemy troops, writes Nikolai Dolgopolov. - In Germany they believed this, especially since the small group of Germans wandering in the forests actually maintained regular contact with Berlin. It was William Fisher, dressed in the uniform of a fascist officer, who played this game together with his radio operators.”
The Germans were fooled in this way for almost a year. For this operation and for his work during the war in general, William Fisher was awarded the Order of Lenin. He received the military order of the Red Star in the very first years of his work in the USA. Then, not only from New York, where he lived (by the way, he allegedly settled in mockery at 252 Fulton Street - near the FBI office), but also from the coast, radiograms came from the coast about the movements of military equipment, information regarding the operational situation in major American port cities, delivery, transportation of military cargo from the Pacific coast. Fischer also led the network of Soviet “atomic agents” - this, as Nikolai Dolgopolov notes, “was his first and most important task.” In general, “Mark” - this was the pseudonym Fisher had in the USA - managed to quickly reorganize the illegal network that remained in the USA after World War II. The fact is that in 1948, Soviet intelligence suffered losses here: even before Fischer’s arrival, many Soviet agents were arrested due to betrayal, our consulates and official representative offices in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco were closed.
“Nine years of work, each of which counts to the illegal immigrant for two, several orders, and a promotion in rank. The colonel did not manage to accomplish even more, although he created all the conditions for successful work - his own and the agents’, notes Nikolai Dolgopolov. “The traitor Heihanen interfered.”
During the arrest, Fischer showed fantastic composure and composure. When people from the FBI called him a colonel, he immediately realized that the traitor was “Vic”: only the radio operator knew what officer rank “Mark” had. Our intelligence officer also behaved courageously during the trial: his lawyer James Donovan later recalled with what admiration he watched his client. But the sentence for a 54-year-old man looked almost like death - 32 years in prison... By the way, in Steven Spielberg’s recent film Bridge of Spies, the image of the Soviet intelligence officer was talentedly portrayed by British actor Mark Rylance, showing the character of his hero without the usual Hollywood cliches and current anti-Russian hysteria . The role was so successful that the artist even received an Oscar for her performance. It is worth noting that Rudolf Abel himself took part in the creation of the feature film “Dead Season,” which was released in 1968. The plot of the film, in which Donatas Banionis played the main role, turned out to be connected with some facts from the intelligence officer’s biography.
To whom is infamy, and to whom is immortality
In his memoirs, set out in the book “Notes of the Chief of Illegal Intelligence,” the former head of department “C” (illegals) of the First Main Directorate of the KGBSSR, Major General Yuri Drozdov, spoke about some of the details of the exchange of Rudolf Abel for the American pilot Powers. In this operation, the security officer played the role of Abel’s “cousin,” a petty employee of Drives who lived in the GDR.
“Painstaking work was carried out by a large group of Center employees. In Berlin, in addition to me, the department’s leadership also dealt with these issues,” writes General Drozdov. - A relative of Drives was “made”, correspondence between Abel’s family members and his lawyer in the USA, Donovan, was established through a lawyer in East Berlin. At first, things developed sluggishly. The Americans were very careful and began checking the addresses of the relative and lawyer. Apparently they felt insecure. In any case, this was evidenced by the data that came to us from their office in West Berlin, and by monitoring the actions of their agents on the territory of the GDR.”
On the eve of the exchange, as Yuri Drozdov recalled, the head of the Office of the Commissioner of the USSR KGB in the GDR, General A. A. Krokhin, had his last meeting. “Early in the morning I woke up from a knock on the door. The car was already waiting for me below. I arrived at the exchange place without sleep. But the exchange went well - R.I. Abel returned home.”
By the way, Yuri Ivanovich remembered this detail - Powers was handed over to the Americans in a good coat, a winter fawn hat, physically strong and healthy. Abel crossed the exchange line in some kind of gray-green prison robe and a small cap that barely fit on his head. “On the same day, we spent a couple of hours buying him the necessary wardrobe in Berlin stores,” General Drozdov recalled. - I met him again in the late 60s, in the dining room of our building on Lubyanka, during my visit to the Center from China. He recognized me, came up, thanked me, and said that we should still talk. I couldn't because I was flying out that evening. Fate decreed that I visited Abel’s dacha only in 1972, but already on the anniversary of his death.”
The former deputy head of the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, Lieutenant General Vadim Kirpichenko, emphasized in one of his interviews that only the most famous episodes of Abel’s work are still named in open sources.
“The paradox is that many other, very interesting fragments still remain in the shadows,” the general noted. - Yes, the classification of secrecy has already been removed from many cases. But there are stories that, against the backdrop of already known information, look routine and inconspicuous, and journalists, understandably, are looking for something more interesting. And some things are completely difficult to restore. The chronicler didn’t follow Abel! Today, documentary evidence of his work is scattered across many archival folders. Bringing them together, reconstructing events is painstaking, long work, who will get around to it? But when there are no facts, legends appear..."
Perhaps Rudolf Abel himself will forever remain the same legendary man. A real intelligence officer, patriot, officer.
Exactly 55 years ago, on February 10, 1962, on the bridge separating the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, an exchange took place between the illegal Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel (real name William Genrikhovich Fischer) and the American pilot Francis Powers, who was shot down over the USSR. Abel behaved courageously in prison: he did not reveal to the enemy even the smallest episode of his work, and he is still remembered and respected not only in our country, but also in the USA.
Shield and sword of the legendary scout
Steven Spielberg's film Bridge of Spies, released in 2015, which told about the fate of a Soviet intelligence officer and his exchange, was recognized by film critics as one of the best in the work of the famous American director. The film was made in the spirit of deep respect for the Soviet intelligence officer. Abel, played by British actor Mark Rylance, is a strong-willed person in the film, while Powers is a coward.
In Russia, the intelligence colonel was also immortalized on film. He was played by Yuri Belyaev in the 2010 film “Fights: The US Government vs. Rudolf Abel”; his fate is partly told in the cult film of the 60s “Dead Season” by Savva Kulish, at the beginning of which the legendary intelligence officer himself addressed the audience from the screen with a small commentary .
He also worked as a consultant on another famous Soviet spy film, “Shield and Sword” by Vladimir Basov, where the main character, played by Stanislav Lyubshin, was named Alexander Belov (A. Belov - in honor of Abel). Who is he, a man who is known and respected on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean?
Artist, engineer or scientist
William Genrikhovich Fischer was a very talented and versatile person with a phenomenal memory and a very developed instinct that helped him find the right solution in the most unexpected situations.
Since childhood, he, born in the small English town of Newcastle upon Tyne, spoke several languages, played various musical instruments, was an excellent painter, sketcher, understood technology and was interested in the natural sciences. He could have turned out to be a wonderful musician, engineer, scientist or artist, but fate itself predetermined his future path even before birth.
More precisely, the father, Heinrich Matthaus Fischer, a German subject who was born on April 9, 1871 on the estate of Prince Kurakin in the Yaroslavl province, where his parent worked as a manager. In his youth, after meeting the revolutionary Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, Heinrich became seriously interested in Marxism and became an active participant in the Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class created by Vladimir Ulyanov.
Named after Shakespeare
The secret police soon drew attention to Fischer, which was followed by an arrest and many years of exile - first to the north of the Arkhangelsk province, then a transfer to the Saratov province. Under these conditions, the young revolutionary proved himself to be an extraordinary conspirator. Constantly changing names and addresses, he continued to fight illegally.
In Saratov, Henry met a young like-minded person, a native of this province, Lyubov Vasilievna Korneeva, who received three years for her revolutionary activities. They soon married and left Russia together in August 1901, when Fischer was faced with a choice: immediate arrest and deportation in shackles to Germany or voluntary departure from the country.
The young couple settled in Great Britain, where on July 11, 1903, their youngest son was born, who received his name in honor of Shakespeare. Young William passed the exams at the University of London, but he did not have to study there - his father decided to return to Russia, where the revolution took place. In 1920, the family moved to the RSFSR, receiving Soviet citizenship and retaining British citizenship.
The best of the best radio operators
William Fisher entered VKHUTEMAS (Higher Art and Technical Workshops), one of the leading art universities in the country at the time, but in 1925 he was drafted into the army and became one of the best radio operators in the Moscow Military District. His primacy was also recognized by his colleagues, among whom were the future participant of the first Soviet drifting station "North Pole-1", the famous polar explorer and radio operator Ernst Krenkel and the future People's Artist of the USSR, artistic director of the Maly Theater Mikhail Tsarev.
© AP Photo
After demobilization, Fischer seemed to have found his calling - he worked as a radio technician at the Red Army Air Force Research Institute (now the State Flight Test Center of the Russian Ministry of Defense named after Valery Chkalov). In 1927, he married harpist Elena Lebedeva, and two years later their daughter Evelina was born.
It was at this time that political intelligence, the OGPU, drew attention to a promising young man with an excellent knowledge of several foreign languages. Since 1927, William has been an employee of the Foreign Department of Foreign Intelligence, where he worked first as a translator and then as a radio operator.
Dismissal due to suspicions
In the early 30s, he asked the British authorities to issue him a passport, because he allegedly quarreled with his revolutionary father and wanted to return to England with his family. The British willingly gave Fischer documents, after which the intelligence officer worked illegally for several years in Norway, Denmark, Belgium and France, where he created a secret radio network, transmitting messages from local stations to Moscow.
In 1938, to escape large-scale repressions in the Soviet intelligence apparatus, NKVD resident in Republican Spain Alexander Orlov fled to the West.
After this incident, William Fisher was recalled to the USSR and at the end of the same year was dismissed from the authorities with the rank of state security lieutenant (corresponding to the rank of army captain).
This change in attitude towards the quite successful intelligence officer was dictated only by the fact that the new head of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs, Lavrentiy Beria, openly did not trust the employees who worked with previously repressed “enemies of the people” in the NKVD. Fischer was also very lucky: many of his colleagues were shot or imprisoned.
Friendship with Rudolf Abel
Fischer was brought back into service by the war with Germany. From September 1941, he worked in the central intelligence apparatus at Lubyanka. As head of the communications department, he took part in ensuring the security of the parade that took place on November 7, 1941 on Red Square. He was involved in the training and transfer of Soviet agents to the Nazi rear, led the work of partisan detachments and participated in several successful radio games against German intelligence.
It was during this period that he became friends with Rudolf Ivanovich (Ioganovich) Abel. Unlike Fischer, this active and cheerful Latvian came to reconnaissance from the fleet, in which he fought during the civil war. During the war, they and their families lived in the same apartment in the center of Moscow.
They were brought together not only by their common service, but also by the common features of their biography. For example, like Fischer, Abel was dismissed from service in 1938. His older brother Voldemar was accused of participating in a Latvian nationalist organization and was shot. Rudolf, like William, found himself in demand at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, carrying out important tasks in organizing sabotage behind the lines of German troops.
And in 1955, Abel died suddenly, never knowing that his best friend was sent to work illegally in the United States. The Cold War was at its height.
The enemy's nuclear secrets were required. Under these conditions, William Fisher, who, under the guise of a Lithuanian refugee, managed to organize two large intelligence networks in the United States, turned out to be an invaluable person for Soviet scientists. For which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Failure and paint
The volume of interesting information was so great that over time Fischer needed another radio operator. Moscow sent Major Nikolai Ivanov as his assistant. It was a personnel error. Ivanov, working under the agent name Reino Heihanen, turned out to be a drinker and a lover of women. When they decided to recall him back in 1957, he turned to the US intelligence services.
They managed to warn Fischer about the betrayal and began to prepare to flee the country through Mexico, but he recklessly decided to return to the apartment and destroy all evidence of his work. FBI agents arrested him. But even in such a stressful moment, William Genrikhovich was able to maintain amazing composure.
He, who continued to paint in the United States, asked American counterintelligence officers to erase the paint from the palette. Then he quietly threw a crumpled piece of paper with a coded telegram into the toilet and flushed it. When detained, he identified himself as Rudolf Abel, thereby making it clear to the Center that he was not a traitor.
Under someone else's name
During the investigation, Fischer resolutely denied his involvement in Soviet intelligence, refused to testify at trial, and suppressed all attempts by American intelligence officers to work for them. They got nothing from him, not even his real name.
But Ivanov’s testimony and letters from his beloved wife and daughter became the basis for a harsh sentence - more than 30 years in prison. In prison, Fischer-Abel painted oil paintings and worked on solving mathematical problems. A few years after this, the traitor suffered punishment - a huge truck crashed into a car driven by Ivanov on a highway at night.
The intelligence officer's fate began to change on May 1, 1960, when the pilot of the U-2 spy plane, Francis Powers, was shot down in the USSR. In addition, the newly elected President John Kennedy sought to ease tensions between the United States and the USSR.
As a result, it was decided to exchange the mysterious Soviet intelligence officer for three people at once. On February 10, 1962, at the Glienicke Bridge, Fischer was handed over to Soviet intelligence services in exchange for Powers. Two American students previously arrested on espionage charges, Frederic Pryor and Marvin Makinen, were also released.
Rudolf Ivanovich Abel(real name William Genrikhovich Fischer; July 11, Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain - November 15, Moscow, USSR) - Soviet intelligence officer, illegal immigrant, colonel. Since 1948 he worked in the USA, in 1957 he was arrested. On February 10, 1962, he was exchanged for the American reconnaissance aircraft pilot F. G. Powers, who was shot down over the USSR, and the American economics student Frederick Pryor ( English) .
Biography
In 1920, the Fischer family returned to Russia and accepted Soviet citizenship, without renouncing English, and, together with the families of other prominent revolutionaries, at one time lived on the territory of the Kremlin.
In 1921, William's older brother Harry died in an accident.
Upon his arrival in the USSR, Abel first worked as a translator in the Executive Committee of the Communist International (Comintern). Then he entered VKHUTEMAS. In 1925, he was drafted into the army into the 1st radiotelegraph regiment of the Moscow Military District, where he received the specialty of a radio operator. He served together with E. T. Krenkel and the future artist M. I. Tsarev. Having an innate aptitude for technology, he became a very good radio operator, whose superiority was recognized by everyone.
After demobilization, he worked at the Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force as a radio technician. On April 7, 1927, he married a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, harpist Elena Lebedeva. She was appreciated by her teacher, the famous harpist Vera Dulova. Subsequently, Elena became a professional musician. In 1929, their daughter was born.
On December 31, 1938, he was dismissed from the NKVD (due to Beria’s distrust of personnel working with “enemies of the people”) with the rank of GB lieutenant (captain) and worked for some time at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, and then at an aircraft factory. He repeatedly submitted reports about his reinstatement in intelligence. He also addressed his father’s friend, the then secretary of the party’s Central Committee, Andreev.
Since 1941, again in the NKVD, in a unit organizing partisan warfare behind German lines. Fischer trained radio operators for partisan detachments and reconnaissance groups sent to countries occupied by Germany. During this period he met and worked together with Rudolf Abel, whose name and biography he later used.
After the end of the war, it was decided to send him to illegal work in the United States, in particular, to obtain information from sources working at nuclear facilities. He moved to the United States in November 1948 using a passport in the name of a US citizen of Lithuanian origin, Andrew Kayotis (who died in the Lithuanian SSR in 1948). He then settled in New York under the name of artist Emil Robert Goldfus, where he ran a Soviet intelligence network and, as a cover, owned a photography studio in Brooklyn. The Cohen spouses were identified as liaison agents for “Mark” (pseudonym of V. Fischer).
By the end of May 1949, “Mark” had resolved all organizational issues and was actively involved in the work. It was so successful that already in August 1949 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for specific results.
In 1955, he returned to Moscow for several months in the summer and autumn.
Failure
To relieve “Mark” from current affairs, in 1952, illegal intelligence radio operator Häyhänen (Finnish: Reino Häyhänen, pseudonym “Vic”) was sent to help him. “Vic” turned out to be morally and psychologically unstable, and four years later a decision was made to return him to Moscow. However, “Vic,” suspecting something was wrong, surrendered to the American authorities, told them about his work in illegal intelligence and handed over “Mark.”
In 1957, "Mark" was arrested at New York's Latham Hotel by FBI agents. At that time, the leadership of the USSR declared that it was not involved in espionage. In order to let Moscow know about his arrest and that he was not a traitor, William Fisher, during his arrest, identified himself by the name of his late friend Rudolf Abel. During the investigation, he categorically denied his affiliation with intelligence, refused to testify at trial, and rejected attempts by American intelligence officials to persuade him to cooperate.
That same year he was sentenced to 32 years in prison. After the verdict was announced, "Mark" was kept in solitary confinement at a pre-trial detention center in New York, then transferred to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. In conclusion, he studied solving mathematical problems, art theory, and painting. He painted in oils. Vladimir Semichastny claimed that the portrait of Kennedy painted by Abel in prison was given to him at the latter’s request and then hung in the Oval Office for a long time.
Liberation
After rest and treatment, Fischer returned to work in the central intelligence apparatus. He took part in the training of young illegal intelligence officers and painted landscapes in his spare time. Fisher also participated in the creation of the feature film “Dead Season” (1968), the plot of which is connected with some facts from the intelligence officer’s biography.
William Genrikhovich Fischer died of lung cancer at the age of 69 on November 15, 1971. He was buried at the New Donskoy Cemetery in Moscow next to his father.
Awards
For outstanding services in ensuring the state security of the USSR, Colonel V. Fischer was awarded:
- three Orders of the Red Banner
- Order of Lenin - for activities during the Great Patriotic War
- Order of the Red Banner of Labor
- Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree
- Order of the Red Star
- many medals.
Memory
- His fate inspired Vadim Kozhevnikov to write the famous adventure novel “Shield and Sword”. Although the name of the main character, Alexander Belov, is associated with the name of Abel, the plot of the book differs significantly from the real fate of William Genrikhovich Fischer.
- In 2008, the documentary film “Unknown Abel” was shot (directed by Yuri Linkevich).
- In 2009, Channel One created a two-part biographical film “The US Government vs. Rudolf Abel” (starring Yuri Belyaev).
- Abel first showed himself to the general public in 1968, when he addressed his compatriots with an introductory speech to the film “Dead Season” (as an official consultant for the film).
- In the American film by Steven Spielberg “Bridge of Spies” (2015), his role was played by British theater and film actor Mark Rylance, for this role Mark received many awards and prizes, including the Academy Award “Oscar”.
- On December 18, 2015, on the eve of the Day of State Security Workers, a solemn opening ceremony of the memorial plaque to William Genrikhovich Fischer took place in Samara. The sign, authored by Samara architect Dmitry Khramov, appeared on house No. 8 on the street. Molodogvardeyskaya. It is assumed that this is where the intelligence officer’s family lived during the Great Patriotic War. At that time, William Genrikhovich himself taught radio science at a secret intelligence school, and later from Kuibyshev he conducted radio games with German intelligence.
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Notes
Literature
- Nikolay Dolgopolov. Abel-Fischer. ZhZL, issue 1513, Moscow, Young Guard, 2011 ISBN 978-5-235-03448-8
- Vladimir Karpov(compiler). Declassified by foreign intelligence//B. Ya. Nalivaiko. OPERATION "ALTGLINNIKE-BRUCKE". M.: OLMA-PRESS Education, 2003. ISBN 5-94849-084-X.
Links
- in the library of Maxim Moshkov
- . Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation(2000). Retrieved May 3, 2010. .
Excerpt characterizing Rudolf Abel
The princess's face became covered with red spots at the sight of the letter. She hurriedly took it and bent down towards him.- From Eloise? - asked the prince, showing his still strong and yellowish teeth with a cold smile.
“Yes, from Julie,” said the princess, looking timidly and smiling timidly.
“I’ll miss two more letters, and I’ll read the third,” the prince said sternly, “I’m afraid you’re writing a lot of nonsense.” I'll read the third one.
“At least read this, mon pere, [father,],” answered the princess, blushing even more and handing him the letter.
“Third, I said, third,” the prince shouted briefly, pushing away the letter, and, leaning his elbows on the table, pulled up a notebook with geometry drawings.
“Well, madam,” the old man began, bending close to his daughter over the notebook and placing one hand on the back of the chair on which the princess was sitting, so that the princess felt surrounded on all sides by that tobacco and senile pungent smell of her father, which she had known for so long. . - Well, madam, these triangles are similar; would you like to see, angle abc...
The princess looked fearfully at her father’s sparkling eyes close to her; red spots shimmered across her face, and it was clear that she did not understand anything and was so afraid that fear would prevent her from understanding all her father’s further interpretations, no matter how clear they were. Whether the teacher was to blame or the student was to blame, the same thing was repeated every day: the princess’s eyes grew dim, she saw nothing, heard nothing, she only felt the dry face of her stern father close to her, felt his breath and smell and only thought about how she could quickly leave the office and understand the problem in her own open space.
The old man lost his temper: he pushed the chair he was sitting on with a loud noise, made an effort to not get excited, and almost every time he got excited, cursed, and sometimes threw his notebook.
The princess made a mistake in her answer.
- Well, what a fool! - the prince shouted, pushing away the notebook and quickly turning away, but immediately stood up, walked around, touched the princess’s hair with his hands and sat down again.
He moved closer and continued his interpretation.
“It’s impossible, princess, it’s impossible,” he said when the princess, having taken and closed the notebook with the assigned lessons, was already preparing to leave, “mathematics is a great thing, my madam.” And I don’t want you to be like our stupid ladies. Will endure and fall in love. “He patted her cheek with his hand. - The nonsense will jump out of your head.
She wanted to go out, he stopped her with a gesture and took out a new uncut book from the high table.
- Here’s another Key of the Sacrament your Eloise sends you. Religious. And I don’t interfere with anyone’s faith... I looked through it. Take it. Well, go, go!
He patted her on the shoulder and locked the door behind her.
Princess Marya returned to her room with a sad, frightened expression that rarely left her and made her ugly, sickly face even more ugly, and sat down at her desk, lined with miniature portraits and littered with notebooks and books. The princess was as disorderly as her father was decent. She put down her geometry notebook and impatiently opened the letter. The letter was from the princess’s closest friend since childhood; this friend was the same Julie Karagina who was at the Rostovs’ name day:
Julie wrote:
"Chere et excellente amie, quelle chose terrible et effrayante que l"absence! J"ai beau me dire que la moitie de mon existence et de mon bonheur est en vous, que malgre la distance qui nous separe, nos coeurs sont unis par des liens indissolubles; le mien se revolte contre la destinee, et je ne puis, malgre les plaisirs et les distractions qui m"entourent, vaincre une certaine tristesse cachee que je ressens au fond du coeur depuis notre separation. Pourquoi ne sommes nous pas reunies, comme cet ete dans votre grand cabinet sur le canape bleu, le canape a confidences? Pourquoi ne puis je, comme il y a trois mois, puiser de nouvelles forces morales dans votre regard si doux, si calme et si penetrant, regard que j"aimais tant et que je crois voir devant moi, quand je vous ecris.”
[Dear and priceless friend, what a terrible and terrible thing is separation! No matter how much I tell myself that half of my existence and my happiness lies in you, that, despite the distance that separates us, our hearts are united by inextricable bonds, my heart rebels against fate, and, despite the pleasures and distractions that surround me, I I cannot suppress some hidden sadness that I have been experiencing in the depths of my heart since our separation. Why aren’t we together, like last summer, in your big office, on the blue sofa, on the sofa of “confessions”? Why can’t I, like three months ago, draw new moral strength from your gaze, meek, calm and penetrating, which I loved so much and which I see before me at the moment I write to you?]
Having read up to this point, Princess Marya sighed and looked back at the dressing table, which stood to her right. The mirror reflected an ugly, weak body and a thin face. The eyes, always sad, now looked at themselves in the mirror especially hopelessly. “She flatters me,” thought the princess, turned away and continued reading. Julie, however, did not flatter her friend: indeed, the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of her whole face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty. But the princess had never seen a good expression in her eyes, the expression they took on in those moments when she was not thinking about herself. Like all people, her face took on a tense, unnatural, bad expression as soon as she looked in the mirror. She continued reading: 211
“Tout Moscou ne parle que guerre. L"un de mes deux freres est deja a l"etranger, l"autre est avec la garde, qui se met en Marieche vers la frontiere. Notre cher empereur a quitte Petersbourg et, a ce qu"on pretend, compte lui meme exposer sa precieuse existence aux chances de la guerre. Du veuille que le monstre corsicain, qui detruit le repos de l"Europe, soit terrasse par l"ange que le Tout Puissant, dans Sa misericorde, nous a donnee pour souverain. Sans parler de mes freres, cette guerre m"a privee d"une relation des plus cheres a mon coeur. Je parle du jeune Nicolas Rostoff, qui avec son enthousiasme n"a pu supporter l"inaction et a quitte l"universite pour aller s"enroler dans l"armee. Eh bien, chere Marieie, je vous avouerai, que, malgre son extreme Jeunesse, son depart pour l "armee a ete un grand chagrin pour moi. Le jeune homme, dont je vous parlais cet ete, a tant de noblesse, de veritable jeunesse qu"on rencontre si rarement dans le siecle ou nous vivons parmi nos villards de vingt ans. Il a surtout tant de franchise et de coeur. Il est tellement pur et poetique, que mes relations avec lui, quelque passageres qu"elles fussent, ont ete l"une des plus douees jouissances de mon pauvre coeur, qui a deja tant souffert. "est dit en partant. Tout cela est encore trop frais. Ah! Chere amie, vous etes heureuse de ne pas connaitre ces jouissances et ces peines si poignantes. Vous etes heureuse, puisque les derienieres sont ordinairement les plus fortes! Je sais fort bien, que le comte Nicolas est trop jeune pour pouvoir jamais devenir pour moi quelque chose de plus qu"un ami, mais cette douee amitie, ces relations si poetiques et si pures ont ete un besoin pour mon coeur. Mais n" en parlons plus. La grande nouvelle du jour qui occupe tout Moscou est la mort du vieux comte Earless et son heritage. Figurez vous que les trois princesses n"ont recu que tres peu de chose, le prince Basile rien, est que c"est M. Pierre qui a tout herite, et qui par dessus le Marieche a ete reconnu pour fils legitime, par consequent comte Earless est possesseur de la plus belle fortune de la Russie. On pretend que le prince Basile a joue un tres vilain role dans toute cette histoire et qu"il est reparti tout penaud pour Petersbourg.
“Je vous avoue, que je comprends tres peu toutes ces affaires de legs et de testament; ce que je sais, c"est que depuis que le jeune homme que nous connaissions tous sous le nom de M. Pierre les tout court est devenu comte Earless et possesseur de l"une des plus grandes fortunes de la Russie, je m"amuse fort a observer les changes de ton et des manieres des mamans accablees de filles a Marieier et des demoiselles elles memes a l "egard de cet individu, qui, par parenthese, m" a paru toujours etre un pauvre, sire Comme on s"amuse. depuis deux ans a me donner des promis que je ne connais pas le plus souvent, la chronique matrimoniale de Moscow me fait comtesse Earless. Mais vous sentez bien que je ne me souc nullement de le devenir. A propos de Marieiage, savez vous que tout derienierement la tante en general Anna Mikhailovna, m"a confie sous le sceau du plus grand secret un projet de Marieiage pour vous. Ce n"est ni plus, ni moins, que le fils du prince Basile, Anatole, qu"on voudrait ranger en le Marieiant a une personne riche et distinguee, et c"est sur vous qu"est tombe le choix des parents. Je ne sais comment vous envisagerez la chose, mais j"ai cru de mon devoir de vous en avertir. On le dit tres beau et tres mauvais sujet; c"est tout ce que j"ai pu savoir sur son compte.
“Mais assez de bavardage comme cela. Je finis mon second feuillet, et maman me fait chercher pour aller diner chez les Apraksines. Lisez le livre mystique que je vous envoie et qui fait fureur chez nous. Quoiqu"il y ait des choses dans ce livre difficiles a atteindre avec la faible conception humaine, c"est un livre admirable dont la lecture calme et eleve l"ame. Adieu. Mes respects a monsieur votre pere et mes compliments a m elle Bourienne. Je vous embrasse comme je vous aime.
“P.S.Donnez moi des nouvelles de votre frere et de sa charmante petite femme.”
[All of Moscow is talking about the war. One of my two brothers is already abroad, the other is with the guard, which is marching to the border. Our dear sovereign leaves St. Petersburg and, it is assumed, intends to expose his precious existence to the accidents of war. May God grant that the Corsican monster, which disturbs the tranquility of Europe, may be cast down by the angel whom the Almighty, in His goodness, has made sovereign over us. Not to mention my brothers, this war has deprived me of one of the relationships closest to my heart. I'm talking about young Nikolai Rostov; who, despite his enthusiasm, could not bear inaction and left the university to join the army. I confess to you, dear Marie, that, despite his extreme youth, his departure for the army was a great grief for me. In the young man I told you about last summer, there is so much nobility, true youth, which you see so rarely in our age among twenty-year-olds! He especially has so much candor and heart. He is so pure and full of poetry that my relationship with him, despite all its fleetingness, was one of the sweetest joys of my poor heart, which had already suffered so much. Someday I will tell you our farewell and everything that was said at parting. All this is still too fresh... Ah! dear friend, you are happy that you do not know these burning pleasures, these burning sorrows. You are happy because the latter are usually stronger than the former. I know very well that Count Nikolai is too young to become anything other than a friend to me. But this sweet friendship, this so poetic and so pure relationship was the need of my heart. But enough about that.
“The main news occupying all of Moscow is the death of old Count Bezukhy and his inheritance. Imagine, three princesses received some small amount, Prince Vasily received nothing, and Pierre is the heir to everything and, moreover, is recognized as the legitimate son and therefore Count Bezukhy and the owner of the largest fortune in Russia. They say that Prince Vasily played a very nasty role in this whole story, and that he left for St. Petersburg very embarrassed. I confess to you that I understand very poorly all these matters regarding spiritual wills; I only know that since the young man, whom we all knew under the name simply Pierre, became Count Bezukhy and the owner of one of the best fortunes in Russia, I am amused by observing the change in tone of the mothers who have brides’ daughters, and the young ladies themselves in attitude towards this gentleman, who (in parentheses it should be said) always seemed very insignificant to me. Since for two years now everyone has been amusing themselves with finding suitors for me, whom I mostly do not know, the marriage chronicle of Moscow makes me Countess Bezukhova. But you understand that I don’t want this at all. Speaking of marriages. Do you know that recently everyone’s aunt Anna Mikhailovna entrusted me, under the greatest secret, with the plan to arrange your marriage. This is nothing more or less than the son of Prince Vasily, Anatole, whom they want to settle down by marrying him to a rich and noble girl, and the parents’ choice fell on you. I don’t know how you look at this matter, but I considered it my duty to warn you. He is said to be very good and a big rake. That's all I could find out about him.
But he will talk. I’m finishing my second piece of paper, and my mother has sent for me to go to dinner with the Apraksins.
Read the mystical book I am sending you; it has been a huge success with us. Although there are things in it that are difficult for the weak human mind to understand, it is an excellent book; reading it calms and elevates the soul. Farewell. My respect to your father and my greetings to m lle Bourrienne. I hug you from the bottom of my heart. Julia.
PS. Let me know about your brother and his lovely wife.]
The future intelligence officer was born in Newcastle, England, where his parents settled, expelled from Russia in 1901 for revolutionary activities. The intelligence officer's father was closely acquainted with many prominent revolutionaries, including Vladimir Lenin. According to some reports, he took part in organizing the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP, held in London in the summer of 1903. Shortly before the start of the congress, where the Bolshevik faction took shape, on July 11, 1903, a second child was born into the family of Heinrich Matveyevich Fischer, named William in honor of Shakespeare. Willie's father spoke several languages, and his sons followed him. Well, the language environment helped. So Willie spoke three languages from early childhood. He also showed a keen interest in the natural sciences and had a very good understanding of chemistry and physics. But besides this, Willie drew well and played the piano and guitar. In general, I grew up as a versatile boy.
At the age of 15, William Fisher got a job as a draftsman's apprentice at a shipyard. A year later he passed the exams for admission to the University of London. But there is no reliably confirmed data about studying at the university. In 1920, the Fishers returned to Russia and took Soviet citizenship. For some time they lived together with other families of prominent revolutionaries on the territory of the Kremlin.
At first, William worked as a translator in the Executive Committee of the Comintern, then he entered VKHUTEMAS (Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops). In 1924, Fischer entered the Institute of Oriental Studies and began studying India. But a year later he was drafted into the army, and had to leave his studies. William ended up serving in the 1st Radiotelegraph Regiment of the Moscow Military District. Where he served together with the future famous polar explorer Ernst Krenkel.
After demobilization, he worked at the Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force as a radio technician, giving up attempts to become an artist. He came to the INO (foreign department) of the OGPU in May 1927. At first he worked as a translator and radio operator, but quickly became a deputy resident. He worked illegally in Europe until 1938. And then the purges began in the OGPU, and Fischer ended up under a steamroller. Fortunately, he was not imprisoned, but only fired from the authorities.
Fischer was able to return to intelligence only in 1941. Participated in the training of radio operators for partisan detachments and reconnaissance groups. It was then that he met and worked with Rudolf Abel for quite some time. The fates of the two intelligence officers were very similar: both were dismissed from special forces in 1938 and called up for service in 1941.
After the war, Fischer worked for some time in Eastern Europe, establishing connections between the newly created intelligence services of socialist countries and the security agencies of the USSR. And then the colonel
It was decided to send Fischer to the United States, where he was to head a significant part of the Soviet station involved in the extraction of American atomic and nuclear secrets.
The intelligence officer arrived in the United States with documents in the name of Emil Robert Goldfus, an amateur artist and professional photographer, at the end of 1948. The main contacts of Mark (the intelligence officer's code name) were the Cohen couple, whom we wrote about earlier. But the fruitful work with the Cohen couple lasted only two years. A “witch hunt” has begun in America, and the leadership decides to remove the spy spouses from the United States. Fisher was again left alone, and several dozen agents were in touch with him.
Mark's work in the USA turned out to be so successful that already in August 1949, less than a year after his arrival, the intelligence officer was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his enormous success in intelligence activities.
"Bad" assistant
William Fisher was a very careful intelligence officer who strictly followed the rules of secrecy. In those days it became very relevant. With the trial of the Rosenbergs, the US authorities showed the whole world that they are not going to mess around with spies. So the failed intelligence officer most likely faced the same path as the Rosenbergs: arrest, trial, death by electric chair. Illegal intelligence activity again (as during World War II) turned from an intellectual intelligence duel into a deadly activity.To ordinary Americans, Emil Goldfuss was a respectable photography studio owner and amateur artist who often painted landscapes in city parks. And no one knew that during such drawings, secret information was often exchanged. For such exchanges, Fischer used the most unexpected hiding places. In particular, he was once painting a landscape in Fort Tryon and noticed an ordinary bolt that had almost fallen out of a street lamp. Fisher took it with him, personally drilled a cavity into it, and then returned it to its place. The agent took the bolt, put microfilm in it and inserted it back. A couple of weeks later, secret documents from Los Alamos were already being studied at the Kurchatov Institute.
According to some reports, Fisher was so well versed in the information he obtained that he often accompanied the encryption with his own comments. Once Kurchatov directly asked a KGB officer who provided comments on the information he was obtaining. Of course, he didn’t receive an answer, but he chuckled and said:
- When this commentator retires from you, I will take him to my institute.
It became more difficult for Fischer to cope alone with the ever-expanding intelligence network. In 1952, an assistant was sent to him in the USA. It was State Security Lieutenant Colonel Reino Heihanen. According to the recollections of the American resident, he did not immediately like the new assistant (code name Vic). But Heikhanen had high patrons in Moscow and he was trained for almost six months to work in the USA. So there was no need to wait for another assistant. Vic behaved extremely irresponsibly in the USA, summoned his common-law wife from Finland, where he had lived for the last few years, led a riotous lifestyle, often drank, beat his wife, even managing to attract the attention of the police. He completely refused to improve his language skills; I spent almost a year doing renovations in a small shop that was bought with money from the residency. In general, he's still a typical guy. And Fischer treated him accordingly. Assigning only small tasks. Heihanen didn't even know his real name.
In 1953, Vic, while drunk, managed to pay with about a nickel. It was not just a coin, but a real spy container for transferring microfilms. On June 22, this coin fell into the hands of a 13-year-old newspaper seller. And he dropped it on the pavement, causing the coin... to break into two halves. The boy showed the unusual coin to his girl neighbors, and they told their policeman father about the coin. A couple of days later, FBI specialists were already studying the spy container. They were unable to decipher the microfilm, but they were convinced that a deeply secret spy network was operating in New York. The FBI tried to trace the path of the coin, but this turned out to be impossible. The coin passed through different hands for at least six months and it was not possible to establish who the real owner of the container was. So this coin lay in the FBI bins for four long years.
The country has not forgotten
The last straw for Fischer was that Vic drank away five thousand dollars intended to pay for the lawyer of one of the agents arrested in the “Rosenberg spouses case.” Fischer was furious and demanded that Moscow recall his assistant. Soon Heyhanen received orders to arrive in Europe. However, the lieutenant colonel categorically did not want to return. Otherwise, I would have to answer for a lot. In May 1957, he arrived in France, from where he was to be transported to the socialist sector of Europe. But Vic went straight to the American embassy, gave his real name and asked for political asylum.A few days later, the traitor was flown back to the United States on a military plane. He was supposed to help arrest the mysterious Mark, who, according to Heyhanen, was the head of the entire American residency tour. On June 21, 1957, a mysterious resident was arrested at the Latham Hotel in New York.
But that's where the Americans' luck ended. Heyhanen helped decipher the encryption that was found in the nickel. But this didn't help much. The encrypted message congratulated Vic on his legalization and wished him good luck. And no other encryption was intercepted. So only the arrested Mark could lead to the agents working for Soviet intelligence.
To let Moscow know about his failure, Fischer called himself Rudolf Ivanovich Abel. The scout knew that his colleague and friend had died suddenly a year and a half ago. But in Moscow, having received a request from the US State Department, they refused to recognize Abel as a citizen of the Soviet Union. At that time, the leadership of our country loudly declared that it was not involved in espionage. What Abel was happily informed about by the FBI. But the scout was sure that he would not be forgotten.
FBI employees tried to apply psychological methods to the arrested spy. They did not dare force testimony out of him. The head of the CIA (from 1953 to 1961), Allen Dulles, in a personal conversation with the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, strongly advised against using violence against Abel. The American intelligence officer had a very high opinion of the tenacity of Soviet intelligence officers and was confident that nothing could be achieved from them by force. There were only methods of persuasion, which were not always so harmless.
Rudolf Abel was threatened with the electric chair, kept in solitary confinement, promised mountains of gold, and claimed that only a bullet or the Gulag could await him in Moscow. But Abel did not split and did not betray anyone. On November 15, 1957, one of the most famous spy trials of the Cold War ended. Which was covered by all significant Western media. The jury found Abel guilty of espionage for the USSR and illegal stay in the United States. But the Americans did not dare to sentence the Russian intelligence officer to execution. They understood perfectly well that if in the case of the Rosenberg spouses they seemed to be excused by the fact that they were Americans, and therefore betrayed their country, then with a career Soviet intelligence officer the situation was different. No one doubted that if they executed Abel, then the failed American spies would try en masse to escape from custody, and at this time the guards would be forced to use weapons, or die from apoplexy. A log to the head.
Rudolf Abel was sentenced to 32 years in prison, which for the 54-year-old intelligence officer meant life imprisonment. To serve his sentence, Abel was sent to prison in Atlanta, where they again tried to turn his life into hell. But thanks to the American press, Abel was widely known among all segments of the population. Among criminals, he was openly admired: after all, the entire state machine of America could not break him. So in prison Abel enjoyed serious authority.
The Soviet intelligence officer spent almost five years in prison, solving mathematical problems, studying art history, and painting in oils. According to some reports, after John Kennedy came to power in 1961, Abel drew his portrait from photographs and sent it to the White House. Let us remember that it was under Kennedy that the first steps were taken to equalize the rights of black and white Americans. So Kennedy was popular among the communists. Kennedy, having received his portrait, hung it in his own office, which was written about by almost all newspapers in America.
Rudolf Ivanovich was still unaware that his return to his homeland would take place very soon. On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down near Sverdlovsk. It flew at an altitude of 20 thousand meters and, according to the Americans, was inaccessible to Soviet missiles. They were wrong. The pilot of the plane, Francis Gary Powers, waited until the disintegrating plane dropped to an altitude of 10 thousand meters and got out of the plane. At an altitude of five kilometers, he opened his parachute and landed near the village of Kosulino. Where he was detained by local residents.
In August 1960, Powers was sentenced to ten years in prison for espionage. In the USA, through the efforts of the pilot’s relatives, a real campaign was launched to bring the pilot home. The Russians agreed to exchange the spy pilot for Rudolf Abel. According to rumors, when Nikita Khrushchev was informed about the Americans’ consent, he asked:
- Abel, is this the one who painted Kennedy's portrait? Can Powers draw? No? Well then, let's change it.
On February 10, 1962, on the Glienicke Bridge (it separated West and East Berlin and served as the main place for the exchange of spies), Rudolf Abel and Francis Powers moved towards each other. In his memoirs, CIA chief Allen Dulles called Abel the most productive illegal intelligence officer of the 20th century. William Fisher was awarded the Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Labor, the Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree and the Red Star. He died on November 15, 1971 and was buried with military honors at the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow. The traitor Reino Heihanen died in a car accident in 1964 under mysterious circumstances. The FBI is still confident that these “mysterious circumstances” were created by KGB agents.
Rudolf Ivanovich Abel(real name William Genrikhovich Fischer; July 11, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK - November 15, Moscow, USSR) - Soviet intelligence officer, illegal immigrant, colonel. Since 1948 he worked in the USA, in 1957 he was arrested as a result of betrayal. On February 10, 1962, he was exchanged for American reconnaissance aircraft pilot F. G. Powers, shot down over the USSR, and American student Frederick Pryor (Frederic Pryor) on the "spy bridge" (Glienicke Bridge connecting Berlin and Potsdam).
Biography
In 1920, the Fischer family returned to Russia and accepted Soviet citizenship, without renouncing English, and, together with the families of other prominent revolutionaries, at one time lived on the territory of the Kremlin. Upon his arrival in the USSR, Abel first worked as a translator in the Executive Committee of the Communist International (Comintern). Then he entered VKHUTEMAS.
In 1924 he entered the Institute of Oriental Studies, where, according to archival materials, he took up the study of India, but a year later he was drafted into the army into the 1st radiotelegraph regiment of the Moscow Military District, where he received the specialty of a radio operator. He served together with E. T. Krenkel and the future artist Mikhail Tsarev. Having a natural inclination towards technology, he became a very good radio operator, whose superiority was recognized by everyone.
After demobilization, he worked at the Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force as a radio technician. He entered the foreign department of the OGPU on May 2, 1927. He was recommended to work at the Cheka by his wife’s elder sister, who worked there as a translator for Serafim Lebedev. In the central intelligence apparatus, he worked first as a translator (in the English direction), then as a radio operator.
On April 7, 1927, he married a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, harpist Elena Lebedeva. She was appreciated by her teacher, the famous harpist Vera Dulova. Subsequently, Elena became a professional musician. In 1929, their daughter was born.
At the very beginning of the 1930s, he applied to the British embassy with permission to return to the West, which was received. Having received a passport, he left for Western Europe. He worked in the field of radio engineering and was engaged in commercial activities. He worked in illegal intelligence in two European countries, simultaneously performing the duties of a radio operator in stations in several European countries, Norway, Denmark, and Scandinavian countries. During his second trip to the UK, he worked with members of the Cambridge Five. There he had to carry out an assignment to persuade physicist Kapitsa to return to the USSR, which was successful. Was recalled from England due to the betrayal of Alexander Orlov.
On December 31, 1938, he was dismissed from the NKVD (due to Beria’s distrust of personnel working with “enemies of the people”) with the rank of GB lieutenant (captain) and worked for some time at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, and then at an aircraft factory. He repeatedly submitted reports about his reinstatement in intelligence. He turned to his father’s friend, the then secretary of the party’s Central Committee, Andreev.
Since 1941, again in the NKVD, in a unit organizing partisan warfare behind German lines. V. Fischer trained radio operators for partisan detachments and reconnaissance groups sent to countries occupied by Germany. During this period he met and worked together with Rudolf Abel, whose name and biography he later used.
In November 1948, it was decided to send him to work illegally in the United States to obtain information from sources working at nuclear facilities. He moved under the name of the artist Emil Robert Goldfus to the United States, where he led the Soviet intelligence network and, as a cover, owned a photo studio in Brooklyn. The Cohen spouses were identified as liaison agents for “Mark” (pseudonym of V. Fischer).
By the end of May 1949, “Mark” had resolved all organizational issues and was actively involved in the work. It was so successful that already in August 1949 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for specific results.
In 1955, he returned to Moscow for several months in the summer and autumn.
Failure
To relieve “Mark” of current affairs, in 1952, illegal intelligence radio operator Heyhanen (Finnish: Reino Häyhänen, pseudonym “Vic”) was sent to help him. “Vic” turned out to be morally and psychologically unstable, and four years later a decision was made to return him to Moscow. However, “Vic” committed betrayal, informed the American authorities about his work in illegal intelligence and betrayed “Mark”.
In 1957, "Mark" was arrested at the Latham Hotel in New York by FBI agents. At that time, the leadership of the USSR declared that it was not involved in espionage. In order to let Moscow know about his arrest and that he was not a traitor, William Fisher, during his arrest, identified himself by the name of his late friend Rudolf Abel. During the investigation, he categorically denied his affiliation with intelligence, refused to testify at trial, and rejected attempts by American intelligence officers to persuade him to betray.
He was sentenced to 32 years in prison (1957). After the verdict was announced, "Mark" was initially held in solitary confinement at the New York City Pretrial Detention Facility, and then was transferred to the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta. In conclusion, he studied solving mathematical problems, art theory, and painting. He painted in oils.
Liberation
