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

Rudolf Abel - short biography

The real name of the man who is considered the most outstanding intelligence officer of the twentieth century is William Genrikhovich Fisher. He was born on July 11, 1903 in the English city of Newcastle upon Tyne. His father, Heinrich Fischer, a Russified German from the Yaroslavl province, was a convinced Marxist who knew Lenin personally. His mother, Lyubov Vasilievna, a native of Saratov, was his comrade-in-arms in the struggle. In 1901, the tsarist government arrested them for revolutionary activities and sent them abroad. After graduating from school, William passed the entrance exams to the University of London, but did not have time to start studying there. After the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, his family returned to their homeland. As old party members, his family even lived for some time on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin. Before becoming a scout, William Fisher changed many professions.

Immediately upon his arrival in Soviet Russia, he worked for some time as a translator in the executive committee of the Communist International, which was the governing body of the Comintern. Later, being very gifted artistically, he entered the Higher Art and Technical Workshops, which before the revolution were the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. However, he did not study there for long and in 1924 he became a student at the Institute of Oriental Studies. Here he studied for only one year and in 1925 was drafted into the army. He served in the first radiotelegraph regiment of the Moscow Military District, where he mastered the profession of a radio operator, knew how to assemble radios in a short time from improvised means, and was considered the best radio operator in the regiment. After demobilization, unable to find anything to do, he entered, on recommendation, the Foreign Department of the OGPU. With a good background, technical knowledge and fluency in foreign languages, Fischer was an ideal candidate for work as an intelligence officer. At first, he performs the well-known duties of a translator, and then a radio operator. Since his homeland was England, the leadership of the OGPU decided to send Fisher to the British Isles to work.

Scout Rudolf Abel (William Fisher)

Beginning in 1930, he lived in England for several years as a resident of Soviet intelligence, periodically traveling to other countries of Western Europe. He acted as a radio operator for the station and organized a secret radio network, transmitting radiograms to the center from other residents. On instructions that came from Stalin himself, he managed to persuade the famous physicist Pyotr Kapitsa, who was teaching at Oxford at that time, to return to the USSR from England. There is also some information that at this time Fischer was in China several times, where he met and became friends with his colleague from the foreign department of the OGPU, Rudolf Abel, under whose name he went down in history. After the curator of residents in Western Europe, Alexander Orlov, fled to the United States in early 1938, taking with him the NKVD cash register, William Fisher was recalled to the USSR because he was in danger of being exposed. Having worked briefly in the foreign intelligence apparatus in Moscow, on December 31, 1938, he was dismissed from the agency without explanation and sent into retirement. After his dismissal, Fischer got a job, first at the All-Union Chamber of Commerce, and six months later at an aircraft industrial plant, while constantly writing reports to the Central Committee with a request to reinstate him in intelligence.

When the Patriotic War began, William Fisher was remembered as a highly qualified specialist, and in September 1941 he was appointed to the post of head of the communications department in the central intelligence apparatus at Lubyanka. There is evidence that he was involved in supporting the parade on November 7, 1941 on Red Square in Moscow. Until the end of the war, Fischer was engaged in technical training of radio operators of sabotage groups that were sent to the German rear, including countries occupied by Hitler. He taught radio science at the Kuibyshev intelligence school, participated in radio games with German radio operators, including “Monastery” and “Berezino”. In the last of them, Fischer was able to fool such a German master of sabotage as Otto Skorzeny, who sent his best people to help the non-existent German underground on the territory of the USSR, where the Soviet secret services were already waiting for them. Until the end of the war, the Germans never learned that they had been cleverly led by the nose. For his activities during the Patriotic War he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Activities of Rudolf Abel in the USA

In the post-war years, when the “cold” confrontation with Western countries began, it was decided to use Fisher’s multifaceted talent to obtain information on the American atomic project. In 1948, under the pseudonym “Mark,” he was sent to work illegally in the United States, carrying an American passport in the name of Lithuanian Andrew Kayotis. Already in America, he changed his legend and began to impersonate the German artist Emil Robert Goldfus. He lived in New York, where he managed the Soviet intelligence network in the United States, having a photo studio in Brooklyn as cover. His subordinates acted independently of the Soviet station with legal cover - diplomats and consular employees. Fischer had a separate radio communication system for communication with Moscow. As his liaison agents, he had the later famous married couple Maurice and Leontine Cohen. He managed to create a Soviet spy network not only in the United States, but also in Latin American countries - Mexico, Brazil, Argentina. In 1949, William Fisher was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for obtaining important data concerning the American atomic experiment "Manhattan". They obtained information about the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council in the United States, with a detailed list of tasks assigned to them.

In 1955, Fischer returned to the Soviet Union for several months when his close friend Rudolf Abel died. His intelligence career ended on June 25, 1957, when he was arrested by FBI agents at the Latham Hotel in New York. Fischer was betrayed by his partner, radio operator Reino Heikhanen, under the pseudonym “Vic”. Since he was being recalled to the USSR, where he could be subject to repression, Reynaud decided not to return and reported everything he knew about the Soviet intelligence network to the American intelligence services. Reynaud knew only Fischer's pseudonym, so Fischer, when arrested, pretended to be his late friend Rudolf Abel. With this, he insured himself that the Americans would not play a radio game on his behalf and made it clear to Moscow that he was not a traitor. In October 1957, a public trial against Fischer-Abel began in federal court in New York, in which he was accused of espionage; his name became known not only in the United States, but throughout the world. He categorically refused to admit guilt on all charges, refused to testify in court and rejected all offers from the American side for cooperation. In November 1957, Fisher was sentenced to 32 years in prison, served in solitary confinement in Atlanta. From March 1958, he was allowed to correspond with his family, who remained in the Soviet Union.

On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over Sverdlovsk. The pilot who piloted it, Francis Harry Powers, was captured. Long-term Soviet-American negotiations began on the exchange of spies. On February 10, 1962, an exchange procedure took place on the Glienicke Bridge between East and West Berlin. Since the Americans were well aware of the level of Agent Fisher, in addition to Harry Powers, the Soviet side also had to hand over Frederick Pryer and Marvin Makinen, students convicted in the USSR for espionage. After his return, Fischer continued to work in the central intelligence apparatus. Acted as a consultant during the creation of the Soviet film about intelligence officers “Dead Season”, where the facts of his own biography were filmed. Died November 15, 1971. In 2015, in Samara, a memorial plaque was installed on the house where he lived during the war. In the same year, the film Bridge of Spies, directed by Steven Spielberg, was released in Hollywood, telling the story of the life of William Fisher from the moment of arrest to the exchange.

A professional revolutionary, a Russified German from the Yaroslavl province, Heinrich Fischer, by the will of fate, turned out to be a resident of Saratov. He married a Russian girl, Lyuba. For revolutionary activities he was expelled abroad.

Heinrich Fischer was a convinced Marxist who personally knew Lenin and Krzhizhanovsky. His mother, Lyubov Vasilievna, a native of Saratov, was his comrade-in-arms in the struggle. He could not go to Germany: a case was opened against him there, and the young family settled in England, in Shakespeare's places. On July 11, 1903, in the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Lyuba had a son, who was named William in honor of the great playwright.

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

The OGPU personnel officers could not help but pay attention to the guy, who spoke Russian and English equally well, and also knew German and French, who also knew radio and had an unblemished biography. In 1927, he was enlisted in the state security agencies, or more precisely, in the Foreign Department of the OGPU, which was then headed by Artuzov.

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

In May 1936, Fischer returned to Moscow and began training illegal immigrants. One of his students turned out to be Kitty Harris, a liaison to many of our outstanding intelligence officers, including Vasily Zarubin and Donald McLane. In her file, stored in the archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service, several documents written and signed by Fischer were preserved. From them it is clear how much work it cost him to teach students who were incapable of technology. Kitty was a polyglot, well versed in political and operational issues, but proved to be completely immune to technology. Having somehow made her into a mediocre radio operator, Fisher was forced to write in the “Conclusion”: “in technical matters she is easily confused...” When she ended up in England, he did not forget her and helped with advice.

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

Here we first meet the name under which William Fisher would become world famous many years later.

Who was “t. Abel R.I.”?
Here are lines from his autobiography:
“I was born in 1900 on 23/IX in Riga. Father is a chimney sweep, mother is a housewife. He lived with his parents until he was fourteen years old and graduated from the 4th grade. elementary school... worked as a delivery boy. In 1915 he moved to Petrograd.”
Soon the revolution began, and the young Latvian, like hundreds of his compatriots, sided with the Soviet regime. As a private fireman, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel fought on the Volga and Kama, and went on an operation behind white lines on the destroyer “Retivy”. “In this operation, the death barge with prisoners was recaptured from the whites.”
Then there were battles near Tsaritsyn, a class of radio operators in Kronstadt and work as a radio operator on our most distant Commander Islands and on Bering Island. From July 1926 he was commandant of the Shanghai consulate, then radio operator of the Soviet embassy in Beijing. Since 1927 - an employee of the INO OGPU. Two years later, “in 1929, he was sent to illegal work outside the cordon. He was at this job until the fall of 1936.” There are no details about this business trip in Abel’s personal file. But let us pay attention to the time of return - 1936, that is, almost simultaneously with V. Fischer.
From that time on, judging by the above document, they worked together. And the fact that they were inseparable is known from the memoirs of their colleagues, who, when they came to the dining room, joked: “There, Abeli has arrived.” They were friends and families. V. G. Fischer’s daughter, Evelyn, recalled that Uncle Rudolf visited them often, was always calm, cheerful, and knew how to get along with children...
R.I. Abel did not have his own children. His wife, Alexandra Antonovna, came from the nobility, which apparently interfered with his career. Even worse was the fact that his brother Voldemar Abel, head of the political department of the shipping company, in 1937 turned out to be “a participant in the Latvian counter-revolutionary nationalist conspiracy and was sentenced to VMN for espionage and sabotage activities in favor of Germany and Latvia.” In connection with these R.I. Abel was dismissed from the ranks of the NKVD. But with the outbreak of the war he returned to serve in the NKVD. As recorded in his personal file: “During the Patriotic War, he repeatedly went out to carry out special missions... carried out special missions to prepare and deploy our agents behind enemy lines.” At the end of the war he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and two Orders of the Red Star. At the age of forty-six he was dismissed from the state security agencies with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Rudolf Ivanovich Abel died suddenly in 1955, never knowing that his name had gone down in intelligence history.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They later recalled that it was easy to work with Mark - Rudolf Ivanovich Abel: “After several meetings with him, we immediately felt how we were gradually becoming more operationally competent and experienced “Intelligence,” Abel liked to repeat, “is a high art... It is talent, creativity, inspiration...” Our dear Milt was just such an incredibly rich spiritually man, with high culture, knowledge of six foreign languages - that’s what we called him behind his back. Consciously or unconsciously, we completely trusted him and always looked for support in him. It could not be otherwise: as a highly educated, intelligent person, with a highly developed sense of honor and dignity, integrity and commitment, it was impossible not to love him. He never hid his high patriotic feelings and devotion to Russia.".

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

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

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

William Fisher's intelligence career ended when his signalman and radio operator, Reino Heihanen, betrayed him. Having learned that Reino was mired in drunkenness and debauchery, the intelligence leadership decided to recall him, but did not have time. He got into debt and became a traitor.

On the night of June 24-25, 1957, Fischer, under the name Martin Collins, stayed at the Latham Hotel in New York, where he conducted another communication session. At dawn, three people in civilian clothes burst into the room. One of them stated: “ Colonel! We know that you are a colonel and what you are doing in our country. Let's get acquainted. We are FBI agents. We have in our hands reliable information about who you are and what you do. The best solution for you is cooperation. Otherwise arrest».

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

Fischer immediately guessed that Heyhanen had betrayed him. But he did not know his real name. So, you don't have to name him. True, it was useless to deny that he came from the USSR. William decided to give his name to his late friend Abel, believing that as soon as information about his arrest became known, people at home would understand who he was talking about. He feared that the Americans might start a radio game. By taking a name known to the Center, he made it clear to the service that he was in prison. He told the Americans: “I will testify on the condition that you allow me to write to the Soviet Embassy.” They agreed, and the letter actually arrived at the consular department. But the consul did not understand the point. He started a “case”, filed a letter, and answered the Americans that such a fellow citizen was not listed among us. But I didn’t even think to inform the Center. So our people only learned about the arrest of “Mark” from the newspapers.

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

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

To this it must be added that both promises and threats were made to Abel not only during, but also before and after the trial. And all with the same result.

Abel's lawyer, James Britt Donovan, a knowledgeable and conscientious man, did a lot both for his defense and for the exchange. On October 24, 1957, he delivered an excellent defense speech, which largely influenced the decision of the “ladies and gentlemen of the jury.” Here are just a few excerpts from it:

« ...Let's assume that this person is exactly who the government says he is. This means that while serving the interests of his country, he was performing an extremely dangerous task. In our country's armed forces, we send only the bravest and smartest people on such missions. You have heard how every American who knew Abel involuntarily gave a high assessment of the moral qualities of the defendant, although he was called for a different purpose...

... Heihanen is a renegade from any point of view... You saw what he is: a good-for-nothing guy, a traitor, a liar, a thief... The laziest, most inept, most unlucky agent... Sergeant Rhodes appeared. You all saw what kind of man he was: a dissolute, a drunkard, a traitor to his country. He never met Heyhanen... He never met the defendant. At the same time, he told us in detail about his life in Moscow, that he sold us all for money. What does this have to do with the defendant?..

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

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

Allen Dulles

The most difficult thing for him in prison was the ban on correspondence with his family. It was allowed (subject to strict censorship) only after Abel’s personal meeting with CIA chief Allen Dulles, who, saying goodbye to Abel and turning to lawyer Donovan, dreamily said: “ I would like us to have three or four people like Abel in Moscow ».

The fight for Abel's release began. The painstaking work went on for several years. Events began to unfold at a more accelerated pace only after May 1, 1960, when an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down in the Sverdlovsk area and its pilot Francis Harry Powers was captured.

Still from the film "Low Season"

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

Eyewitnesses recall that Powers was handed over to the Americans wearing a good coat, a winter fawn hat, physically strong and healthy. Abel turned out to be wearing a gray-green prison robe and cap, and, according to Donovan, “looked thin, tired and very old.”

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

The last years of his life, William Genrikhovich Fischer, aka Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, aka “Mark,” worked in foreign intelligence. Once he acted in a movie with the opening speech for the film “Low Season”. Traveled to the GDR, Romania, Hungary. He often spoke to young workers, trained and instructed them.

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for reading!

Materials used in preparing the article.

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

"Bad" assistant

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

The country has not forgotten

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

50 years ago, on February 10, 1962, on the Glienicker Brucke bridge connecting Berlin and Potsdam, where the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and West Berlin passed, the Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel was exchanged for the American pilot Francis Powers.

Soviet military intelligence officer, Colonel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel (real name and surname William Genrikhovich Fischer) has been in the United States since 1948, where he carried out the task of identifying the degree of possibility of a military conflict with the United States, created reliable illegal channels of communication with the Center, obtained information about the economic situation and military (including nuclear) potential.

As a result of betrayal, he was arrested on June 21, 1957. When arrested, he identified himself by the name of his friend and colleague - Rudolf Abel. During the investigation, he categorically denied his affiliation with intelligence, refused to testify at trial, and rejected attempts by American intelligence agencies to persuade him to cooperate.

On November 15, 1957, he was sentenced by an American court to 30 years in prison. He served his sentence in a federal prison in Atlanta.

Soviet intelligence began fighting for Abel's release immediately after his sentencing. Painstaking work went on for several years, carried out by a large group of KGB officers. The prisoner had a “cousin”, Jurgen Drives, under whose name Yuri Drozdov, an employee of the KGB station in East Berlin, worked, and correspondence was established between Abel’s family members and his lawyer in the United States, James Donovan, through his lawyer in East Berlin, Wolfgang Vogel. At first, things developed sluggishly. The Americans were very careful, checking the addresses of the relative and the lawyer, clearly not fully trusting “Cousin Drives” and Vogel.

Events began to develop faster after the international scandal that occurred on May 1, 1960. On this day, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flown by pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down near Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). The reconnaissance flight route of the aircraft ran from the Peshawar base (Pakistan) through the territory of Afghanistan, a significant part of the territory of the USSR (Aral Sea - Sverdlovsk - Kirov - Plesetsk) and was supposed to end at the Bude air base in Norway. His goal was to photograph military installations.

After crossing the USSR border, the reconnaissance aircraft tried several times to intercept Soviet fighters, but all attempts ended in failure, since the U-2 could fly at altitudes inaccessible to fighters of that time: more than 21 kilometers. The plane was shot down near the village of Povarnya near Sverdlovsk by a missile from the S-75 anti-aircraft missile system (SAM), created at NPO Almaz (now the Head System Design Bureau of the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern). The S-75 air defense system was used for the first time to suppress aviation operations.

The missile hit the tail section of the U-2 aircraft at an altitude of more than 20 kilometers. The downed plane began to fall. Powers was saved by the fact that his cabin miraculously did not depressurize; he waited until he fell to the 10-kilometer mark and jumped out with a parachute. After landing, Powers was arrested and later sentenced to 10 years in prison.

At a press conference, in response to Soviet accusations that the United States was committing espionage by sending its planes over Soviet territory, US President Dwight Eisenhower advised the Russians to remember the Rudolf Abel affair.

Photos of Abel and materials about him again appeared in the press. The New York Daily News was the first to suggest trading Abel for Powers in an editorial. This initiative was taken up by other American newspapers. Soviet intelligence also intensified its activities. The Americans understood perfectly well that a high-class professional intelligence officer, Abel, was “worth” much more than a simple, albeit experienced pilot, Powers, and they hoped to make a profitable deal. As a result of negotiations, an agreement was reached to exchange Abel for three Americans. In addition to Airman Powers, the Soviets agreed to release the American Yale student Frederick Pryor, who had been arrested for spying in East Berlin in August 1961, and the young American Marvin Makinen from the University of Pennsylvania. He was in prison in Kyiv, Ukraine, serving an 8-year sentence for espionage.

It was decided to exchange Abel and Powers on February 10, 1962 on the Glieniker-Brücke Bridge. Exactly in the middle of the bridge, built over a channel between two lakes, ran the state border between the GDR and West Berlin. This dark green steel bridge was about a hundred meters long; the approaches to it were clearly visible, which made it possible to take all precautions. In another area of Berlin, at Checkpoint Charlie, Frederick Pryor was to be released.

On the morning of February 10, American cars approached the bridge from one side, and Abel was in one of them. On the other are the cars of the Soviet and East German representatives who brought Powers. They were accompanied by a covered van with a radio station. Just in case, a group of border guards from the GDR took refuge in it.

As soon as the signal came over the radio that Pryor had been handed over to the Americans at Checkpoint Charlie, the main exchange operation began (Makinen was handed over a month later).

Officials from both sides met in the middle of the bridge and completed the pre-agreed procedure. Abel and Powers were invited there too. The officers confirmed that these are exactly the people they are waiting for.

After this, Abel was given a document of release, signed in Washington on January 31, 1962 by US President John F. Kennedy and Secretary of Justice Robert Kennedy.

Following this, Abel and Powers each walked to their own side of the border.

Returning to Moscow, Fischer (Abel) was sent for treatment and rest, then continued to work in the central apparatus of foreign intelligence. He took part in the training of young illegal intelligence officers. He died in 1971 at the age of 68.

Returning to his homeland, Powers then flew on a television company's helicopter. In August 1977, he died when the helicopter he was piloting crashed while returning from filming fighting forest fires in the Los Angeles area.

(Additional

The father of our hero, Heinrich Matthaus Fischer, was born on the Andreevskoye estate in the Yaroslavl province into a family of German subjects who worked for the local prince Kurakin. The mother of the legendary agent, Lyubov Vasilievna Korneeva, was from Khvalynsk, in the Saratov province. The young couple were active in revolutionary activities and were personally acquainted with Krzhizhanovsky and Lenin. Soon the royal secret police became aware of their activities. Fleeing from arrest, a young couple of political emigrants went abroad and found shelter on the northeast coast of England, in the town of Newcastle. It was here that their son was born on July 11, 1903, who was named William in honor of the famous playwright.

Few people know that William Fisher had an older brother, Harry. He died tragically in the summer of 1921 on the Uche River near Moscow, saving a drowning girl.

At the age of sixteen, young William passed the exams at the University of London, but he did not have to study there. My father continued his revolutionary activities and joined the Bolshevik movement. In 1920, their family returned to Russia and accepted Soviet citizenship, while simultaneously retaining British citizenship. At first, Fischer worked as a translator for the Executive Committee of the Comintern in the department of international relations. A few years later he managed to enter the Indian department of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies and even successfully completed the first year. However, then he was called up for military service.

The future intelligence officer did not have the chance to take part in the Civil War, but he willingly joined the ranks of the Red Army in 1925. He had the chance to serve in the first radiotelegraph regiment of the Moscow Military District. It was here that he became acquainted with the basics of the radio operator profession. The young man, who spoke English, German and French tolerably, had a clean biography, and had a natural inclination for technology, was noticed by personnel officers of the United State Political Administration. In May 1927, he was enrolled as a translator in the foreign department of this organization, which was at that time under the control of Artuzov and was engaged, among other things, in foreign intelligence.

On April 7, 1927, the wedding of William and Moscow Conservatory graduate Elena Lebedeva took place. Subsequently, Elena became a famous harpist. And in 1929, they had a child, a girl, whom they named Evelina.

After some time, Fischer was already working as a radio operator in the central office. According to unconfirmed reports, his first illegal business trip to Poland took place in the late twenties. And at the beginning of 1931, William was sent to England. He traveled “semi-legally”, under his own name. The legend was this: a native of England who came to Russia by his parents’ will quarreled with his father and wants to return back with his family. The British Consulate General in the Russian capital issued British passports, and the Fisher family went abroad. The special mission lasted for several years. The scout managed to visit Norway, Denmark, Belgium and France. Under the pseudonym "Frank", he successfully organized a secret radio network and transmitted radiograms from local stations.

The business trip ended in the winter of 1935, but in the summer the Fisher family went abroad again. William Genrikhovich returned to Moscow in May 1936, after which he was assigned to train illegal intelligence officers to work with communications equipment. In 1938, Soviet spy Alexander Orlov defected with his family to the United States. Everyone who worked with him (and Fischer was among them) was under threat of exposure. In connection with this, or perhaps because of the party leadership’s distrust of those who had connections with “enemies of the people,” at the very end of 1938, Lieutenant GB Fischer was transferred to the reserve. William was very lucky; during the ongoing army purges, there was no special ceremony with the intelligence officers; many of his friends were shot or thrown into prison. At first, the agent had to do odd jobs; only six months later, thanks to his connections, he managed to get a job at an aircraft factory. Even without higher education, he easily solved the assigned production tasks. According to the testimony of the company's employees, his main strength was his phenomenal memory. The scout also had an uncanny instinct that helped him find the right solution to almost any problem. While working at the plant, William Genrikhovich constantly sent reports to his father’s friend, Secretary of the Central Committee Andreev, asking him to reinstate him in intelligence. For two and a half years, Fischer was in civilian life, and finally, in September 1941, he returned to duty.

Who was “Comrade Rudolf Abel”, under whose name William Fischer became world famous? It is known that he was born in Riga in 1900 (that is, he was three years older than Fischer) in the family of a chimney sweep. The young Latvian ended up in Petrograd in 1915. When the revolution began, he took the side of the Soviet regime and volunteered to join the Red Army. During the Civil War, he served as a fireman on the destroyer "Retivy", fought near Tsaritsyn, was retrained as a radio operator in Kronstadt and was sent to the distant Commander Islands. In July 1926, Abel was already the commandant of the Shanghai consulate, and later a radio operator at the embassy in Beijing. The INO OGPU took him under its wing in 1927, and in 1928 Rudolf was sent abroad as an illegal intelligence officer. Before 1936, there is no information about his work. It is not entirely clear when Abel and Fischer met. A number of historians suggest that they first met on a mission in China in 1928-1929. In 1936, the two intelligence officers were already strong friends, and their families were also friends. Fischer's daughter, Evelina, recalled that Rudolf Abel was a calm, cheerful man, and, unlike her father, knew how to find a common language with children. Unfortunately, Rudolf did not have any children of his own. And his wife, Alexandra Antonovna, was from a noble family, which greatly interfered with the career of a talented intelligence officer. But the real tragedy was the news that Abel’s brother, Voldemar, who worked as the head of the political department of the shipping company, was included in the Latvian counter-revolutionary conspiracy of 1937. For espionage and sabotage activities, Voldemar was sentenced to death, and Rudolf was fired from the authorities. Like Fischer, Abel worked in various places, including as a shooter for paramilitary security. On December 15, 1941, he was returned to service. In his personal file, you can find a mention that in the period from August 1942 to January 1943, Rudolf was part of a task force in the direction of the Main Caucasus Range and carried out special tasks to prepare and deploy sabotage detachments behind enemy lines. By the end of the war, his award list included the Order of the Red Banner and two Orders of the Red Star. In 1946, Lieutenant Colonel Abel was again, this time finally, dismissed from the state security agencies. Despite the fact that William Fisher continued to serve in the NKVD, their friendship did not end. Rudolph knew about his comrade's departure to America. In 1955, Abel died suddenly. He never learned that Fischer impersonated him and that his name was forever etched in the annals of intelligence.

Until the end of the war, William Genrikhovich Fischer continued to work in the central intelligence apparatus at Lubyanka. Many documents about his activities are still not available to the public. It is only known that on November 7, 1941, as head of the communications department, he took part in ensuring the security of the parade that took place on Red Square. Like Rudolf Abel, William was involved in organizing and sending our agents to the German rear, led the work of partisan detachments, taught radio science at the Kuibyshev intelligence school, participated in the legendary operation “Monastery” and its logical continuation - the radio game “Berezino”, supervising the work of a number of Soviet and German radio operators.

Operation Berezino began after Soviet intelligence officers managed to create a fictitious German detachment allegedly working behind Soviet lines. Otto Skorzeny sent more than twenty spies and saboteurs to help them, and they all fell into the trap. The operation was based on a radio game, which was masterfully conducted by Fischer. A single mistake by William Genrikhovich and everything would have fallen apart, and Soviet residents would have paid with their lives for the terrorist attacks of saboteurs. Until the very end of the war, the Wehrmacht command never realized that they were being led by the nose. The last message from Hitler’s headquarters in May 1945 read: “We can’t help, we trust in God’s will.”

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, Fischer was transferred to a special reserve, gradually beginning to prepare for a long assignment. He was already forty-three years old and possessed truly enormous knowledge. Fischer was well versed in radio equipment, chemistry, physics, had a specialty as an electrician, painted professionally, although he had never studied this anywhere, knew six foreign languages, played the guitar wonderfully, and wrote stories and plays. He was a fantastically gifted person: he worked as a carpenter, a carpenter, a metal worker, and was engaged in silk-screen printing and photography. Already in America he patented a number of inventions. In his free time, he solved mathematical problems and crosswords, and played chess. Relatives recalled that Fischer did not know how to be bored, hated wasting time, was demanding of himself and those around him, but was absolutely indifferent to a person’s status, respecting only those who had thoroughly mastered their work. He said about his profession: “Intelligence is a high art…. This is creativity, talent, inspiration.”

Maurice and Leontine Cohen, with whom William Genrikhovich worked in New York, spoke of his personal qualities as follows: “An incredibly highly cultured, spiritually rich man…. Highly educated, intelligent, with a developed sense of dignity, honor, commitment and integrity. It was impossible not to respect him."

The intelligence officer’s daughter was growing up, it was very difficult to say goodbye to his family, but Fischer went on his main mission voluntarily. He received the last instructions before departure personally from Vyacheslav Molotov. At the end of 1948, in New York City in the Brooklyn area, an unknown photographer and artist Emil Goldfus moved into house number 252 on Fulton Street. At the end of the forties, Soviet intelligence in the West was going through far from the best times. McCarthyism and the “witch hunt” reached their apogee; the intelligence services saw spies in every second inhabitant of the country. In September 1945, Igor Guzenko, a cryptographer for the Soviet attaché in Canada, defected to the enemy’s side. A month later, representatives of the American Communist Party Bentley and Budenz, associated with Soviet intelligence, testified to the FBI. Many illegal agents had to be immediately recalled from the United States. Intelligence officers working legally in Soviet institutions were under round-the-clock surveillance and constantly expected provocations. Communication between spies was difficult.

In a short time, Fischer, under the operational pseudonym “Mark,” did a great deal of work to recreate the Soviet intelligence structure in America. He formed two intelligence networks: Californian, including intelligence officers operating in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, and Eastern, covering the entire coast of the United States. Only an incredibly gifted person could pull this off. However, William Genrikhovich was just like that. It was Fisher, through a high-ranking Pentagon official, who discovered plans to deploy American ground forces in Europe in the event of a war with the Soviet Union. He also obtained copies of Truman's decree on the creation of the CIA and the National Security Council. Fisher handed over to Moscow a detailed list of tasks assigned to the CIA, and a project to transfer powers to the FBI to protect the production of atomic bombs, submarines, jet aircraft and other secret weapons.

Through Cohen and his group, the Soviet leadership maintained contact with residents who worked directly at secret nuclear facilities. Sokolov was their liaison with Moscow, but due to current circumstances he could no longer fulfill his role. He was replaced by Fischer. On December 12, 1948, he first met Leontine Cohen. William Genrikhovich's contribution to the delivery of valuable information about the creation of nuclear power is enormous. “Mark” was in touch with the most responsible “atomic” agents of the USSR. They were American citizens, but they understood that in order to save the future of the planet, it was necessary to maintain nuclear parity. It is also possible that Soviet scientists would have created an atomic bomb without the assistance of intelligence officers. However, the extracted materials significantly speeded up the work, and it was possible to avoid unnecessary research, expenditure of time, effort and money, so necessary for the devastated country.

From Fisher’s story about his last business trip to the States: “In order for a foreigner to obtain a visa to the United States, he must undergo a long, thorough check. This path was not suitable for us. I had to enter the country as an American citizen returning from a tourist trip... The United States has long been proud of inventors, so I became one. He invented and made devices in the field of color photography, took photographs, and reproduced them. My friends saw the results in the workshop. He led a modest lifestyle, did not own a car, did not pay taxes, did not register as a voter, but, naturally, did not tell anyone about it. On the contrary, he spoke to his friends as an expert in financial matters.”

On December 20, 1949, the resident of the Soviet Union, William Fisher, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. And in mid-1950, in connection with a possible disclosure, the Coens were taken from America. Atomic work was suspended, but Fischer remained in the United States. Unfortunately, there is no exact information about what he did for the next seven years and what information he obtained for our country. In 1955, the colonel asked his superiors to give him leave - his close friend, Rudolf Abel, died in Moscow. His stay in the capital made a depressing impression on the intelligence officer - most of those with whom he worked during the war were in prisons or camps, his immediate superior, Lieutenant General Pavel Sudoplatov, was under investigation as an accomplice of Beria, and he was facing capital punishment. When leaving Russia, Fischer told mourners: “Perhaps this is my last trip.” His premonitions rarely deceived him.

On the night of June 25, 1957, “Mark” rented a room at the Latham Hotel in New York. Here he successfully conducted another communication session, and at dawn three FBI agents broke into him. And although William managed to get rid of the received telegram and code, the “federals” found on him some items related to intelligence activities. After this, they immediately invited Fischer to cooperate with them, avoiding any arrest. The Soviet resident flatly refused and was detained for illegal entry into the country. He was taken out of his room in handcuffs, put in a car and transported to an immigration camp in Texas.

In March 1954, a certain Reino Heikhanen was sent to the United States as an illegal radio operator. This intelligence officer turned out to be a psychologically unstable person. His lifestyle and moral principles raised concerns among Fischer, who for three years asked the Center to recall the agent. Only in the fourth year was his call granted. In May 1957, they decided to return Heikhanen. However, upon reaching Paris, Reynaud unexpectedly went to the American embassy. Soon he was flying on a military plane to testify in the United States. Of course, they found out about this almost immediately at Lubyanka. And for some reason they did not take any measures to save Fischer. Moreover, he was not even informed about what had happened.

“Mark” immediately realized who ratted him out. There was no point in denying that he was an intelligence officer from the USSR. Fortunately, the colonel's real name was known only to a very narrow circle of people, and Reino Heihanen was not one of them. Fearing that the Americans would start a radio game on his behalf, William Fisher decided to impersonate another person. After some thought, he settled on the name of his late friend Rudolf Abel. Perhaps he believed that when information about the capture of the spy became known to the public, people at home would be able to understand who exactly was in American prison.

On August 7, 1957, Abel was charged with three counts: remaining without registration in the United States as a spy of a foreign state (five years in prison), conspiracy to collect atomic and military information (ten years in prison), conspiracy to transfer the USSR above information (death sentence). On October 14, a public hearing in the case “US v. Rudolf Abel” began in federal court in New York. The scout's name became famous not only in America, but throughout the world. On the very first day of the meeting, TASS issued a statement that among the Soviet agents there was no person named Abel. For several months, both before and after the trial, they tried to convert Fischer, to persuade him to betray, promising all kinds of life benefits. After this failed, the intelligence officer was threatened with the electric chair. But this didn’t break him either. He didn't say a word or reveal a single agent, and this was an unprecedented feat in intelligence. Risking his life, Fisher declared: “Under no circumstances will I cooperate with the United States government or do anything to save life that could harm the country.” In court, from a professional point of view, he behaved perfectly, answered all questions about admitting guilt with a categorical refusal, and refused to testify. It is necessary to note the lawyer of William Genrikhovich - James Britt Donovan, who served in intelligence during the war. He was a very conscientious and intelligent man who did everything possible first to protect “Mark” and later to exchange him.

On October 24, 1957, James Donovan gave a brilliant defense speech. It is worth citing one excerpt from it: “...If this person is really who our government considers him to be, then this means that in the interests of his state he performed a very dangerous task. We send only the smartest and bravest people from among our country's military personnel on such missions. You also know that everyone who accidentally met the defendant spontaneously gave him the highest assessment of his moral qualities...”

In March 1958, after Fischer's conversation with Allen Dulles, the Soviet intelligence officer was allowed to begin correspondence with the family. After saying goodbye, the CIA director told lawyer Donovan: “I would like to have three or four such intelligence officers in Moscow.” However, he had an extremely poor idea of who the Russian spy really was. Otherwise, Dulles would have realized that in the Soviet Union he only needed one intelligence officer of this level.

After much delay, the United States Department of Justice allowed Fisher to correspond with his wife and daughter. It was of a general nature, about family affairs and health conditions. William Genrikhovich ended his first letter home with the words: “With love, your husband and father, Rudolf,” making it clear how to address him. The Americans did not like much in the messages; they rightly assumed that the Soviet agent was using them for operational purposes. On June 28, 1959, the same Department made an unconstitutional decision banning Fisher from communicating with anyone outside of America. The reason was very simple - the correspondence does not correspond to the national interests of the United States. However, Donovan's persistent struggle yielded results; Fischer was forced to allow communication. Later, “Rudolf’s German cousin,” a certain Jurgen Drives from the GDR, but in fact a foreign intelligence officer Yuri Drozdov, entered into correspondence. All communication went through Donovan and the lawyer in East Berlin; the Americans were cautious and carefully checked both the lawyer and the “relative.”

The development of events accelerated after a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down in the Sverdlovsk region on May 1, 1960. Its pilot, Francis Harry Powers, was captured, and the USSR accused the United States of carrying out espionage activities. President Eisenhower responded by suggesting that Abel be remembered. The first calls to trade Powers for Rudolph began in the American media. The New York Daily News wrote: “It can be said with certainty that for our government Rudolf Abel is of no value as a source of information about the activities of the Reds. After the Kremlin squeezes all possible information out of Powers, their exchange is quite natural...” In addition to public opinion, the president was also under intense pressure from Powers' family and lawyers. Soviet intelligence also became more active. After Khrushchev gave official consent to the exchange, Drives and a lawyer from Berlin, through Donovan, began bargaining with the Americans, which lasted almost two years. The CIA understood perfectly well that a professional intelligence officer “weighs” much more than a pilot. They managed to convince the Soviet side to release, in addition to Powers, student Frederick Pryer, detained in August 1961 in East Berlin for espionage, and Marvin Makinen, who was in prison in Kyiv.

In the photo he is visiting colleagues from the GDR in 1967

It was very difficult to organize such “makeweights”. The GDR intelligence services did a huge favor by ceding Prier to domestic intelligence.

After spending five and a half years in a federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Fischer not only survived, but also managed to force investigators, lawyers, even American criminals to respect him. It is a well-known fact that while in custody, a Soviet agent painted a whole gallery of oil paintings. There is evidence that Kennedy took his portrait and hung it in the Oval Hall.

On February 10, 1962, several cars approached the Glienicke Bridge, separating East and West Berlin, from both sides. Just in case, a detachment of GDR border guards hid nearby. When a signal was received over the radio that Prier had been handed over to the Americans (Makinen was released a month later), the main exchange began. William Fisher, Airman Powers, and representatives of both sides converged on the bridge and completed the agreed upon procedure. Representatives confirmed that these are the people they are waiting for. After exchanging glances, Fisher and Powers parted ways. Within an hour, William Genrikhovich was surrounded by his relatives, who had specially flown to Berlin, and the next morning he went to Moscow. As a farewell, the Americans banned him from entering their country. However, Fischer had no intention of returning.

When asked about the main task of intelligence, William Genrikhovich once answered: “We are looking for other people’s secret plans turned against us in order to take the necessary countermeasures. Our intelligence policy is defensive. The CIA has a completely different way of working - creating the preconditions and situations under which military actions by their armed forces become permissible. This department organizes uprisings, interventions, coups. I declare with full responsibility: we do not deal with such matters.”

After rest and recovery, Fischer returned to work in intelligence, participated in the training of a new generation of illegal agents, and traveled to Hungary, Romania and the GDR. At the same time, he constantly sent letters asking for the release of Pavel Sudoplatov, who was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. In 1968, Fischer starred with the opening speech in the film "Off Season". He was given performances at institutes, factories, even on collective farms.

Fischer, like many other intelligence officers, was not given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This was not accepted; the authorities were afraid of information leakage. After all, a Hero means additional papers, additional authorities, unnecessary questions.

William Genrikhovich Fischer died on November 15, 1971 at the age of sixty-eight. The real name of the legendary intelligence officer was not immediately revealed. The obituary written in Krasnaya Zvezda read: “...Being abroad in difficult, difficult conditions of R.I. Abel showed rare patriotism, endurance and perseverance. He was awarded three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and other medals. He remained at his combat post until his last days.”

Without a doubt, William Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel) is the outstanding agent of the Soviet era. An extraordinary person, a fearless and modest domestic intellectual intelligence officer lived his life with amazing courage and dignity. Many episodes of his activities still remain in the shadows. The classification of secrecy has long been removed from many cases. However, some stories seem routine against the backdrop of already known information, while others are very difficult to reconstruct in their entirety. Documentary evidence of William Fisher's work is scattered across a bunch of archival folders, and putting them together and reconstructing all the events is a painstaking and long job.

Information sources:
http://www.hipersona.ru/secret-agent/sa-cold-war/1738-rudolf-abel
http://svr.gov.ru/smi/2010/golros20101207.htm
http://che-ck.livejournal.com/67248.html?thread=519856
http://clubs.ya.ru/zh-z-l/replies.xml?item_no=5582

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