Who was Richard Sorge? Photo and biography of the Soviet intelligence officer. Richard Sorge biography

TASS-DOSIER /Irina Belinskaya/. Richard Sorge was born on October 4 (September 22 according to the old style) in 1895 in the village. Sabunchi of the Baku province (now part of the city 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 associate 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 Berlin University. 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 doctoral dissertation in public law on the topic "Imperial tariffs of the Central Association of German Consumer Societies."

During the First World War 1914-1918. fought in the field artillery German Imperial Army. Was wounded three times. As a result of the last severe wound, one of his legs became shorter than the other by several centimeters. 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 participated in the uprising of the sailors of the German fleet, which grew into November revolution which resulted in Germany being proclaimed a republic.

In 1919 he joined the Communist Party of Germany. Actively engaged in party and propaganda activities, journalism, edited the newspaper of the Communist Party, taught at the party school. He was acquainted with the leader of the German communists, Ernst Thalmann.

In 1924, after the German Communist Party was banned, he came to Moscow and took Soviet citizenship. In 1925 he became a member of the All-Union communist party(Bolsheviks).

In 1924-1929. worked in various public 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 that united the communist parties different countries). Published in magazines Communist International", "Bolshevik", "World Economy and global politics"and others. Wrote a number of works on international relations. Repeatedly went on short business trips abroad - to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Great Britain.

Since 1929 - an 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 Berliner Bursen-Courier and Frankfurter Zeitung newspapers. 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 Japan's plans for military operations in the area of ​​​​Lake Khasan and the Khalkhin Gol River. Among the numerous messages sent by Sorge to Moscow was information about the impending German attack on the USSR in the summer of 1941, and also 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 reconnaissance group were arrested by the Japanese police. Richard Sorge himself denied any involvement in Soviet intelligence and said that he worked in China and Japan for the Comintern. In May 1943, the trial of the Sorge reconnaissance group began. On September 29 of the same year, the Soviet intelligence officer was sentenced to death. 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 Soviet Union. In 1967 the remains Soviet spy with military honors were reburied at the Tama Cemetery in Tokyo.

For participation in the First World War he was awarded the German military award- Iron Cross II degree (1916).

Hero of the Soviet Union (1964; posthumously). He was also awarded a gold nominal 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 - Maksimova Ekaterina Alexandrovna (married since 1933), Russian, was arrested in 1942 and died a year later in a camp for political prisoners in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in 1964 she was rehabilitated. In Japan, Richard Sorge lived with his common-law wife, Japanese Ishii Hanako; died in 2000, the urn with her ashes is installed next to the grave of Sorge.

Several films have been made about Richard Sorge. In 1961, the picture of the French director Yves Champi "Who are you, Dr. Sorge?" (Qui ktes-vous, Monsieur Sorge?), in 2003 - the military drama of the Japanese director Masahiro Shinoda "Spy Sorge" (Spy Sorge).

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 was opened. Monuments to the scout were installed in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Kazan and Baku.

Richard Sorge was born in the family of German engineer Gustav Wilhelm Richard Sorge on October 4, 1895 in the village of Sabunchi, Baku province. Sorge's mother, Nina Stepanovna Kobeleva, was Russian. In 1898, the Sorge family moved from Russia to Germany, and young Richard spent his childhood in Berlin. In October 1914, Sorge, without graduating from college, volunteered for German army and participated in numerous battles of the First World War: received combat wounds, the rank of non-commissioned officer of the 43rd reserve field artillery regiment and even the Iron Cross II degree. After demobilization, the future intelligence officer entered the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Kiel. In 1917-1919, Sorge was a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party, and in 1919 he joined the Communist Party of Germany. In the early twenties in the Weimar Republic came Hard times for the Communists, and soon after the official ban on the activities of the German Communist Party, in 1924, Richard Sorge, with the approval of the leadership at the invitation of the executive committee of the Comintern, came to Moscow, where a year later he joined the CPSU (b) and was hired by the Comintern apparatus. In November 1929, Sorge went to work in the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army. In 1930, Sorge moved to Shanghai, but stayed there for a relatively short time - and already in 1933 he was redirected by command to Japan. In the period 1939-1941, the famous intelligence officer managed to uncover plans for a German attack on the Soviet Union, but for some unknown reason, the Headquarters simply refused to listen to the intelligence officer. A few months after the start of the war, Sorge told the Headquarters that Japan did not plan to oppose the USSR until the end of 1941 and at the beginning of 1942. This time, valuable information was heeded, and 26 fresh, well-trained Siberian divisions were transferred from the eastern borders of the country to Western Front, near Moscow, which in the future largely helped to prevent the total offensive of the Nazi troops on the capital.

On October 18, 1941, Richard Sorge was arrested by the Japanese police, and in September 1943 he was sentenced to death by hanging on a piano string. Hitler personally long time demanded from the Japanese leadership the immediate extradition of the traitor, but his requests were unsuccessful. The Japanese, on the other hand, offered Stalin to exchange the Soviet intelligence officer, but the Father of Nations did not go for this: most likely, he simply could not forgive Sorge that the intelligence officer confessed under torture to his involvement in the USSR agents. Sorge's execution took place in Tokyo's Sugamo Prison at 10:20 am on November 7, 1944.

The Soviet Union did not recognize Sorge as its agent for a long time, no matter what. Almost 20 years after the execution of the intelligence officer, on November 5, 1964, Richard Sorge was declassified and posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Richard Sorge is a man, a professional intelligence officer who left a mark on history. He was born on October 4, 1895, in the family of a German oil technician. The birthplace of the Soviet intelligence officer is the village of Sabunchi, which is located near Baku. Thanks to its selfless work, the Soviet Union received the latest information from abroad. This information helped the country's leadership to make correct and timely decisions. With his achievements, Sorge entered his name in the history of domestic intelligence.

Richard's education and hobbies

Sorge received his first secondary education in Germany. Even then, he showed a passion for history, philosophy, politics. At the age of nineteen, he went to the front of the First World War, from which he returned, having been wounded. After being hospitalized, Richard decided to continue his studies and entered the University of Berlin. But the desire to fight for their homeland was stronger. Without finishing his studies, he again went to the Eastern Front. The injury he received in 1918 caused him to suffer unbearable pain all his life. His one leg was 2.5 centimeters shorter, and he limped all his life.

Where and by whom did Richard Sorge work?

In Germany, Sorge worked as an editor of a communist newspaper, but in 1924 he was forced to move to the Soviet Union. Here, he worked in many Soviet institutions, including the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. In 1929, the head of Soviet intelligence, Ya. K. Berzin, ordered him to carry out secret missions in Germany and China. And already in 1930, under the guise of a German journalist and pseudonym Ramsay, he began work in Shanghai. In Japan, in 1933, he founded an organization of anti-fascist internationalists. This organization has been collecting essential information about the activities of the German fascists.

Achievements of Richard Sorge

In 1918, the Soviet intelligence officer received an award - the German Iron Cross 2nd degree for participation in hostilities. He was a talented analyst and was able to find very valuable sources of information, and then separate the true information from misinformation and empty rumors. While in Shanghai, Richard collected information about the plans of the Japanese command and supplied it to the USSR. In 1935 he created reconnaissance group, which learned about Hitler's insidious plans, and managed to warn the leadership of the USSR in advance about the imminent Second World War.

last years of life

In 1941, the Japanese authorities exposed the activities of the Soviet intelligence officer. On October 18, 1941, he was arrested. He was placed in Sugamo Prison, where he was sentenced to death. November 7, 1944 was the day of judgment for Richard Sorge. However, even after death, books are written about Richard Sorge and films are made. Sorge became a legend and a role model for modern employees of the Main Intelligence Directorate.

In 1964, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev saw the French director Yves Ciampi's film Who Are You, Dr. Sorge? Impressed by what he saw, Khrushchev ordered to find out whether such a scout really existed.
Having received an affirmative answer, Nikita Sergeevich ordered to begin checking all materials related to Sorge ...

On September 4, 1964, the Pravda newspaper published an article about Richard Sorge. In it, the scout was described as a hero who was the first to receive information about the plans for the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR on June 22, 1941. The article argued that only Stalin's personal ambitions and his distrust of the intelligence officer led to the fact that appropriate measures were not taken to repel the German invasion.
October 14, 1964 Nikita Khrushchev was removed from all posts and retired. The resignation of the Soviet leader, however, did not affect the processes associated with the name of Sorge. November 5, 1964 he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Over the next decades, the image created in the 1960s was only consolidated in public consciousness. A scout hero, suffering from distrust of the leadership caused by the manic suspicion of the "leader of the peoples", but continuing to serve the Motherland and sacrificing his life for her - this was how Soviet citizens imagined Richard Sorge.
German from Azerbaijan
In fact, Sorge, invented during the Khrushchev era, is very different from real person. In fact, there were no reports about the exact date of the start of the war, nor devoted love for the only woman who remained in the USSR and then became a victim of repression.
Few people know, but Richard Sorge to the very last days never learned the Russian language perfectly, although his mother was Russian.
He had amazing life and an amazing fate, more like the James Bond books, with the only difference that at the end of his "book of life" he still failed ...
Richard Sorge was born on October 4, 1895 in the Russian Empire, in the city of Baku, in the family of a German engineer Gustav Wilhelm Sorge and his second wife, Nina Semyonovna Kobeleva.


Family photo with eight-year-old Richard (in the center on his father's lap) 1903.
Richard's father worked in oil company brothers Nobel, and then opened his own workshop of drilling equipment.
When Richard, the youngest of five children, was three years old, the Sorge family moved to Germany. The boy did not know the Russian language - the family spoke only German.
The war made him a communist
Richard's great-uncle was Friedrich Adolf Sorge, a colleague of Karl Marx in the First International. Richard never saw him - a relative of the measures in the USA when the boy was 10 years old - but he always bowed to him.
Richard's father died early, having managed, however, to create good material conditions for the family. These conditions were sufficient until the outbreak of the First World War.
In 1914, Richard Sorge, who was not yet 19 years old, voluntarily enters military service. Young man seized by a patriotic impulse, and he rushed to the front to fight for great Germany.

Richard Sorge and his friend Erich Correns. 1915
Richard went through almost the entire war, from 1914 to 1918, rising to the rank of field artillery non-commissioned officer and receiving three wounds. The third, last, almost cost him a leg - because of its consequences, he limped for the rest of his life.
From the front, Richard returned with disgust for the war and for those who unleashed this massacre. In the hospital, he first met the left socialists and joined their movement.
Without five minutes, the shot doctor of sciences
War-crippled guy retained his strength of character. He went to the front without finishing the last class of the school. During treatment in hospitals, Richard managed to pass the final exams at school and enter the medical faculty of the University of Berlin. Then he changed medicine to study political science and economics. After demobilization in January 1918, Sorge transferred to the University of Kiel.
Surprisingly, Richard in these years successfully combines science and politics. He participates in a number of speeches of the left forces, and at the same time in August 1919 he defended his doctoral dissertation at the department state law on the topic "Imperial Tariffs of the Central Association of German Consumer Societies". The author of the dissertation, which received brilliant reviews, shortly before that, was almost shot for participating in the uprising.

In October 1919, the socialist group of Richard Sorge merges into the Communist Party of Germany.
Sorge does a lot of party work, heads the party school of the German communists. In 1924, during the 9th Congress of the KKE, Richard Sorge accompanies a group of representatives of the Comintern who arrived at the congress. After that, Richard receives a job offer in Moscow, in the structures of the Comintern.
Agent of the Comintern
Sorge at this moment is already married with his first marriage. His wife Christina will go with him to the USSR, but the girl will quickly get bored with the struggle for communist ideals, two years later she will leave Richard and return to Germany.
Sorge himself will work for five years in various positions in the Comintern, being remembered by his colleagues for his integrity, harshness of judgment and great efficiency.
In Moscow, formally not divorced Richard meets Ekaterina Maksimova, who becomes his second wife.

In the fall of 1929, Sorge was transferred to work in the Red Army Intelligence Agency - the future of the GRU. So an employee of the Comintern becomes a military intelligence officer.
For intelligence, he is a real find - fluent in German, a well-educated, erudite person who knows how to arouse affection.
In addition, Sorge writes excellently not only dissertations, but also articles for the periodical press, which allows him to work under an absolutely plausible legend of a German journalist.
Mission to China
In 1930, he began working as a reporter for German newspapers in China, under the government of Chiang Kai-shek. The information that he reports to Moscow is recognized as very valuable.
In China, Sorge meets Hotsumi Ozaki, a correspondent for the Tokyo newspaper Osaka Asahi. It was a historic meeting - it was Ozaki who would become one of Sorge's main informants during his work in Japan. Ozaki will eventually share the sad fate of Sorge himself ...
Sorge's business trip to China ended in 1932, and immediately after it, preparations for a mission to Japan began.
But first, Sorge went to Germany to establish contacts in the editorial offices of German publications, which he was supposed to represent in Japan.
He lives in Germany, which has already become Nazi, under his own name, does not hide the fact that he lived in the USSR. There was, they say, a passion for communist ideas, but it has long been a thing of the past.


Sorge manages not to arouse anyone's suspicions. He travels to Japan, having acquired in Germany a mass of useful contacts and connections, among which are diplomats, military men and prominent figures of the Nazi Party.
Journalist, motorcycle racer and womanizer
Over the next few years, he not only creates an extensive network of agents in Japan. At the same time, he becomes a reporter who is known and appreciated in Germany, a man whose articles attract the attention of orientalists. At the same time, he is the soul of the company of German citizens working in Japan.
He participates in all parties and happy holidays, he enters any offices of the German embassy. Among his friends is a high-ranking rank of the Gestapo, whose duties include identifying "suspicious elements" among the citizens of the Reich in Germany. But Sorge, a lover of crazy motorcycle racing, a connoisseur of fine alcohol, a womanizer, remains above suspicion.
Moreover, when the military attache Eugen Ott, a friend of the journalist, became the German ambassador to Japan, Sorge got the post of press secretary of the German embassy.


"Lovelace" is not for a red word. Story " eternal love” at a distance with Ekaterina Maximova, to put it mildly, is exaggerated. For several years in Japan, his third lived with Sorge, civil wife, Hanako Ishii. And many of those who knew Sorge in Japan say that there were dozens of his mistresses.
Suspecting this man as a resident of Soviet intelligence was absolutely unbelievable. The Germans did not even suspect - even when Sorge was captured by Japanese counterintelligence, representatives of the German embassy tore and threw, demanding the release of the "innocent journalist".
Then, when the Japanese presented convincing evidence and the confession of Sorge himself, official Berlin demanded the extradition of the "traitor". However, the Japanese considered that the damage caused by Sorge to their state was much greater.
What did and did not say Richard Sorge
There are many myths associated with the activities of Richard Sorge. For example, such - during the repression of 1937-1938, they wanted to recall the intelligence officer to Moscow to be judged as an "enemy of the people." Sorge, allegedly suspecting such a possibility, refused to come to the USSR.
This version, however, does not find confirmation. Moreover, after several years of intensive work, the intelligence officer repeatedly turned to Moscow with a request for a recall. However, there was no one to fully replace Sorge, and the information supplied by him was too valuable to refuse such a source.

Stalin in the early days of the war.
Colorful stories about how Stalin trampled Sorge's ciphers with the exact date of the German attack are pure fiction of the Khrushchev era. In fact, information about the date of the start of the war with the USSR was received from Sorge several times, and each time the dates were different.
The fact is that Sorge's source of information was the employees of the German embassy, ​​and the German counterintelligence during this period deliberately distributed false reports among diplomats about the upcoming actions of the army in order to mislead the enemy.
Sorge really said that Japan did not intend to attack the USSR in the fall of 1941, which made it possible to transfer reinforcements from Siberia to Moscow, which largely decided the outcome of the battle near Moscow. But even here one must understand that this most important strategic information only became a guide to action for the Soviet command when it was confirmed from several independent sources. Relying on the data of one intelligence officer in such a situation would be unacceptable frivolity.
The secrets were given out by the radio operator
By the fall of 1941, the Japanese secret services were on the heels of Sorge. His first radiogram was intercepted in 1937.
In 1938, his group almost failed because of the resident himself. Sorge crashed on a motorcycle, having with him a large sum money and secret documents. It only saved that Sorge did not lose consciousness until the moment he was able to convey all this to the group's radio coder Max Clausen who came to him. Clausen also managed to seize incriminating documents from Richard Sorge's house before the German embassy officials sealed his papers.
Max Clausen in the history of Richard Sorge is not the most worthy role. When in October 1941 the police arrested Sorge and members of his group, Clausen, at the very first interrogation, gave out everything he knew about encryption codes, which allowed the Japanese to read the radio messages of the Soviet resident.

If Sorge himself, admitting that he was a communist and working for the USSR, did not renounce his views and beliefs, which is confirmed by the materials of his interrogations, then Max Clausen not only told everything he knew, but also poured mud on his comrades and the case, whom he served.
Calling a spade a spade, a man saved his own skin and he saved it, receiving a life sentence instead of the death sentence that was passed by Sorge and Hotsumi Ozaki.
Surprisingly, even after his release in 1946, there were no questions for Max Clausen. He underwent treatment in the USSR, then went to East Germany, and ended his life as a respected and honored pensioner of the GDR.
Was Sorge an "uncomfortable witness"?
Richard Sorge was sentenced to death on September 29, 1943. He spent more than a year on death row awaiting execution. And around this circumstance there is another myth - that Stalin allegedly rejected the Japanese offer to exchange Sorge.
The source of this legend is considered to be another Soviet intelligence officer, a member of the Red Chapel, Leopold Trepper, who referred to the words of a Japanese general with whom he was in the same cell in a prison on Lubyanka.

Leopold Trepper
But, firstly, no other source confirms the reality of such a proposal. Secondly, the motivation for Stalin's refusal does not stand up to scrutiny - allegedly the leader did not want a witness who knew about the "june 22 secret" to remain alive. However, the nuance is that at least one more person should have known this “secret” - the radio operator Max Clausen, who transmitted the ciphers to Sorge.
As you already know, for some reason this “witness” was not shot by the NKVD and did not rot in the camps, but lived out his days safely in the GDR. There can be only one explanation for this - there was no secret, just as there was no offer from the Japanese for an exchange.
And yes, that would be a strange suggestion. Formally, the USSR and Japan were not at war, but the Land of the Rising Sun was an ally of Germany. And what would the extradition of Moscow's agent, who is a German citizen, look like in the eyes of Berlin?
Scout Heart
Richard Sorge was hanged at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo on November 7, 1944 at 10:20 am. The body of the scout was very strong - the prison doctor recorded a cardiac arrest only eight minutes later. For many years it was believed that before his execution, Sorge shouted: “Long live the Red Army! Long live the Comintern!
However, documents found in 2004 in Japan describing the execution procedure did not record anything of the kind. They say that Sorge behaved calmly, thanked the prison officers and went to the cell for the execution of sentences.

Richard Sorge
It is possible, of course, that Japanese officials did not dare to introduce sedition into the protocol, but, most likely, last words Richard Sorge is just another of the many myths about him.
The popularity of the Soviet intelligence officer in the West in the early 1960s was due to the Americans. It was they who, after the end of World War II, found the “Sorge case” in the Japanese archives. For several years, these materials were studied as a manual on the work of the Soviet special services. On the background cold war Americans were also very interested in the question of whether the Soviet Union was pushing Japan into war with the United States.
All secrets will never be revealed
In 1949, materials about Sorge were first published in the Japanese press, from where they migrated to the media of other countries.
Initially, Richard Sorge was buried in a common grave in the courtyard of the Sugamo prison. Subsequently, the remains of the Soviet intelligence officer were reburied by the American occupying authorities at the Tama cemetery in Tokyo with military honors.


As already mentioned, the myth about Richard Sorge, created in the USSR in the mid-1960s, is far from the truth. But there is no doubt that Richard Sorge was an outstanding intelligence officer who honestly served the Soviet Union and believed in his ideals to the end.
All the secrets of Richard Sorge may never be fully revealed. Such is the fate of a true spy.

Today it can be said 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 mined classified information in the Asian capital, where scouts 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, moved to permanent 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 Hamburg University at the Faculty of Political Science. Where he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1919, Richard Sorge met German communists and joined the Communist Party of Germany in the 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 shorter by 2.5 cm. In the hospital, young Sorge gets acquainted with the works of Marx, and this determines his whole further fate- he becomes a staunch supporter communist movement. In the course of active party activity, 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 informers.

In the first half of the 1930s. under the pseudonym Ramsay worked in Shanghai (China). During the years of work 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 to the German ambassador, General Yugen Otto.

With the invasion of Japanese troops in 1931 into Manchuria, the balance of forces on the Asian continent changed radically. Japan has made a serious bid for Asian superpower status. Therefore, the interests of Soviet intelligence officers are switched to the Country rising sun. The head of the intelligence department Ya.K. Berzin recalled Sorge from China and in 1933 gave him a new task - to establish whether it was possible in principle to organize a Soviet residency in Japan. Before that, not a single Soviet intelligence officer was able to gain a foothold here.

At first, Sorge refuses, because he believes that with his European appearance he will not be able to escape the gaze of suspicious Japanese. However, Berzin declares that Sorge, like no one else, is suitable for this most risky task, that he is only required to turn his flaw into dignity and in no case hide that he is German. In addition, the profession of a journalist allows him, without causing 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 of the Soviet intelligence can compare with him in thorough knowledge economic problems. Now Sorge needs to return to Germany and install business relationship with the editorial offices of those newspapers that he intends to represent in Tokyo.

Returning from China to Germany. established links with military intelligence and the Gestapo, joined the NSDAP. He worked as a journalist, and then was sent to Tokyo as a correspondent for several newspapers. Became the leading German journalist in Japan, published frequently in the Nazi press. On the eve of the war, he managed to take the post of press attaché of the German embassy in Tokyo. Well-rounded, with excellent manners and knowledge of many foreign languages, Sorge made extensive 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 won the authority of a high-class journalist-analyst; it is not without reason that his articles are printed 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 KPD who graduated from radio operator courses in Moscow;

citizen of Yugoslavia, correspondent French magazine"V" Branko Vukelic, recruited by Soviet intelligence in Paris, and Japanese artist Iotoku Miyagi, who lived in the United States for a long time, joined the Communist Party there and returned to Japan at the insistence of Russian agents. Later, Sorge connects the Japanese journalist Hozumi Ozaki, who has become one of the most important sources of information for Ramsay, to work. Another valuable source is the recently appointed German military attache Eigen Ott in Tokyo, with whom Sorge manages to establish friendly relations. To win Ott's trust, Sorge, who is well versed in the situation in the Far East, supplies him with information about the armed forces and military industry Japan. As a result, Ott's memos acquire an analytical depth that was previously uncharacteristic of them and produce good impression to the Berlin authorities. Sorge becomes a welcome guest in Ott's house, who literally became a "find for a spy" because of his peculiarity of discussing official matters with friends. Sorge was a grateful listener and competent adviser.

In 1935, Sorge, on a call from his superiors, traveled in a roundabout way through New York to Moscow and received the next task, the new head of the Fourth Directorate, Uritsky - to find out whether Japan was capable of attacking the USSR with its material and human resources. Then it was decided to replace the radio operator. Sorge's new radio operator was Max Clausen, an acquaintance of Richard's from Shanghai.

It is noteworthy that the cipher used by Clausen cannot be deciphered by either Japanese or Western decipherers. As a key, Sorge, with his characteristic wit, decided to use the statistical yearbooks of the Reich, which made it possible to vary the cipher to infinity. In addition, information is transmitted through secret channels to the Center on microfilms. Particularly important images, such as military installations or weapons, were reduced to the size of a dot with the help of special equipment. special composition pasted at the end of the line of the letter of the most ordinary content.

Operation Millet cost Soviet intelligence only $40,000, a very small amount for the 25-man Sorge group operating in such a expensive city like Tokyo. All of them lived mainly on income from their legal activities. This applies primarily to Clausen and Miyagi, whose engravings were in constant demand. Vukelich earned not only as a photographer, but also as a Tokyo representative of the French telegraph agency Gavas. This opened the doors of many closed institutions for him.

In February 1936, the political situation in Japan escalated sharply as a result of a failed military coup staged by a group of officers to overthrow the government of Admiral Okada. Sorge, trying through his own channels to find out the background and consequences of this failed plot, 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 is already accustomed to helping Sorge. As expected, Sorge's report is highly appreciated in the Reich Chancellery. As a result, Eigen Ott is appointed Ambassador of Japan.

The situation in Tokyo itself is escalating day by day. Another wave of spy mania is sweeping the country. The government spends "days" and even "weeks" of fighting espionage, there are calls from the pages of newspapers, cinema screens and on the radio to increase vigilance, and shop windows are decorated with images of enemy agents who, of course, do not look like the Japanese. Sorge's people have to be extremely careful. Not without a curiosity, which, however, could lead to the failure of the entire agency. This time, Sorge himself blundered: after a party at the Imperial Hotel, a favorite meeting place

of all foreigners in Tokyo - Sorge, being quite drunk, gets into his motorcycle "tsundap" and rushes to his apartment like a whirlwind. On the turn, he fails to keep the steering wheel, and he crashes into the wall right next to the police box at the entrance to the American embassy. As a result of the accident, Sorge suffered a severe concussion and a broken jaw. Luckily, he is quickly taken to St. 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 retain the remnants of consciousness. Only after the arrival of Clausen, when Sorge managed to whisper a few words into his ear, does he fall into oblivion and he is taken to the operating room.

In mid-June 1938, an event occurs 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, 3rd rank state security commissioner 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 from a new wave of Stalinist purges, of which Berezin and Uritsky have already become victims. An airplane is sent for him from Tokyo and placed in one of the carefully guarded buildings of the War Ministry. He reports such valuable information that the new German military attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Scholl, whom the Japanese General Staff regularly supplies with all necessary information, even invites Canaris to send one of his employees to Tokyo. Of course, Sorge is 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 the units of the Far Eastern army is distinguished by accuracy and competence. In the hope of earning the trust of the new owners, he tells everything he knows. Never before had Japan and Germany been able to come so close to the holy of holies of Soviet intelligence. Through Lieutenant Colonel Scholl, Sorge manages to obtain and retake 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 in a matter of days to replace all the code tables used for encrypted communication, and thereby prevent the possibility of leakage of classified information.

In mid-1938, Sorge managed to get close to the new head of the Japanese government, Prince Konoe. His secretary is Ozaki Ushiba, a former classmate of the prince and: Sorge's best agent. For a year and a half, until the prince retires, Ozaki will keep Moscow informed about everything that is being done and thought by Japanese politicians and the military. Later, Ozaki will take the post of head of the research department in the board of the South Manchurian railway. Information will come from him not only about the movement of units of the Kwantung Army, but also about impending sabotage and the sending of agents.

In September 1939, Hitler's troops invade Poland. All diplomatic services of the Reich will intensify their work. Ott invites his friend Sorge to become an employee of the embassy. However, the journalist, in his usual joking manner, refuses such a flattering offer and only expresses his readiness to continue to privately act as secretary to Ambassador Ott and supply the embassy staff with all the information he receives. That's what it says in the treaty he and Ott signed. In addition, Sorge agrees to publish a daily bulletin intended for the two thousandth German colony in Tokyo. The new duty, although burdensome, 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 it was just another "alarmist" message. He did not believe Sorge.

Having received valuable intelligence information. Sorge was one of the first to report to Moscow data on the composition of the Nazi invasion forces, the date of the attack on the USSR, general scheme military plan of the Wehrmacht. However, these data were so detailed and, moreover, did not coincide with the confidence of I.V. Stalin that A. Hitler would not attack the USSR, that they were not given 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 demeanor, his independent way of life and often neglecting the first rules of conspiracy. So, 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 radiograms and, in addition, describes in detail the activities of their group in his diary. Sorge's excessive predilection for women and numerous novels, including with his wife Ott, cannot but alarm the Chekist leadership in Moscow. Later, police records found numerous records of Sorge's antics while intoxicated. When he gets drunk, he usually gets on a motorcycle and rushes at breakneck speed wherever his eyes look. And the most surprising 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. All this so far got away with the lucky Sorge. Until Mr. Chance intervened.

In October 1941, one of Ozaki's subordinates was arrested by Japanese intelligence agents on suspicion of belonging to the Communist Party. During interrogations, among other acquaintances of the chief, he named the artist Miyagi, a search of which revealed whole line compromising materials. 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 enemy intelligence, completely compromises him, makes every effort to hush up this story. He tries to convince Berlin that Sorge was the victim of the intrigues of the Japanese police. Oddly enough, he almost succeeds, despite the testimonies of members of his group that accuse Sorge. And only when the Abwehr resident in the Far East, Ivar Lissner, intervenes in the case, the investigation into the Sorge case receives unequivocal assessment: Sorge is an agent of Moscow.

Ott has to resign and put an end to his diplomatic career.

The trial of members of the Ramsay group took place in May 1943. By that time, Miyagi was no longer alive. Vukelić suffered the same fate a year and a half after the trial that sentenced him to life imprisonment. Clausen, who had devoted the Japanese more to the activities of the Ramsay group and was sentenced to life imprisonment, would 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 Sorge only in 1964 after he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the 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 Kremlin's first official admission that it had resorted to espionage. As for the role of Sorge in Stalin's transfer of troops from Far East on the defense of Moscow, which military historians are still arguing about, then it was by no means decisive. An analysis of the situation in the world allowed Stalin already in June 1941 to conclude that a 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.