Exactly 55 years ago, on February 10, 1962, on the bridge separating the FRG and the GDR, the exchange of the Soviet illegal intelligence officer Rudolf Abel (real name William Genrikhovich Fischer) took place for the American pilot Francis Powers shot down over the USSR. Abel behaved courageously in prison: he did not disclose 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 United States.
Shield and sword of the legendary scout
Released in 2015, Steven Spielberg's film Bridge of Spies, 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 tape was made in the spirit of deep respect for the Soviet intelligence officer. Abel, played by British actor Mark Rylance, is strong-willed 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 against Rudolf Abel", partly about his fate tells the cult picture of the 60s " Dead Season Savva Kulish, at the beginning of which the legendary scout himself addressed the audience with a small comment from the screen.
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 called 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 Fisher was a very talented and versatile person with a phenomenal memory and a very developed instinct, which helped him find the right solution in the most unexpected situations.
Since childhood, he, who was born in the small English town of Newcastle upon Tyne, spoke several languages, played different musical instruments, perfectly drew, drew, understood technology and was interested in the natural sciences. An excellent musician, engineer, scientist or artist could have come out of him, but fate itself predetermined his future path even before birth.
More precisely, the father, Heinrich Matthaus Fischer, a German citizen 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 Emancipation of the Working Class" created by Vladimir Ulyanov.
Named after Shakespeare
The Okhrana soon drew the attention of Fisher, after which he was arrested and exiled for many years - first to the north of the Arkhangelsk province, then transfer to the Saratov province. Under these conditions, the young revolutionary proved to be an outstanding conspirator. Constantly changing names and addresses, he continued to wage illegal struggle.
In Saratov, Heinrich met a young like-minded woman, 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 presented 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 had taken place. In 1920, the family moved to the RSFSR, obtaining Soviet citizenship and retaining British citizenship.
The best of the best radio operators
William Fisher entered the VKHUTEMAS (Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops), one of the then leading art universities country, but in 1925 he was drafted into the army and became one of the best radio operators in the Moscow Military District. His superiority 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-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, Fisher seems to have found his calling - he worked as a radio engineer at the Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force (now the Valery Chkalov State Flight Test Center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation). In 1927 he married Elena Lebedeva, a harpist, and two years later they had a daughter, Evelina.
It was at this time that a promising young man with excellent knowledge of several foreign languages drew the attention of political intelligence - the OGPU. Since 1927, William has been an employee of the Foreign Department of Foreign Intelligence, where he worked first as an interpreter and then as a radio operator.
Dismissal due to suspicion
In the early 1930s, he asked the British authorities to issue him a passport, since he had quarreled with his revolutionary father and wanted to return to England with his family. The British willingly gave Fisher documents, after which the intelligence officer worked illegally in Norway, Denmark, Belgium and France for several years, where he created a secret radio network, transmitting messages from local residencies to Moscow.
In 1938, fleeing large-scale repressions in the Soviet intelligence apparatus, Alexander Orlov, a resident of the NKVD in Republican Spain, fled to the West.
After this incident, William Fisher was recalled to the USSR and at the end of the same year he was dismissed from the bodies with the rank of lieutenant of state security (corresponding to the rank of army captain).
Such a change in attitude towards a completely successful intelligence officer was dictated only by the fact that the new head of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, Lavrenty Beria, frankly did not trust the employees who worked with the previously repressed "enemies of the people" in the NKVD. Fischer was still very lucky: many of his colleagues were shot or imprisoned.
Friendship with Rudolf Abel
Fischer was returned to service by the war with Germany. Since September 1941, he worked in the central intelligence apparatus in the Lubyanka. As head of the communications department, he took part in ensuring the security of the parade, which took place on November 7, 1941 on Red Square. He was engaged in the preparation 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 (Johannovich) Abel. Unlike Fischer, this active and cheerful Latvian came to reconnaissance from the fleet, in which he fought back in the civil war. During the war, they lived with their families in the same apartment in the center of Moscow.
They were brought together not only by a common service, but also by common features of their biography. For example, like Fischer, in 1938 Abel was dismissed from the service. His older brother Voldemar was accused of participating in a Latvian nationalist organization and shot. Rudolf, like William, was in demand with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, performing responsible tasks for organizing sabotage in the rear of the German troops.
And in 1955, Abel died suddenly, never knowing that his best friend sent to work illegally in the United States. The Cold War was in full swing.
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 amount of interesting information was so great that over time, Fisher needed another radio operator. Moscow sent him Major Nikolai Ivanov as an assistant. It was a personnel error. Ivanov, who worked under the undercover name of Reino Heihanen, turned out to be a drunkard and a lover of women. When in 1957 they decided to recall him back, he turned to the US intelligence services.
Fisher was warned about the betrayal and began to prepare to flee the country through Mexico, but he himself recklessly decided to return to the apartment and destroy all evidence of his work. The FBI agents arrested him. But even at such a stressful moment, William Genrikhovich was able to maintain amazing composure.
He, who continued to paint in the United States, asked the American counterintelligence officers to wipe the paint off the palette. Then he quietly threw a crumpled piece of paper with a cipher telegram into the toilet and flushed it. During the arrest, he called himself Rudolf Abel, thereby making it clear to the Center that he was not a traitor.
Under a false name
During the investigation, Fisher resolutely denied his involvement in Soviet intelligence, refused to testify at the trial, and stopped all attempts by American intelligence officers to work for them. They got nothing out of 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 conclusion, Fischer-Abel painted oil paintings and worked on solving mathematical problems. A few years later, the traitor was punished - a huge truck crashed into a car on a night highway, driven by Ivanov.
The fate of the intelligence officer 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, newly elected President John F. Kennedy sought to ease tensions between the US 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 Glienik Bridge, Fischer was handed over to the Soviet secret services in exchange for Powers. Two were also released American student previously arrested on charges of espionage are Frederick Pryor and Marvin Makinen.
A professional revolutionary, German Heinrich Fischer, by the will of fate, turned out to be a resident of Saratov. He married a Russian girl Lyuba. For revolutionary activities he was exiled abroad. He could not go to Germany: a case was opened against him there, and the young family settled in England, in Shakespeare's places. On July 11, 1903, in the city of Newcastle-on-Tyne, Luba had a son, who was named William in honor of the great playwright.
Heinrich Fischer continued his revolutionary activities, joined the Bolsheviks, met with Lenin and Krzhizhanovsky. At the age of sixteen, William entered the university, but he did not have to study there for a long time: in 1920, the Fisher family returned to Russia and took Soviet citizenship. Seventeen-year-old William fell in love with Russia and became its passionate patriot. It was not possible to get into the Civil War, but he went to the Red Army willingly. He acquired the specialty of a radiotelegrapher, which was very useful to him in the future.
The OGPU personnel officers could not help but pay attention to the guy, who spoke Russian and English equally well, and also knew German and French, besides, he knew the radio business and had a clean biography. In 1927, he was enrolled in the state security organs, or rather, in the INO OGPU, which was then headed by Artuzov.
For some time, William Fisher worked in the central office. According to some reports, during this period he went on an illegal business trip to Poland. However, the police refused to renew the residence permit, and the stay in Poland was short-lived.
In 1931, he was sent on a longer business trip, so to speak, "semi-legally", as he traveled under his last name. In February 1931, he applied to the British Consulate General in Moscow with a request for a British passport. The reason is that he is a native of England, he came to Russia at the behest of his parents, now he quarreled with them and wants to return to his homeland with his wife and daughter. Passports were issued, and the Fisher couple went abroad, presumably to China, where William opened a radio workshop. The mission ended in February 1935.
But already in June of the same year, the Fisher family was again abroad. This time, William used his second specialty - a freelance artist. Perhaps he sketched something that the local special service did not like, or perhaps for some other reason, the trip lasted only eleven months.
In May 1936, Fischer returned to Moscow and began training illegal immigrants. One of his students turned out to be Kitty Harris, a liaison to many of our distinguished intelligence officers, including Vasily Zarubin and Donald McLane. In her file, stored in the archives of Foreign Intelligence, several documents written and signed by Fischer have been preserved. From them it is clear what kind of work it cost him to train students incapable of technology. Kitty was a polyglot, well versed in political and operational issues, but turned out to be completely immune to technology. Somehow making a mediocre radio operator out of her, Fisher was forced to write in the “Conclusion”: “he is easily confused in technical matters ...” When she ended up in England, he did not forget her, he helped with advice.
And yet, in his report, written after her retraining in 1937, detective William Fisher writes that “although Gypsy (pseudonym Kitty Harris) received precise instructions from me and Comrade Abel R.I., she did not work as a radio operator Maybe…"
Here for the first time we meet the name under which William Fisher will become world famous many years later.
Who was "t. Abel R.I.”?
Here are lines from his autobiography:
“I was born in 1900 on 23/IX in Riga. Father is a chimney sweep (in Latvia this profession is honorable, meeting with a chimney sweep on the street is a harbinger of good luck. - I.D.), mother is a housewife. Until the age of fourteen he lived with his parents, graduated from the 4th grade. elementary school ... worked as a delivery boy. In 1915 he moved to Petrograd.
Soon the revolution began, and the young Latvian, like hundreds of his compatriots, took the side Soviet power. As a private stoker, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel fought on the Volga and Kama, went on an operation to the rear of the Whites on the destroyer Zealous. “In this operation, the death barge with prisoners was recaptured from the whites.”
Then there were battles near Tsaritsyn, a class of radio operators in Kronstadt and work as a radio operator on our most distant Commander Islands and on Bering Island. Since July 1926 he was the commandant of the Shanghai consulate, then the radio operator of the Soviet embassy in Beijing. Since 1927 - an employee of the INO OGPU.
Two years later, “in 1929 he was sent to illegal work abroad. I stayed at this job until the autumn of 1936. There are no details about this business trip in Abel's personal file. But let's pay attention to the time of return - 1936, that is, almost simultaneously with V. Fischer. Did the paths of R. Abel and V. Fischer cross for the first time, or did they meet and become friends earlier? Rather the second.
In any case, since that time, judging by the above document, they have worked together. And the fact that they were inseparable is known from the memoirs of their colleagues, who, when they came to the dining room, joked: “There, Abelis have come.” They were friends with families. V. G. Fischer's daughter, Evelyn, recalled that Uncle Rudolph often visited them, was always calm, cheerful, knew how to get along with children ...
R. I. Abel did not have his own children. His wife, Alexandra Antonovna, came from the nobility, which apparently hindered his career. Even worse was the fact that his brother Voldemar Abel, the head of the political department of the shipping company, in 1937 turned out to be "a participant in the Latvian counter-revolutionary nationalist conspiracy and was sentenced to VMN for espionage and sabotage activities in favor of Germany and Latvia."
In connection with the arrest of his brother, in March 1938, R.I. Abel was dismissed from the NKVD.
After his dismissal, Abel worked as a shooter for a paramilitary guard, and on December 15, 1941, he returned to serve in the NKVD. His personal file says that from August 1942 to January 1943 he was part of the task force for the defense of the Main Caucasian Range. It is also said that: "During Patriotic War repeatedly traveled to perform special assignments ... performed special assignments for the preparation and deployment of our agents behind enemy lines. At the end of the war he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and two Orders of the Red Star. At the age of forty-six, he was dismissed from the state security agencies with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
The Abelian friendship continued. Most likely, Rudolph knew about his friend William's business trip to America, and they met when he came on vacation. But about the failure of Fischer and the fact that he pretended to be Abel, Rudolf did not become aware. Rudolf Ivanovich Abel died suddenly in 1955, never having known that his name had entered the history of intelligence.
William Genrikhovich Fischer was also not indulged by pre-war fate. On December 31, 1938, he was dismissed from the NKVD. The reason is unclear. It's good that at least they weren't imprisoned and shot. After all, this happened to many scouts at that time. For two and a half years, William spent "in civilian life", and in September 1941 he was returned to service.
In 1941-1946, Fischer worked in the central intelligence apparatus. However, this does not mean that he was sitting at the table in the office at Lubyanka all the time. Unfortunately, all the materials about his activities during that period are still not available. It is known so far that he, like his friend Abel, was then engaged in the preparation and deployment of our agents to the enemy's rear. On November 7, 1941, Fischer, who served as head of the communications department, was in a group of intelligence officers who served the security of the parade on Red Square. It is reliably known that in 1944-1945 he took part in the Berezino radio game and supervised the work of a group of Soviet and German (working under our control) radio operators. More about this operation is described in the essay about Otto Skorzeny.
It is possible that Fischer personally carried out the task in the rear of the Germans. The famous Soviet intelligence officer Konon the Young (aka Lonsdale, aka Ben) recalled that, being abandoned behind the front line, he was almost immediately caught and taken for interrogation to the German counterintelligence. In the officer interrogating him, he recognized William Fisher. He interrogated him superficially, and left alone, called him an "idiot" and almost pushed him out of the door with his boots. Is it true or false? Knowing Young's habit of hoaxes, one can rather assume the latter. But there might have been something.
In 1946, Fischer was taken to a special reserve and began to prepare for a long trip abroad. He was then forty-three years old. His daughter was growing up. It was very difficult to part with the family.
Fisher was comprehensively trained for illegal work. He was well versed in radio equipment, had the specialty of an electrical engineer, was familiar with chemistry and nuclear physics. He drew at a professional level, although he did not study it anywhere. And about his personal qualities, perhaps, “Louis” and “Leslie” - Maurice and Leontine Coen (Kroger), with whom he will have to work in New York, were perhaps best said: “It was easy to work with Mark - Rudolf Ivanovich Abel. After several meetings with him, we immediately felt how we were gradually becoming more promptly literate and experienced. “Intelligence,” Abel liked to repeat, “is a high art ... This is talent, creativity, inspiration ...” Just like that - an incredibly rich spiritual person, with a high culture, knowledge six foreign languages and was our dear Milt - that's what we called him behind his back. Consciously or unconsciously, but we completely trusted him and always looked for support in him. It could not be otherwise: as a highly educated, intelligent person, with a highly developed sense of honor and dignity, integrity and commitment, it was impossible not to love him. He never hid his high patriotic feelings and devotion towards Russia.”
In early 1948, a freelance artist and photographer, Emil R. Goldfuss, alias William Fisher, alias illegal "Mark", settled in the New York area of Brooklyn. His studio was at 252 Fulton Street.
It was a difficult time for Soviet intelligence. In the United States, McCarthyism, anti-Sovietism, witch hunts, and spy mania were in full swing. Scouts who worked "legally" in Soviet institutions were under constant surveillance, waiting for provocations at any moment. Communication with agents was difficult. And from her came the most valuable materials related to the creation of atomic weapons.
Contact with agents directly working at secret nuclear facilities - "Perseus" and others, was maintained through "Louis" (Cohen) and the "Volunteers" group led by him. They were in touch with “Claude” (Yu. S. Sokolov), but the circumstances were such that he could no longer meet with them. The directive from Moscow indicated that the leadership of the Volunteers group should be taken over by Mark.
On December 12, 1948, "Mark" met "Leslie" for the first time and began to work with her regularly, receiving through her valuable information on weapons-grade plutonium and other atomic projects.
Along with this, "Mark" was in touch with a US intelligence officer, agent "Herbert". From him, through the same "Leslie", a copy of Truman's bill on the formation of the Council was received. national security and the creation of the CIA with him. "Herbert" handed over the Regulations on the CIA with a list of the tasks assigned to this organization. Attached was also a draft directive from the President on the transfer to the FBI of military intelligence protection of the production of secret weapons - atomic bombs, jet aircraft, submarines, etc. From these documents it was clear that the main goal of the reorganization of the US intelligence services was to intensify subversive activities against the USSR and intensify the development of Soviet citizens.
Agitated and worried about the aggravation of the "witch hunt", the "Volunteers" sought to communicate more often with their leader "Louis", endangering not only themselves and him, but also "Mark". Under these conditions, it was decided to cut off contact with him "Louis" and "Leslie" and withdraw them from the country. In September 1950, the Cohens left the United States. The measures taken made it possible to extend the stay of William Fisher in the United States for seven years.
Unfortunately, there is no access to materials about what he did and what information William Fisher transmitted to his homeland during this period. It remains to be hoped that someday they will be declassified.
William Fischer's reconnaissance career ended when liaison and radio operator Reino Heihanen betrayed him. Upon learning that Reino was mired in drunkenness and debauchery, the intelligence leadership decided to recall him, but did not have time. He got into debt and became a traitor.
On the night of June 24-25, 1957, Fisher, under the name of Martin Collins, stayed at the Latham Hotel in New York, where he held another communication session. At dawn, three people in civilian clothes broke into the room. One of them said: “Colonel! We know that you are a colonel and what you are doing in our country. Let's get acquainted. We are FBI agents. We have reliable information about who you are and what you do. Your best bet is collaboration. Otherwise, arrest."
Fischer flatly refused to cooperate. Then immigration officials entered the room and arrested for illegal entry into the United States.
William managed to go to the toilet, where he got rid of the cipher and the telegram received at night. But FBI agents found some other documents and items that confirmed his belonging to intelligence. The arrested man was taken out of the hotel in handcuffs, put into a car, and then taken by plane to the state of Texas, where he was placed in an immigration camp.
Fischer immediately guessed that Heihanen had betrayed him. But he did not know his real name. So you don't have to name it. True, it was useless to deny that he came from the USSR. William decided to use the name of his late friend Abel, believing that as soon as information about his arrest became known, the people at home would understand who they were talking about. He feared that the Americans might start a radio game. Taking a name known to the Center, he made it clear to the service that he was in prison. He told the Americans: "I will testify on the condition that you allow me to write to the Soviet embassy." They agreed, and the letter actually arrived at the consular department. But the consul did not understand the point. He started a “case”, filed a letter, and answered the Americans that we did not have such a fellow citizen. But I didn't think to tell the Center. So ours learned about the arrest of "Mark" only from the newspapers.
Since the Americans were allowed to write the letter, Abel had to testify. He stated: “I, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, a citizen of the USSR, accidentally after the war found a large amount of American dollars in an old barn, moved to Denmark. There he bought a fake American passport and entered the United States through Canada in 1948.
This version did not suit the American side. On August 7, 1957, Abel was charged with three counts: 1) conspiracy to transfer atomic and military information to Soviet Russia (a death sentence was supposed); 2) conspiracy to collect such information (10 years in prison); 3) stay in the United States as an agent of a foreign power without registration with the State Department (5 years in prison).
On October 14, in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York, the hearing of the case No. 45 094 "The United States of America v. Rudolf Ivanovich Abel" began.
The American publicist I. Esten wrote about Abel’s behavior in court in the book “How the American Secret Service Works”: “For three weeks they tried to recruit Abel, promising him all the blessings of life ... When this failed, they began to frighten him with an electric chair ... But even this did not make the Russian more malleable. When asked by the judge whether he pleaded guilty, he did not hesitate to answer: “No!” Abel refused to testify.” To this it must be added that both promises and threats to Abel were received not only during, but also before and after the trial. And all with the same result.
Abel's lawyer James Britt Donovan, a knowledgeable and conscientious man, did much both for his defense and for the exchange. On October 24, 1957, he delivered an excellent defense speech that largely influenced the decision of "ladies and gentlemen of the jury." Here are just a few excerpts from it:
“...Let's assume that this person is exactly what the government believes him to be. This means that while serving the interests of his country, he was performing an extremely dangerous task. IN armed forces of our country, we send only the most courageous and intelligent people with such tasks. You heard how every American who knew Abel involuntarily gave a high assessment of the moral qualities of the defendant, although he was called for a different purpose ...
… Heihanen is a renegade by any means… You've seen what he is: a good-for-nothing type, a traitor, a liar, a thief… The laziest, most inept, most unlucky agent… Sergeant Rhodes appeared. You all saw what kind of person he was: a dissolute, drunkard, a traitor to his country. He never met Heihanen... He never met the defendant. At the same time, he told us in detail about his life in Moscow, that he sold us all for money. What does this have to do with the defendant?
And on the basis of this kind of testimony, we are offered to pronounce a guilty verdict against this person. Possibly sent to death row… Please keep that in mind as you consider your verdict…”
The jury found Abel guilty. Under American law, it was now up to the judge. Between the verdict of the jury and the sentencing is sometimes quite a long time.
On November 15, 1957, Donovan, addressing the judge, asked not to resort to the death penalty, because, among other reasons, “it is quite possible that in the foreseeable future an American of this rank will be captured by Soviet Russia or a country allied to it; in which case a prisoner exchange arranged through diplomatic channels might be deemed to be in the national interest of the United States."
Both Donovan and the judge who sentenced Abel to thirty years in prison turned out to be far-sighted people.
The most difficult thing for him in prison was the ban on correspondence with his family. She was allowed (subject to strict censorship) only after Abel's personal meeting with CIA chief Allen Dulles, who, after saying goodbye to Abel and turning to lawyer Donovan, dreamily said: “I would like us to have three or four people like Abel, in Moscow".
The struggle for the release of Abel began. In Dresden, intelligence officers found a woman, allegedly a relative of Abel, and he began to write to this Frau Mark from prison, but suddenly, without explanation, the Americans refused to correspond. Then the “cousin of R. I. Abel”, a certain Yu. Drivs, a petty employee who lived in the GDR, entered the business. His role was played by a then young foreign intelligence officer, Yu. I. Drozdov, the future head of illegal intelligence. The painstaking work went on for several years. Drives corresponded with Donovan through a lawyer in East Berlin, and members of the Abel family corresponded. The Americans were very cautious, checking the addresses of the "relative" and the lawyer. Anyway, don't rush.
Events began to unfold at a faster pace only after May 1, 1960, when an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down in the Sverdlovsk region and its pilot, Francis Harry Powers, was captured.
In response to the accusation of the USSR that the United States was carrying out espionage activities, President Eisenhower invited the Russians to remember the Abel case. The New York Daily News, in an editorial, was the first to offer to trade Abel for Powers.
Thus, the name of Abel was again in the spotlight. Eisenhower was under pressure from both the Powers family and public opinion. Lawyers stepped up. As a result, the parties came to an agreement.
On February 10, 1962, several cars drove up to the Glienicke bridge, on the border between West Berlin and Potsdam, from two sides. From the American came Abel, from the Soviet Powers. They walked towards each other, stopped for a second, exchanged glances and quickly walked to their cars.
Eyewitnesses recall that Powers was handed over to the Americans in a good coat, a winter fawn hat, physically strong and healthy. Abel, on the other hand, was wearing a gray-green prison robe and cap, and, according to Donovan, "looked thin, tired and very old."
An hour later, Abel met his wife and daughter in Berlin, and the next morning the happy family flew to Moscow.
The last years of his life, William Genrikhovich Fisher, aka Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, aka "Mark", worked in foreign intelligence. Once starred in a movie with an introductory word to the film "Dead Season". Traveled to the GDR, Romania, Hungary. He often spoke to young workers, was engaged in their preparation, instruction.
He died at the age of sixty-eight in 1971.
His daughter Evelina told journalist N. Dolgopolov about his funeral: “It was such a scandal when it was decided where to bury dad. If at the Novodevichy cemetery, then only as Abel. Mom snapped: “No!” I also performed here. And we insisted that dad be buried under his own name at the Donskoy cemetery ... I believe that I can always be proud of the name of William Genrikhovich Fisher.
Most of Abel's biography is still classified as "secret", but even the facts that are available today are impressive and tell a lot about his personality.
hereditary communist
William Fisher (he will receive his pseudonym much later) was born in England into a family of Russian political immigrants - his father and mother participated in the revolutionary movement in their homeland and even knew Lenin personally. It can be said that Abel inherited devotion to the ideas of communism and faith in Soviet ideology - a faith that was not broken either by imprisonment in an American prison, or by the hardships of work and life in Soviet Russia, or by the opportunity to defect to the American side in search of a well-fed and comfortable life.
Dismissal from service
Abel's career in intelligence did not develop very consistently - so, after almost ten years of service and work in the line of illegal intelligence in Norway and Great Britain, he was fired from the NKVD. The reason was Beria's distrust of those who had connections with the "enemies of the people", specifically with Alexander Orlov, an intelligence officer who fled to the West in 1938. At one time, Abel also worked with him. After leaving the service, he went to work at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, and later moved to an aircraft manufacturing plant, where he worked until the start of World War II. Of course, such work was not for him: Abel's intellect required the solution of more complex tasks and much more responsible tasks, therefore, while working at the plant, he constantly wrote reports to the party authorities with a request to reinstate him. And after more than two years in the civil service, at the very beginning of World War II, he managed to return - Abel was enrolled in a unit that organized combat reconnaissance and sabotage groups and partisan detachments behind enemy lines.
Radio game "Berezino" and participation in the parade
During the Great Patriotic War, Fischer-Abel showed his abilities to the fullest, proving in practice the correctness of the decision to return him back to the central intelligence apparatus. He trained radio operators for partisan detachments and agents sent to the German rear. In addition, Abel participated in the Berezino strategic operation, where he was responsible for the most important part - the radio game (that is, the transfer of disinformation to the enemy headquarters, allegedly on behalf of their agents), which he carried out exceptionally masterly. On account of Abel and security services on the famous
Work in the USA and the failure of the operation
After the end of World War II, Fisher received a super-responsible task from his superiors - in 1948 he was sent to a key area of foreign intelligence work - the United States. In the states, Fisher, under the operational pseudonym "Mark", was working to recreate the Soviet intelligence network, and used an art workshop in Brooklyn as a cover. Abel's main direction was to collect information about the atomic bomb being developed by the Americans and transfer it to our intelligence. Abel spent nine years in intelligence activities in the United States and during this time he managed to do a great job.
His failure was not the result of negligence or miscalculation, the reason was the betrayal of another Soviet agent, Reino Heihanen, who handed over Abel to the American special services.
Undercover pseudonym
After the arrest, Mark's main task was to avoid provocations from the FBI and inform Moscow of his arrest. Fischer understood who betrayed him, and acted on the basis of this knowledge. Heihanen did not know Mark's real name, so during interrogation he pretended to be another Soviet intelligence officer, his late friend, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, with whom he worked side by side in Soviet intelligence for a long time. Since then, Fischer has been everywhere under his name. Only in the early nineties, the foreign intelligence service of the Russian Federation officially announced that the real name of the Soviet intelligence officer, who called himself Abel during his arrest, was William Genrikhovich Fisher.
Exchange and return home
For the collection of military information and espionage in favor of the USSR, Abel was threatened the death penalty, but thanks to the efforts of his lawyer James Dokovan, who also once served in intelligence, by the way, the death sentence was commuted to a prison term of thirty-two years, which at 54 years was tantamount to a life sentence. But this decision of the court turned out to be very far-sighted. In May 1960, an American plane was shot down near Sverdlovsk and its pilot, Francis Powers, was taken prisoner. Under pressure from the public and the pilot's family, the CIA agreed to trade Powers for a Soviet agent. The importance and weight of the figure of Abel allowed the Americans to return to their homeland not only the downed pilot, but also two more citizens of their country, detained and held on the territory Soviet Union. On February 10, 1962, a historic exchange took place on the Glienicke Bridge, which separates East and West Berlin.
creative talent
William Fisher was exceptionally educated and comprehensively developed not only professionally but also culturally. He knew six languages and even taught French to his cellmate, was versed in the humanities and natural sciences, was well versed in music, literature, photography and painting (it was not without reason that Abel's cover in New York was work in the studio). During his imprisonment in an American prison, Abel also did not sit idle - he developed his technological process of silk-screen production, solved mathematical problems, prepared detailed drawings for the best use of the prison building and painted oil paintings. There is even a legend, which has no hard evidence, that a portrait of Kennedy, painted by Fisher in prison, was presented to the president and even hung in the oval office.
Rudolf Ivanovich then really risked his life, while from a professional point of view he kept himself impeccable. Dulles' words that he would like to have three or four people like this Russian in Moscow require no comment.
Lieutenant-General Vadim KIRPICHENKO, former deputy head of the First Main Directorate (intelligence) of the KGB of the USSR, consultant of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, tells about Rudolf Abel.
- Vadim Alekseevich, were you personally acquainted with Abel?
The word "familiar" is the most accurate. No more. We met in the corridors, greeted each other, shook hands. You take into account the difference in age, and we worked in different directions. I knew, of course, that this was "the same Abel." I think, in turn, Rudolf Ivanovich knew who I was, could know the position (at that time - the head of the African department). But, in general, everyone has their own area, we did not intersect on professional matters. This was in the mid sixties. And then I went on a business trip abroad.
Later, when Rudolf Ivanovich was no longer alive, I was unexpectedly recalled to Moscow and appointed head of illegal intelligence. Then I got access to the questions that were led by Abel. And he appreciated - Abel the scout and Abel the man.
"We still don't know everything about him..."
In Abel's professional biography, I would single out three episodes when he rendered invaluable services to the country.
The first - the war years: participation in the operation "Berezino". Then Soviet intelligence created a fictitious German group of Colonel Schorhorn, supposedly operating in our rear. It was a trap for German intelligence officers and saboteurs. To help Schorhorn, Skorzeny dropped more than twenty agents, they were all captured. The operation was based on a radio game, for which Fischer (Abel) was responsible. He conducted it masterfully, the command of the Wehrmacht until the very end of the war did not understand that they were being led by the nose; the last radiogram from Hitler's headquarters to Schorhorn is dated May 1945, it sounds something like this: we can no longer help you, we trust in the will of God. But here's what is important: the slightest mistake of Rudolf Ivanovich - and the operation would have been thwarted. Further, these saboteurs could be anywhere. Do you understand how dangerous this is? How many troubles for the country, how many of our soldiers would pay with their lives!
Next - Abel's participation in the hunt for American atomic secrets. Perhaps our scientists would have created a bomb without the help of scouts. But scientific research is a waste of effort, time, money... Thanks to people like Abel, we managed to avoid dead-end research, the desired result was obtained in the shortest possible time, we simply saved a lot of money for a devastated country.
And of course - the whole epic with the arrest of Abel in the United States, the trial, imprisonment. Rudolf Ivanovich then really risked his life, while from a professional point of view he kept himself impeccable. Dulles' words that he would like to have three or four people like this Russian in Moscow require no comment.
Of course, I name the most famous episodes of Abel's work. The paradox is that there are many other, very interesting, and now remain in the shadows.
- Secret?
Not necessary. The seal of secrecy has already been removed from many cases. But there are stories that, against the background of already known information, look routine, discreet (and journalists, of course, are looking for something more interesting). Something is just hard to restore. The chronicler did not follow Abel! Today, documentary evidence of his work is scattered across many archival folders. Bringing them together, reconstructing events is a painstaking, long work, who can get their hands on it? The only pity is that when there are no facts, legends appear ...
- For example?
I didn’t wear the Wehrmacht uniform, I didn’t take out the Kapitsa
For example, I had to read that during the war Abel worked deep in the German rear. In fact, at the first stage of the war, William Fisher was busy training radio operators for reconnaissance groups. Then he participated in radio games. He then was on the staff of the Fourth (reconnaissance and sabotage) directorate, the archives of which require a separate study. The maximum that was - one or two transfers to partisan detachments.
- Valery Agranovsky's documentary book "Profession: Foreigner", written based on the stories of another famous intelligence officer, Konon the Young, describes such a story. The young soldier of the reconnaissance group Molodoy is thrown into the German rear, soon they grab him, bring him to the village, there is some kind of colonel in the hut. He looks squeamishly into the obviously "left" Ausweiss, listens to inconsistent explanations, then takes the arrested person to the porch, gives a kick in the ass, throws the Ausweiss into the snow ... Many years later, Young meets this colonel in New York: Rudolf Ivanovich Abel.
Not supported by documents.
But Young...
Konon could recognize himself. He could tell something, but the journalist misunderstood him. There could be a beautiful legend deliberately launched. In any case, Fischer did not wear a Wehrmacht uniform. Only during Operation Berezino, when German agents were parachuted into Schorhorn's camp and Fischer met them.
- Another story is from Kirill Khenkin's book "Hunter Upside Down". Willy Fisher, during a business trip to England (thirties), was introduced into Kapitsa's laboratory in Cambridge and facilitated Kapitsa's departure to the USSR ...
Fischer worked in England at that time, but did not infiltrate Kapitsa.
- Henkin was friends with Abel...
He's confused. Or invents. Abel was an amazingly bright and versatile person. When you see someone like that, when you know that he is a scout, but you don’t really know what he was doing, myth-making begins.
"I would rather die than give away the secrets I know"
He painted well, at a professional level. In America, he had patents for inventions. Played several instruments. IN free time solved the most complex mathematical problems. Understood higher physics. I could literally build a radio receiver out of nothing. He worked as a carpenter, a locksmith, a carpenter ... A fantastically gifted nature.
- And at the same time he served in a department that does not like publicity. Didn't regret? Could take place as an artist, as a scientist. And as a result ... He became famous because he failed.
Abel didn't fail. It was failed by the traitor, Reino Heihanen. No, I don't think that Rudolf Ivanovich regretted joining intelligence. Yes, he did not become famous as an artist or a scientist. But, in my opinion, the work of a scout is much more interesting. The same creativity, plus adrenaline, plus mental tension... This is a special state that is very difficult to explain in words.
- Courage?
If you want to. In the end, Abel went on his main business trip to the USA voluntarily. I saw the text of the report with a request to be sent to illegal work in America. It ends like this: I would rather accept death than give out the secrets known to me, I am ready to fulfill my duty to the end.
- What year is it?
- Here's why I clarify: in many books about Abel it is said that at the end of his life he was disappointed in his former ideals, he was skeptical about what he saw in the Soviet Union.
Don't know. We weren't close enough to take the liberty of assessing his moods. Our work does not encourage special frankness, even at home you can’t say too much to your wife: you proceed from the fact that the apartment can be tapped - not because they don’t trust, but simply as a preventive measure. But I would not exaggerate... After returning from the USA, performances were organized for Abel at factories, institutes, even collective farms. There was no arrogance over the Soviet regime there.
Here's what else you should consider. William Fisher's life was not easy, I would like to be disappointed - there were enough reasons. Do not forget that in 1938 he was dismissed from the organs and endured it very painfully. A lot of friends were imprisoned or shot. He worked abroad for so many years - what prevented him from defecting, starting a double game? But Abel is Abel. I think he sincerely believed in the victory of socialism (even if not very soon). Do not forget - comes from a family of revolutionaries, people close to Lenin. Belief in communism was imbibed with mother's milk. Certainly, clever man He noted everything.
I remember a conversation - either Abel spoke, or someone in his presence, and Abel agreed. It was about over-fulfillment of plans. The plan cannot be overfulfilled, because the plan is the plan. If it is overfulfilled, it means that either the calculation was incorrect, or the mechanism is unbalanced. But this is not a disappointment in the ideals, but rather a constructive, cautious criticism.
- Smart, strong man in Soviet times, he constantly traveled abroad. He could not but see that they live better there ...
In life, there is no only black or only white. Socialism is free medicine, the opportunity to educate children, cheap housing. Precisely because Abel had been abroad, he knew the price of such things too. Although, I do not exclude, many things could irritate him. One of my colleagues almost became an anti-Soviet after visiting Czechoslovakia. He was trying on shoes in the store, and suddenly the then Czechoslovak president (I think Zapototsky) sat down next to him with boots. "You see," the friend said, "the head of state, as calmly as everyone else, goes to the store and tries on shoes. Everyone knows him, but no one fusses, the usual polite service. Can you imagine this with us?" I think that Abel had similar thoughts.
- How did Abel live here?
As everybody. My wife also worked in intelligence. Once she comes in shocked: "The sausages were thrown out in the buffet, you know who was standing in front of me in line? Abel!" - "So what?" - "Nothing. I took my half a kilo (they don't give more in one hand), I went satisfied." The standard of living is normal average Soviet. An apartment, a modest cottage. As for the car, I don't remember. Of course, the colonel of intelligence did not live in poverty, a decent salary, then a pension - but he did not live in luxury either. Another thing is that he did not need much. Well-fed, dressed, shod, a roof over your head, books... Such a generation.
Without a Hero
- Why was Abel not given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union?
Then the scouts - especially the living, who were in the ranks - were not given the Hero at all. Even the people who obtained the American atomic secrets received the Gold Stars only at the end of their lives. Moreover, the Heroes of Russia, they were already awarded by the new government. Why didn't they give it? They were afraid of information leakage. The hero is additional instances, additional papers. Can attract attention - who, for what? Other people will know. And it’s simple - a man walked without a Star, then he was gone for a long time, he appears with the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. There are neighbors, acquaintances, the question is inevitable - why would? There is no war!
- Abel tried to write memoirs?
Once he wrote memoirs about his arrest, his stay in prison, the exchange for Powers. Something else? I doubt. Too much would have to be discovered, and professional discipline has ingrained in Rudolf Ivanovich, what can be said and what not.
- But incredibly much has been written about him - both in the West, and in our country, and during Abel's lifetime, and now. What books to believe?
I edit "Essays on Foreign Intelligence" - the professional activities of Rudolf Ivanovich are most accurately reflected there. What about personal qualities? Read "Strangers on the Bridge" by his US lawyer Donovan.
- I do not agree. For Donovan, Abel is an iron Russian colonel. But Evelina Vilyamovna Fisher, the daughter, recalls how her father argued with her mother over the beds in the country, was nervous if papers were shifted in his office, whistled contentedly while solving mathematical equations. Kirill Khenkin writes about his soulmate Willy, who ideologically served the Soviet country, and at the end of his life thought about the rebirth of the system, was interested in dissident literature...
So all the same, we are one with enemies, others with our family, at different times - different. A person must be judged by concrete deeds. In the case of Abel - making allowances for time and profession. But like him, any country will be proud of at all times.
Rudolf Abel. Homecoming. excerpt
"... The road went downhill, water and a large iron bridge were visible ahead. Not far from the barrier, the car stopped. At the entrance to the bridge, a large board announced in English, German and Russian: "You are leaving the American zone."
We've arrived!
We stood for several minutes. One of the Americans came out, went to the barrier and exchanged a few words with the man standing there. A few more minutes of waiting. We were given the signal to approach. We got out of the car, and then it turned out that instead of two small bags with my things, they took only one - with shaving accessories. The second, with letters and court cases, remained with the Americans. I protested. I was promised to deliver them. I received them a month later!
With unhurried steps, we passed the barrier and, along the easy rise of the bridge, approached the middle. Several people were already there. I recognized Wilkinson and Donovan. On the other side, there were also several people. I recognized one - an old workmate. Between the two men stood a young tall man - Powers.
The representative of the USSR spoke loudly in Russian and in English:
Wilkinson took out a document from his briefcase, signed it and handed it to me. Quick read - it testified to my release and was signed by President John F. Kennedy! I shook hands with Wilkinson, said goodbye to Donovan, and went to my comrades. I crossed the white line of the border of two zones, and my comrades hugged me. Together we went to the Soviet end of the bridge, got into cars and after a while drove up to a small house where my wife and daughter were waiting for me.
The fourteen-year business trip is over!"
Reference
Abel Rudolf Ivanovich (real name - Fischer William Genrikhovich). Born in 1903 in Newcastle-on-Tyne (England) in a family of Russian political emigrants. Father - from a family of Russified Germans, a revolutionary worker. Mother also participated in the revolutionary movement. For this, the Fisher couple were sent abroad in 1901 and settled in England.
At the age of 16, Willy successfully passed the exam at the University of London. In 1920 the family returned to Moscow, Willy worked as a translator in the office of the Comintern. In 1924, he entered the Indian department of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, but after the first year he was drafted into the army and enlisted in the radiotelegraph regiment. After demobilization, he went to work at the Air Force Research Institute of the Red Army, in 1927 he was accepted into the INO OGPU as an assistant commissioner. Carried out secret missions in European countries. Upon his return to Moscow, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant of state security, which corresponded to the military rank of major. At the end of 1938, without explanation, he was dismissed from intelligence. He worked at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, at a factory. Repeatedly applied with reports about his reinstatement in intelligence.
In September 1941, he was enrolled in a unit that organized sabotage groups and partisan detachments in the rear of the Nazi invaders. During this period, he became especially close friends with his workmate Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, whose name would later be called during his arrest. At the end of the war, he returned to work in the illegal intelligence department. In November 1948, it was decided to send him to illegal work in the United States to obtain information about American nuclear facilities. Nickname - Mark. In 1949 for successful work awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
In order to unload Mark from current affairs, in 1952 a radio operator of illegal intelligence Heihanen (pseudonym - Vik) was sent to help him. Vic turned out to be morally and psychologically unstable, he drank and quickly sank. Four years later, it was decided to return to Moscow. However, Vick informed the American authorities about his work in the Soviet illegal intelligence service and betrayed Mark.
In 1957 Mark was arrested by the FBI. In those days, the leadership of the USSR stated that our country "does not engage in espionage." In order to let Moscow know about his arrest and that he was not a traitor, Fischer named himself after his late friend Abel during his arrest. During the investigation, he categorically denied his affiliation with intelligence, refused to testify at the trial and rejected attempts by American intelligence agencies to persuade him to cooperate. Sentenced to 30 years in prison. He served his sentence in a federal prison in Atlanta. In the cell he was engaged in solving mathematical problems, art theory, painting. On February 10, 1962, he was exchanged for American pilot Francis Powers, convicted by a Soviet court of espionage.
After rest and treatment, Colonel Fisher (Abel) worked in the central intelligence apparatus. He took part in the training of young illegal intelligence officers. He died of cancer in 1971. He was buried at the Donskoy Cemetery in Moscow.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree, the Order of the Red Star and many medals.
The father of our hero, Heinrich Matthäus Fischer, was born on the Andreevsky estate in the Yaroslavl province in a family of German subjects who worked for the local prince Kurakin. The mother of the legendary agent, Lyubov Vasilievna Korneeva, was from Khvalynsk, in the Saratov province. The young spouses were active in revolutionary activities, they were personally acquainted with Krzhizhanovsky and Lenin. Soon their activities became known to the tsarist secret police. Fleeing from arrest, a young couple of political emigrants went abroad and found shelter on the northeast coast of England, in the town of Newcastle. It was here that on July 11, 1903, their son was born, who was named William in honor of the famous playwright.
Few people know that William Fisher had an older brother - Harry. He tragically died in the summer of 1921 on the river Uche near Moscow, saving a drowning girl.
At the age of sixteen, young William passed the exams at the University of London, but he did not have to study there. Father continued revolutionary activities, joined the Bolshevik movement. In 1920, their family returned to Russia, took Soviet citizenship, while retaining British citizenship. At first, Fischer worked as a translator at the Executive Committee of the Comintern in the department of international relations. And a few years later he managed to enter the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies in the Indian department and even successfully completed the first year. However, later he was called up for military service.
The future intelligence officer did not have a chance to participate in the Civil War, however, he joined the ranks of the Red Army in 1925 with pleasure. It fell to him to serve in the first radiotelegraph regiment of the Moscow Military District. It was here that he got acquainted with the basics of the profession of a radio operator. At a young boy who speaks tolerably English, German and French, who had a clean biography, having a natural propensity for technology, drew the attention of the personnel officers of the United State Political Administration. In May 1927, he was enrolled as a translator in the foreign department of this organization, which at that time was under the control of Artuzov and was engaged, among other things, in foreign intelligence.
On April 7, 1927, the wedding of William and a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, Elena Lebedeva, took place. Subsequently, Elena became a famous harpist. And in 1929 they had a child, a girl, whom they named Evelina.
Some time later, Fischer was already working as a radio operator in the central office. According to unconfirmed reports, at the end of the twenties, his first illegal business trip to Poland took place. And at the beginning of 1931, William was sent to England. He left "semi-legally", under his own name. The legend was as follows - a native of England, who came to Russia by parental will, quarreled with his father and wants to return with his family. The British Consulate General in the Russian capital issued British passports, and the Fisher family went abroad. The special mission stretched over several years. The scout managed to visit Norway, Denmark, Belgium and France. Under the pseudonym "Frank", he successfully organized a secret radio network, transmitted radio messages from local residencies.
The business trip ended in the winter of 1935, but in the summer the Fisher family again went abroad. William Genrikhovich returned to Moscow in May 1936, after which he was instructed to train illegal intelligence officers to work with communications equipment. In 1938, the Soviet spy Alexander Orlov defected with his family to the United States. Everyone who worked with him (including Fischer) was under the threat of exposure. In this regard, or perhaps because of the party leadership's distrust of those who had ties with the "enemies of the people", at the very end of 1938, Lieutenant GB Fisher was fired into the reserve. William was still very lucky, during the ongoing army purges, they did not stand on ceremony with the scouts, many of his friends were shot or thrown into prison. At first, the agent had to do odd jobs, only six months later, thanks to his connections, he managed to get a job at an aircraft factory. Even without higher education he easily solved the set production tasks. According to the testimony of the employees of the enterprise, his main "horse" was a phenomenal memory. Also, the scout had a supernatural instinct, helping to find the right solution to almost any problem. While working at the factory, William Genrikhovich constantly sent reports to his father's friend, Secretary of the Central Committee Andreev, asking him to be reinstated in intelligence. For two and a half years, Fisher was "in civilian life", and, finally, in September 1941, he returned to duty.
Who was "comrade Rudolf Abel", under whose name William Fischer became world famous? It is known that he was born in Riga in 1900 (that is, he was three years older than Fischer) in the family of a chimney sweep. The young Latvian ended up in Petrograd in 1915. When the revolution began, he took the side of the Soviet government and volunteered to join the Red Army. In the years civil war served as a fireman on the destroyer Zealous, fought near Tsaritsyn, was retrained as a radio operator in Kronstadt and was sent to the distant Commander Islands. In July 1926, Abel was already the commandant of the Shanghai consulate, and later a radio operator at the embassy in Beijing. INO OGPU took him under its wing in 1927, and in 1928 Rudolph was sent overseas as an illegal intelligence agent. Until 1936, there is no information about his work. When Abel and Fischer met is not completely clear. A number of historians suggest that they first met on a mission in China in 1928-1929. In 1936, the two scouts were already strong friends, and their families were also friends. Fischer's daughter, Evelina, recalled that Rudolf Abel was a calm, cheerful man, and, unlike her father, knew how to find mutual language with kids. Unfortunately, Rudolph did not have his own children. And his wife, Alexandra Antonovna, was from a noble family, which greatly interfered with the career of a talented intelligence officer. But the real tragedy was the news that Abel's brother, Voldemar, who worked as the head of the political department of the shipping company, was listed among the participants in the Latvian counter-revolutionary conspiracy of 1937. For espionage and sabotage activities, Voldemar was sentenced to death, and Rudolf was fired from the authorities. Like Fischer, Abel worked in various places, including as a paramilitary guard shooter. On December 15, 1941, he was returned to service. In the personal file, you can find a mention that in the period from August 1942 to January 1943, Rudolf was part of the task force in the direction of the Main Caucasian Range and performed special tasks for the preparation and deployment of sabotage detachments behind enemy lines. By the end of the war, his award list included the Order of the Red Banner and two Orders of the Red Star. In 1946, Lieutenant Colonel Abel was again, this time finally, dismissed from the state security agencies. Despite the fact that William Fisher continued to serve in the NKVD, their friendship did not end. Rudolph knew about sending a friend to America. In 1955, Abel died suddenly. He never found out that Fisher had impersonated him and that his name was forever entered into the annals of intelligence.
Until the end of the war, William Genrikhovich Fisher continued to work in the central intelligence apparatus at Lubyanka. Many documents about his activities are still not available to the public. It is only known that on November 7, 1941, as head of the communications department, he took part in ensuring the security of the parade that took place on Red Square. Like Rudolf Abel, William organized and sent our agents to the German rear, led the work of partisan detachments, taught radio at the Kuibyshev intelligence school, participated in the legendary operation "Monastery" and its logical continuation - the radio game "Berezino", supervising the work of a number of Soviet and German radio operators.
Operation Berezino began after Soviet intelligence officers managed to create a fictitious German detachment, supposedly working behind Soviet lines. To help them, Otto Skorzeny sent more than twenty spies and saboteurs, and they all fell into a trap. The operation was based on a radio game masterfully conducted by Fischer. The only mistake of William Genrikhovich and everything would have failed, and the Soviet inhabitants paid with their lives for the attacks of saboteurs. Until the very end of the war, the Wehrmacht command did not understand that they were being led by the nose. The last message from Hitler's headquarters in May 1945 read: "We cannot help in any way, we trust in God's will."
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, Fisher was transferred to a special reserve, gradually starting to prepare for a long task. He was already forty-three years old, and he possessed truly great knowledge. Fisher was well versed in radio equipment, chemistry, physics, had a specialty as an electrician, drew professionally, although he never studied it anywhere, knew six foreign languages, played the guitar remarkably, wrote novels and plays. He was a fantastically gifted person: he worked as a carpenter, carpenter, metalworker, and was engaged in silk-screen printing and photography. Already in America he patented a number of inventions. In his free time, he solved mathematical problems and crossword puzzles, played chess. Relatives recalled that Fischer did not know how to be bored, could not stand wasting time in vain, was demanding of himself and others, but absolutely indifferent to the status of a person, respected only those who thoroughly mastered their work. He said about his profession: “Intelligence is a high art…. This is creativity, talent, inspiration.”
Maurice and Leontina Coen, with whom William Genrikhovich worked in New York, spoke of his personal qualities as follows: “An incredibly highly cultured, spiritually rich person…. Highly educated, intelligent, with a developed sense of dignity, honor, commitment and integrity. He could not be disrespected."
The scout's daughter was growing up, it was very difficult to say goodbye to the family, but Fisher went to his main task voluntarily. The last instructions before sending, he received personally from Vyacheslav Molotov. At the end of 1948, in New York, in the Brooklyn area, an unknown photographer and artist Emil Goldfuss moved into house number 252 on Fulton Street. In the late forties, Soviet intelligence in the West experienced far from better times. McCarthyism and the "witch hunt" reached its climax, spies seemed to the secret services in every second inhabitant of the country. In September 1945, Igor Gouzenko, a cipher clerk for the Soviet attaché in Canada, defected to the side of the enemy. A month later, representatives of the American Communist Party, Bentley and Budenz, connected with Soviet intelligence, testified to the FBI. Many illegal agents had to be immediately withdrawn from the United States. Intelligence officers who worked legally in Soviet institutions were under round-the-clock surveillance, constantly expecting provocations. Communication between spies was difficult.
In a short time, Fisher, under the operational pseudonym "Mark", did a great job of recreating the Soviet intelligence structure in America. He formed two intelligence networks: California, including intelligence officers operating in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, and Eastern, covering the entire coast of the United States. Only an incredibly gifted person could pull this off. However, William Genrikhovich was just like that. It was Fisher, through a senior Pentagon official, who found out plans for the deployment of American ground forces in Europe in the event of a war with the Soviet Union. He also obtained copies of Truman's decree establishing the CIA and the National Security Council. Fisher handed over to Moscow a detailed list of tasks assigned to the CIA, and a project on the transfer of authority to the FBI to protect the production of atomic bombs, submarines, jet aircraft and other secret weapons.
Through the Cohens and his group, the Soviet leadership maintained contact with residents who worked directly at secret nuclear facilities. Their contact with Moscow was Sokolov, but due to the circumstances, he could no longer fulfill his role. Fischer replaced him. On December 12, 1948, he first met Leontina Cohen. The contribution of William Genrikhovich to the delivery of the most valuable information about the creation of the nuclear industry is enormous. "Mark" was in touch with the most responsible "atomic" agents of the USSR. They were citizens of America, but they understood that in order to save the future of the planet, it was necessary to maintain nuclear parity. It is also possible that Soviet scientists would have created an atomic bomb without the help of intelligence officers. However, the extracted materials significantly accelerated the work, it was possible to avoid unnecessary research, time, effort and money, which was so necessary for a devastated country.
From Fischer's account of his last business trip to the States: “In order for a foreigner to obtain a visa to the United States, he must undergo a long, thorough check. For us, this path was unsuitable. I had to enter the country as an American citizen returning from a tourist trip ... The USA has long been proud of inventors, so I became one. Invented and made devices in the field of color photography, took pictures, multiplied them. My friends saw the results in the workshop. He led a modest life, did not get a car, did not pay taxes, did not register as a voter, but, of course, did not tell anyone about it. On the contrary, he spoke for acquaintances as an expert in financial matters.
On December 20, 1949, William Fisher, a resident of the Soviet Union, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. And in the middle of 1950, in connection with a possible disclosure, the Coens' spouses were taken out of America. Work in the atomic direction was suspended, but Fisher remained in the United States. Unfortunately, there is no exact information about what he did for the next seven years and what information he obtained for our country. In 1955, the colonel asked his superiors to give him a vacation - his close friend, Rudolf Abel, died in Moscow. The stay in the capital made a depressing impression on the intelligence officer - most of those with whom he worked during the war were in prisons or camps, the immediate superior, Lieutenant General Pavel Sudoplatov, was under investigation as an accomplice of Beria, and he was threatened with capital punishment. Flying away from Russia, Fischer told the mourners: "Perhaps this is my last trip." His premonitions rarely deceived him.
On the night of June 25, 1957, Mark rented a room at the Latham Hotel in New York. Here he successfully conducted another communication session, and at dawn three FBI agents broke into him. And although William managed to get rid of the received telegram and cipher, the “feds” found in him some items related to intelligence activities. After that, they immediately offered Fischer to cooperate with them, avoiding any arrest. The Soviet resident flatly refused and was detained for illegal entry into the country. Handcuffed, he was escorted out of his room, put into a car, and taken to an immigration camp in Texas.
In March 1954, a certain Reino Heihanen was sent to the United States as an illegal radio operator. This scout turned out to be a psychologically unstable person. His way of life and moral principles caused concern to Fisher, who for three years asked the Center to recall the agent. Only in the fourth year his call was granted. In May 1957, Heihanen decided to return. However, having reached Paris, Reynaud unexpectedly headed to the American embassy. Soon, on a military plane, he was already flying to testify in the United States. Of course, they learned about this almost immediately at the Lubyanka. And for some reason they did not take any measures to save Fischer. Moreover, he was not even informed about the incident.
“Mark” immediately understood who had passed him. There was no point in denying that he was a spy from the USSR. Fortunately, the real name of the colonel was known only to a very narrow circle of people, and Reino Heihanen was not included in it. Fearing that the Americans would start a radio game on his behalf, William Fisher decided to impersonate another person. On reflection, he settled on the name of the late friend Rudolf Abel. Perhaps he believed that when information about the capture of a spy becomes known to the public, at home they will be able to understand who exactly is in an American prison.
On August 7, 1957, Abel was charged with three counts: staying without registration in the United States as a spy for a foreign state (five years in prison), conspiracy to collect atomic and military information (ten years in prison), conspiracy to transfer the USSR the above information (death sentence). On October 14, a public hearing in the US v. Rudolf Abel case began in New York federal court. The name of the intelligence officer became famous not only in America, but throughout the world. On the very first day of the meeting, TASS issued a statement that there was no person named Abel among the Soviet agents. For several months, both before and after the trial of Fischer, they tried to convert, persuade him to betrayal, promising all kinds of blessings in life. After this failed, the intelligence officer began to be intimidated with an electric chair. But that didn't break him either. He didn't say a word, nor betray a single agent, and it was an unprecedented feat in intelligence. Risking his life, Fischer declared: "I will not, under any circumstances, cooperate with the government of the United States and will not do anything to save lives that could harm the country." In court, from a professional point of view, he kept himself perfectly, answered all questions about the admission of guilt with a categorical refusal, refused to testify. It is necessary to note the lawyer of William Genrikhovich - James Britt Donovan, who served in intelligence during the war years. He was a very conscientious and intelligent person, who did everything possible, first to protect Mark, and later to exchange him.
On October 24, 1957, James Donovan delivered a brilliant defense speech. It is worth quoting one passage from it: “... If this person is really who our government considers him to be, then this means that in the interests of his state he performed a very dangerous task. We send with such tasks only the most intelligent and brave people from among the military personnel of our country. You also know that everyone who accidentally met the defendant involuntarily gave him the highest rating of moral qualities ... ".
In March 1958, after Fisher's conversation with Allen Dulles, the Soviet intelligence officer was allowed to begin correspondence with the family. After saying goodbye, the director of the CIA told lawyer Donovan: “I wish I had three or four such intelligence officers in Moscow.” However, he had an extremely poor idea of who the Russian spy really was. Otherwise, Dulles would have realized that in the Soviet Union, he only needed one scout of this level.
After much delay, the United States Department of Justice allowed Fisher to correspond with his wife and daughter. She had general character about family affairs and health. William Genrikhovich ended his first letter home with the words: “With love, your husband and father, Rudolf,” making it clear how to address him. The Americans did not like much in the messages, they rightly assumed that the Soviet agent was using them for operational purposes. On June 28, 1959, the same Ministry issued an unconstitutional decision banning Fischer from communicating with anyone outside of America. The reason was very simple - the correspondence does not correspond to the national interests of the United States. However, Donovan's stubborn struggle yielded results, Fisher was forced to allow communication. Later, a “German cousin of Rudolf”, a certain Jürgen Drivs from the GDR, but in fact a foreign intelligence officer, Yuri Drozdov, entered into correspondence. All communication went through Donovan and the lawyer in East Berlin, the Americans were cautious and carefully checked both the lawyer and the “relative”.
The development of events accelerated after the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down in the Sverdlovsk region on May 1, 1960. Its pilot, Francis Harry Powers, was taken prisoner, and the USSR accused the United States of carrying out espionage activities. President Eisenhower responded by suggesting that Abel be remembered. The first calls were made in the American media to exchange Powers for Rudolph. The New York Daily News wrote: “It can be said for sure that Rudolf Abel is of no value to our government as a source of information about the activities of the Reds. After the Kremlin squeezes all possible information out of Powers, their exchange is quite natural ... ". In addition to public opinion, the President was also under strong pressure from the Powers family and lawyers. Soviet intelligence also became active. After Khrushchev officially agreed to the exchange, Drives and a lawyer from Berlin, through Donovan, began bidding with the Americans, which stretched out for almost two years. The CIA was well aware that a professional intelligence officer "weighs" much more than a pilot. They managed to convince the Soviet side to release, in addition to Powers, student Frederick Pryer, who was detained in August 1961 in East Berlin for espionage, and Marvin Makinen, who is in prison in Kiev.
In the photo he is visiting colleagues from the GDR in 1967
It was very difficult to organize such “appendages”. The special services of the GDR did a huge service by losing Pryer to domestic intelligence.
After spending five and a half years in a federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Fisher not only survived, but managed to make investigators, lawyers, even American criminals respect him. A well-known fact, while in prison, a Soviet agent painted a whole gallery of paintings in oil. There is evidence that Kennedy took his portrait and hung it in the Oval Room.
On February 10, 1962, several cars drove up to the Glienicki Bridge, which separates East and West Berlin, from both sides. Just in case, a detachment of GDR border guards hid nearby. When a radio signal was received that Pryer had been handed over to the Americans (Makinen was released a month later), the main exchange began. William Fisher, pilot Powers, and representatives of both sides converged on the bridge and completed the agreed procedure. Representatives confirmed that they were exactly the people they were waiting for. After exchanging glances, Fischer and Powers parted ways. An hour later, William Genrikhovich was surrounded by his relatives, who had specially flown to Berlin, and the next morning he went to Moscow. In parting, the Americans forbade him to enter their country. However, Fischer had no intention of returning.
When asked about the main task of intelligence, William Genrikhovich once answered: “We are looking for someone else's secret plans directed against us in order to take the necessary countermeasures. Our intelligence policy is defensive in nature. The CIA has very different ways of working - to create the conditions and situations in which military actions of their armed forces become acceptable. This administration organizes uprisings, interventions, coups. I declare with all responsibility: we do not deal with such matters.
After rest and recovery, Fischer returned to work in intelligence, participated in the training of a new generation of illegal agents, traveled to Hungary, Romania and the GDR. At the same time, he constantly sent letters with a request to release Pavel Sudoplatov, who was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. In 1968, Fisher starred in the opening remarks in the film Dead Season. He was organized performances in institutes, factories, even collective farms.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union Fisher, like many other scouts, was not given. This was not accepted, the authorities were afraid of information leakage. After all, the Hero is additional papers, additional instances, unnecessary questions.
William Genrikhovich Fisher died on November 15, 1971 at the age of sixty-eight. The real name of the legendary scout was not immediately disclosed. An obituary written in Krasnaya Zvezda read: “... Being abroad in difficult, difficult conditions, R.I. Abel showed rare patriotism, endurance and steadfastness. He was awarded three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and other medals. Before last days stayed on duty."
Without a doubt, William Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel) is an outstanding agent of the Soviet era. An extraordinary person, a fearless and modest domestic intelligence officer-intellectual lived his life with amazing courage and dignity. Many episodes of his activities still remain in the shadows. With many cases, the secrecy stamp has long been removed. However, some stories seem routine against the background of already known information, others are very difficult to restore entirely. Documentary evidence of the work of William Fisher is scattered over a bunch of archival folders and putting them together, restoring all the events is a painstaking and long work.
Information sources:
http://www.hipersona.ru/secret-agent/sa-cold-war/1738-rudolf-abel
http://svr.gov.ru/smi/2010/golros20101207.htm
http://che-ck.livejournal.com/67248.html?thread=519856
http://clubs.ya.ru/zh-z-l/replies.xml?item_no=5582
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