Today we can say without exaggeration that, except for Richard Sorge, not a single foreign agent who worked in Japan on the eve and during the Second World War managed to do what this Soviet intelligence officer did. For eight years, he obtained secret information in the Asian capital, where intelligence officers had a harder time than in any European state.
Richard Sorge was born on October 4, 1898 in Baku. The family of Richard Sorge, the son of a German and a Russian mother, moves to permanent place residence in Germany in 1898 and settled in the suburbs of Berlin.
During World War I he served in the German armed forces. After demobilization, Sorge entered the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Hamburg. Where he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1919, Richard Sorge met German communists and joined the German Communist Party that same year. He had a chance to fight against France, and then against Russia. On the eastern front, Richard receives three wounds, the last of which in 1918 makes him lame for life - one leg becomes 2.5 cm shorter. In the hospital, young Sorge becomes acquainted with the works of Marx, and this determines his entire future fate - he becomes a staunch supporter of the communist movement. During his active party activities, he ended up in the USSR in 1924, where he was recruited by Soviet foreign intelligence. About five years later, through the Comintern, Sorge was sent to China, where his task was to organize operational intelligence activities and create a network of informants.
In the first half of the 1930s. Under the pseudonym Ramsay he worked in Shanghai (China). Over the years of working in China under the guise of a German journalist and a “true Aryan,” Sorge established himself well in Nazi circles and in 1933 joined the Nazi Party. When Sorge became a prominent party functionary, the Comintern sent him to fascist Japan, where he worked as an assistant German Ambassador, General Eugen Otto.
With the invasion of Manchuria by Japanese troops in 1931, the balance of power on the Asian continent radically changed. Japan has made a serious bid for Asian superpower status. Therefore, the interests of Soviet intelligence officers switch to the Land of the Rising Sun. Head of the intelligence department Y.K. Berzin recalled Sorge from China and in 1933 gave him a new task - to establish whether there was a fundamental possibility of organizing a Soviet residency in Japan. Before this, not a single Soviet intelligence officer had managed to gain a foothold here.
At first, Sorge refuses, because he believes that with his European appearance he will not be able to elude the eyes of the suspicious Japanese. However, Berzin declares that Sorge is better suited than anyone else to carry out this risky task, that he is only required to turn his disadvantage into an advantage and in no case hide the fact that he is German. In addition, the profession of a journalist allows him, without arousing much suspicion, to show interest in what is closed to others. In addition, Sorge is a Doctor of Social and Political Sciences, and none of the secret employees Soviet intelligence cannot compare with him in his thorough knowledge of economic problems. Now Sorge needs to return to Germany and install business relationship with the editors of those newspapers that he intends to represent in Tokyo.
Returning from China to Germany. established contacts with military intelligence and the Gestapo, joined the NSDAP. He worked as a journalist and was then sent to Tokyo as a correspondent for several newspapers. He became a leading German journalist in Japan, often publishing in the Nazi press. On the eve of the war, he managed to take the post of press attaché at the German embassy in Tokyo. Comprehensively educated, with excellent manners and knowledge of many foreign languages, Sorge established wide connections with German circles, incl. was a member of the highest circles of the Nazi embassy. Created an extensive communist intelligence organization in Japan.
Very soon, Sorge gained the authority of a high-class journalist-analyst; it is not without reason that his articles are published by the most reputable publications in Germany, in particular the largest Frankfurter Zeitung. Gradually, Sorge begins to create an agent network. His group includes radio operator Bruno Wendt (pseudonym Bernhard), a member of the KKE who completed radio operator courses in Moscow;
citizen of Yugoslavia, correspondent of the French magazine "V" Branko Vukelic, recruited by Soviet intelligence in Paris, and Japanese artist Yotoku Miyagi, for a long time lived in the USA, joined the Communist Party there and returned to Japan at the insistence of Russian agents. Later, Sorge involved in the work of the Japanese journalist Hozumi Ozaki, who became one of the most important sources of information for Ramsay. Another valuable source is the recently appointed German military attache in Tokyo, Eugen Ott, with whom Sorge manages to establish friendly relations. To win Ott's trust, Sorge, who is well versed in the current situation in the Far East, supplies him with information about the armed forces and military industry of Japan. As a result, Ott’s memos acquire an analytical depth previously unknown to them and make a good impression on the Berlin authorities. Sorge becomes welcome guest in the house of Ott, who literally became a “godsend for a spy” because of his ability to discuss official matters with friends. Sorge was a grateful listener and a competent adviser.
In 1935, Sorge, at the call of his superiors, took a roundabout route through New York to Moscow and received the new head of the Fourth Directorate, Uritsky, with the next task - to find out whether Japan, with its material and human resources, is capable of attacking the USSR. It was then decided to replace the radio operator. Max Clausen, Richard’s acquaintance from Shanghai, became Sorge’s new radio operator.
It is noteworthy that the cipher used by Clausen cannot be deciphered by either Japanese or Western codebreakers. As a key, Sorge, with his characteristic wit, decided to use statistical yearbooks of the Reich, which made it possible to vary the code indefinitely. In addition, information through secret channels is transmitted to the Center on microfilms. Particularly important photographs, for example, military installations or weapons samples, were reduced to the size of a point using special equipment, which special composition letters of the most ordinary content were pasted at the end of the line.
Operation Millet cost Soviet intelligence only 40 thousand dollars, a very insignificant amount for Sorge’s group, consisting of 25 people, operating in such dear city like Tokyo. All of them lived primarily on income from their legal activities. This applies primarily to Clausen and Miyagi, whose prints were in constant demand. Vukelich earned money not only as a photographer, but also as a Tokyo representative of the French telegraph agency Havas. This opened the doors of many closed institutions for him.
In February 1936, the political situation in Japan deteriorated sharply as a result of a failed military coup staged by a group of officers to remove the government of Admiral Okada. Sorge, trying through his own channels to find out the background and consequences of this failed conspiracy, comes to the conclusion that the fact of Japan’s armed action against the USSR will depend on which of the groups comes to power. The Soviet resident sends this analytical material not only to Moscow, but also to Berlin through the efforts of Ott, who was already accustomed to Sorge’s help. As one might expect, Sorge's report receives high praise from the Reich Chancellery. As a result, Eugen Ott is appointed Ambassador of Japan.
The situation in Tokyo itself is getting worse day by day. Another wave of spy mania is sweeping the country. The government spends “days” and even “weeks” of fighting espionage, calls for increased vigilance are heard from the pages of newspapers, cinema screens and radio, and images of enemy agents who, of course, do not look like the Japanese, adorn store windows. Sorge's people have to behave extremely carefully. Not without a curiosity, which, however, could lead to the failure of the entire agency. This time it was Sorge himself who blundered: after a party at the Imperial Hotel, a favorite meeting place
of all foreigners in Tokyo - Sorge, being fairly drunk, gets into his Tsundap motorcycle and rushes like a whirlwind to his apartment. As he turns, he fails to hold the steering wheel and crashes into the wall right next to the police booth at the entrance to the American embassy. As a result of the accident, Sorge suffered a severe concussion and a broken jaw. Fortunately, he is quickly taken to St. Hospital. Luke. Overcoming unbearable pain, he repeats: “Call Clausen:” The mere thought that someone might look into his pocket and find several sheets of paper written in English makes him hold on to the remnants of his consciousness. Only after Clausen arrived, when Sorge managed to whisper a few words in his ear, did he fall into oblivion and he was taken to the operating room.
In mid-June 1938, an event occurred that almost led to the failure of the entire Soviet intelligence system. On that day, the head of the NKVD department for the Far East, State Security Commissioner of the 3rd rank, Genrikh Lyushkov, crosses the border of Manchuria. By chance, at the same time, the correspondent of Angrif, one of the most famous Nazi newspapers, Ivar Lissner, intends to cross the border. Japanese border guards ask him to translate Lyushkov's testimony. During the interrogation, it turns out that Lyushkov is fleeing a new wave of Stalinist purges, of which Berezin and Uritsky have already become victims. A plane is sent from Tokyo to pick him up and place him in one of the carefully guarded buildings of the War Ministry. He provides such valuable information that the new German military attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Scholl, whom the Japanese General Staff regularly supplies with all the necessary information, even invites Canaris to send one of his employees to Tokyo. Of course, Sorge will be one of the first to know about this, and from Scholl himself, who trusts Sorge just like his predecessor.
For the Germans and Japanese, Lyushkov's testimony has no value. His information about units of the Far Eastern army is distinguished by accuracy and competence. Hoping to earn the trust of his new owners, he tells everything he knows. Never before have Japan and Germany been able to get so close to the holy of holies of Soviet intelligence. Through Lieutenant Colonel Sholl, Sorge manages to obtain and re-film a hundred-page memorandum drawn up on the basis of the testimony of General Lyushkov. Courier Sorge transports microfilms to Moscow. This allowed the Soviet command to replace, in a matter of days, all the code tables used for encrypted communication, and thereby prevent the possibility of leaking classified information.
In mid-1938, Sorge managed to get close to the new head of the Japanese government, Prince Konoe. Ozaki Ushiba becomes his secretary, former classmate prince and: best agent Sorge. For a year and a half, until the prince resigns, Ozaki will inform Moscow about everything that is being done and planned by Japanese politicians and the military. Ozaki would later serve as head of the research department on the board of the South Manchuria railway. From him information will be received not only about the movement of units of the Kwantung Army, but also about sabotage being prepared and the dispatch of agents.
In September 1939, Hitler's troops invade Poland. All diplomatic services of the Reich are intensifying their work. Ott invites his friend Sorge to become an embassy employee. However, the journalist, in his characteristic humorous manner, refuses such a flattering offer and only expresses his readiness to continue to privately act as Ambassador Ott’s secretary and provide embassy employees with all the information he receives. This is exactly what it says in the agreement he and Ott signed. In addition, Sorge agrees to publish a daily bulletin intended for the two thousand-strong German colony in Tokyo. New responsibility although cumbersome, it gives access to the latest radiograms from Berlin.
In May 1941, Sorge learns of Germany's plans to attack the Soviet Union.
He even reports to Moscow the exact date of the invasion: June 22. As you know, for Stalin this was just a message from another “alarmist”. He didn't believe Sorge.
Having received valuable intelligence information. Sorge was one of the first to report to Moscow information about the composition of the Nazi invasion forces, the date of the attack on the USSR, general scheme Wehrmacht military plan. However, these data were so detailed and, moreover, did not coincide with I.V.’s confidence. Stalin is that A. Hitler will not attack the USSR, that they were not given any importance, even considering that Sorge was a double agent.
Relations between Moscow and Sorge begin to deteriorate. The Kremlin is not satisfied with the resident’s too independent behavior, his independent lifestyle and often his disregard for the most basic rules of secrecy. Thus, he almost never checks his agents, and despite the persistent warnings of the Center, he forgets to destroy classified materials. Sorge does not even notice that Clausen keeps copies of all the radiograms and, moreover, describes in detail the activities of their group in his diary. Sorge’s excessive predilection for women and numerous affairs, including with Ott’s wife, cannot but alarm the KGB leadership in Moscow. Later, police reports found numerous records of Sorge’s drunken antics. After getting drunk, he usually gets on a motorcycle and rushes at breakneck speed wherever his eyes look. And the most amazing thing is that even in the company of high-ranking employees of the German embassy, he never hid his sympathy for Stalin and the Soviet Union. Lucky Sorge got away with all this so far. Until Mr. Case intervened.
In October 1941, Japanese intelligence agents arrested one of Ozaki’s subordinates on suspicion of belonging to the Communist Party. During interrogations, among other acquaintances of the chief, he named the artist Miyagi, whose search revealed a number of materials incriminating him. The arrest of Hozumi Ozaki himself was not long in coming.
The arrest of Richard Sorge causes a stir in the German embassy. Ott, realizing that friendship with a man who turned out to be an agent of enemy intelligence, completely compromises him, makes every effort to hush up this story. He tries to convince Berlin that Sorge was a victim of the intrigues of the Japanese police. Oddly enough, he almost succeeds, despite the incriminating testimony of Sorge from members of his group. And only when Abwehr resident in the Far East Ivar Lissner intervenes in the case, the investigation into the Sorge case receives an unambiguous assessment: Sorge is an agent of Moscow.
Ott has to resign and put an end to his diplomatic career.
The trial of members of Ramsay's group took place in May 1943. By that time, Miyagi was no longer alive. Vukelich suffered the same fate a year and a half after the trial, which sentenced him to life imprisonment. Clausen, who initiated the Japanese into the activities of Ramsay's group and was sentenced to life imprisonment, will be released by the Americans in 1945.
Ozaki and Sorge were executed on November 7, 1944. His last words were “Long live the Red Army! Long live the Soviet Union!”
In the USSR they learned about Sorg only in 1964 after he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union. Streets, ships and schools are named after him. Stamps with his image were issued in the USSR and the GDR. This was the first official admission by the Kremlin that it had resorted to espionage. As for Sorge’s role in Stalin’s transfer of troops from Far East for the defense of Moscow, which military historians still argue about, it was by no means decisive. An analysis of the world situation allowed Stalin to conclude already in June 1941 that war between the United States and Japan was inevitable, and the military potential of the Japanese army would not allow it to wage a war on two fronts.
TASS-DOSSIER /Irina Belinskaya/. Richard Sorge was born on October 4 (September 22, old style) 1895 in the village. Sabunchi Baku province (now part of Baku, Azerbaijan). Father - Gustav Wilhelm Richard Sorge, German, oil engineer. Mother - Nina Stepanovna Kobeleva - Russian, from the family of a railway worker. Great-uncle Friedrich Adolf Sorge was an ally of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, one of the leaders of the First International (an international communist organization). In 1898, the Sorge family moved from Russia to Germany.
In 1916 he entered the University of Berlin. Friedrich Wilhelm, then transferred to the University of Kiel, from which he graduated in 1919. In the same year, at the University of Hamburg, he defended his dissertation for Doctor of State and Legal Sciences on the topic “Imperial Tariffs of the Central Union of German Consumer Societies.”
During the First World War 1914-1918. fought in the field artillery of the Imperial German Army. He was wounded three times. As a result of the last serious wound, one of his legs became several centimeters shorter than the other. In 1918, with the rank of non-commissioned officer, he was dismissed from military service.
In 1917-1919 he was a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany.
In November 1918 in Kiel he took part in the sailors' uprising German fleet, which grew into the November Revolution, as a result of which Germany was proclaimed a republic.
In 1919 he joined the German Communist Party. He was actively involved in party and propaganda activities, journalism, edited the newspaper of the Communist Party, and taught at a party school. He knew the leader of the German communists, Ernst Thälmann.
In 1924, after the activities of the German Communist Party were banned, he came to Moscow and accepted Soviet citizenship. In 1925 he became a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
In 1924-1929 worked in various government institutions, in particular, at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, in the Organizational Department and the Secretariat of the Comintern ( international organization, which united the communist parties different countries). Published in the magazines "Communist International", "Bolshevik", "World Economy and World Politics", etc. He wrote a number of works on international relations. He repeatedly went on short business trips abroad - to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the UK.
Since 1929 - employee of the Intelligence Directorate of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), recruited by its leader Yakov Berzin.
In 1930-1932 worked in Shanghai (China) under the guise of a German journalist.
In 1933 he came to Japan as a correspondent for the newspapers Berliner Bursen-Courier and Frankfurter Zeitung. He worked as a press attaché at the German embassy in Tokyo. Here he joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). Created an intelligence network in Japan. In particular, thanks to him, the Soviet government received information about Japanese military plans in the area of Lake Khasan and the Khalkhin Gol River. Among the numerous messages transmitted by Sorge to Moscow was information about the impending German attack on the USSR in the summer of 1941, as well as that Japan did not intend to attack, but would concentrate its efforts on the Pacific theater of operations.
On October 18, 1941, Richard Sorge and members of his intelligence group were arrested by Japanese police. Richard Sorge himself denied his involvement in Soviet intelligence and said that he worked in China and Japan for the Comintern. In May 1943, the trial of Sorge's reconnaissance group began. September 29 of the same year Soviet intelligence officer was sentenced to death penalty. On November 7, 1944, he was hanged in Tokyo's Sugamo Prison and buried in the prison yard.
The Soviet Union did not recognize Richard Sorge as its agent for 20 years. Only on November 5, 1964, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1967, the remains of the Soviet intelligence officer were reburied with military honors at the Tama Cemetery in Tokyo.
For participation in the First World War he was awarded the German military award - the Iron Cross, II degree (1916).
Hero of the Soviet Union (1964; posthumously). Also awarded a gold personalized watch from the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR (1935).
Richard Sorge was married twice. The first wife, German Christina Gerlach (married until 1932), lived with him in Russia, then returned to her homeland. The second wife, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Maksimova (married since 1933), Russian, was arrested in 1942 and a year later died in a camp for political prisoners in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, rehabilitated in 1964. In Japan, Richard Sorge lived with his common-law wife, Japanese Ishii Hanako; died in 2000, the urn with her ashes was installed next to Sorge’s grave.
Several films have been made about Richard Sorg. In 1961, the film “Who are you, Doctor Sorge?” by the French director Yves Champy was released. (Qui tes-vous, Monsieur Sorge?), in 2003 - the war drama Spy Sorge by Japanese director Masahiro Shinoda.
Streets in Moscow, Lipetsk, Bryansk, Volgograd, Tver, Ufa, Rostov-on-Don, Tula, Kurgan and other cities of Russia, as well as in Baku (Azerbaijan), Astana, Chimkent and Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan) are named after him. , in Berlin (Germany). In the homeland of Richard Sorge - in Baku - his house-museum has been opened. Monuments to the intelligence officer were erected in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Kazan and Baku.
Sorge Richard (German: Richard Sorge, agent pseudonym Ramsay, October 4, 1895, Sabunchi, Baku district, Baku province, Russian empire(now Azerbaijan) - November 7, 1944, Tokyo, Empire of Japan) - Soviet intelligence officer during World War II, Hero of the Soviet Union.
Richard was born into the family of German engineer Gustav Wilhelm Richard Sorge (German) Russian. (1852-1907), engaged in oil production at Nobel's company. Sorge's mother, Nina Stepanovna Kobeleva, was Russian. In total, there were 9 children in the Sorge family, Richard was the youngest. Richard's great-uncle is Friedrich Adolf Sorge (German) Russian. (1826-1906) - was one of the leaders of the First International, secretary of Karl Marx.
In 1898, the Sorge family left Russia for Germany.
In October 1914, Richard volunteered to join the German army and participated in the battles of the First World War of 1914-1916 on the Western Front as part of the field artillery. In March 1916, he was wounded by a shell explosion (one fragment hit his fingers, two more fragments hit his legs). After this, Sorge was promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer, awarded the Iron Cross 2nd degree and was discharged (dismissed from military service due to disability).
This led to a deep spiritual change, as a result of which he became close to left-wing socialists in the hospital and accepted the teachings of Marx. He studied economics at the universities of Berlin, Kiel and Hamburg, and in August 1919 received a degree in economics from the University of Hamburg. In 1917-1919 he was a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party, and since 1919 a member of the Communist Party of Germany. He was a propagandist in Wuppertal and Frankfurt am Main, and edited a party newspaper in Solingen. Was research fellow Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, better known as the Frankfurt School.
In 1920-1921, Sorge was editor of a communist newspaper in Solingen.
In 1924 he came to the USSR and worked in Soviet institutions. Soon he became a Soviet citizen.
In 1925 he joined the CPSU(b) and was hired into the apparatus of the Comintern. In November 1929 he went to work in the Intelligence Department of the Red Army.
Richard Sorge attended the scout improvement school under the guidance of Janis Karlovich Berzins and Semyon Petrovich Uritsky. In Moscow, Sorge met Ekaterina Alexandrovna Maksimova, who later became his wife.
From 1930 he worked in Shanghai. Here he met the American journalist and spy Agnes Smedley (some authors believe that she was his mistress) [source?] and the Japanese journalist, communist Hotsumi Ozaki, who later became an important informant for Sorge.
In 1933, the command decided to send Sorge to Japan, where he arrived on September 6, 1933 as a correspondent for the influential German newspapers Börsen Courier and Frankfurter Zeitung. Before this, he visited the USA, where, as a German correspondent, he managed to obtain from the Japanese embassy letter of recommendation to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 1938, the man who recruited Richard - Yan Berzin, head of military intelligence of the USSR - was arrested and executed, in addition, almost the entire leadership of Soviet military intelligence was liquidated. Significant amount military intelligence officers working abroad were recalled to the USSR and repressed, including the arrest of Richard Sorge. Sorge was called to the USSR on vacation by a secret telegram from Japan, where he was working at that time. However, Sorge apparently guessed that instead of a vacation, he would be arrested, as evidenced by his telegrams.
Refusing to comply with the Center's order to return, Sorge nevertheless continued his work and regularly sent the information he obtained. The most important period in the intelligence activities of Richard Sorge and his organization is considered to be the period 1939-1941, when he managed to uncover plans for a German attack on the Soviet Union.
On October 18, 1941, Sorge was arrested by the Japanese police and in September 1943 he was sentenced to death by hanging. Berlin was shocked by the arrest; Hitler personally demanded that the Japanese authorities hand over the traitor, but to no avail. At the same time, the Japanese offered Stalin to exchange Sorge, which Stalin did not agree to. According to B.I. Gudz, this happened because Sorge was tortured, and he confessed that he was an agent of the USSR, which Stalin did not forgive.
Who was Richard Sorge? The amazing fate of this man became the plot for many adventure novels. There are still many mysteries in it, despite the fact that as time passes, the archives of the intelligence services of different states are gradually opening up. But the name of this extraordinary person is widely known throughout the world, and especially in the post-Soviet space. How was the life of Richard Sorge? The exploit and tragedy of the scout will be the topic of the article.
Childhood and youth
From the very beginning, Richard's life promised to be unusual. He was born in Azerbaijan, where his father, German engineer Gustav Wilhelm Sorge, worked for Nobel's oil company. His mother, Nina Stepanovna Kobeleva, came from a family of railway workers. In 1898, when Richard was 3 years old, the Sorges moved to Germany, where they lived the life of wealthy bourgeois. Despite this, revolutionary sentiments were strong among my father's relatives. His great-uncle was even K. Marx's secretary. According to the recollections of Richard himself, he studied well at school, but was not an easy-going student; he always had his own view on the issue being studied. In 1914, he voluntarily entered the German army and took an active part in battles, including on the Russian-German front. For his exploits, the young man was regularly promoted to military ranks and ended his service as a non-commissioned officer, and he was also awarded the Iron Cross, II degree. Richard was repeatedly wounded on the battlefield, which testifies to his courage and bravery. In 1917, he was seriously wounded by a shell fragment, after hanging on barbed wire for three days, he was finally taken to the hospital. After treatment in January 1918, he was discharged from military service.
Political Views
The horrors of war produced a genuine revolution in spiritual self-awareness young man. While being treated in the hospital, he became close to the German socialists, studied and accepted Marxist teachings. Already in November 1918, he participated in the sailor riots in Kiel, was a member of the council of workers and sailors, and was engaged in revolutionary work in Berlin and Hamburg, where he met the leader of the German communists E. Thalmann. Along with his political activities, Sorge managed to get not only higher education, but also an academic degree. He specialized in the study of state and law. A little later, at the University of Hamburg, Richard Sorge, whose biography became the subject of our review, defended his dissertation in economics. After the ban on the Communist Party in Germany in 1924, at the invitation of the leadership of the Comintern, he moved to Moscow, joined the ranks of the members of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), and was engaged in scientific and journalistic activities.
Intelligence career
In 1929, Richard Sorge went on a business trip to England, where he met with a high-ranking British intelligence officer, probably to obtain information. Despite the fact that the British police were interested in who Richard Sorge was, he managed to return safely to Moscow. Since November of the same year, he was already officially listed as an employee of the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army. In 1930, he went to Shanghai, where he met American and Japanese diplomats, journalists, and representatives of bohemia. Visiting France, Germany, and the USA, he gradually acquired the necessary connections in the highest diplomatic and scientific communities. In 1933, Richard Sorge, whose photo you see in the article, goes to Japan as a journalist for several reputable German publications. In fact, he becomes a resident of Soviet intelligence under the pseudonym Ramsay.
Activities in Japan
Arriving in Tokyo, Soviet intelligence officer Richard Sorge begins creating an agent network and gradually acquires assistants and sources of information. One of the most valuable connections was the acquaintance with the military attache of the German embassy, Eien Ott. Having an excellent understanding of the political and economic situation in the east, and being a brilliant analyst, Richard Sorge contributed greatly to the latter’s advancement in career ladder, while simultaneously receiving valuable information from him. Ramsay’s group also included journalists and representatives of the creative intelligentsia who had access to the elite of Japanese society. The activities of the Japanese station cost the Soviet Union very little money (up to 40 thousand dollars a year), because the group members lived on their legal income. Richard led the life of a playboy, as a result of which he put his life in danger, and often endangered the activities of the entire network. There is a known case when, having crashed on a motorcycle in drunk, it was only by a miracle or an effort of will that he did not lose consciousness, which would have been tantamount to failure, since he had secret documents in his pocket. This way of life, disregard for the rules of secrecy, and countless love affairs did not suit Sorge’s leadership in Moscow. At one time, the question of recalling Ramsay to the Union was even considered, where he would inevitably be subject to reprisals. His group was considered unreliable, perhaps even supplying disinformation. However, by coincidence, the network continued its work.
Ramsay's role in World War II
It is difficult to overestimate the role of Richard Sorge and his team in World War II. These people really influenced the course of history. Firstly, when in May-June 1941 Ramsay sent regular warnings about the outbreak of hostilities to Moscow. They were even told the exact date of the start of the war, June 22. But the leadership of the Soviet Union did not listen to the intelligence officer’s information, which resulted in huge losses in its first months. The second most important message for the course of the war, Richard Sorge, convinced Stalin that Japan would not enter the war with the USSR. This made it possible to transfer 26 well-trained and equipped Siberian divisions from the eastern borders to Moscow, which made it possible not only to defend the capital, but also to achieve a turning point in the war and, ultimately, led to the great Victory over fascism.
Failure
Since 1938, Japanese intelligence services have been able to find direction on the radio of Ramsay’s group. But long time they could neither detect it nor decipher the messages. However, in October 1941, arrests of members of the intelligence network began, and on October 18, the police arrested Richard. During searches, all members of the group found irrefutable evidence of their involvement in espionage activities (this is when the disregard for the rules of secrecy took its toll). During the very first interrogations, the group’s radio operator gave out the codes, and counterintelligence had the opportunity to decipher the intercepted radiograms. Despite the efforts of Sorge's high-ranking friends, none of the group managed to escape the trial. On September 29, 1943, Richard Sorge and his closest associate Ozaki were sentenced to death. On November 7, 1944, the sentence was carried out. The Soviet intelligence officer accepted his death with dignity; his last words were spoken in Japanese: “Red Army”, “Comintern”, “Soviet Communist Party”.
Memory of the feat
Information about who Richard Sorge was and the activities of Ramsay’s group was declassified only in the 60s of the last century. Then books were written about him, feature films and documentaries were made. Many streets in the post-Soviet space still bear the name of Richard Sorge. And now, despite the change of political courses and the replacement of universal human values with surrogates of a consumer society, many people know who Richard Sorge was. This extraordinary man, who gave his life for the ideals of goodness and justice, continues to evoke deep sympathy among many.
Second World War- the most terrible in the entire history of mankind. As you know, it was impossible to win it with the help of tanks alone - it required ingenuity, resourcefulness and a huge amount of effort. In this regard, each country trains and trains intelligence officers. The Soviet Union produced one of the best intelligence officers of the century. It was Richard Sorge. He was truly a great man and intelligence officer. Richard worked undercover in Japan for approximately 7 years, something no one else could do. Working as an intelligence officer in Japan is quite difficult, because the authorities are extremely careful to ensure that information does not leak. However, during this time no one was able to understand who Richard Sorge was.
Scout's childhood and family
Due to circumstances, in 1944, Richard Sorge was declassified by the Japanese intelligence services. At that moment, even the country's authorities expressed hidden respect for him due to the fact that for many years they could not find out who Richard Sorge was.
The intelligence officer's biography begins on October 4, 1898 in Baku (now Baku - Azerbaijan). Richard's father was the German Gustav Wilhelm, and his mother was the Russian woman Kobeleva Nina Stepanovna. The scout's family was large, but nothing is known about his sisters and brothers. Richard's grandfather was the leader and secretary of Karl Marx himself. When Richard was 10 years old, his family moved to Germany.
First battles, injury and meeting Karl Marx
An interesting fact is that while living in Germany, Richard voluntarily joined the German army during the First World War. He spent his first battles as part of the artillery troops. Some time later (in 1915) he was wounded in another battle near Ypres. Richard was sent to the hospital, where he passed the exams and received another rank - corporal. After these events, Sorge was sent to another front - to the east, to Galicia. There the scout took part in battles against Russian army. He was later severely wounded by shrapnel from an artillery shell and lay on the ground for several days. After he was taken to the hospital, the scout underwent major surgery, as a result of which one leg became shorter than the other. Because of this, Richard was discharged for disability.
In between heavy battles, Richard Sorge became acquainted with the works of Karl Marx. It was then that he became an ardent communist. Thanks to active party activities, in 1924 Sorge moved to the USSR, where he received Soviet citizenship. As a result of unknown events, Richard was recruited by the Soviet intelligence services. Richard Sorge - intelligence officer the highest level, and many of his colleagues understood this. Thanks to his profession as a journalist, he could work almost calmly in many countries of the world.
Pseudonym and first arrest of Sorge
And yet, who was Richard Sorge in the countries he worked in?
Most often, he worked under the code name Ramsay and was called a journalist or scientist. This gave him the right to ask questions that ordinary people couldn't even say it out loud. First of all, Sorge was sent to England to meet with the head of the secret intelligence service MI6. Her boss had to tell Sorge secret information, about which nothing is known to this day. However, the meeting between Richard and the British Intelligence Service officer did not take place. Sorge was arrested by the police. Fortunately, even then his connections and he himself were not declassified.
Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army
In 1929, Sorge was transferred to work in the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army. In the same year he received an important special assignment. Afterwards, Richard was sent to China, to the city of Shanghai, where his task was to create an operational intelligence group and search for reliable informants about the country's plans. In Shanghai, he was able to establish friendly relations with a journalist and part-time spy, Agnes Smedley. Sorge also met the born communist Hotsumi Ozaki. Subsequently, these people became the most important and main informants of the Soviet Union.
Sending a scout to Japan
Later, Sorge established himself well in Nazi circles. Because of this, the Soviet command accepted difficult decision- send Richard to Japan. The task was complicated by the fact that none of the agents managed to gain a foothold there and work well. Many people still don’t know who Richard Sorge was in Japan. However official sources they claim that the intelligence officer came there as a journalist for a reputable German publication. To do this, before the trip, Sorge needed to visit the USA. In a short period of time he received good recommendations from the Japanese embassy in America. Apparently, thanks to this, his career developed well in Japan itself.
There Sorge was able to get a job as an assistant to the German ambassador Eugen Otto, who at that time was a general.
However, Sorge was shamelessly abandoned by the Soviet government in Japan to the mercy of fate. The USSR had a suspicion that Sorge’s information was untrue and now it was working against them. All letters from Sorge asking him to return to the Union were ignored by the General Staff. At that time, they were not interested in who Richard Sorge was - an ordinary ordinary soldier or a high-class spy. He was simply abandoned.
On October 18, 1941, Richard Sorge was declassified and arrested by Japanese police. He was under investigation for three years. In 1944, the intelligence officer was shot along with his agents.
So, many years later, more than one journalist and scientist asks himself who Richard Sorge was. The answer to this question can only be given by those who were well acquainted with his life and work.