In 1914 he volunteered for German army and took part in World War I. On the battlefields he was wounded three times. In 1916, he was awarded the Iron Cross of the second degree for his participation in the battles. Demobilized from the army in January 1918.
In 1916-1919, Richard Sorge studied at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin, at the faculty social sciences at the University of Kiel. In 1919, at the University of Hamburg, he defended his dissertation "Imperial Tariffs of the Central Association of German Consumer Societies".
In 1917-1919 he was a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party. In 1919 he joined the German Communist Party.
In 1917-1919 he was an agitator in Kiel and Hamburg, then from 1919 to 1920 as a member of the Communist Party - an agitator in the Rhineland.
In 1922-1924 he was a teacher of party courses and editor of a party newspaper in Wuppertal and Solingen.
Sorge went to Moscow and took Soviet citizenship. In 1925 he joined the Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks - RCP(b).
In 1925-1929 he worked scientific work at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism.
As an instructor of the Comintern in 1927-1929 visited a number of foreign countries- Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, Ireland, has repeatedly been to Germany.
In 1929, Richard Sorge was recruited by the head of Soviet military intelligence, Yan Berzin, and carried out assignments abroad.
He worked under pseudonyms - Ika Rihardovich Zonter, Ramsay, Inson and others.
After legalization in Germany in October-December 1929, he successfully operated in China in 1930-1932 - first as a recruiter-informer, then as a resident.
In China, Sorge created a network of agents that transmitted valuable information.
Returning from China to Germany, Sorge established contacts with military intelligence and the Gestapo, joined the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (NSDLP).
In 1933-1941 he worked in Japan as a resident. Since 1933 he was the own correspondent of the newspaper "Frankfurter Zeitung" in Tokyo. Sorge won the prestige of a high-class journalist-analyst, became the leading German journalist in Japan, and was often published in the Nazi press.
On the eve of the war, Richard Sorge took over as press attaché at the German embassy in Tokyo. Well-rounded, with excellent manners and knowledge of many foreign languages, Sorge made extensive connections with German circles and was a member of the highest circles of the Nazi embassy.
He created in Japan an extensive intelligence organization of anti-fascist internationalists, which collected important information about the plans Nazi Germany and Japan before the start of the Great Patriotic War and in its initial period. Thanks to their activities, the Soviet command received important information about the plans of the Wehrmacht.
The meaning of Sorge's work was to prevent the possibility of war between Japan and the USSR, which he brilliantly performed. In the autumn of 1941, Sorge announced that Japan would not enter the war against the USSR, but would fight on pacific ocean against the United States, this allowed the USSR to transfer troops to the west.
Four months before the German attack on the Soviet Union, Sorge informed the Soviet government of the start date of the Great Patriotic War.
On October 18, 1941, Richard Sorge and his assistants were arrested by the Japanese authorities. In September 1943, Sorge was sentenced to death.
On November 7, 1944, he was executed in Tokyo's Sugamo Prison. He was buried in Tokyo at the Tama Cemetery.
In 1964, Richard Sorge was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Soviet Union.
Streets in Moscow, Lipetsk, Kazan, Ufa, Rostov-on-Don, Astana, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg are named after Sorge.
In Baku, where the scout was born, there is a house-museum of Sorge, one of the main streets of the city is named after him.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
November 7 is associated in the memory of former citizens of the USSR, destroyed by the traitor Gorbachev, with a very specific holiday. But few people know that 69 years ago, on this very day, November 7, 1944, the heart of a true patriot of our country stopped beating.
Who gave his life in the name of the Motherland.
The name of this person is Richard Sorge.
Who is Richard Sorge? After all, today many young people do not know him? This is a Soviet intelligence officer who created a group that worked on the territory of Japan. This is one of the most famous scouts in history. This is how this profession is already arranged - those who were discovered, who were arrested are famous in it. Who died.
The symbolism of numbers. On October 18, 1941, Richard Sorge and his comrades were arrested in Tokyo. On November 7, 1944, Richard Sorge and Ozaki Hozumi were executed by the Japanese. The symbolism of the numbers is visible to the naked eye. Soviet intelligence officers are executed per day October revolution. The investigation has been going on for three years! To whom and what did the Japanese authorities want to say by scheduling the execution of Sorge on such a day?
Let's remember the facts of the life of this wonderful man. His life was incredible, and his service to the Motherland was sacrificial. The story of Richard Sorge is full of mysteries and unexpected twists.
Therefore, I announce a game-competition for the knowledge of the facts from the life of our intelligence officer. Grand Prize- a book with an autograph, a choice of 12 of my books. Choice for the winner of the contest. The rules and deadlines, as well as the questions themselves, will be a little lower.
And now the facts from the life of Richard Sorge.
I am sure that even if many have heard his name, these facts are not known to everyone. Sitting in prison, Sorge left notes.
« Our family was in many respects significantly different from the usual families of the Berlin bourgeoisie,” he would later write. “The Sorge family had a special way of life, and this left its mark on my childhood years, I was different from ordinary children ... There was something in me that somewhat distinguished me from others ...”. Once, in a conversation with his Richard Sorge, he exclaimed: “I may be too Russian, I am Russian to the marrow of my bones! ..»
He was half Russian, half German. His mother, Nina Semyonovna Kobeleva, the daughter of a contract worker, was from a poor family. In our country in those years, everything was very good with demographics. Medical care is much worse. Sorge's mother was 22 when her parents died, leaving Nina with six siblings to feed. At this time, forty-year-old German oilfield technician Adolf Sorge wooed her. A handsome, prominent widower with a luxurious beard. After some deliberation, Nina Semyonovna agreed to marry him.
Until the age of four, he did not know German - he spoke only Russian. When little he was three years old, the family moved to Germany. Adolf Sorge bought a small house in Wilmersdorf, a western suburb of Berlin. Raising sons on oneself in order to instill in them a truly German spirit, to instill that "Deutschland uber alies!"
« Father was a nationalist and imperialist,- Richard will say later - he lived his whole life under the impression received in youth when, as a result of the war of 1870-1871. the German Empire was created, he only knew that he was worried about his property abroad and about his social position».
But his youngest son was not interested in his father's capital and not in the stock prices on the stock exchange, as it should be for a respectable bourgeois.
« In history, literature, philosophy, social studies, I was much stronger than any of the students in my class. In other subjects, he studied below the average level. For a long time I scrupulously studied the political situation. When I was 15 years old, I began to show a keen interest in such "difficult" writers as Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, Klopstock, Dante”Sorge wrote later.
History judged father and son differently. If you are not involved in politics, then she will be engaged in you.
In the summer of 1914, graduate student Richard Sorge volunteered for the German army. The First World War began. Agree, this is strange - but true. A German soldier, a volunteer, will give his life for the USSR-Russia. But that will be later.
« I never returned to school, did not pass my final exams, and immediately volunteered for the army. What prompted me to do this? ardent desire to begin new life, to put an end to scholasticism, the desire to free oneself from a life that seemed absolutely meaningless to an 18-year-old boy. The general excitement caused by the war also mattered. I did not tell anyone about my decision - neither my comrades, nor my mother, nor other relatives."- Sorge writes about the events of 1914.
After six weeks of training military unit Sorge was sent to the front, to Belgium. Here, in the area of the river Yser, he first appeared in battle. The Germans triumphantly invaded France and soon approached Paris. The Russian army, having not really prepared, for the sake of saving the allies, invades East Prussia. And he dies, led by General Samsonov, who shot himself, preferring death to disgrace. This is what will save Paris, this is what will become the source of the so-called "miracle on the Marne." Without taking the capital of France,
German troops were defeated and forced to hastily retreat.
A positional war began. The Iser is a narrow river with a very slow flow and low banks. Here Sorge and his comrades had to dig trenches, and this turned out to be no easy task. Water appeared at a depth of several centimeters, since the entire area is below sea level. On October 24, 1914, German troops launched an attack along the entire line of the Isère and broke through the defense line of the Belgians, French and British.
The Belgians open the floodgates. Turbid waters rush to the German army. Richard Sorge is floundering in the water, choking on black liquid mud. Soldiers are drowning, guns and mortars are sinking. And at night, the Allies attack the Germans, stunned by the flood. Ten days of hell. Ten days of attacks and counterattacks. Mountains of corpses. In the trench, in the mud lies a soldier Richard Sorge.
This battle went down in history as "a dump in Flanders."
« This bloody battle brought into my soul and into the souls of my front-line comrades the first, and, moreover, the most profound feeling of unrest. In the beginning, I was full of desire to take part in military affairs, I dreamed of adventure. Now, a period of silence and sobering has come ... I began to sort out in my memory everything that I knew from history, and thought deeply. I noticed that I was participating in one of the countless wars that broke out in Europe, on a battlefield that has a history of several hundred, no, several thousand years! I thought about how pointless the wars were, repeated so many times one after the other. How many times before me German soldiers, intending to invade France, fought here in Belgium! How many times did the troops of France and other states come here to break into Germany! Do people know in the name of what these wars were fought in the past? I wondered: what are the hidden motives that led to this new aggressive war? Who again wanted to own this region, mines, factories? Who, at the cost of human lives, seeks to achieve these goals of theirs? None of my front-line comrades wanted to attach or seize it. And none of them knew about the true goals of the war and, of course, did not understand the whole meaning of this massacre arising from them.».
In one of these battles, Richard Sorge received his first serious wound - in his right shoulder. Having recovered, he comes to Berlin ... to pass the final exams at school. And enter the University of Berlin at the Faculty of Medicine.
However, he soon returned to the front. Without even waiting for the end of the vacation, Richard returns to his unit. And soon, in the autumn of 1915, the artillery regiment in which he served was transferred to the Eastern Front. The future hero of the Soviet Union ended up in Russia again...
After a sudden shelling of his battery by Russian heavy artillery, Sorge almost died. Of the entire calculation, only he survived. Two fragments broke the humerus, one hit the knee. I woke up in a field infirmary...
In the trenches of World War I, Sorge becomes interested in politics. He is sympathetic to the ideas of the Social Democrats, he learns about the revolution in Russia. The ideas of the Bolsheviks about the immediate end of the war attracted the young soldier.
In January 1918, Sorge retired from the army, went to Kiel and entered the university here. Closest to him are the views of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany. He is campaigning. And in Germany, chaos, anarchy and civil war begin.
Sorge meets Ernst Telman. On October 15, 1919, he officially formalized his entry into the Communist Party of Germany, received party card No. 086781. Now this party card is on display at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
In 1924, his life takes a new sharp turn. Journalist, editor, communist Sorge meets with members of the Soviet delegation. I think it was here that he made contact with our intelligence. At the end of December 1924, Sorge left for Moscow. In March 1925, the Khamovniki District Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks accepted Sorge into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
At first, in the USSR, he works as a journalist, publishes works. I think that "journalism" was a cover for the preparatory phase of the future Soviet spy. Nevertheless, Sorge masters the pen superbly. Some of his works are published not only in the USSR, but also in Germany.
At this time, Richard finds his love in Russia. Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Maksimova becomes his wife. During the war, she will outlive Sorge, dying in an evacuation accident.
But when they take him to his execution, he will not know this ...
Yan Karlovich Berzin becomes Sorge's curator, his head in intelligence, whose personality deserves separate close consideration.
In 1931, Japan begins an invasion of China, pushed by Britain and the United States. The plan of the West is simple - to squeeze the USSR from two sides. Japan and Germany must destroy our country. It was within the framework of this plan that Hitler would soon be brought to power. The Japanese take over part of China, announcing the creation puppet state Manchukuo in Manchuria. That is, on the border with the USSR.
Sorge is heading to China. This is his first assignment. Create a network, get information about the plans of the Japanese and Chinese. In the spring of 1933 he returned to the USSR.
To go to Japan in just three months. And go down in history.
Here, Richard Sorge will create an intelligence network that will fully fulfill its task.
He arrived in Japan as a correspondent for several publications (the newspaper of the German financiers "Berliner Börsentseitung", the reputable magazine "Zeitshrift für geopolitik", as well as the Dutch exchange newspaper "Alhemeen Handeleblad"). Sorge wrote materials for them about Japan at a very high level, which quickly became a very noticeable fact in the small German colony in Japan. To do this, Richard began to study a lot of materials on the history of Japan, its economy and culture.
« The level of my knowledge required to work in Japan- Sorge later wrote, - was not at all lower than that given by German universities. I understood the economy, history, politics of European countries. While in China, I took up writing several articles about Japan in order to get a general idea about it ... All this led to the following natural conclusion: it is necessary to constantly analyze and study the problems of Japan in depth . If I had not been able to accurately analyze the situation, I would have lost all respect from my Japanese assistants. Without due authority and sufficient erudition, I would not have been able to occupy such a strong position in the German embassy. It was for these reasons that when I arrived in Japan, I began to thoroughly study Japanese problems .... I delved into the details of the reign of Empress Jingu, the raids of Japanese pirates, studied the era of Shogun Hideyoshi ... Mastering the problems of Ancient Japan helped to understand the economic and political problems of modern Japan».
He was fascinated by science. He was fascinated by Japan. In the shortest possible time, Richard Sorge became a leading expert and specialist in "Japanese affairs"
« If I had a chance to live in a peaceful society and in a peaceful political environment, then I would, in all likelihood, become a scientist. At least I know for sure - I would not have chosen the profession of a scout"- wrote Sorge.
The Berliner Börsentseitung was also read at the German embassy in Tokyo. Through his articles, Sorge gained confidence in the German ambassador to Japan, von Dirksen. The ambassador was struck by the journalist's erudition, his awareness of all issues, his ability to look ahead, generalize and draw conclusions. He begins to consult with Sorge, then asks for constant consultations.
Thus, the Soviet intelligence officer got the opportunity to influence the information that was sent to Berlin and gained access to materials coming from Berlin.
Sorge befriends Lieutenant Colonel Eigen Ott, "a trainee of the German army in the Japanese troops." After a while, he also asks for advice and consultations. As a result, Eigen Ott becomes the German ambassador to Japan, and the "journalist" Richard Sorge is his closest confidant.
Sorge first becomes a candidate, and then a member of the NSDAP. Ambassador Ott has complete confidence in him.
Life, however, is much wider than any schemes. Even such a responsible and serious person as Sorge had his weaknesses. He loved to ride a motorcycle. And it's even hard to imagine how it would go world history if on May 13, 1938, Sorge suffered more in an accident. Having lost control of the motorcycle, he was very badly injured, but gradually recovered. The lameness remained until the end of life. In the hospital, Sorge visits him best friend- German Ambassador Ott with his wife ...
With his articles about Japan, Sorge always tried to create a certain mood in the German leadership towards Japan. Here are the titles of his articles:
"Japanese Armed Forces", "Japan's Financial Concerns", "Is Hayashi's Victory a Pyrrhic Victory?", "Prince Konoe Gathers Japan's Forces", "Uncertainty Between Tokyo and London", "Hindering Expansionist Policies", "Japanese Economy Under military legislation", "Japan after a year of war", "Hong Kong and southwestern China in the Sino-Japanese conflict", "Japan is fighting at half strength", "War economy" instead of "open doors", "Imperial way"
The mood needed to pit the Germans and the Japanese, to create a sense of Japan's insecurity as an ally and its weakness as a military partner.
Separately, I would like to say about what information Sorge sent to Moscow.
« It would be a mistake to think that I sent all the information I collected to Moscow. No, I sifted it through my thick sieve and sent it only when I was convinced that the information was perfect and reliable. It required a lot of effort. I did the same when analyzing the political and military situation. At the same time, I was always aware of the danger of any kind of self-confidence. I never thought I could answer any question about Japan.».
After his release, the group's radio operator Sorge recalled: " I saw a mountain of transmissions intercepted by radio amateurs, telegraph, post, state radio stations, etc. If this is the fourth part of what I have broadcast over 6 years of work, then this is a lot. Some broadcasts were recorded flawlessly. In others, only excerpts are correctly recorded.».
Richard Sorge sent a lot of information to Moscow.
December 28, 1940 "Ramsay" radioed: " 80 German divisions are concentrated on the German-Soviet borders. Hitler intends to occupy the territory of the USSR along the line Kharkov - Moscow - Leningrad ...».
On the advice of Richard, Ott made an inquiry regarding the timing of the attack on the USSR. The unequivocal answer came: "Hitler plans to invade Russia in May 1941!"
May 6 "Ramsay" reports: " The German Ambassador Ott told me that Hitler was determined to crush the USSR. The possibility of war is very great. Hitler and his staff are confident that the war against the Soviet Union will not in the least hinder the invasion of England. The decision to start a war against the USSR will be made by Hitler either this month or after the invasion of England.».
May 21 new message: " Representatives of Hitler, who arrived here from Germany, confirm that the war will begin at the end of May. Germany concentrated 9 armies against the USSR, consisting of 150 divisions».
On the eve of June 22, Sorge transmitted a message stating the correct timing of the German strike. But before that, several times the dates were called erroneous ...
Sorge was unable to prevent the surprise attack on June 22. But it was beyond his power. In that most complicated geopolitical game of May-June 1941, Stalin was personally involved in the "game". And Hitler managed to mislead Stalin. Why and how is a book-length story...
In the autumn of 1941, he sent a telegram to the Center: “Further stay in Japan is useless. Therefore, I am waiting for instructions: whether to return to my homeland or go to Germany for new work? Ramsay.
« At the time of my arrest, there were between 800 and 1,000 volumes of books in my house. Apparently, they puzzled the police a lot. Most of them were dedicated to Japan».
Today we must remember the hero who gave his life for our country...
Questions about Richard Sorge.
(Answers to questions can be written under this material on the site site or sent to the address [email protected]. The results of the contest will be announced in a week. The prize for each of the three winners is my autographed book. The winners will be determined by the combination of the correctness of the answer and its speed.)
- What awards does Richard Sorge have?
- When and in what countries was Sorge arrested in his life?
- How did Gorbachev's betrayal affect the biography of Richard Sorge?
- What is the main merit of Richard Sorge as a scout?
- Why was the activity of the Sorge network called “Operation Ramsay”, and why were his reports signed as “Ramsay”?
- The famous scene of the meeting between Stirlitz and his wife in a Berlin cafe has become a classic of our cinema. In what city did Richard Sorge meet (already being abandoned in Japan) with his wife?
- What is the unusual behavior of Richard Sorge during the investigation?
- What happened to the German Ambassador Ott when it was revealed that his "friend" Richard Sorge was a Soviet intelligence officer?
- Which episode of the “Sorge case” clearly shows that there were very strained relations between Germany and Japan, which are difficult to call allied, which is partly due to the activities of Richard Sorge?
We must know and remember our heroes!
04.10.1895 - 07.11.1944
The hero of the USSR
| Decree dates | |
| 1. | 05.11.1964 |
| Monuments | |
| tombstone | ||
| Annotation board in Kurgan | ||
| Annotation board in St. Petersburg |
W orge Richard - journalist; Soviet intelligence officer - head of the organization of anti-fascist internationalists operating in Japan during the 2nd World War.
Born on October 4, 1895 in the village of Sabunchi, near the city of Baku (now Azerbaijan) in the family of a German oil technician. German. In 1899, Sorge's father, who had accumulated a fortune, left with his family for Germany. Richard graduated from advanced high school in Berlin, early became interested in history, philosophy, politics.
In 1914 he volunteered for the front and was wounded. Returning to Germany, he entered the University of Berlin, but, without finishing his studies, he went to the Eastern Front. In 1916, he became close to the left socialists and became a staunch communist. 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 same year, non-commissioned officer Sorge was demobilized, having received the Iron Cross 2 for participating in the war th degree.
He moved to finish his studies at the University of Kiel. Participated in the uprising of sailors in Kiel in November 1918. To understand the living conditions of the working class, he went to work in the mines of the Ruhr coal basin, where he worked for almost a year. In December 1919 he joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Then he graduated from the university with a doctorate political science, taught, was the editor of a communist newspaper, worked at a private institute. He was subjected to repressions for his political activities.
In 1924, Richard Sorge moved to the Soviet Union, took Soviet citizenship, worked in Soviet institutions, wrote a number of works on international relations. Member of the CPSU (b) since 1925. In 1925-1929 he was engaged in scientific work at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. In 1929, Sorge was recruited by the head of the Soviet military intelligence Ya.K. Berzin and performed assignments in Germany and China.
In the first half of the 1930s, under the pseudonym Ramsay, Sorge worked in Shanghai (China). During the years of work in China, under the guise of a German journalist and a "true Aryan", he made a good showing in Nazi circles and in 1933 "joined" the Nazi Party.
In the same year, he arrived in Japan as an employee of a German newspaper. An extraordinary personality in many respects, a subtle analyst, a talented journalist, Sorge became a valuable source of information. The organization of anti-fascist internationalists he created in Japan collected important information about the aggressive plans of the German fascists and Japanese militarists before the Great Patriotic War and during its initial period. The meaning of the work of the Sorge group was to prevent the possibility of a war between Japan and the USSR, which he brilliantly performed. In the fall of 1941, Sorge announced that Japan would not enter the war against the USSR, but would fight in the Pacific against the United States. This allowed the USSR to transfer troops to the west. So the Siberian divisions became the strike force that helped win the battle for Moscow. After the arrest in the USSR of the leaders Sorge Berzin and Uritsky, the destruction of the wife of 3.E. Maximova, he refused to come to the USSR "on vacation" and, naturally, did not enjoy Stalin's confidence.
On October 18, 1941, Richard Sorge was arrested by the Japanese authorities. In 1943 he was sentenced to death. No attempts were made to exchange Sorge for a Japanese resident of the USSR. November 7, 1944 Sorge was executed in Sugamo Prison. Buried in Tokyo.
W The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded posthumously to Richard Sorge by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 5, 1964.
A street in Moscow is named after the Hero of the Soviet Union, where a sculptural composition is installed. The name of the legendary scout is on the streets of many cities in Russia and the former USSR.
In the early 60s of the 20th century, the French film director Yves Champi created the feature film "Who are you, Dr. Sorge?".
The writing:
Articles. Correspondence. Reviews. M., 1971.
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 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, 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 2.5 cm shorter. In the hospital, young Sorge gets acquainted with the works of Marx, and this determines his entire future 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 informants.
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 Land of the Rising Sun. The head of the intelligence department Ya.K. Berzin recalls Sorge from China and in 1933 gives him a new task - to establish whether there is a fundamental possibility of organizing 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 socio-political sciences, and none of the secret employees of the Soviet intelligence can compare with him in a thorough knowledge of economic problems. Now Sorge needs to return to Germany and establish business relations 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 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. Comprehensively educated, 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 of the French magazine "Vi" 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 get involved. 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 make a good impression on the Berlin authorities. Sorge becomes a welcome guest in the house of Ott, 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 photographs, such as military objects or weapons, were reduced to the size of a dot with the help of special equipment, which was glued with a special compound at the end of a line of a letter of the most ordinary content.
Operation Millet cost Soviet intelligence only $40,000, a small sum for the 25-man Sorge group operating in an 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 the 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. It allowed Soviet command in a matter of days, replace all code tables used for encrypted communication, and thereby prevent the possibility of leakage of secret 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: 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 would take the post of head of the research department on the board of the South Manchurian Railway. From him information will be received not only about the movement of units of the Kwantung Army, but also about impending sabotage and sending 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, and the general scheme of the Wehrmacht military plan. 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 a number of materials compromising 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 enemy intelligence agent, 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 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 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.
Richard Sorge (German: Richard Sorge). Born on October 4, 1895 in Sabunchi (Baku district, Baku province, Russian empire listen)) - died on November 7, 1944 in Tokyo (Empire of Japan). Soviet intelligence officer, resident of Soviet intelligence in Japan in 1933-1941. Undercover pseudonym Ramsay. Hero of the Soviet Union (1964, posthumously).
He had German (by father) and Russian (by mother) roots.
Father - Gustav Wilhelm Richard Sorge (1852-1907), an engineer, was engaged in oil production at the Nobel company in the Baku fields.
Mother - Nina Stepanovna Kobeleva, from the family of a railway worker (died in 1952 in Germany).
The elder brother - Herman Sorge, a chemical engineer, after the war was in Soviet captivity and was sent to one of the special laboratories.
The younger brother, Wilhelm Sorge, went missing on the eve of World War II.
Great-uncle - Friedrich Adolf Sorge (1826-1906), was one of the leaders of the First International, the secretary of Karl Marx.
Sorge himself wrote in his 1927 autobiography: “My father's family is a family of hereditary intellectuals and at the same time a family with old revolutionary traditions. Both my own grandfather and both of my great-uncles, especially Friedrich Adolf Sorge, were active revolutionaries on the eve, during and after the revolution of 1848.
In 1898 the family moved from Russia to Germany. The family was wealthy, as Sorge himself noted, "in our house they did not hear about financial difficulties."
In October 1914, without graduating from a real school, Richard Sorge volunteered for the German army, participated in the battles of the First World War. It was originally directed to western front in the field artillery.
In the summer of 1915, in battles on the German-Belgian front, he was wounded near Ypres for the first time. During treatment in the Berlin infirmary, he passed the exam for a matriculation certificate. Having received the rank of corporal, he was sent to the East - as part of a unit to support the Austro-Hungarian troops in Galicia in battles against the Russian army, but less than three weeks later he received a shrapnel wound. He was promoted to non-commissioned officer of the 43rd Reserve Field Artillery Regiment and awarded the Iron Cross II Class.
In 1916, after the hospital, he returned to the 43rd Field Artillery Regiment, which participated in combat operations under the walls of the Verdun fortress.
In April 1917, he was very seriously wounded by a shell explosion: one fragment hit his fingers, two more fragments hit his legs. He hung on barbed wire for three days. In the Königsberg infirmary, he was operated on, as a result of which one leg became several centimeters shorter than the other. In January 1918 he was commissioned for disability.
The war led him to a deep spiritual turning point, as a result of which he became close to the left socialists in the hospital and accepted the teachings of Marx. He himself later wrote: World War had a profound effect on my entire life. I think that no matter how much I was influenced by various other factors, it was only because of this war that I became a communist.”
In 1917 he received a certificate of secondary education, and in 1918 - a diploma from the Friedrich Wilhelm Imperial University in Berlin. After demobilization, he entered the faculty of social sciences at the University of Kiel. When the university opened in Hamburg, Sorge enrolled there as an applicant for a degree in the Faculty of State and Law, passed the exam with honors and received the degree of Doctor of State and Law. In August 1919 he received a degree in economics from the University of Hamburg.
In November 1918, in Kiel, where he moved from Berlin, Sorge participated in a sailor's mutiny. He was a member of the Kiel Council of Workers and Sailors, who armed the population, tried to help the revolution in Berlin, almost died. He was expelled by the authorities back to Kiel, from there he moved to Hamburg, where, along with propaganda work, he began to practice as a journalist. Here, in one of the pioneer detachments, he met with the future leader of the KKE, Ernst Thalmann.
In 1917-1919 - a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party, since 1919 - a member of the Communist Party of Germany. He was a propagandist in Wuppertal and Frankfurt am Main, worked as a miner.
From November 1920 to 1921 he edited the party newspaper in Solingen. He was a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, better known as the Frankfurt School.
Personal life Richard Sorge:
Twice he was officially married. Didn't have children.
First wife - Christina Gerlach. She left him in 1926, returning from the USSR to Germany. They officially divorced in 1932.
Christina Gerlach - first wife of Richard Sorge
The second wife is Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Maksimova. They got married in 1933. They were officially married for 11 years, although they saw each other for no more than six months.
In her youth, Ekaterina Maksimova studied to be an actress. She was married to her theater teacher Yuri Yuriin. After his death, she worked for 15 years at a factory in Moscow - first as a simple worker, then as a foreman and shop manager.
Sorge and Maksimova met in 1929 - he took Russian lessons from her. In the year of his acquaintance with Ekaterina Sorge, he transferred from work from the Comintern to military intelligence. Then he disappeared for three years. Appearing again, he offered Katya a hand and a heart. During his disappearance, Sorge collected information in China, and then managed to go to Germany and file a divorce from his first wife. In August 1933, Richard Sorge and Ekaterina Maksimova became husband and wife. He left again two weeks later. This time to Japan.
In 1935, they managed to meet briefly. In Japan, Sorge found out that Katya was expecting a baby, rejoiced at the upcoming fatherhood and worried about his wife. But Catherine lost the child, which Sorge learned about with a long delay. He wrote to her then: "I love you very much and think only of you, not only when it's especially hard for me, you are always with me." They didn't see each other again.
Ekaterina Maksimova - the second wife of Richard Sorge
Ekaterina Maksimova was arrested in 1942 on charges of spying for Nazi Germany. A relative who testified against her hanged herself in her cell after interrogation. Ekaterina Maksimova confessed to having ties with enemies and after a nine-month imprisonment in a solitary cell in the Lubyanka, she was sent to Krasnoyarsk region(Big Murta), where she sat with the first wife of intelligence officer V. Vasiliev - Anna. She died on June 3, 1943 from chemical burns under circumstances that were not fully clarified.
While working in Japan, Sorge had other women. For a long time he lived with Hanako Ishii, who considered herself his wife. They met in Tokyo.
Hanako Ishii has made a great contribution to the preservation of the memory of Richard Sorge in Japan. In 1949, having overcome numerous bureaucratic obstacles, she found the remains of a Soviet intelligence officer in a prison mass grave at the Zoshigaya cemetery - she identified them by traces of three wounds on her legs, glasses, a buckle on her belt, and gold crowns.
She cremated them and reburied them at Tama Cemetery in the Tokyo suburbs. She kept the urn with the ashes of Sorge at home until November 8, 1950.
It was she who put a memorial stone on the grave with the inscription "Richard Sorge" in Japanese and German. After Sorge's merits were recognized in the USSR in 1964, the Soviet government installed another memorial stone on his grave with an inscription in Russian: "Hero of the Soviet Union R. Sorge."
She wrote three books about him, the first of which was published in 1949.
The role of Hanako Ishii in the life of Richard Sorge in Japan and her merits in preserving the memory of the legendary Soviet intelligence officer were officially recognized: she received a pension from the USSR Ministry of Defense as Sorge's widow.
She visited Sorge's grave until her death in 2000.
Hanako Ishii - Japanese wife of Richard Sorge
In the USSR, he ended up in 1924 after the ban on the activities of the German Communist Party. Came to Moscow at the invitation of the executive committee of the Comintern.
In 1925 he joined the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, received citizenship of the Soviet Union and was hired by the apparatus of the Comintern, worked as a referent for the information department, political and scientific secretary of the organizational department of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
Sorge's articles on the problems of the revolutionary movement in the USA and Germany were published in the journals World Economy and global politics”,“ Bolshevik ”,“ Communist International”, “Red International of Trade Unions”.
In 1929 he went on a business trip to England and Ireland. In England, Sorge was detained by the police. At the same time, none of his particularly important connections were disclosed. Presumably, the purpose of Sorge's visit to England was to meet with one of the senior officers of the British intelligence organization MI6 and obtain valuable military information from him. Christina Gerlach, Sorge's first wife, many years later recalled that Richard then met with some very important agent. In 1966, while investigating Soviet infiltration of British intelligence, she was even asked to identify the man. She tried to do this, but after so many years she could only answer roughly and conjecturally.
Since November 1929, he went to work in the Intelligence Department of the Red Army. He worked under the guidance of Janis Karlovich Berzins and Semyon Petrovich Uritsky.
From 1930 he worked in Shanghai. There he met the American journalist and spy Agnes Smedley and the Japanese communist journalist Hotsumi Ozaki, who later became an important informant for Sorge. Also one of Sorge's informants was the Chinese communist Jiang.
In early May 1930, Sorge spent six months in Kanoton and the southern Chinese provinces. Sorge's reconnaissance group managed to obtain the encryption codes of German military advisers in the army of Chiang Kai Shek, their full name list indicating their positions, to reveal the German-Chinese conspiracy to develop and use chemicals mass destruction.
In 1933, it was decided to send Sorge to Japan, where he arrived on September 6, 1933 as a correspondent for the influential German newspapers Berliner Börsen Courier, Frankfurter Zeitung, Tegliche Rundschau, Deutsche Volkswirt, Geopolitik and Dutch newspaper Alchemeen Handelsblat.
Before that, he visited France, where he met with a Soviet intelligence courier, and then the United States, where, on the basis of a letter of recommendation from a professor from Munich, Karl Haushofer, to the Japanese ambassador to the United States, Katsuya Debushi, he managed to receive a letter of recommendation from the Japanese embassy to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
From 1936 he worked in Japan.
In May 1938, Sorge crashed on a motorcycle and only a miracle saved the entire residency from disclosure. He allowed himself to lose consciousness only after he handed over to Max Clausen (the radio cipher operator of the group) the secret papers and dollars that were with him. Clausen arrived at the scene of the accident on a call from Sorge, transmitted through acquaintances who were not privy to the secret activities of both. Clausen also managed to seize incriminating documents from Richard Sorge's house before the German embassy officials sealed his papers.
In 1937, repressions hit the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff. In the second half of 1937, a decision was made to recall Ramsay and liquidate the entire residency. This decision is canceled after a few months. Achieved cancellation. about. early Intelligence Directorate S. G. Gendin, transferred to this position from the NKVD. He was able, if not to protect, then to keep Sorge's residency, despite strong suspicions that the information transmitted by her was disinformation. The residency is preserved, but already with a dubious stamp of "politically inferior", "probably opened by the enemy and working under his control." In April 1938, Sorge announced his readiness to return, but this was ignored by the center.
In letters and cipher telegrams, Sorge repeatedly asked him to indicate to him a fixed period of time for his stay in Japan, namely: could he leave as soon as the war ended or should he count on a few more months (Sorge's letter to the Center dated July 22, 1940). After several such messages. General Proskurov ordered to think about how to compensate for Sorge's recall. Compose a telegram and a letter of apology for the delay in the replacement and outlining the reasons why he still needs to work in Tokyo. Sorge and other members of his organization to issue a one-time cash bonus. They could not pick up a replacement for Sorge, in connection with which he continued further work.
When the military attache Eugen Ott became the German ambassador to Japan, Sorge received the post of press secretary of the embassy.
On behalf of the director of the German Information Bureau, von Ritgen, Sorge prepared information materials for German intelligence about Japanese policy. After the German attack on the USSR, Sorge told German intelligence that Japan would not violate the non-aggression pact with the USSR under any circumstances.
In 1941, Sorge received various information about the imminent German attack on the USSR from the German ambassador Ott, as well as naval and military attaches. Subsequently, it became known that on February 15, 1941, Field Marshal Keitel signed a directive on disinformation of the Soviet military command through German attachés in neutral countries.
Thus, information received from Sorge was constantly changing. In a March report, Sorge claimed that the attack would take place after the war with England. In May, Sorge pointed to an attack at the end of the month, but with the reservations "this year the danger may pass" and "either after the war with England." At the end of May, after early information was not confirmed, Sorge reported that the attack would take place in the first half of June. Two days later, he specified the date - June 15th. After the June 15 deadline had passed, Sorge announced that the war was being delayed until the end of June. On June 20, Sorge does not give dates and is only sure that the war will definitely take place.
Richard Sorge's reports on the timing of the start of the war
March 10, 1941: "The new German BAT believes that after the end of the present war, Germany's fierce struggle against the Soviet Union should begin."
May 2: "I talked with the German ambassador Ott and the naval attache about the relationship between Germany and the USSR ... The decision to start a war against the USSR will be made only by Hitler, either in May or after the war with England."
May 19: “The new German representatives who arrived here from Berlin declare that the war between Germany and the USSR may begin at the end of May, since they received orders to return to Berlin by this time. But they also said that this year the danger may be over.”
May 30: “Berlin informed Ott that the German action against the USSR would begin in the second half of June. Ott is 95% sure the war will start."
June 1st: “The expectation of the outbreak of the German-Soviet war around June 15 is based solely on information that Lieutenant Colonel Scholl brought with him from Berlin, from where he left on May 6 for Bangkok. In Bangkok, he will take the post of military attache.
June 15: “The German courier told the military attache that he was convinced that the war against the USSR was delayed, probably until the end of June. The military attaché does not know if there will be a war or not.”
June 20: "The German ambassador in Tokyo, Ott, told me that war between Germany and the USSR was inevitable."
Bibliography of Richard Sorge:
1924 - Rosa Luxembourg. Capital accumulation. popular exposition
1925 - The Dawes Plan and its aftermath
1928 - New German imperialism
