Bounty hunter
Authoritative researchers of the intelligence services say that there is no difference between “noble intelligence” and “low-profile espionage”, because the goals, methods, working style, equipment of the spy and intelligence officer are identical. The difference exists in the social, ideological and emotional perception of these terms and depends on ... your point of view.Spying (intelligence) - an activity shrouded in a veil of mystery, invariably arouses a lively interest among people, regardless of age or gender. When, in the espionage (intelligence) fishery, the key figure is a woman, the interest becomes manic. Suffice it to recall how in Western Europe and in the United States they took the screening session of Mats Hari, a courtesan dancer executed by the French for spying for Germany. For 55 years (1931 – 1985), the box office for these films beat all records. And it's not just the charm of Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Jeanne Moreau, Sylvia Christelle - there are no stars who have embodied the image of the “queen of espionage” in the cinema! The mere fact that the core of espionage intrigue was a woman fascinated and acted hypnotically. And the spectator was unaware that Mata Hari was just an agent, the performer of the plan of the secret mentor who supervised her, who had muddied the water in order to catch the golden fish in it.
In real intelligence services, an agent mentor is called an operator. He works out the line of conduct (role) of the agent and teaches how to stick to it (play) in different situations. An exploration operator is a manager, agent guru, or agent brigade.
On the eve and during the Second World War, the Soviet intelligence officer Zarubina Elizaveta Yul'evna was the operator of a brilliant galaxy of agents. A versatile educated intellectual, a psychologist, a sophisticated nature and at the same time a brave and uncompromising operative, she acted not in the spirit of a cinema spy mentor. No, wiser and more efficient! And she had agents not like Mate Hari - scientists, diplomats, high-ranking officers. However, why the words? It is enough to delve into any episode of her operational and intelligence work to answer the question “Is this woman's business an occupation of intelligence?” Confidently answering: “Yes!”
ROSENTSWEYG BECOMES A MALE
Elizaveta Yulyevna Zarubina (nee Liza Rozentsveig) was born on January 1 1900 in the village of Rustyans of the Khotyn uyezd of Northern Bukovina, which at that time was part of Austria-Hungary, after the First World War she left Romania, and today is part of Chernivtsi region of Ukraine. Elizabeth's father, Joel Rosenzweig, the tenant and manager of the forest industry of a rich Polish estate, was a diversified and well-read man. He adored Russian classics and managed to instill in his children a love for Russian literature and for Russia in general. Gajewski, the owner of the estate, bon vivant and a spender, appeared only in order to fill his pockets with money and then lower them at the casino tables and in brothels of Western European capitals. So Joel Rosenzweig could use the income from the sale of the forest at his own discretion uncontrollably. The family did not luxuriate, but did not deny even the hard times of the First World War in anything. Lisa, for example, graduated from high school, she studied at the Faculty of History and Philology of the University of Chernivtsi, where the tuition fee was one of the highest in Europe.
In 1920, after completing three courses, she persuaded her father to send her and her younger brother to study at the Sorbonne. Having soberly assessed the situation in Eastern Europe after the end of the war and finding it fraught with shocks and cataclysms, the elder Rosenzweig approved the choice of children. But at the Sorbonne, Lisa studied for only a year. Deciding that her place is in the thick historical events, she moved to Vienna and entered the capital university. There, Lisa married a Romanian communist and for some time bore his surname Gutschneker, but the marriage soon fell apart.
In June, 1923, influenced by cousin Anna Pauker, Lisa joined the Austrian Communist Party and plunged into the preparations for the “world revolution”: compiling and distributing proclamations, organizing strikes, playing cat and mouse with the police, etc. The conspiracy is above all, so the comrades in the underground knew her only by the pseudonym “Anna Deutch”.
In the 1924 year, after graduating from the University of Vienna, Lisa received a diploma in translating German, French and English, adding them to her Yiddish, Romanian and Russian friends (note that her favorite was Russian!). In the same year, the Soviet diplomatic mission in Vienna invited her to work as an interpreter.
The revolutionary biography, sincere sympathy for the Soviet Union, the brilliant mastery of six languages could not fail to attract the attention of the staff of the Foreign Department (OIU) of the OGPU (foreign intelligence), who worked under the cover of the Soviet embassy. They thoroughly studied Lisa and on missions tested her intelligence capabilities. Convinced of her honesty, reliability, composure and ability to comply with the conspiracy, in March 1925, she was accepted into reconnaissance. She worked under the code name Erna. After receiving Soviet citizenship, she transferred from the Austrian Communist Party to the CPSU (B.). As a full-time operational officer of the Vienna residency INO OGPU Erna performed special tasks in Turkey and France. And she worked under a false name and with a fictional biography. Here Erna's remarkable abilities as a talented recruiter were revealed.
In February 1928, Erna came to Moscow for the first time. Under the name Gorskaya, she was credited to the central office of the Foreign Department. In the same year she married the eminent intelligence officer Vasily Mikhailovich Zarubin and again changed her personal data, becoming Elizaveta Yulevna Zarubina. The INO leadership used their marriage for operational purposes: realizing the project “Spouses”, the Zarubins were sent abroad with the prospect of illegal work in France. The decision was motivated by the fact that in the 1927 year, under a far-fetched pretext, England broke off diplomatic relations with the USSR, and France was preparing to follow its example. The situation in Europe was heating up every day, it was aggravated by the White Guard emigration, which sought to provoke a new "crusade" against the Soviet Union.
ADVERTISING OFFICE "KOCHEK"
The secret life of the illegal intelligence Basil and Elizabeth began with a trip to Copenhagen. They presented themselves as merchants from the Czech Republic - spouses Kochek. In order to gain a foothold in Denmark, the scouts had to have a reliable cover, that is, to find employment that would justify their stay in the country. The case helped, this unselfish patron of the intelligence officers. The couple met with a certain Nielsen, the owner of a small wholesale company. The acquaintance grew into a friendship, and soon the Zarubins became companions to the merchant. With it, illegal intelligence officers obtained permission for a long stay in Denmark, that is, they were completely legalized. However, an instruction was received from the Center to move urgently to France, where the intelligence tandem was to settle for a long time.On the outskirts of the French capital, the picturesque town of Saint-Cloud, Zarubins rented a small furnished house with a garage. Once, when Vasily repaired his car, a neighbor, impressed by his dexterity, suggested that he set up a joint venture for repairing cars. Vasily did not refuse the offer, but noted that he did not have permission for permanent residence in the country. The neighbor used his police connections, and the scouts received a permanent residence permit in France. Further more: the same Frenchman introduced the Zarubins to the circle of his many friends who belonged to the petty bourgeoisie. Fouling by neutral ties contributed to the successful legalization of intelligence officers in the country. It was time to start the assignment: pick up couriers to contact the Center; find safe houses; accept a number of agents; look for and acquire potential sources of information. In short, from scratch to create a viable illegal residency.
To expand the space for reconnaissance maneuver, it was necessary to move to Paris and find a new companion who would help to conduct some business. The search was crowned with success, and the couple opened an advertising bureau, “Kochek”, which initially engaged in promoting culinary products to the market, and then switched to the production of film advertising. Stable contacts with well-known Western European film studios and rental companies contributed to the creation of an attractive bureau image, money began to come from all cities of the country. When the Zarubins began to deliver advertising for export and foreign currency began to flow to France, the bureau received the most favored treatment, and began to accept spouses in the highest metropolitan society. Vasily was even elected to the presidium of the jockey club, whose members were representatives of the industrial oligarchy of France.
The center appreciated the efforts of intelligence officers to legalize in the host country, but reminded them that the main focus of the activity of the residency is to obtain information on Germany. Following the installation of the Center and using the established connections in Paris, Vardo (new codename Elizaveta Yulyevna) recruited a Hungarian journalist, expert in French-German dialogue (pseudonym - Ross), who worked as a technical secretary to the deputy of the French parliament, and stenographer of the German embassy in Paris ( pseudonym - Khanum). All this had a positive effect on the volume and quality of the information supplied to the Center.
"DISCUSS FRANCE WITH GERMANY!"
Illegal scouts Zarubins actively worked on the White Guard emigration. In Paris, Vardo took on the personal connection of the especially valuable agent of the OGPU Pavel Pavlovich Dyakonov (pseudonym - Vinogradov). A military tsarist general, military attaché of Russia in London, he moved to Paris in 1920, where he was received with enthusiasm and honor by the Russian military émigrés. The agent carried out a long-term task of decomposing the EMRO - the Russian All-Arms Union, the largest organization of White Guard emigrants, in whose ranks there were more than 20 thousand militants. They prepared armed actions against the USSR and its official representatives abroad. In addition, Dyakonov, having extensive contacts in the highest military circles of France, provided the Center with information on the activities of the Second Bureau (military intelligence) of the French General Staff.
Vinogradov also participated in the seizure of the head of the EMRO leader, General Kutepov (January 26, 1930) for transfer to Moscow. At the preparatory stage of the operation and during its implementation, the agent’s operator was the most experienced staff member of the INO, Yakov Serebryansky, so it was difficult to predict how the fifty-eight-year-old general would behave at the first meeting with his female operator, who was old enough to be his daughter. In addition, the turnout due to the repair of a safe house had to be carried out in one of the cheap Paris hotels. Their owners did not require any documents and, for a modest fee, were willing to provide rooms to couples who want to relax. Therefore, the appearance of a beautiful Vardo in a hotel with a gray-haired imposing Vinogradov would have been unequivocally regarded by all involuntary eyewitnesses: the aged hangman decided to partake of the young, appetizing body - c'estlavite! In short, the appearance in public of Zarubina with Dyakonov was considered well-timed and fully compliant with the requirements of conspiracy ...
Elizaveta Yulyevna reported on the results of the turnout with the first-rate agent in her operational practice and her impressions to the head of the Institute of Foreign Affairs Messing Stanislav Adamovich:
“Owls. top secret
Ex. one
FROM THE REPORT
on the results of the appearance with the agent "Vinogradov"
10.02.1930 of the year I, the security officer of the OGPU "Vardo", in the Paris hotel "Rivoli" held a meeting with an agent of "Vinogradov" to work out the course of conduct envisaged by event "A" for a group of senior officers of the EMRO (list attached).
As soon as we sat on opposite sides of the table, Vinogradov did not act gentlemanly: without prefaces, he suddenly spoke in French. But I was struck not by the fact of changing the language, but by its peremptory tone!
I took his demarche as an attempt to emphasize my superiority in the operational plan in order to suppress me psychologically and put myself in a position dependent on myself. I admit that this attack was also caused by his commanding position in the EMRO. I remembered the instruction of Arthur Hristianovich Artuzov very quickly: “You cannot lose your agent in anything, for it is not without reason that no valet sees the hero in his master. It is necessary only once to show your weakness to an agent depending on you - that's all, write is gone. You can immediately part with it, because you will not be able to restore the leading position. Winning with his secret assistant operator simply must. Always and in all. Including in a verbal skirmish, in order to assert himself in his eyes and emphasize his superiority. ”
"Not that weapon you have chosen, my general! - barely holding myself back, so as not to go on screaming, I said in French and, not breathless, but in English, added: “I am sure that you will run out of your foreign languages faster than I do!”
Although there was not a single muscle on the face of Vinogradov, after a prolonged pause, it became clear to me that my reply had hit the bull's eye. With the eyes of a psychiatrist, the agent literally buried me. Then separately, making an emphasis on each syllable, he asked, but in Russian: “And how many of them do you have, madam?” I replied: “It’s enough for my age!” I understood from this agent’s facial expression that this frivolous answer he didn't like it. In my opinion, he decided that I hinted at the difference in age is not in his favor. Realizing my mistake, I “restructured on the march” and assured Vinogradov that, despite my formal status as an operator, we will always solve all the issues only together, because I really appreciate his experience and his talents in operational matters ...
Following this, the agent became kinder, and “diplomatic relations” were restored. Then we discussed his line of conduct for an hour, contributing to the successful implementation of event “A” - informing the management of the Second Bureau of the General Staff of the information you know about the EMRO officers.
Saying goodbye, "Vinogradov" could not resist and asked what languages I still speak. Hearing the answer, he shook his head reproachfully and said: “You see, madam, if the truth is true: my tongue is my enemy, then you have six of them!”
To which I replied to him that "the most important thing at the moment is that he has become my friend, and we will cope with the enemies together." After that, he shook my hand tightly. I think we parted friends.
I inform in order of information (signature) op / pack "Vardo".
... Indeed, some time later, Vinogradov brought to the notice of the French the “dezu” prepared by the craftsmen of Lubyanka about the presence of the “fifth column” - pro-fascist-minded generals and officers in the EMRO and their steady contacts with German military intelligence, that is, with the enemy hated by all French generals. As a result, the action was successful, the information reached its goal and played its role in cooling relations between France and Germany ...
In France, Zarubins worked until the 1933 year, there they had a son, Peter. Upon arrival in Moscow after four years in an illegal situation, that is, in a state of permanent stress, when, as they say, “all the impulses are out”, and not having rested a single day, the intelligence spouses again went abroad - to Germany.
ALONG CLEANING, OVER-THROW
In the 1933 year, after Hitler came to power, the situation in Germany became extremely complicated. The activities of the illegal residency of the INO actually ceased due to the departure of 90% of operational officers to their home countries: they were all Jews, and their continued stay in Germany seemed unsafe to the Center.
The Zarubins had the mission to settle in Germany as soon as possible and reanimate the illegal residency. The intelligence tandem was to stop the process of “professional burning out” of agents left idle and without supervision of their mentor operators and, most importantly, to obtain information about Hitler’s domestic and foreign policy and his plans for the USSR.
Spouses traveled to Berlin by different routes. There was no question of obtaining a residence permit for a long term, so in December they arrived in the country as tourists. Only some time later, Lubyanka “shoemakers” (as specialists in the production of fake documents are used to denote in professional jargon) provided Zarubins with documents confirming their affiliation to an American company. This was a fundamentally important nuance: on the eve of the new world war, the Germans in every way sought to maintain good relations with the United States, so they were loyal to the Americans who came to the country. But even with good documents, staying in Germany for Elizaveta Yulyevna was fraught with a deadly risk: the Gestapo prison and the concentration camp could be accommodated because of a trifle — a double eyelid. In Germany, where Hitler ruled, this was considered a sure sign of a person having Jewish roots.
Vasily, with his appearance of a “true Aryan,” quietly paced the streets of Berlin. Another thing - Elizabeth. Even casual passersby, ignorant in questions of physiognomy and anthropology, would find Semitic features in her face. What to say about the patrols formed from brown shirts, specially trained to catch the Jews! So that in case of a possible meeting with these thugs to prove to them that she is not Jewish, but Italian, Elizabeth learned Italian in an emergency way ...
Illegal residency was formed in the shortest possible time. It included the operative officers of the INO, who arrived after the Zarubins, as well as six sources of information from among local residents and foreigners who were accepted by the scouts to communicate. The center began to receive important classified information without fail and in large volumes.
BRITENBACH, WALTER, KHANUM AND VARDO
In 1930, the inhabitants of Western Europe, the main motive that prompted cooperation with the special services of the Soviet Union, was anti-fascism. Therefore, the secret agents for the most part worked simply “for the idea”, refusing to receive a monetary reward.
At the direction of the Center, Vardo restored conspiratorial communication with a particularly valuable source of intelligence, SS Hauptsturmführer Breitenbach (in the world - Wilhelm Lehmann). In the IV Department of Imperial Security - the Gestapo - he headed the department to combat "communist espionage" and, using his official position, he repeatedly saved the NKVD residency from defeat and warned in advance about provocations that were prepared against the Soviet diplomatic mission and its employees in Berlin. Breitenbach regularly received information about the domestic political situation in Germany and its military preparations against neighboring countries. In 1935, the agent presented information about the creation of a fundamentally new type of weapon by Werner von Brown - the famous Fau missiles. For thirteen years, Breitenbach drove by the nose of his colleagues from the Gestapo, who were knocked down in search of a "mole" in their ranks. The failure occurred because of the betrayal of the liaison, and in 1945, Lehmann was executed. In the West, it is considered the prototype of Stirlitz.
Another particularly valuable assistant of the illegal residency, who was in personal contact with Vardo, was a high-ranking employee of the German Foreign Ministry with the rank of Ambassador Walter (the name has not been disclosed until now). In the future, Walter along with Breitenbach will inform the Berlin residency of the prepared German attack on the USSR.
In Berlin, Vardo also reestablished contact with Hanum, the former stenographer of the German embassy in Paris, whom she recruited while working in France. Khanum advanced in service and, working in the central office of Hitler’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had access to documents classified as “Special Importance”, which, at the risk of being executed, copied and then transferred to its operator, Vardo. ” But soon Khanum fell ill and died.
Elizaveta Yulyevna immediately picked her replacement. Through the agent's capabilities of the residency, she verified the “candidate for the vacant post” and under the pseudonym Winterfeld attracted an employee of the German Foreign Ministry medium to cooperate. The recruit had access to secret, including encrypted, correspondence between Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop and his ambassadors in allied countries, Italy and Japan. Vardo taught the German how to take photographs with microphotographs, and soon he literally filled up the residency with copies of cipher telegrams and other documents from the German Foreign Ministry. Among the existing "bayonets" of the agent network of the illegal residency of the Zarubins were those who had connections with the influential functionaries of the Nazi Party (NSDAP).
In June, 1937, Zarubins, as illegal immigrants were sent to the United States. The scouts had to pick up the agents from among the Americans for possible work in Germany in the event of its attack on the USSR. With the task scouts coped. They recruited three agents, who later used illegal intelligence as courier-liaison officers.
The Zarubins business trip was interrupted by the flight to the USA of the resident of the NKVD in Spain, Alexander Orlov, who met with them during their work in France. Upon their return to Moscow, Vasily and Elizabeth began working in the central intelligence apparatus. For successful work in illegal intelligence, Zarubin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, he was awarded the title of Senior Major of State Security, equivalent to the rank of Major General of the Red Army. Vardo was given the rank of captain of state security ahead of time, which corresponded to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Red Army.
In the middle of 1940, Vardo left for Germany again, but under the diplomatic cover of the employee of the Soviet embassy in Berlin Elizaveta Gorska. She had to restore the lost connection with a valuable source of intelligence Augusta - the spouse of a high-ranking diplomat, special envoy, one of those who were involved in the development of the foreign policy of Hitler's Germany. Soon, from Augusta, information began to come that deserved attention not only to the OGPU, but even to the Kremlin!
From the first hours of the war, all Soviet employees of the diplomatic mission in Germany were interned and on June 29 were sent to the USSR through Turkey.
ATTENTION: “MANHETTEN PROJECT”
On the night of October 12, the 1941 of the year the Zarubins raised out of bed and taken to the Kremlin to Stalin. The leader announced to the KGB tandem his decision to send them back to the United States, and Vasily Mikhailovich to appoint the head of the legal residence there, that is, acting from the standpoint of the USSR Embassy in Washington. Zarubin’s cover was the post of second secretary of the diplomatic mission. In the course of communication, which lasted more than an hour, Stalin set the task for the future resident not only to monitor domestic political events, but also to promptly report on attempts by the US ruling circles to come to terms with Hitler and end the war by concluding a separate peace. The scouts were also required to obtain information on the actual timing of the opening of the second front in Europe.
In New York, the Zarubins reached the Far East only in January, 1942. In the USA, they had to reform the residency: re-establish contact with the mothballed agents, recruit new sources of information, acquire safe houses, etc. The talents of Elizabeth Yulievna were again useful: brilliant knowledge of English, knowledge of psychology, and the ability to convince candidates for recruitment. Within six months, Vardo had 22 (!!) agents in touch with whom he had to meet not only in New York, but also in San Francisco, Washington, and other cities in America.
At Lubyanka, the operational acumen and the special gift of Vardo were highly valued to achieve complete trust in communication with anyone, regardless of their gender, age or social status. Professionals know that this quality is inherent only in the most sophisticated "bounty hunters" - recruiters. And recruiters in the world of intelligence are the highest caste of operational staff. And Vardo was, like no other of her fellow scouts, the “headhunter” of the highest — four nines — samples.
A distinctive feature of Vardo, her handwriting in working with agents, was humanity. She never treated those whom she had recruited only as sources of information that needed to be persuaded to cooperate. First of all, she sought to understand what drives the object of her interest - a candidate for recruitment - what are his problems. Therefore, it is not by chance that many agents recruited by her worked in favor of the USSR exclusively “for the idea”, which was especially important in the conditions of limited foreign exchange in Soviet foreign residencies.
With the help of the most valuable source of residency, a native of Russia, Yakov Golos Vardo came out to "the father of the atomic bomb" Robert Oppenheimer and the outstanding nuclear physicist Leo Sylard, who worked in the same field.
An explanation is needed here. What the intelligence officer did in the United States cannot yet be called “atomic intelligence” in its pure form, but it was the first to reach the closest approaches to it. The main work on the "Manhattan Project" - so the Americans coded the work on the creation of the atomic bomb - did our other scouts. But the merit of Vardo lies in the fact that she was the first of the intelligence officers who managed to attract the attention of the leadership of the USSR to the atomic problem. It was not by chance that Vardo was encouraged by the Order of the Red Star for taking the initiative.
The increased activity of Soviet intelligence could not fail to attract the attention of American counterintelligence. The FBI was able to install listening equipment in the offices of our institutions and obtain evidence that Zarubin is a resident of Soviet foreign intelligence in the United States. At the end of 1944, the spouses were declared non grata personas and were forced to leave the United States.
INSTEAD OF EPILOGUE
After the war, Lieutenant Colonel Zarubina Elizaveta Yulevna worked in the central intelligence apparatus as the head of the department. From the summer of 1946 to the year she retired, she headed the American direction of the Intelligence Information Service. She was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War of the II degree and many medals, of which she honored the medal "For Courage". She also received the highest departmental award - the “Honorary KGB” sign.Yes, the reflected light of fame of Breitenbach, Winterfeld, Khanum, Walter and dozens of other agents whom Elizaveta Yulyevna recruited and managed led to sparkle in her reconnaissance career, brought her the laurels of expert work, an unsurpassed head hunter. And yet, in our opinion, not all of her efforts are appreciated by the intelligence leadership ...
Upon his retirement, Elizaveta Yulyevna for many years passed on to young intelligence officers her rich experience, instilled in them a taste for illegal work in a hostile environment, taught them how to move away from outdoor advertising, how to convert a candidate for recruitment, how… she could share secrets with the young scouts Ч Chekist, Mentor, Man with a capital letter - Elizaveta Yulievna Zarubina! Such people as she, the Lord creates piece and rarely, and all because not to devalue the result of his good work ...
Elizaveta Yulyevna lived a bright rich life and achieved brilliant victories in intelligence. Fate was favorable to her, and her life was not cut short either in the dungeons of the Gestapo, or in the FBI prison. It is all the more annoying to realize that on May 11 of the year 1987, she ridiculously perished in her native lands, in Moscow, having landed as a bus…
By the way, to put an end to speculations on the relations of Liza Gorsky and Yakov Blumkin, I will limit myself to a reference to a replica of the authoritative historian of the special services: “Yes, Elizaveta Zarubina provided information about the duplication of the OGPU resident in Istanbul Blumkin and about his criminal relationship with Leon Trotsky. However, it was not revenge for deceived love that led her, as Moscow writers and journalists eager for sensations, and Chekist principles, because she considered Blumkin an adventurer and a traitor. Any other options - idle speculation and ailing fantasies of amateurs. "
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