Home Calculators The fate of the resident: what was the legendary intelligence officer Rudolf Abel like. Patriotic stories. Rudolf Abel

The fate of the resident: what was the legendary intelligence officer Rudolf Abel like. Patriotic stories. Rudolf Abel

The real name of the man who is considered the most outstanding intelligence officer of the twentieth century is William Genrikhovich Fisher. He was born on July 11, 1903 in the English city of Newcastle upon Tyne.

A professional revolutionary, a Russified German from the Yaroslavl province, 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 expelled abroad.

Heinrich Fischer was a convinced Marxist who personally knew Lenin and Krzhizhanovsky. His mother, Lyubov Vasilievna, a native of Saratov, was his comrade-in-arms in the struggle. 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-upon-Tyne, Lyuba had a son, who was named William in honor of the great playwright.

At the age of sixteen, William entered the university, but did not have to study there for long: in 1920, the Fisher family returned to Russia and accepted Soviet citizenship. Seventeen-year-old William fell in love with Russia and became its passionate patriot. I didn’t have the chance to get into the Civil War, but I willingly joined the Red Army. He acquired the specialty of a radiotelegraph operator, 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, who also knew radio and had an unblemished biography. In 1927, he was enlisted in the state security agencies, or more precisely, in the Foreign Department of the OGPU, which was then headed by Artuzov.

At first he performs the well-known duties of a translator, and then a radio operator. Since his homeland was England, the leadership of the OGPU decided to send Fisher to the British Isles to work.

Beginning in 1930, he lived in England for several years as a resident of Soviet intelligence, periodically traveling to other countries of Western Europe. He acted as a radio operator for the station and organized a secret radio network, transmitting radiograms to the center from other residents. On instructions that came from Stalin himself, he managed to persuade the famous physicist Pyotr Kapitsa, who was teaching at Oxford at that time, to return to the USSR from England. There is also some information that at this time Fischer was in China several times, where he met and became friends with his colleague from the foreign department of the OGPU, Rudolf Abel, under whose name he went down in history.

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 outstanding intelligence officers, including Vasily Zarubin and Donald McLane. In her file, stored in the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service, several documents written and signed by Fischer were preserved. From them it is clear how much work it cost him to teach students who were incapable of technology. Kitty was a polyglot, well versed in political and operational issues, but proved to be completely immune to technology. Having somehow made her into a mediocre radio operator, Fisher was forced to write in the “Conclusion”: “in technical matters she is easily confused...” When she ended up in England, he did not forget her and helped with advice.

And yet, in his report, written after her retraining in 1937, detective William Fisher writes that “although “Gypsy” (alias Kitty Harris) received precise instructions from me and Comrade Abel R.I., she did not work as a radio operator Maybe…"

Here we first meet the name under which William Fisher would 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, mother is a housewife. He lived with his parents until he was fourteen years old and 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, sided with the Soviet regime. As a private fireman, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel fought on the Volga and Kama, and went on an operation behind white lines on the destroyer “Retivy”. “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. From July 1926 he was commandant of the Shanghai consulate, then 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 outside the cordon. He was at this job until the fall of 1936.” There are no details about this business trip in Abel’s personal file. But let us pay attention to the time of return - 1936, that is, almost simultaneously with V. Fischer.
From that time on, judging by the above document, they 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, Abeli has arrived.” They were friends and families. V. G. Fischer’s daughter, Evelyn, recalled that Uncle Rudolf visited them often, was always calm, cheerful, and 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 interfered with his career. Even worse was the fact that his brother Voldemar Abel, 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 these R.I. Abel was dismissed from the ranks of the NKVD. But with the outbreak of the war he returned to serve in the NKVD. As recorded in his personal file: “During the Patriotic War, he repeatedly went out to carry out special missions... carried out special missions to prepare and deploy 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. Rudolf Ivanovich Abel died suddenly in 1955, never knowing that his name had gone down in intelligence history.

Pre-war fate also did not spoil William Genrikhovich Fischer. After the curator of residents in Western Europe, Alexander Orlov, fled to the United States in early 1938, taking with him the NKVD cash register, William Fisher was recalled to the USSR because he was in danger of being exposed. Having worked briefly in the foreign intelligence apparatus in Moscow, on December 31, 1938, he was dismissed from the agency without explanation and sent into retirement. After his dismissal, Fischer got a job, first at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, and six months later at an aircraft industrial plant, while constantly writing reports to the Central Committee with a request to reinstate him in intelligence.

When the Patriotic War began, William Fisher was remembered as a highly qualified specialist, and in September 1941 he was appointed to the post of head of the communications department in the central intelligence apparatus at Lubyanka. There is evidence that he was involved in supporting the parade on November 7, 1941 on Red Square in Moscow. Until the end of the war, Fischer was engaged in technical training of radio operators of sabotage groups that were sent to the German rear, including countries occupied by Hitler. He taught radio science at the Kuibyshev intelligence school, participated in radio games with German radio operators, including “Monastery” and “Berezino”.

In the last of them, Fischer was able to fool such a German master of sabotage as Otto Skorzeny, who sent his best people to help the non-existent German underground on the territory of the USSR, where the Soviet secret services were already waiting for them. Until the end of the war, the Germans never learned that they had been cleverly led by the nose. For his activities during the Patriotic War, he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

It is possible that Fischer personally carried out the task behind German lines. The famous Soviet intelligence officer Konon Molodoy (aka Lonsdale, aka Ben) recalled that, having been thrown behind the front line, he was almost immediately caught and taken for interrogation to German counterintelligence. He recognized the officer who interrogated him as William Fisher. He superficially interrogated him, and when left alone, he called him an “idiot” and practically pushed him out of the threshold with his boots. Is this true or false? Knowing Young’s habit of hoaxes, one can rather assume the latter. But there may have been something.

In 1946, Fischer was transferred to a special reserve and began to prepare for a long business trip abroad. He was then already forty-three years old. His daughter was growing up. It was very difficult to leave my family.

At the beginning of 1948, freelance artist and photographer Emil R. Goldfus, aka William Fisher, aka illegal immigrant “Mark,” settled in the Brooklyn borough of New York. His studio was at 252 Fulton Street. He drew at a professional level, although he never studied this anywhere.

It was a difficult time for Soviet intelligence. In the United States, McCarthyism, anti-Sovietism, “witch hunts,” and spy mania were in full swing. Intelligence officers who worked “legally” in Soviet institutions were under constant surveillance and expected provocations at any moment. Communication with agents was difficult. And from her came the most valuable materials related to the creation of atomic weapons.

Fischer's subordinates acted independently of the Soviet station with legal cover - diplomats and consular employees. Fischer had a separate radio communication system for communication with Moscow. As liaison agents, he had the later famous married couple “Louis” and “Leslie” - Maurice and Leontine Cohen (Kroger).

They later recalled that it was easy to work with Mark - Rudolf Ivanovich Abel: “After several meetings with him, we immediately felt how we were gradually becoming more operationally competent and experienced “Intelligence,” Abel liked to repeat, “is a high art... It is talent, creativity, inspiration...” Our dear Milt was just like that - an incredibly rich spiritual person, with high culture, knowledge of six foreign languages - that’s what we called him behind his back. Consciously or unconsciously, 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 to Russia.".

Fischer managed to create a Soviet spy network not only in the United States, but also in Latin American countries - Mexico, Brazil, Argentina. In 1949, William Fisher was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for obtaining important data concerning the American atomic experiment "Manhattan". They obtained information about the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council in the United States, with a detailed list of tasks assigned to them.

Unfortunately, there is no access to materials about what William Fisher did and what information he transmitted to his homeland during this period. One can only hope that someday they will be declassified.

In 1955, Fischer returned to the Soviet Union for several months when his close friend Rudolf Abel died.

William Fisher's intelligence career ended when his signalman and radio operator, Reino Heihanen, betrayed him. Having learned 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, Fischer, under the name Martin Collins, stayed at the Latham Hotel in New York, where he conducted another communication session. At dawn, three people in civilian clothes burst into the room. One of them stated: " 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 in our hands reliable information about who you are and what you do. The best solution for you is cooperation. Otherwise arrest».

William managed to go to the toilet, where he got rid of the code and telegram received at night. But FBI agents found some other documents and items that confirmed his intelligence affiliation. The arrested man was taken out of the hotel in handcuffs, put into a car, and then flown to Texas, where he was placed in an immigration camp.

Fischer immediately guessed that Heyhanen had betrayed him. But he did not know his real name. So, you don't have to name him. True, it was useless to deny that he came from the USSR. William decided to give his name to his late friend Abel, believing that as soon as information about his arrest became known, people at home would understand who he was talking about. He feared that the Americans might start a radio game. By 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 opened a “case”, filed a letter, and answered the Americans that such a fellow citizen was not listed among us. But I didn’t even think to inform the Center. So our people only learned about the arrest of “Mark” from the newspapers.

In October 1957, a public trial against Fischer-Abel began in federal court in New York, in which he was accused of espionage; his name became known not only in the United States, but throughout the world. He categorically refused to admit guilt on all charges, refused to testify in court and rejected all offers from the American side for cooperation.

The American publicist I. Esten wrote about Abel’s behavior in court in his book “How the American Secret Service Works”: “ For three weeks they tried to convert Abel, promising him all the blessings of life... When this failed, they began to scare him with the electric chair... But this did not make the Russian more pliable. When asked by the judge whether he pleaded guilty, he answered without hesitation: “No!” Abel refused to testify.».

To this it must be added that both promises and threats were made to Abel 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 a lot both for his defense and for the exchange. On October 24, 1957, he delivered an excellent defense speech, which largely influenced the decision of the “ladies and gentlemen of the jury.” Here are just a few excerpts from it:

« ...Let's assume that this person is exactly who the government says he is. This means that while serving the interests of his country, he was performing an extremely dangerous task. In our country's armed forces, we send only the bravest and smartest people on such missions. You have 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 from any point of view... You saw what he is: a good-for-nothing guy, a traitor, a liar, a thief... The laziest, most inept, most unlucky agent... Sergeant Rhodes appeared. You all saw what kind of man he was: a dissolute, a drunkard, a traitor to his country. He never met Heyhanen... He never met the defendant. At the same time, he told us in detail about his life in Moscow, about the fact 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 asked to make a guilty verdict against this person. Possibly sent to death row... I ask you to remember this when you consider your verdict...»

In November 1957, Fisher was sentenced to 32 years in prison, served in solitary confinement in Atlanta.

Allen Dulles

The most difficult thing for him in prison was the ban on correspondence with his family. It was allowed (subject to strict censorship) only after Abel’s personal meeting with CIA chief Allen Dulles, who, 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 fight for Abel's release began. The painstaking work went on for several years. Events began to unfold at a more accelerated pace only after May 1, 1960, when an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down in the Sverdlovsk area and its pilot Francis Harry Powers was captured.

Still from the film "Low Season"

On February 10, 1962, an exchange procedure took place on the Glienicke Bridge between East and West Berlin. Since the Americans were well aware of the level of Agent Fisher, in addition to Harry Powers, the Soviet side also had to hand over Frederick Pryer and Marvin Makinen, students convicted in the USSR for espionage.

Eyewitnesses recall that Powers was handed over to the Americans wearing a good coat, a winter fawn hat, physically strong and healthy. Abel turned out to be 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 Fischer, aka Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, aka “Mark,” worked in foreign intelligence. Once he acted in a movie with the opening speech for the film “Low Season”. Traveled to the GDR, Romania, Hungary. He often spoke to young workers, trained and instructed them.

Acted as a consultant during the creation of the Soviet film about intelligence officers “Dead Season”, where the facts of his own biography were filmed.

Died November 15, 1971. He was buried under his own name at the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow. In 2015, in Samara, a memorial plaque was installed on the house where he lived during the war.

The whole country started talking about Rudolf Ivanovich Abel in 1969 after the release of the feature film “Dead Season” on the screens of the Soviet Union.

In 2015, in Samara, a memorial plaque was installed on the house where he lived during the war.

In the same year, the film Bridge of Spies, directed by Steven Spielberg, was released in Hollywood, telling the story of the life of William Fisher from the moment of arrest to the exchange.

Category: Intelligence Wars

The most successful Soviet intelligence officer of the Cold War

Failed artist

The future intelligence officer was born in Newcastle, England, where his parents settled, expelled from Russia in 1901 for revolutionary activities. The intelligence officer's father was closely acquainted with many prominent revolutionaries, including Vladimir Lenin. According to some reports, he took part in organizing the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP, held in London in the summer of 1903. Shortly before the start of the congress, where the Bolshevik faction took shape, on July 11, 1903, a second child was born into the family of Heinrich Matveyevich Fischer, named William in honor of Shakespeare. Willie's father spoke several languages, and his sons followed him. Well, the language environment helped. So Willie spoke three languages from early childhood. He also showed a keen interest in the natural sciences and had a very good understanding of chemistry and physics. But besides this, Willie drew well and played the piano and guitar. In general, I grew up as a versatile boy.
At the age of 15, William Fisher got a job as a draftsman's apprentice at a shipyard. A year later he passed the exams for admission to the University of London. But there is no reliably confirmed data about studying at the university. In 1920, the Fishers returned to Russia and took Soviet citizenship. For some time they lived together with other families of prominent revolutionaries on the territory of the Kremlin.
At first, William worked as a translator in the Executive Committee of the Comintern, then he entered VKHUTEMAS (Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops). In 1924, Fischer entered the Institute of Oriental Studies and began studying India. But a year later he was drafted into the army, and had to leave his studies. William ended up serving in the 1st Radiotelegraph Regiment of the Moscow Military District. Where he served together with the future famous polar explorer Ernst Krenkel.
After demobilization, he worked at the Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force as a radio technician, giving up attempts to become an artist. He came to the INO (foreign department) of the OGPU in May 1927. At first he worked as a translator and radio operator, but quickly became a deputy resident. He worked illegally in Europe until 1938. And then the purges began in the OGPU, and Fischer ended up under a steamroller. Fortunately, he was not imprisoned, but only fired from the authorities.
Fischer was able to return to intelligence only in 1941. Participated in the training of radio operators for partisan detachments and reconnaissance groups. It was then that he met and worked with Rudolf Abel for quite some time. The fates of the two intelligence officers were very similar: both were dismissed from special forces in 1938 and called up for service in 1941.
After the war, Fischer worked for some time in Eastern Europe, establishing connections between the newly created intelligence services of socialist countries and the security agencies of the USSR. And then the colonel
It was decided to send Fischer to the United States, where he was to head a significant part of the Soviet station involved in the extraction of American atomic and nuclear secrets.
The intelligence officer arrived in the United States with documents in the name of Emil Robert Goldfus, an amateur artist and professional photographer, at the end of 1948. The main contacts of Mark (the intelligence officer's code name) were the Cohen spouses, about whom we wrote earlier. But the fruitful work with the Cohen couple lasted only two years. A “witch hunt” has begun in America, and the leadership decides to remove the spy spouses from the United States. Fisher was again left alone, and several dozen agents were in touch with him.
Mark's work in the USA turned out to be so successful that already in August 1949, less than a year after his arrival, the intelligence officer was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his enormous success in intelligence activities.

"Bad" assistant

William Fisher was a very careful intelligence officer who strictly followed the rules of secrecy. In those days it became very relevant. With the trial of the Rosenbergs, the US authorities showed the whole world that they are not going to mess around with spies. So the failed intelligence officer most likely faced the same path as the Rosenbergs: arrest, trial, death by electric chair. Illegal intelligence activity was again (as during World War II) transformed from an intellectual intelligence duel into a deadly activity.
To ordinary Americans, Emil Goldfuss was a respectable photography studio owner and amateur artist who often painted landscapes in city parks. And no one knew that during such drawings, secret information was often exchanged. For such exchanges, Fischer used the most unexpected hiding places. In particular, he was once painting a landscape in Fort Tryon and noticed an ordinary bolt that had almost fallen out of a street lamp. Fisher took it with him, personally drilled a cavity into it, and then returned it to its place. The agent took the bolt, put microfilm in it and inserted it back. A couple of weeks later, secret documents from Los Alamos were already being studied at the Kurchatov Institute.
According to some reports, Fisher was so well versed in the information he obtained that he often accompanied the encryption with his own comments. Once Kurchatov directly asked a KGB officer who provided comments on the information he was obtaining. Of course, he didn’t receive an answer, but he chuckled and said:
- When this commentator retires from you, I will take him to my institute.
It became more difficult for Fischer to cope alone with the ever-expanding intelligence network. In 1952, an assistant was sent to him in the USA. It was State Security Lieutenant Colonel Reino Heihanen. According to the recollections of the American resident, he did not immediately like the new assistant (code name Vic). But Heikhanen had high patrons in Moscow and he was trained for almost six months to work in the USA. So there was no need to wait for another assistant. Vic behaved extremely irresponsibly in the USA, summoned his common-law wife from Finland, where he had lived for the last few years, led a riotous lifestyle, often drank, beat his wife, even managing to attract the attention of the police. He completely refused to improve his language skills; I spent almost a year making repairs in a small shop that was bought with money from the residency. In general, he's still a typical guy. And Fischer treated him accordingly. Assigning only small tasks. Heihanen didn't even know his real name.
In 1953, Vic, while drunk, managed to pay with about a nickel. It was not just a coin, but a real spy container for transferring microfilms. On June 22, this coin fell into the hands of a 13-year-old newspaper seller. And he dropped it on the pavement, causing the coin... to break into two halves. The boy showed the unusual coin to his girl neighbors, and they told their policeman father about the coin. A couple of days later, FBI specialists were already studying the spy container. They were unable to decipher the microfilm, but they were convinced that a deeply secret spy network was operating in New York. The FBI tried to trace the path of the coin, but this turned out to be impossible. The coin passed through different hands for at least six months and it was not possible to establish who the real owner of the container was. So this coin lay in the FBI bins for four long years.

The country has not forgotten

The last straw for Fisher was that Vic drank away five thousand dollars intended to pay for the lawyer of one of the agents arrested in the “Rosenberg spouses case.” Fischer was furious and demanded that Moscow recall his assistant. Soon Heyhanen received orders to arrive in Europe. However, the lieutenant colonel categorically did not want to return. Otherwise, I would have to answer for a lot. In May 1957, he arrived in France, from where he was to be transported to the socialist sector of Europe. But Vic went straight to the American embassy, gave his real name and asked for political asylum.
A few days later, the traitor was flown back to the United States on a military plane. He was supposed to help arrest the mysterious Mark, who, according to Heyhanen, was the head of the entire American residency tour. On June 21, 1957, a mysterious resident was arrested at the Latham Hotel in New York.
But that's where the Americans' luck ended. Heyhanen helped decipher the encryption that was found in the nickel. But this didn't help much. The encrypted message congratulated Vic on his legalization and wished him good luck. And no other encryption was intercepted. So only the arrested Mark could lead to the agents working for Soviet intelligence.
To let Moscow know about his failure, Fischer called himself Rudolf Ivanovich Abel. The scout knew that his colleague and friend had died suddenly a year and a half ago. But in Moscow, having received a request from the US State Department, they refused to recognize Abel as a citizen of the Soviet Union. At that time, the leadership of our country loudly declared that it was not involved in espionage. What Abel was happily informed about by the FBI. But the scout was sure that he would not be forgotten.
FBI employees tried to apply psychological methods to the arrested spy. They did not dare force testimony out of him. The head of the CIA (from 1953 to 1961), Allen Dulles, in a personal conversation with the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, strongly advised against using violence against Abel. The American intelligence officer had a very high opinion of the tenacity of Soviet intelligence officers and was confident that nothing could be achieved from them by force. There were only methods of persuasion, which were not always so harmless.
Rudolf Abel was threatened with the electric chair, kept in solitary confinement, promised mountains of gold, and claimed that only a bullet or the Gulag could await him in Moscow. But Abel did not split and did not betray anyone. On November 15, 1957, one of the most famous spy trials of the Cold War ended. Which was covered by all significant Western media. The jury found Abel guilty of espionage for the USSR and illegal stay in the United States. But the Americans did not dare to sentence the Russian intelligence officer to execution. They understood perfectly well that if in the case of the Rosenberg spouses they seemed to be excused by the fact that they were Americans, and therefore betrayed their country, then with a career Soviet intelligence officer the situation was different. No one doubted that if they executed Abel, then the failed American spies would try en masse to escape from custody, and at this time the guards would be forced to use weapons, or die from apoplexy. A log to the head.
Rudolf Abel was sentenced to 32 years in prison, which for the 54-year-old intelligence officer meant life imprisonment. To serve his sentence, Abel was sent to prison in Atlanta, where they again tried to turn his life into hell. But thanks to the American press, Abel was widely known among all segments of the population. Among criminals they openly admired him: after all, the entire state machine of America could not break him. So in prison Abel enjoyed serious authority.
The Soviet intelligence officer spent almost five years in prison, solving mathematical problems, studying art history, and painting in oils. According to some reports, after John Kennedy came to power in 1961, Abel drew his portrait from photographs and sent it to the White House. Let us remember that it was under Kennedy that the first steps were taken to equalize the rights of black and white Americans. So Kennedy was popular among the communists. Kennedy, having received his portrait, hung it in his own office, which was written about by almost all newspapers in America.
Rudolf Ivanovich was still unaware that his return to his homeland would take place very soon. On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down near Sverdlovsk. It flew at an altitude of 20 thousand meters and, according to the Americans, was inaccessible to Soviet missiles. They were wrong. The pilot of the plane, Francis Gary Powers, waited until the disintegrating plane dropped to an altitude of 10 thousand meters and got out of the plane. At an altitude of five kilometers, he opened his parachute and landed near the village of Kosulino. Where he was detained by local residents.
In August 1960, Powers was sentenced to ten years in prison for espionage. In the USA, through the efforts of the pilot’s relatives, a real campaign was launched to bring the pilot home. The Russians agreed to exchange the spy pilot for Rudolf Abel. According to rumors, when Nikita Khrushchev was informed about the Americans’ consent, he asked:
- Abel, is this the one who painted Kennedy's portrait? Can Powers draw? No? Well then, let's change it.
On February 10, 1962, on the Glienicke Bridge (it separated West and East Berlin and served as the main place for the exchange of spies), Rudolf Abel and Francis Powers moved towards each other. In his memoirs, CIA chief Allen Dulles called Abel the most productive illegal intelligence officer of the 20th century. William Fisher was awarded the Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Labor, the Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree and the Red Star. He died on November 15, 1971 and was buried with military honors at the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow. The traitor Reino Heihanen died in a car accident in 1964 under mysterious circumstances. The FBI is still confident that these “mysterious circumstances” were created by KGB agents.

The Glienicke Bridge over the Havel River, dividing Berlin with Potsdam, does not stand out as anything special today. However, tourists are attracted to it not by today, but by history. During the Cold War, it was not just a bridge, but a border dividing two political systems - capitalist West Berlin and the socialist German Democratic Republic.

Since the early 1960s, the bridge received the unofficial name “Spy”, since it was here that exchanges of arrested intelligence officers between warring parties to the conflict began to take place regularly.

Of course, sooner or later the story of the bridge was bound to attract the attention of Hollywood. And in 2015 the film premiered directed by Steven Spielberg“Bridge of Spies” is the story of the very first and most famous exchange of intelligence officers between the two countries. On December 3, 2015, the film “Bridge of Spies” was released in Russia.

As usual, the fascinating story told in the film is an American view of events, multiplied by the artistic imagination of the creators of the film.

Mark's failure

The real story of the exchange of Soviet illegals Rudolf Abel on an American reconnaissance aircraft pilot Francis Powers was devoid of bright colors and special effects, but no less interesting.

Since 1948, a Soviet intelligence agent under the pseudonym Mark began illegal work in the United States. Among the tasks assigned by management to Mark was obtaining information about the US nuclear program.

Rudolf Abel. USSR stamp from the issue “Soviet Intelligence Officers”. Photo: Public Domain

Mark lived in New York under the name of an artist Emil Robert Goldfus and, as a cover, owned a photography studio in Brooklyn.

Mark worked brilliantly, supplying invaluable information to Moscow. Just a few months later, management nominated him for the Order of the Red Banner.

In 1952, another illegal immigrant, operating under the pseudonym Vic, was sent to help Mark. This was a serious mistake by Moscow: Vic turned out to be morally and psychologically unstable and, as a result, not only informed the US authorities about his work for Soviet intelligence, but also betrayed Mark.

Under someone else's name

Mark, despite everything, denied his affiliation with Soviet intelligence, refused to testify at the trial and rejected attempts by American intelligence agencies to persuade him to cooperate. The only thing he revealed during interrogation was his real name. The illegal immigrant's name was Rudolf Abel.

It was clear to the Americans that the man they detained and denied his involvement in intelligence was a top-class professional. The court sentenced him to 32 years in prison for espionage. Abel was kept in solitary confinement, without abandoning attempts to persuade him to confess. However, the intelligence officer rejected all American proposals, spending time in prison solving mathematical problems, studying art theory and painting.

In fact, the name that the intelligence officer revealed to the Americans was false. His name was William Fisher. Behind him was illegal work in Norway and Great Britain, training radio operators for partisan detachments and reconnaissance groups sent to countries occupied by Germany during the Second World War. It was during the war that Fischer worked together with Rudolf Abel, whose name he used after his arrest.

The real Rudolf Abel died in Moscow in 1955. Fischer named his name in order, on the one hand, to give the leadership a signal about his arrest, and on the other, to indicate that he was not a traitor and did not tell the Americans any information.

"Family" connections

After it became clear that Mark was in the hands of the Americans, careful work began in Moscow to free him. It was not conducted through official channels - the Soviet Union refused to recognize Rudolf Abel as its agent.

Contacts with the Americans were established on behalf of Abel’s relatives. GDR intelligence officers organized letters and telegrams addressed to Abel from a certain aunt of his: “Why are you silent? You didn’t even wish me a Happy New Year or Merry Christmas!”

So the Americans were made to understand that someone had an interest in Abel and was ready to discuss the conditions for his release.

Abel’s cousin joined the correspondence Jurgen Drives, who was actually a KGB officer Yuri Drozdov, and also an East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel, who will continue to often act as a mediator in such sensitive matters. Abel's lawyer James Donovan became a mediator on the American side.

The negotiations were difficult, first of all, because the Americans were able to appreciate the importance of the figure of Abel-Fischer. Proposals to exchange him for Nazi criminals convicted in the USSR and Eastern European countries were rejected.

The main trump card of the USSR fell from the sky

The situation changed on May 1, 1960, when an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft piloted by Francis Powers was shot down near Sverdlovsk. The first reports of the destruction of the plane did not contain information about the fate of the pilot, so US President Dwight Eisenhower officially stated that the pilot got lost while carrying out a meteorological mission. It turned out that the cruel Russians shot down the peaceful scientist.

The trap set by the Soviet leadership slammed shut. The Soviet side presented not only the wreckage of a plane with spy equipment, but also a living pilot detained after landing by parachute. Francis Powers, who simply had nowhere to go, admitted that he was on a spy flight for the CIA.

On August 19, 1960, Powers was sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR under Article 2 “On criminal liability for state crimes” to 10 years in prison, with the first three years to be served in prison.

Almost as soon as it became known that the American spy plane pilot had fallen into the hands of the Russians, there were calls in the American press to exchange him for the convicted Abel, whose trial was widely covered in the United States.

Now the USSR has taken revenge by holding an equally high-profile trial of Powers.

The American pilot really became a significant bargaining chip in the negotiations for Abel’s release. Still, the Americans were not ready for a one-for-one exchange. As a result, an American student from Yale was offered to join Powers. Frederick Pryor, arrested for spying in East Berlin in August 1961, and a young American Marvin Makinen from the University of Pennsylvania, who was serving an 8-year sentence for espionage in the USSR.

Strange “fishermen” and an “ambush regiment” in a van

Finally, the parties reached an agreement in principle. The question arose as to where the exchange should take place.

Of all the possible options, they chose the Glienicke Bridge, exactly in the middle of which the state border between West Berlin and the GDR ran.

The dark green steel bridge was about a hundred meters long; the approaches to it were clearly visible, which made it possible to take all precautions.

Both sides did not really trust each other until the very end. So, on this day, a large number of fishing enthusiasts were discovered under the bridge, who suddenly lost interest in such a hobby after the operation was completed. And in a covered van with a radio station, which approached from the direction of the GDR, a detachment of East German border guards was hiding, ready for any surprises.

On the morning of February 10, 1962, Abel was delivered to the bridge by the Americans, and Powers by the Soviets. The second point of exchange was the Checkpoint Charlie checkpoint in Berlin, on the border between the eastern and western parts of the city. It was there that the American side was handed over Frederick Pryor.

Once word of Pryor's transfer was received, the bulk of the exchange began.

Glienicke Bridge. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

"Rarity" from President Kennedy

Before Rudolf Abel was taken to the bridge, the American accompanying him asked: “Are you not afraid, Colonel, that you will be sent to Siberia? Think, it’s not too late!” Abel smiled and replied: “My conscience is clear. I have nothing to fear."

Official representatives of the parties were convinced that the persons delivered were indeed Abel and Powers.

When all the formalities were completed, Abel and Powers were allowed to go to their own.

One of the participants in the exchange operation from the Soviet side Boris Nalivaiko described what was happening this way: “And after that, Powers and Abel begin to move, the rest remain in place. And so they go towards each other, and here I must tell you, the climax. I still... I have this picture before my eyes, how these two people, whose names will now always be mentioned together, walk and literally glare at each other - who is who. And even when it was already possible to go to us, but, I see, Abel turns his head, accompanies Powers, and Powers turns his head, accompanies Abel. It was a touching picture."

In parting, the American representative handed Abel a document, which is now kept in the foreign intelligence history room at the SVR headquarters in Yasenevo. This is a document signed US President John Kennedy And Attorney General Robert Kennedy and sealed with the large red seal of the Ministry of Justice. It reads, in part: “Be it known that I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, guided by... good intentions, hereafter decree that the term of imprisonment of Rudolf Ivanovich Abel on the day that Francis Harry Powers, an American citizen , now imprisoned by the Government of the Soviet Union, be released... and placed under the arrest of a representative of the Government of the United States... and provided that the said Rudolf Ivanovich Abel be expelled from the United States and remain outside the United States, its territories and possessions." .

The best place

The last participant in the exchange, Marvin Makinen, as previously agreed, was transferred to the American side a month later.

William Fisher really did not end up in Siberia, as the Americans predicted. After rest and treatment, he continued to work in the central intelligence apparatus, and a few years later made an opening statement for the Soviet film “Dead Season,” some of the plot twists of which were directly related to his own biography.

Chairman of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR Vladimir Semichastny (1st from left) receives Soviet intelligence officers Rudolf Abel (2nd from left) and Conan the Young (2nd from right). Photo: RIA Novosti

Francis Powers experienced many unpleasant moments in the United States, listening to accusations of treason. Many believed that he should have committed suicide rather than fall into the hands of the Russians. However, a military inquiry and an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee cleared him of all charges.

After finishing his intelligence work, Powers worked as a civilian pilot; on August 1, 1977, he died in a helicopter crash he was piloting.

And the Glienicke Bridge, after the successful exchange on February 10, 1962, remained the main place for such operations until the fall of the GDR and the collapse of the socialist bloc.

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 expelled 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-upon-Tyne, Lyuba 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 did not have to study there for long: in 1920, the Fisher family returned to Russia and accepted Soviet citizenship. Seventeen-year-old William fell in love with Russia and became its passionate patriot. I didn’t have the chance to get into the Civil War, but I willingly joined the Red Army. He acquired the specialty of a radiotelegraph operator, which was very useful to him in the future.

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 his stay in Poland was short-lived.

In 1931, he was sent on a longer business trip, so to speak, “semi-legally,” since he traveled under his own name. In February 1931, he applied to the British Consulate General in Moscow with a request to issue a British passport. The reason is that he is a native of England, came to Russia at the behest of his parents, now he has 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 found themselves abroad again. This time William used his second specialty - a freelance artist. Perhaps he was sketching something that the local intelligence service did not like, or perhaps for some other reason the business trip lasted only eleven months.

Here we first meet the name under which William Fisher would 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 a chimney sweep on the street is a harbinger of good luck. - I.D.), mother is a housewife. He lived with his parents until he was fourteen years old and 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, sided with the Soviet regime. As a private fireman, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel fought on the Volga and Kama, and went on an operation behind white lines on the destroyer “Retivy”. “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. From July 1926 he was commandant of the Shanghai consulate, then 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 outside the cordon. He was at this job until the fall of 1936.” There are no details about this business trip in Abel’s personal file. But let us pay attention to the time of return - 1936, that is, almost simultaneously with V. Fischer. Did R. Abel and V. Fischer cross paths for the first time then, or did they meet and become friends earlier? More likely the second.

In any case, from that time on, judging by the above document, they 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, Abeli has arrived.” They were friends and families. V. G. Fischer’s daughter, Evelyn, recalled that Uncle Rudolf visited them often, was always calm, cheerful, and 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 interfered with his career. Even worse was the fact that his brother Voldemar Abel, 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 rifleman for the paramilitary guard, and on December 15, 1941, he returned to serve in the NKVD. His personal file states that from August 1942 to January 1943 he was part of a task force for the defense of the Main Caucasus Ridge. It is also said that: “During the Patriotic War, he repeatedly went out to carry out special missions... carried out special missions to prepare and deploy 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 friendship of the “Abels” continued. Most likely, Rudolph knew about his friend William’s business trip to America, and they met when he came on vacation. But Rudolf never knew about Fischer’s failure and the fact that he impersonated Abel. Rudolf Ivanovich Abel died suddenly in 1955, never knowing that his name had gone down in intelligence history.

Pre-war fate also did not spoil William Genrikhovich Fischer. On December 31, 1938, he was dismissed from the NKVD. The reason is unclear. It’s good that at least they didn’t imprison and shoot. After all, this happened to many intelligence officers at that time. William spent two and a half years in civilian life, and in September 1941 he was returned to duty.

From 1941 to 1946, Fischer worked in the central intelligence apparatus. However, this does not mean that he sat at the table in his office at Lubyanka all the time. Unfortunately, all materials about his activities during that period are still unavailable. It is known so far that he, like his friend Abel, was then engaged in preparing and deploying our agents behind enemy lines. On November 7, 1941, Fischer, who held the position of head of the communications department, was in a group of intelligence officers serving 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 details about this operation are described in the essay about Otto Skorzeny.

Fischer was fully prepared for illegal work. He had an excellent understanding of radio equipment, had a specialty as an electrical engineer, and was familiar with chemistry and nuclear physics. He drew at a professional level, although he never studied this anywhere. And about his personal qualities, perhaps, it was best said by “Louis” and “Leslie” - Maurice and Leontine Cohen (Kroger), with whom he had the opportunity to work in New York: “It was easy to work with Mark - Rudolf Ivanovich Abel. After several meetings with him, we immediately felt how we were gradually becoming operationally more competent and experienced. “Intelligence,” Abel liked to repeat, “is a high art... It is talent, creativity, inspiration...” That’s exactly what he is - an incredibly rich spiritually person, with high culture and knowledge six foreign languages was our dear Milt - that’s what we called him behind our backs. Consciously or unconsciously, we completely trusted him and always looked for support in him. It could not be otherwise: as a highly educated, intelligent, highly developed person. with a sense of honor and dignity, integrity and commitment, it was impossible not to love him. He never hid his high patriotic feelings and devotion to Russia.”

Contact with agents who directly worked 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 circumstances were such that he could no longer meet with them. The directive from Moscow indicated that “Mark” should take over the leadership of the “Volunteers” group.

On December 12, 1948, "Mark" first met "Leslie" and began working with her regularly, obtaining through her valuable information on weapons-grade plutonium and other atomic projects.

Along with this, “Mark” was in touch with a career American intelligence officer, Agent “Herbert.” From him, through the same “Leslie,” a copy of Truman’s bill on the formation of the National Security Council and the creation of the CIA was received. “Herbert” handed over the Regulations on the CIA, listing the tasks assigned to this organization. Attached was also a draft presidential directive on the transfer to the FBI from military intelligence of the 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 strengthen subversive activities against the USSR and intensifying the development of Soviet citizens.

Excited and concerned about the escalation of the “witch hunt,” the “Volunteers” sought to communicate more often with their leader “Louis,” putting not only themselves and him at risk, but also “Mark.” Under these conditions, it was decided to terminate the connection of “Louis” and “Leslie” with him and take them out of the country. In September 1950, the Cohen couple left the United States. The measures taken made it possible to extend William Fisher's stay in the United States for seven years.

On the night of June 24-25, 1957, Fischer, under the name Martin Collins, stayed at the Latham Hotel in New York, where he conducted another communication session. At dawn, three people in civilian clothes burst 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 in our hands reliable information about who you are and what you do. The best solution for you is cooperation. Otherwise, arrest."

Fischer flatly refused to cooperate. Then immigration officials entered the room and arrested him for illegal entry into the United States.

Since the Americans allowed the letter to be written, Abel had to testify. He stated: “I, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, a citizen of the USSR, accidentally found a large sum of American dollars in an old barn after the war and 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 (carrying a death sentence); 2) conspiracy to collect such information (10 years in prison); 3) staying in the United States as an agent of a foreign power without registration with the State Department (5 years in prison).

On October 14, the hearing of case No. 45,094 “United States of America v. Rudolf Ivanovich Abel” began in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York.

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 convert Abel, promising him all the benefits of life... When this failed, they began to scare him with the electric chair... But even this did not make the Russian more pliable. When asked by the judge whether he pleaded guilty, he answered without hesitation: “No!” Abel refused to testify.” To this it must be added that both promises and threats were made to Abel not only during, but also before and after court. And all with the same result.

“...Let's assume that this person is exactly who the government says he is. This means that while serving the interests of his country, he was performing an extremely dangerous task. In our country's armed forces, we send only the bravest and smartest people on such missions. You have 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...

And on the basis of this kind of testimony, we are asked to make a guilty verdict against this person. Possibly sent to death row... I ask you to remember this when you consider your verdict..."

The jury found Abel guilty. According to American laws, the case was now up to the judge. There is sometimes a long delay between the jury's verdict and sentencing.

On November 15, 1957, Donovan asked the judge not to impose the death penalty because, among other reasons, “it is quite possible that in the foreseeable future an American of his rank will be captured by Soviet Russia or a country allied with it; in this case, an exchange of prisoners organized through diplomatic channels could be considered to be in the national interests of the United States."

Both Donovan and the judge who sentenced Abel to thirty years in prison turned out to be far-sighted men.

The most difficult thing for him in prison was the ban on correspondence with his family. It was allowed (subject to strict censorship) only after Abel had a personal meeting with CIA chief Allen Dulles, who, 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 fight for Abel's release began. In Dresden, intelligence officers found a woman, allegedly a relative of Abel, and Mark began to write to this Frau from prison, but suddenly, without explanation, the Americans refused to correspond. Then the “cousin of R.I. Abel,” a certain J. Drivs, a petty employee who lived in the GDR, got involved. 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 Abel's family also corresponded. The Americans behaved very carefully, checking the addresses of the “relative” and the lawyer. In any case, we were in no hurry.

Events began to unfold at a more accelerated pace only after May 1, 1960, when an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down in the Sverdlovsk area and its pilot Francis Harry Powers was captured.

In response to the Soviet accusation that the United States was carrying out espionage activities, President Eisenhower invited the Russians to remember the Abel case. The New York Daily News was the first to suggest trading Abel for Powers in an editorial.

Thus, Abel’s surname was again in the spotlight. Eisenhower was under pressure from both the Powers family and public opinion. Lawyers became active. As a result, the parties came to an agreement.

On February 10, 1962, several cars approached the Glienicke Bridge, on the border between West Berlin and Potsdam, from both sides. Abel came from the American one, Powers from the Soviet one. They walked towards each other, stopped for a second, exchanged glances and quickly walked to their cars.

An hour later, Abel met his wife and daughter in Berlin, and the next morning the happy family flew to Moscow.

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 they 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 name at the Donskoye Cemetery... I believe that I can always be proud of the name of William Genrikhovich Fischer.”

Arrested for spying in East Berlin in August 1961, and young American Marvin Makinen from the University of Pennsylvania, serving an eight-year sentence for spying in a prison in Kyiv (Ukraine).

Rudolf Abel
William Genrikhovich Fisher

Date of birth	July 11(1903-07-11 )
Place of birth
Date of death	November 15(1971-11-15 ) (68 years old)
Place of death
Affiliation	United Kingdom United Kingdom USSR USSR
Years of service	- -
Rank
Battles/wars	Great Patriotic War
Awards and prizes
Rudolf Abel at Wikimedia Commons

Biography

In 1920, the Fischer family returned to Russia and accepted Soviet citizenship, without renouncing English, and, together with the families of other prominent revolutionaries, at one time lived on the territory of the Kremlin.

In 1921, William's older brother Harry died in an accident.

Upon his arrival in the USSR, Abel first worked as a translator in the Executive Committee of the Communist International (Comintern). Then he entered VKHUTEMAS. In 1925, he was drafted into the army into the 1st radiotelegraph regiment of the Moscow Military District, where he received the specialty of a radio operator. He served together with E. T. Krenkel and the future artist M. I. Tsarev. Having an innate aptitude for technology, he became a very good radio operator, whose superiority was recognized by everyone.

After demobilization, he worked at the Research Institute of the Red Army Air Force as a radio technician. On April 7, 1927, he married a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, harpist Elena Lebedeva. She was appreciated by her teacher, the famous harpist Vera Dulova. Subsequently, Elena became a professional musician. In 1929, their daughter was born.

On December 31, 1938, he was dismissed from the NKVD (due to Beria’s distrust of personnel working with “enemies of the people”) with the rank of GB lieutenant (captain) and worked for some time at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, and then at an aircraft factory as a gunner for paramilitary security. He repeatedly submitted reports about his reinstatement in intelligence. He also addressed his father’s friend, the then secretary of the party’s Central Committee, Andreev.

Since 1941, again in the NKVD, in a unit organizing partisan warfare behind German lines. Fischer trained radio operators for partisan detachments and reconnaissance groups sent to countries occupied by Germany. During this period he met and worked together with Rudolf Abel, whose name and biography he later used.

After the end of the war, it was decided to send him to illegal work in the United States, in particular, to obtain information from sources working at nuclear facilities. He moved to the United States in November 1948 using a passport in the name of a US citizen of Lithuanian origin, Andrew Kayotis (who died in the Lithuanian SSR in 1948). He then settled in New York under the name of the artist Emil Robert Goldfus, where he ran a Soviet intelligence network and, as a cover, owned a photography studio in Brooklyn. The Cohen spouses were identified as liaison agents for “Mark” (pseudonym of V. Fischer).

By the end of May 1949, “Mark” had resolved all organizational issues and was actively involved in the work. It was so successful that already in August 1949 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for specific results.

In 1955, he returned to Moscow for several months in the summer and autumn.

Failure

To relieve “Mark” of current affairs, in 1952, illegal intelligence radio operator Reino Heihanen (pseudonym “Vic”) was sent to help him. “Vic” turned out to be morally and psychologically unstable, and four years later a decision was made to return him to Moscow. However, “Vic,” suspecting something was wrong, surrendered to the American authorities, told them about his work in illegal intelligence and handed over “Mark.”

In 1957, "Mark" was arrested at New York's Latham Hotel by FBI agents. At that time, the leadership of the USSR declared that it was not involved in espionage. In order to let Moscow know about his arrest and that he was not a traitor, William Fisher, during his arrest, identified himself by the name of his late friend Rudolf Abel. During the investigation, he categorically denied his affiliation with intelligence, refused to testify at trial, and rejected attempts by American intelligence officials to persuade him to cooperate.

That same year he was sentenced to 32 years in prison. After the verdict was announced, "Mark" was kept in solitary confinement at a pre-trial detention center in New York, then transferred to the federal correctional facility in Atlanta. In conclusion, he studied solving mathematical problems, art theory, and painting. He painted in oils. Vladimir Semichastny claimed that the portrait of Kennedy, painted by Abel in prison, was given to him at the latter’s request and then hung in the Oval Office for a long time.

Liberation

After rest and treatment, Fischer returned to work in the central intelligence apparatus. He took part in the training of young illegal intelligence officers and painted landscapes in his spare time. Fisher also participated in the creation of the feature film “Dead Season” (1968), the plot of which is connected with some facts from the intelligence officer’s biography.

William Genrikhovich Fischer died of lung cancer at the age of 69 on November 15, 1971. He was buried at the New Donskoy Cemetery in Moscow next to his father.

Awards

Memory

His fate inspired Vadim Kozhevnikov to write the famous adventure novel “Shield and Sword.” Although the name of the main character, Alexander Belov, is associated with the name of Abel, the plot of the book differs significantly from the real fate of William Genrikhovich Fischer.
In 2008, the documentary film “Unknown Abel” was shot (directed by Yuri Linkevich).
In 2009, Channel One created a two-part biographical film “The US Government vs. Rudolf Abel” (starring Yuri Belyaev).
Abel first showed himself to the general public in 1968, when he addressed his compatriots with an introductory speech to the film “Dead Season” (as an official consultant for the film).
In the American film by Steven Spielberg “Bridge of Spies” (2015), his role was played by British theater and film actor Mark Rylance, for this role Mark received many awards and prizes, including the Academy Award “Oscar”.
On December 18, 2015, on the eve of the Day of State Security Workers, a solemn opening ceremony of the memorial plaque to William Genrikhovich Fischer took place in Samara. The sign, authored by Samara architect Dmitry Khramov, appeared on house No. 8 on the street. Molodogvardeyskaya. It is assumed that it was here in the years