The story of Rudolph Abel. Radio game "Berezino" and participation in the parade

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 were even personally acquainted with Lenin. We can say 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 the hardships of work and life in Soviet Russia, or the opportunity to cross over to the American side in search of a well-fed and comfortable life.

Dismissal from service

A career in intelligence did not develop very consistently for Abel - 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, a scout who fled to the West in 1938. Abel also worked with him at one time. After leaving the service, he went to work at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, and later moved to an aircraft industrial plant, where he worked until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Of course, such work was not for him: Abel's intellect required the solution of more complex problems and much more responsible tasks, therefore, while working at the plant, he constantly wrote reports to the party bosses with a request to restore him to his post. And after more than two years in the civil service, at the very beginning of the Second World War, he managed to return - Abel was enrolled in a unit that was organizing 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 fully showed his abilities, 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 took part in the strategic operation "Berezino", 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 conducted exceptionally masterly. On account of Abel and security service at the famous

Work in the USA and failure of the operation

After the end of the Second World War, Fischer received an extremely responsible assignment from his superiors - in 1948 he was sent to a key area of \u200b\u200bforeign intelligence work - the United States. In the states, Fisher, under the operational pseudonym "Mark", worked to recreate the Soviet spy network, and used an art workshop in Brooklyn as a cover. Abel's main focus was collecting information about the atomic bomb being developed by the Americans and transferring it to our intelligence. Abel spent nine years conducting 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 Heikhanen, who handed Abel over to the American special services.

Agent pseudonym

After the arrest, the main task of "Mark" was to avoid provocations by the FBI and inform Moscow of his arrest. Fischer understood who passed him, and acted on the basis of this knowledge. Heikhanen did not know Mark's real name, so during interrogation he passed himself off as another Soviet intelligence officer, his late friend, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, with whom he worked side by side for a long time in Soviet intelligence. Since then, Fischer has gone everywhere under his name. Only in the early nineties did the foreign intelligence service of the Russian Federation officially announce that the real name of the Soviet intelligence officer who identified himself as 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 with the death penalty, but thanks to the efforts of his lawyer James Dokovan, who also by the way once served in intelligence, the death sentence was replaced by a prison term of thirty-two years, which at 54 was tantamount to life the verdict. But this court decision turned out to be very far-sighted. In May 1960, an American plane was shot down near Sverdlovsk and its pilot, Francis Powers, was captured. 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 Abel's figure 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 of the Soviet Union. On February 10, 1962, a historic exchange took place on the Glienik Bridge separating East and West Berlin.

Creative talent

William Fischer was exceptionally educated and comprehensively developed, not only professionally, but also culturally. He knew six languages \u200b\u200band 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 no accident that Abel's cover in New York was in the studio). During his imprisonment in an American prison, Abel also did not sit idle - he developed his silk-screen production process, solved mathematical problems, prepared detailed drawings for the best use of the prison building and painted oil paintings. There is even a legend, which does not have strong evidence, that the portrait of Kennedy, painted by Fisher in prison, was presented to the president and even hung in the oval office.

FBI Director Edgar Hoover gave a kind of characterization of his professional qualities at one time: "The persistent hunt for the master of espionage Abel is one of the most wonderful things in our asset ..." And the long-term head of the CIA Allen Dulles added another touch to this portrait, writing in his the book "The Art of Intelligence": "Everything that Abel did, he did by conviction, and not for money. I would like us to have three or four people like Abel in Moscow. "

His biography is a ready script not even for a feature film, but for an exciting multi-part saga. And even if something has already formed the basis of individual films, you will not see in every film what this person actually went through, what he experienced. He himself is a slice of history, its living embodiment. A visible example of worthy service to his cause and dedication to a country for which he took mortal risks

Don't think of seconds down

Rudolf Ivanovich Abel (real name - William Genrikhovich Fisher) 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, came from a family of Russified Germans, actively participated in revolutionary activities and was exiled abroad as "unreliable." In England, he and his chosen one, the Russian girl Luba, had a son, who was named William - in honor of Shakespeare. My father was well versed in natural sciences, 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 the family at that time decided to return to Moscow.

Here, William works as an interpreter in the international relations department of the Executive Committee of the Comintern, studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies. There was also a conscript military service - her future scout took place in the radiotelegraph regiment of the Moscow Military District, as well as work in the Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force. In 1927, William Fischer was recruited into the foreign department of the OGPU as an assistant commissioner. He performed tasks in the line of illegal intelligence in Europe, including acting as a radio operator of the stations. Upon returning to Moscow, he received the rank of lieutenant of state security, but after a while he was unexpectedly dismissed from intelligence. It is believed that this was Beria's personal decision: he did not trust the personnel who worked with the "enemies of the people", and Fischer managed to work for a while abroad with the defector Alexander Orlov.

William got a job at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, later worked at an aircraft factory, but at the same time bombarded the former "office" with reports of reinstatement in the service. His request was granted in the fall of 1941, when the need arose for experienced, proven specialists. Fischer was enrolled in a unit that was organizing sabotage groups and partisan detachments behind enemy lines, in particular, he trained radio operators for dropping behind the front line. During that period, he made friends with his workmate Abel, whose name he would later be called upon arrest.

After the war, William Fisher was sent to the United States, where, living under 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 ran the USSR's vast intelligence network in America. In the late 1940s, he worked with the famous Coen spies. This activity was extremely effective - the country received important documents and information, including on missile weapons. However, in 1957, the intelligence officer fell into the hands of the CIA. A traitor was wound up in his entourage - it was the radio operator Heikhanen (pseudonym "Vik"), who, fearing punishment from his superiors for drunkenness and the waste of official funds, transmitted information about the intelligence network to the American special 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 sentenced him to 32 years in prison. He rejected the intelligence officer and the persistent attempts of the American special services to persuade him to cooperate. In 1962, Abel was exchanged for the pilot of the American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, Francis Powers, who was shot down two years earlier in the sky over the Urals.

After rest and treatment, William Fischer - Rudolf Abel returned to work in the central apparatus of the Soviet intelligence. He took part in the training of young specialists who were to go to the "front line" of foreign intelligence. The famous scout died on November 15, 1971. On the SVR website it is noted that “Colonel V. Fischer was awarded the Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, Orders of the Patriotic War I degree, the Red Star, many medals for outstanding services in ensuring the state security of our country, and Breastplate "Honorary State Security Officer".

They whistle like bullets at the temple

The name of Abel-Fischer 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, in his biography there were many bright pages, including those about which not everything is known and not everyone. The historian of special services, journalist and writer Nikolai Dolgopolov in his book "Legendary scouts" dwelled on only some facts from the life of the legendary scout. 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 Schorkhorn.

“According to the legend, planted to the Germans by the department of Pavel Sudoplatov, a large Wehrmacht unit was operating in the Belarusian forests, which miraculously escaped captivity. It allegedly attacks regular Soviet units, while simultaneously informing Berlin about the movement of enemy troops, Nikolai Dolgopolov writes. “In Germany, they believed it, especially since a small group of Germans wandering in the woods did maintain regular contact with Berlin. It was William Fisher, disguised as 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 Fischer was awarded the Order of Lenin. He received the Order of the Red Star in the very first years of his work in the United States. Then, not only from New York, where he lived (by the way, he allegedly settled in mock at 252 on Fulton Street - near the FBI office), but also from the coast there were radiograms about the movements of military equipment, information concerning the operational situation in major American port cities, delivery, transportation of military goods from the Pacific coast. Fischer also managed a network of Soviet "atomic agents" - this, as Nikolai Dolgopolov notes, "was his first and most important task." In general, "Mark" - such a pseudonym Fischer had in the United States, managed in a short time to reorganize the illegal network that remained in the United States 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 treachery, our consulates and official offices in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco were closed.

“Nine years of work, each of which is credited to an illegal for two, several orders, a promotion. The colonel did not manage to accomplish even more, although he created all the conditions for successful work - his own and his agents, - Nikolai Dolgopolov notes. "The traitor Heihanen interfered."

Upon arrest, Fischer displayed fantastic composure and composure. When the FBI people named him Colonel, he immediately realized that the traitor was "Vic": only the radio operator knew what the officer's rank was "Mark". Our intelligence officer also behaved courageously at 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 a death sentence - 32 years of imprisonment ... By the way, in the recent film by Steven Spielberg "The Spy Bridge" the image of the Soviet intelligence officer was talented by the British actor Mark Rylance, showing the character of his hero without the usual Hollywood cliches and the current anti-Russian hysteria ... The role was so successful that the artist was even awarded an Oscar for her performance. It is worth noting that Rudolph Abel himself took part in the creation of the feature film "Dead Season", which was released in 1968. The plot of the tape, in which Donatas Banionis played the main role, turned out to be connected with some facts from the scout's biography.

To whom disgrace, and to whom - immortality

In his memoirs, contained in the book "Notes of the Chief of Illegal Intelligence", the former head of the "C" (illegal immigrants) Directorate of the First Main Directorate of the KGBSSSR, Major General Yuri Drozdov, spoke about some details of the exchange of Rudolf Abel for the American pilot Powers. In this operation, the Chekist played the role of Abel's "cousin" - a small employee of Drivs, who lived in the GDR.

“The painstaking work was carried out by a large group of employees of the Center. In Berlin, besides me, the department's leadership was also involved in these issues, - writes General Drozdov. - A relative of Drives was "made", correspondence between Abel's family members and his US lawyer Donovan was established through a lawyer in East Berlin. At first, the business developed sluggishly. The Americans were very careful, they started checking the addresses of a relative and a lawyer. Apparently, they felt insecure. In any case, this was indicated by the data that came to us from their office in West Berlin, and the observation of the actions of their agents on the territory of the GDR. "

On the eve of the exchange, as Yuri Drozdov recalled, the last meeting was held at the head of the Office of the USSR KGB representative in the GDR, General A.A.Krokhin. “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 place of exchange sleepy. But the exchange went well - RI 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, on the other hand, crossed the line of exchange in some kind of gray-green prison robe and a small cap that could hardly fit on his head. “On the same day, we spent a couple of hours with him to purchase the necessary wardrobe in Berlin stores,” recalled General Drozdov. - I met him again at the end of the 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, said that we still need to talk. I could not, because I flew away 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, in one of his interviews, emphasized that only the most famous episodes of Abel's work have been named in open sources.

“The paradox is that many other, very interesting fragments remain in the shadows now,” the general noted. - Yes, the secrecy label has already been removed from many cases. But there are stories that, against the background of already known information, look routine, inconspicuous, and journalists, of course, are looking for what is more interesting. And something is even difficult to restore. The chronicler didn't follow Abel! Today, documentary evidence of his work is scattered across many archival folders. To bring them together, to reconstruct events is painstaking, long work, who will get their hands on? But when there are no facts, legends appear ... "

Perhaps Rudolph Abel himself will forever remain the same person-legend. A real scout, patriot, officer.

(real name - William Genrikhovich Fisher)

(1903-1971) soviet intelligence officer

For many decades, the real name of this legendary scout has been hidden by an impenetrable veil of secrecy. Only after his death did it become known that the surname Abel, which he named when he was arrested in the United States, belonged to his deceased friend and colleague.

Rudolf Ivanovich Abel was born into a German family, several generations of which lived in Russia. William's father, Heinrich Fischer, was born on the estate of Mologa of the Kurakin princes, located not far from Yaroslavl. The prince took his ancestors out of Germany, inviting them to work. Abel's grandfather was a cattle breeder and veterinarian, his grandmother was a chicken breeding specialist. They have worked all their lives in Russia, which has become their second homeland.

However Heinrich Fischer did not follow in the footsteps of his parents. He became an engineer, joined the Bolshevik Party, and then left with his wife to England, where he was engaged in business and at the same time led party work. There in Newcastle his son William was born. He went to school and soon began to help his father: he ran to attendance, then became an activist of the "Hands off Russia!" Movement.

In 1921, the family returned to Russia, where William Fisher entered the institute and in 1927, while still studying, began working in Soviet intelligence. After graduating from the institute and passing special training, he was again sent to England, where he worked for almost ten years under his real name.

In 1938, when the purges began in intelligence, Fischer, who by that time had returned to the USSR, was stripped of his military rank and fired. For several years he worked as an engineer at a Moscow plant. Already during the Finnish war, Fischer was remembered. He was returned to his rank and sent to a special radio battalion, where he served with the famous polar explorer E. Krenkel.

Shortly before the start of the war, Fischer was again returned to foreign intelligence and was soon transferred to Germany. There he spent the entire war, reporting information to Moscow. Fischer continued to work in intelligence after the war.

On the instructions of the Center, in 1947 he moved to Canada, and from there in 1948 he moved to the USA. Fischer crosses the border under the name of the Lithuanian American Andrew Kayotis. In the USA, he legalized himself under a different name - Emil Goldfuss.

Officially, he became a photographer-retoucher by profession, but in fact he was engaged in organizing the receipt and transfer of intelligence information to the USSR. For many years, an unremarkable photographer lived in Brooklyn, becoming the organizer and head of an extensive agent network.

In 1955, Fischer came to Moscow for a short rest. This was his only visit, because 2 years after returning to the United States, he was arrested on June 21, 1957. The scout was betrayed by one of the employees of his group. None of Fischer's colleagues were exposed or harmed.

Unlike other intelligence officers, Fischer was not silent, and at the very first interrogation he declared that he was a Soviet intelligence officer and his real name and rank was Colonel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel. He made this statement in order to check how complete information the American special services have. When they believed him, it became obvious that American counterintelligence officers did not have any other data besides operational information. A few months later, Fischer received letters from his daughter and wife that had come to his name. Now he knew that Moscow had understood his move and had entered the game. The trial of Rudolph Abel passed with great noise and was widely covered in the American press.

The court sentenced him to thirty years in prison. But he did not sit out until the end of the term. Five years later, in February 1962, in East Berlin, Rudolf Abel was exchanged for the American pilot F. Powers, who was shot down over the territory of the USSR, and for two other detained agents.

Returning to the USSR, Rudolf Abel continued his activities in intelligence. He was awarded the rank of general. He directed the work of the Anglo-American intelligence network, trained young employees, and went on business trips to socialist countries several times. For his merits, he was awarded the Order of the Battle Red Banner.

The famous scout led a rather closed and secluded lifestyle, did not speak anywhere with stories about his activities, as many generals liked to do in their years. But one day he nevertheless appeared on the silver screen, starring in the film by S. Kulish "Dead Season", where an episode of the exchange of intelligence officers was shown.

In 1971, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel retired and soon died of lung cancer. On his gravestone, for the first time, two names of the scout - Fisher and Abel - were put together.

On October 14, 1957, in the building of the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York, a noisy trial began on charges of espionage against Rudolf Abel Ivanovich. He faced the death penalty or life imprisonment. During the investigation, Abel categorically denied that he was a member of Soviet foreign intelligence, refused to give any evidence in court and rejected all attempts by American intelligence officials to persuade him to cooperate.

A month later, the judge read out the verdict: 30 years in hard labor, which for him at 54 was tantamount to life imprisonment.

Following the announcement of the verdict, Abel was first held in solitary confinement at the New York City Detention Center and then transferred to the Federal Correctional Prison in Atlanta.

The homeland did not leave its scout in trouble. On February 10, 1962, on the Glienicke Bridge, through which the border between West Berlin and the GDR passed, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel was exchanged for the American pilot Francis Gary (in the official documents of the Soviet court - Harry) Powers, convicted in the Soviet Union, who carried out an intelligence flight over Soviet territory and shot down near Sverdlovsk.

William Genrikhovich Fisher

On November 15, 1971, a remarkable Soviet illegal intelligence agent died. But it was only in the early 1990s that the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service officially announced that his real name was William Genrikhovich Fisher.

Why did William Fisher, who was arrested in the United States, who lived in New York according to documents in the name of the free American artist Emil Robert Goldfuss, call himself Rudolph Abel?

Now, with the passage of time, it is safe to say that, posing as his friend and colleague in the work of the state security, the illegal Soviet intelligence officer thus made it clear to the Center that it was he who ended up in prison. Foreign intelligence quickly figured out what was what. After all, the real Abel and his friendship with Fischer were well known here.

Until the end of his days, the foreign intelligence colonel remained for his family and colleagues Fischer, or Willie, and for everyone else - Rudolph Abel. The legend was destined to remain a legend, and a mystery a mystery.

And today, bowing our heads in memory of the legendary intelligence officer, we would like to remember his closest friend and comrade-in-arms, whose name, Rudolf Abel, entered the textbooks of intelligence agencies in many countries and forever remained in history.

FAMILY OF ABELS

Rudolf Ivanovich Abel was born on September 23, 1900 in the city of Riga. Father was a chimney sweep, mother was a housewife. Rudolph had two brothers: the elder, Voldemar, and the younger, Gottfried. Until the age of 15, Rudolph lived with his parents. He graduated from four classes of elementary school, worked as a messenger in Riga. In 1915 he moved to Petrograd. He studied at general education courses and passed an external exam for four classes of a real school.

Rudolph, like his brothers, accepted the October Revolution with all his heart. From the beginning of the revolution, he voluntarily went to serve as an ordinary fireman on the destroyer "Zealous" of the Red Baltic Fleet. In 1918 he became a member of the Bolshevik Party. Then, as part of the Volga flotilla, he took part in battles with whites in the valleys of the Volga and Kama rivers. He was a direct participant in the daring operation of the Reds behind enemy lines, during which the suicide barge - Red Army prisoners - was repulsed from the Whites. He took an active part in the battles at Tsaritsyn, in the lower reaches of the Volga and on the Caspian Sea.

In January 1920, Abel was enrolled as a cadet in the class of naval radiotelegraph operators of the training and mine detachment of the Baltic Fleet in Kronstadt. After completing his studies in 1921, the young naval specialist Abel, as part of a team of Baltic sailors, was sent to the emerging naval forces of the Far Eastern Republic. He served on ships of the Amur and Siberian flotillas. In 1923-1924, he headed a radiotelegraph station on Bering Island, then commanded naval radio operators on the Commander Islands.

In 1925, Rudolph married Anna Antonovna, nee Stockalich, from the nobility, who received an excellent education and became his reliable assistant. It should be noted here that Rudolph himself was fluent in German, English and French. In the same year, Abel was sent to work at the Soviet consulate in Shanghai through the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs.

In July 1926, Rudolf Abel was transferred to Beijing, where he worked as a radio operator for the Soviet diplomatic mission until the severance of diplomatic relations with China in 1929. While abroad, in 1927 he became an employee of the Foreign Department of the OGPU (foreign intelligence), fulfilling the duties of a residency cipher.

On his return from Beijing Abel in the same year goes to work illegally outside the cordon. In the documents of that period, which are in his personal file, it is said briefly: "Appointed to the post of authorized INO OGPU and is on a long-term business trip in different countries." He returned to Moscow in the fall of 1936.

Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, Photo courtesy of the author

WILLIAM, RUDOLF AND HIS BROTHERS

Could the paths of illegal immigrants Abel and Fischer cross behind the cordon? The official documents are silent about this. But be that as it may, finding themselves almost simultaneously in Moscow and working at the Center, they became great friends. We even went to the dining room together. “Uncle Rudolph came to visit us often. He was always calm, cheerful, - recalled Evelina Fisher, daughter of William Genrikhovich. “And they communicated well with their father.” During the war years, both lived in one small communal apartment in the center of Moscow.

Getting acquainted with the biographies of these scouts, you involuntarily come to the conclusion that their fates had a lot in common, which contributed to rapprochement. Both were enrolled in the INO OGPU in 1927, at almost the same time were in illegal work abroad, worked together in the central intelligence apparatus, and during the Great Patriotic War - in the 4th department of the NKVD. Both did not look like the darlings of fortune, life sometimes treated them cruelly.

On the last day of the outgoing 1938, William Fisher was dismissed from the state security without explanation. And only in September 1941 he was offered to return to the NKVD.

With Rudolph Abel, everything was much more complicated.

It is appropriate to recall his older brother Voldemar here. From the age of 14 he sailed as a cabin boy on the ship "Petersburg", then he worked as a locksmith at a factory in Riga. In December 1917 he became a member of the RCP (b). A Red Army soldier, a Latvian rifleman who guarded Smolny, he fought bravely as part of the Red Guard, which fought on the Pulkovo Heights with the units of General Krasnov advancing on St. Petersburg. Later he served as a minder on the battleship Gangut.

Over time, Voldemar grew into a major party worker: commissar of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission of the Kronstadt Fortress, commissar of the communications service of the Naval Forces of the Far Eastern Republic, delegate to the 17th party congress. In 1934 he was appointed head of the political department of the Baltic State Shipping Company. And at the end of 1937 he was arrested for "participation in the Latvian counter-revolutionary nationalist conspiracy and for espionage and sabotage activities in favor of Germany and Latvia."

Events developed rapidly. In October 1937, Voldemar was expelled from the party with the formulation "for political myopia and dulling of vigilance." On November 10, he was arrested and sentenced to capital punishment by an order of the "two" (Yezhov and Vyshinsky) of January 11, 1938. And on January 18, Voldemar Abel and another 216 people, "members of the counter-revolutionary Latvian nationalist organization", were shot. On May 9, 1957, they were all rehabilitated.

The third of the Abel brothers - the younger Gottfried - spent his entire life in his hometown. He graduated from the university, worked at various Riga enterprises, raised his daughters. Gottfried bypassed the complexities of big politics.

RETURN TO THE INVISIBLE FRONT

But back to Rudolph Abel. Later, in his autobiography, he wrote: "In March 1938 he was dismissed from the NKVD in connection with the arrest of my brother Voldemar."

Hard times have come: at 38 years old - a shooter of a paramilitary guard, again being fired, then a meager pension. And then, like William Fisher, there was an offer to return to the NKVD. On December 15, 1941, Major of State Security Rudolf Abel returned to service, and again - invisible. He was sent to the 4th department of the NKVD under the command of the famous General Pavel Sudoplatov and appointed deputy head of one of the divisions. The main task of the 4th Directorate was to organize reconnaissance and sabotage operations in the rear of the German troops.

In the certification for Rudolf Abel, signed on March 16, 1945, there is a lot that is unsaid, understandable only to specialists:

“Possesses one of the special branches of intelligence operative work ... Comrade. In his practical work, Abel successfully carried out the responsible tasks entrusted to him ... From August 1942 to January 1943 he was on the Caucasian Front as part of the task force for the defense of the Main Caucasian ridge. During the Patriotic War, he repeatedly went to carry out special assignments ... He performed special assignments for the preparation and deployment of our agents behind enemy lines. "

For the successful fulfillment of operational tasks, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, two Orders of the Red Star, many military medals, and the badge "Honored Worker of the NKVD". On September 27, 1946, Lieutenant Colonel Abel was again dismissed from the state security organs, this time by age.

Friendship with the Fischer family remained unchanged. In November 1948, Fischer went on a business trip that was destined to last 14 years. Rudolf Ivanovich did not wait for the return of his comrade. Died suddenly in December 1955. They buried him at the German cemetery in Moscow.

He was never destined to find out that the arrested William Fischer impersonated Rudolf Abel, that under his name William Genrikhovich morally won the "United States against Rudolf Ivanovich Abel" trial. Even after leaving this life, foreign intelligence officer Rudolf Ivanovich Abel helped both his friend and the cause to which he gave all of himself without reserve.

May 9th, 2013, 10:03 am

Abel Rudolph Ivanovich (1903-1971) - an ace of Soviet espionage, who acted in the 50s in the United States, and five years after his exposure, exchanged by the Americans for the I-2 reconnaissance pilot Francis G. Powers, shot down over Sverdlovsk.

Abel (real name Fisher William Genrikhovich) was born in Newcastle-on-Guine (England) into a family of Russian political emigrants engaged in revolutionary activities. From childhood, Abel studied well and was very successful in the natural sciences, which later helped him become a specialist in chemistry and nuclear physics. Graduated from the University of London.

In 1920, the Fisher family returned to Russia. In 1922 Abel joins the Komsomol; Fluent in English, German, Polish and Russian, he works as a translator for the Comintern.
In 1924 he entered the Indian department of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow. After the first year, he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army, served in the radio division, and after demobilization he worked in the Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force.
In 1927, Abel entered the service in the Foreign Department of the OGPU as an assistant commissioner. Carries out important tasks in the line of illegal intelligence in two European countries. Works as a radio operator for illegal European stations. For excellent service, he was promoted and received the rank of lieutenant of state security.
In 1938 he was dismissed from the counterintelligence bodies without explanation. After that, he worked at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, at an aircraft plant. He filed several reports with the restoration and, finally, achieved his goal: in September 1941, when the war was already going on, he was reinstated in the organs without explaining the reason for his dismissal. As Rudolf Abel himself said in 1970, he was sure that the reason was his German surname, name and patronymic.
During the Second World War, he was actively involved in the preparation of reconnaissance and sabotage groups, the creation of partisan detachments (all formations operated in the rear of the enemy). He trained about a hundred radio operators who were thrown into the countries occupied by Germany. At the end of the war, he became close friends with Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, whose name he later named himself for operational purposes. At the end of the war, he was promoted to major in state security.

One of the most famous episodes of Fischer's military activities is his participation in the operational game "Berezino", which was led by Pavel Sudoplatov. The operation was launched back in 1942, when the Fourth Directorate threw information to the department of Admiral Canaris about the presence in Moscow of an underground monarchist organization called Prestol. On her behalf, an agent of our counterintelligence was sent behind the front line, acting under the pseudonym Heine, in further contacts with the Germans and in radio telegrams called Alexander. In 1944, according to the operational game plan, he was sent to Minsk, which had just been liberated from the Nazis. Soon the Abwehr received information that there were scattered groups of Germans in the Belarusian forests trying to break through the front line. The radio intercept materials testified to the desire of the German command to provide them with all kinds of assistance in leaving the Russian rear, at the same time using them to carry out sabotage actions.
In reality, a large detachment was created in Belarus from among the captured Germans, which allegedly fought against the Soviet Army in its rear. The leadership of this detachment maintained regular contact with the German command, where information was sent about the sabotage allegedly committed by the detachment. And from there, radio equipment, ammunition, food and German intelligence officers were thrown into the "German" unit. All this, of course, did not fall at all to the mythical saboteurs, but to the disposal of the Red Army.
William Fischer was in charge of the German radio operators abandoned from Berlin. The entire radio game was conducted under his control. Some of the enemy's scouts were recruited, some were destroyed. Operation Berezino continued almost until the very end of the war. Only on May 5 did the Germans broadcast their last radio message: “With a heavy heart, we are forced to stop helping you. Due to the current situation, we can no longer maintain radio contact with you. Whatever the future brings us, our thoughts will always be with you, who in such a difficult moment has to be disappointed in their hopes. "
This radiogram testifies to the fact that William Fischer had a certain sense of humor, even if a little dry.

After the victory, Abel continues to work in the Office of Illegal Intelligence. In 1947, he illegally entered Canada from France using documents in the name of Andrew Kayotis. In 1948, he crossed the US border, and in 1954 legalized himself in New York, opening a photo studio on Fulton Street, and posing as the photographer (which he, however, was) Emil R. Goldfuss.

For six months, Fischer, acting under the operational pseudonym Mark, was able to partially restore, partially create an agent network on the west coast of the United States. At first glance, the task set before Fischer seemed impossible - he had to gain access to the secrets of the American nuclear program. And he succeeded - in any case, such a conclusion can be drawn from indirect data. In August 1949, Fischer was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. His contacts were the famous Coen spouses, about whom the Western press wrote: "Stalin could not have carried out the explosion of the atomic bomb in 1949 without these spies." Leontine Cohen did manage to find a channel for obtaining information directly from the nuclear center in Los Alamos, but it was Fischer who coordinated her activities and the activities of other members of the group.
Thanks to Fischer and his agents, the leadership of the Soviet Union received documentary evidence that Washington was preparing for World War III. On Stalin's table lay the top secret Dropshot plan, according to which at the first stage of the war it was supposed to drop 300 atomic bombs of 50 kilotons and 200,000 tons of conventional bombs on 100 Soviet cities, of which 25 atomic bombs - on Moscow, 22 - to Leningrad, 10 - to Sverdlovsk, eight - to Kiev, five - to Dnepropetrovsk, two - to Lviv, etc. The developers of the plan calculated that as a result of this atomic bombing, about 60 million Soviet citizens would die, and in total, taking into account further combat operations, this number will exceed 100 million.
When we think of the Cold War, don't forget about the Dropshot plan. To some extent, Fischer can be called the person who prevented the Third World War - the American atomic secrets obtained with his help allowed the Soviet atomic program to be completed in a short time, and information about the plans of the American military predetermined the USSR's "symmetrical response".

In reality, Abel was a resident of Soviet intelligence; he controlled agents and operations not only in New York, but also in the northern and central states of America. Abel kept in touch with Moscow by radio and through contact agents. There is information that in 1954-1955 he secretly visited Moscow for secret meetings with the top leadership of the KGB. During his stay in the United States, he was awarded the rank of colonel of state security.
And yet, very little is known about Fischer's activities in the States - and this is one of the surest evidences that he was a brilliant intelligence officer. Because the best scouts are those about whom nothing is known at all while they are alive, but scouts deserve even more respect, about whose activities nothing is known even after their failure.
Abel was arrested by the FBI in New York on June 21, 1957, after he was betrayed by agent Heikhanen sent to him from Moscow to help. One piece of evidence that led to Abel's exposure was a hollow five-cent piece that served as a spy container, which Abel accidentally passed on to newspaper salesman (FBI informant) James Bozart. So Abel was brought to trial, found guilty of espionage and sentenced to 30 years in prison and a $ 3,000 fine.

Rudolf Abel spent only a small part of his term in prison, and that with benefit, working a lot on mathematical, history books and phrasebooks from the prison library (in prison he learned Spanish and Italian), on February 10, 1962 he was exchanged for a reconnaissance aircraft pilot Powers on the Glinine bridge, dividing Berlin into western and eastern zones. Returning to the USSR, Abel continued to work in the central apparatus of the KGB to prepare graduates of intelligence schools for illegal actions.
Abel, neither in his youth nor in adulthood, did not stand out in any way: he was inconspicuous, thin, in modest clothes, bespectacled intellectual. But his keen, lively eyes, a thin ironic smile and confident gestures betrayed in him an iron will, a sharp mind of an analyst, loyalty to convictions. Everyone, of course, will be interested to know what Abel especially appreciated in intelligence officers the ability to work with his hands and head in a variety of areas, that is, to have as many professions as possible. He himself once calculated that he owns 93 skills and specialties!

He knew almost a dozen languages, was a fisherman and a hunter, he could fix a typewriter and a clock, a car engine and a TV, he painted with oils and was a wonderful photographer, he cut and sewed suits for himself, like God, knew about electricity, could calculate the foundation and design a house, serve a banquet for twenty people, and prepare delicious meals. The KGB officially and publicly recognized Abel as its employee only in 1965.

From the life of the scout Rudolph Abel

James Bozart, an FBI agent and courier for the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper, discovered among his money a hollow 1948 nickel minted with a picture of Jefferson. The coin was a spy container containing microfilm.
Sergeant Roy Rhodes (US Army) was a spy for the USSR in the 1950s while working at the embassy in Moscow. In 1957, Rhodes was pointed out by a Soviet defector, Colonel Reino Heikhanen, Abel's former courier.

The recruited Heihanen pointed the FBI at Abel. When he was arrested, during a search of his darkroom, FBI agents found microfilm made, according to Heihanen, by Rhodes. During interrogation, Rhodes confessed to his espionage activities. He and Heihanen were key prosecution witnesses in the Abel trial and, in fact, put him behind bars. Rudolph Abel was held at the federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia.
Donovan's lawyer visited Abel after the trial. What he saw shocked him.“When I came after the trial to Abel in the prisoner cell, he was sitting, waiting for me, in an armchair, crossing his legs, puffing on a cigarette. Looking at him, one might think that this person has no worries. But he underwent colossal physical and emotional torture: he was threatened with an electric chair. At that moment, such a professional's self-control seemed unbearable to me. "

On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down near Sverdlovsk. Its pilot, Francis G. Powers, was detained by local residents and turned over to the KGB. The Soviet Union accused the United States of espionage, and President Eisenhower responded by advising the Russians to recall the Abel case.
This was the signal to start bargaining. Having received it, Nikita Khrushchev decided to exchange Abel for Powers (that is, in fact, to admit that Abel was a Soviet spy). Yuri Drozdov (hiding under the guise of the German Y. Drives) and lawyer V. Vogel entered into direct negotiations with the American side all through the same James Donovan. The Americans asked for Abel not only Powers, but also two American students, one of whom was in a Kiev prison and the other in a Berlin prison on charges of espionage. In the end, agreements were reached, and in February 1962, Abel was released.

On February 10, 1962, several cars drove up to the Alt-Glienicke bridge on the border of the GDR and West Berlin. Abel was in one of the American vans. At the same time, one of the students was handed over to the Americans at the famous checkpoint "Charlie". As soon as the signal about the successful transfer of the student was received on the radio, the operation on the main exchange began.

First, officials from both sides met in the middle of the bridge. Then Abel and Powers were invited there. The officers confirmed that these were the very people for whom the agreements had been reached. Following this, Abel and Powers went each to their own side of the border. Unlike the movie Dead Season, which shows the same scene, Abel and Powers did not look at each other - this is evidenced by Donovan who was present at the exchange, Abel himself later spoke about this.

Until the end of his life, Abel remained a colonel, lived in an ordinary two-room apartment and received a corresponding military pension. For outstanding services in ensuring the state security of our country, Colonel V. Fischer was awarded the Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the First Class of the Patriotic War, the Red Star and many medals.

His fate inspired V. Kozhevnikov to write the famous adventure book "Shield and Sword".

The intelligence genius died in Moscow in 1971 at the age of 68 and was buried in the Donskoy cemetery. And only ten years ago the “Top Secret” stamp was removed from his name. Only his wife Elena and daughter Evelina, as well as Abel's few colleagues in the service, knew his real name - William Genrikhovich Fisher.
It was a rare talent. It was not for nothing that at one of the meetings with Abel's lawyer Donovan, CIA Director Dulles said: "I would like us to have three or four people like Abel in Moscow."
Powers received an award from the CIA, received personal praise from Dallas and the President of the United States, received an order and 20 thousand dollars in "benefits." Once he got a job at Lockheed Corporation, he received a huge salary, plus monthly royalties from the CIA. He had a luxurious mansion, a yacht, a personal helicopter, security, and lived like the Sultan of Brunei. In 1977 he crashed in a helicopter over Los Angeles.

Retired Colonel Boris Yakovlevich Nalivaiko is one of those who in the 60s participated in the famous operation to exchange our intelligence officer Abel for an American reconnaissance pilot Powers, who was convicted of flying over Soviet territory. And a little earlier, in 1955, the Americans tried to recruit Nalivaiko. The scouts are laconic and know how to keep the secrets of their profession ...
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