The prototype of Stirlitz - what are the similarities and differences between the movie hero and the idealist Willy Lehman - was analyzed by the writer Alexei Kurilko.
intro
Alexey Kurilko
Last time I tried to figure out what was the secret of the charm of the image of Stirlitz from the movie "17 Moments of Spring". With this task, as far as I can judge, I managed to cope. (Well done! Take a pie from the shelf!) But I made one gross mistake.
When it came to the Stirlitz prototype, I mentioned that this image is collective, and they say there were several prototypes. At the same time, he did not even deign to name their names, which involuntarily aroused the reader's interest and curiosity. But, having aroused, I did not at all bother to satisfy this curiosity! It's embarrassing, I know. This is my fault, sorry. (Scoundrel! Put the pie back on the shelf! What? Put what's left!).
I even waited for them - complaints about my short-sightedness, since many acquaintances, praising the material, noticed: "But I could still tell you about the true prototype of Stirlitz!" I did my best to justify myself. “Yes, there were a lot of them! I explained. “Starting from Yakov Blumkin (his story and part of his biography are used in the first two novels by Yulian Semenov), and ending with such legendary intelligence officers as Alexander Kuznetsov and Alexander Korotkov.”
And they reasonably answered me: “I would tell you about the most interesting of them.” I persisted: "They are all interesting in their own way." And then, as if by agreement, they declared: “Then I would tell you about the most interesting thing, in your opinion.” And, as my brilliant teacher, Arkady Romanovich Chernovolk, said, what the public wants - God wants it! So be it. So, the prototype of Stirlitz.
Mueller's protégé
The most interesting and the saddest thing for me personally seems to be the fate of the scout, who was more close to the film image than others and who can be called the "Stirlitz prototype" - both in terms of the amount of work done, and in terms of the weight of positions and titles occupied in the RSHA. And in terms of service life - for almost 15 years this man secretly served in Soviet intelligence - he is closer than others to the protagonist of a series of novels by Yulian Semenov about the adventures of the legendary Soviet intelligence officer.
My friend Muller. "Clarity is a form of sheer deception"
Like Stirlitz, he rose to the point that Heinrich Muller himself was appointed assistant and chief deputy of the young and ambitious Walter Schelenberg, head of counterintelligence. Like Stirlitz during the Second World War, he was no longer young. Rather, as the British say about men aged 40-45, he was in the last fit of his youth. But nevertheless, just like Stirlitz, women liked him, although he was far from being so slender and fit.
Furthermore! Stirlitz, as we know, was distinguished by impeccable health, but, alas, our hero could not boast of this. On the contrary, he was very, very ill, and besides, unlike Stirlitz, he was married for a long time and incurably. And although there was a place in his life true love, unfortunately, she had nothing to do with marriage, as is usually the case.
Sympathy for the Slavs
The Gestapo Willy Lehman was considered by everyone to be a true Aryan
His name was Willy Lehman, and he was a real German. Nobody implemented it from our side. Worse, he was never even recruited on purpose! He himself, absolutely voluntarily, turned to the representatives Soviet intelligence expressing a desire to work for them.
The reasons for the act of the Gestapo Willy Lehmann are still arguing. According to one version, he was in dire need of money. A lot was spent on treatment and expensive medicines. According to another, the ideology of the Nazis, striving for power, was extremely alien to him. He was rather impressed by the views of all sorts of naive idealists about universal equality, freedom and fraternity. Yes, and these strange Slavs liked him for a long time.
Especially, they say, from the day he, during his 12-year service in the Navy, witnessed their selfless heroism. An indelible impression was made on him by how, from his ship, with bated breath, he watched the battle and, in fact, the death of most of the crew members of the cruiser "Varyag" and the small gunboat "Koreets" in an unequal battle with a whole squadron of 14 Japanese ships in January 1904. The heroism of the sailors during the battle, which was watched by the teams of European ships that did not take part in the battle, for a long time settled sympathy for the Slavs in the heart of Leman. However, let's get it right.
With bated breath, Leman watched the battle and, in fact, the death of most of the crew members of the Varyag cruiser and the small gunboat Koreets in an unequal battle with a whole squadron of 14 Japanese ships in January 1904
Prototype of Stirlitz - the way of the scout
Per last years three books have already been published - two historical documentaries and one fiction - about the life and work of the prototype of Stirlitz - Willy Lehman, however, there is not so much reliable information about him yet. Born in the suburbs of Leipzig in 1886 (according to another version - in 1884). Leman is his real name. At the age of 17 he entered the Navy, where he served for a long 12 years.
After serving in the Navy, Lehman married, settled in Berlin and got a job in the organized crime department of the criminal police, which later became the political police, and with Hitler's rise to power, the basis for the creation of the Gestapo.
While serving in the criminal police, Leman could not make a brilliant career due to poor health - he had chronic diabetes. Younger and more zealous fellows easily overtook him in promotion, although they had much lower intellectual abilities and did not know how to properly analyze the information they received. Approaching the age of forty, Lehman began to experience depression associated with the same midlife crisis.
love front
Relations with his wife were deteriorating, God did not give them children, he earned little, he did not see any special prospects for development in the service. Tired of the eternal reproaches of his wife Margaret, the prototype of Stirlitz took a mistress, who, although she was much younger than him, and was quite a beautiful and effective fraulein, nevertheless loved him - such an aging, often ill police officer of a low rank. By 1928, Leman had already completely become disillusioned with the policy of the authorities existing at that time in the country.
The Nazis also did not arouse any sympathy in Lehmann, unlike his friend - from the time of his service in the Navy - Ernst Kurt, who tried to break into the ranks of close friends of the Nazi bosses. But Kurt bet on the leader, who was already losing his influence in the Nazi Party, and was soon killed altogether. Now Leman's friend joined the ranks of the numerous unemployed, and the eternal lack of money prevented him from falling asleep completely. This prototype Stirlitz Willy Leman took advantage of.
Step forward
He could not risk his position in the police, otherwise he would have shared the fate of his unfortunate comrade. Therefore, Stirlitz's prototype, after analyzing the situation, decided to take a risk without attracting much attention to himself. He sent Ernst Kurt with a proposal of cooperation to the Soviet embassy, strictly ordering him not to give out his name and rank. Thus began his service, and soon friendship with representatives of the Soviet Union. For about two years, the prototype of Stirlitz, Willy Lehman, got secret information, and Ernst Kurt passed it on to the Soviet resident.
However, due to the unwise behavior of his friend, who too obviously and unwisely spent the huge sums of money received from friends in the Soviets, the cooperation was in real danger of failure. Therefore, the Soviet resident, easily reaching out to Leman, offered him to work without the mediation of a friend. Kurt was sent to Switzerland, where he was able to open his own shop with money given by Soviet intelligence.
Lehman had to personally participate in the bloody "Night of the Long Knives" in 1934
By that time, Leman, on the personal recommendation of Hermann Goering, had been transferred to a responsible position in the Gestapo. Moreover, by the summer of 1934, in order not to break away from the majority in the team, he was forced to join the Nazi Party, and already on June 30 of the same year, as a loyal member of this party and an employee of the Gestapo, he personally participated in the operation “Night of Long Knives” .
That same night, when SS men personally loyal to the Fuhrer killed all the remaining unreliable people, and first of all, yesterday’s comrades-in-arms and veterans of the party, the so-called “brownshirts”, who made up a strong stronghold of the personal army of Ernest Röhm, one of the founders of the Nazi party. He, by the way, was killed on the same night.
True Aryan
For the courage shown that night, and for further devoted service, the prototype of Stirlitz, Willy Lehmann, was promoted in 1936 and awarded - one of the four lucky ones - with a portrait of Hitler in a gold frame with a dedication inscription of the Fuhrer himself. Colleagues began to envy him, but Leman continued to behave so modestly that no one could suspect any ambitious plans in him. He was not seen as a threat in the internal struggle for power and intrigue, which was occupied by the majority.
On the contrary, each of his colleagues considered Leman to be a kind of harmless, quiet, kind, faithful to his cause, an experienced, but old serviceman, who is kept in the Gestapo for years of exemplary service, whose sharp mind and rich life and service experience can still come in handy. He fully corresponded to the characterization that Stirlitz could have been given in the film if he had been married. Has a long track record. With comrades in the service always in good and friendly relations. In circulation soft, honest, respectable. Faithful family man. Married. He had no ties that discredited him. Merciless to the enemies of the Reich."
Like Stirlitz, Leman was considered the ideal Gestapo
Hands in blood
The Stirlitz prototype showed ruthlessness towards the enemies of the Reich on the night of massacres - "long knives". That night he had to stain his hands with blood. All of them were divided into groups of two or three people and, having given a list of addresses and names, they were sent to kill. It was impossible to evade, and Leman did not even try. Firstly, by doing so, he would have aroused suspicion on the part of his associates and discontent on the part of his superiors. And secondly, that night, as he later told his curator from the Center, some bastards got rid of other bastards. Or, as the old Latin saying goes, evil devoured evil.
Scout Vasily Zarubin, with whom Leman worked, was called the "intelligence artist"
The work of Leman was supervised by Vasily Zarubin himself, a well-known Soviet intelligence officer. It was to him that Leman transmitted detailed information about the structure and personnel of the fourth department of the RSHA - the main department of imperial security.
And after Leman was transferred to the Gestapo, for some time he headed the secret department, which dealt with issues of counterintelligence support for the military industry and military defense construction. From these days, the information transmitted by Leman has become extremely valuable for the leadership of the Soviet government.
Interrupted connection
Willy Lehman transmitted data on the construction of submarines, new fighters, armored vehicles, a lot of information about a new type of anti-tank guns, informed about the urgent release of new gas masks and the production of synthetic gasoline.
In other words, he was passing on, for very symbolic money, important secret information for which the Soviets would not be stingy to pay hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in German currency.
But Leman asked only for the money he needed for treatment. And in 1936, his wife received a good inheritance, and Leman could have left the Gestapo service altogether for health reasons, and no one would have suspected anything. But the Stirlitz prototype believed that his work for the Soviets would equalize the forces of the two ideological opponents and would not lead to World War II.
He, as a participant in the First World War, who had seen enough of its horrors, and as a witness to its disastrous consequences for the common people of Germany, was an ardent pacifist at heart. And I saw that the new Germany, or rather, the Third Reich, was clearly preparing for revenge and for the "world domination of the Aryans." So, his work had meaning and could be useful.
But most importantly, Leman was the person who, in advance, with full responsibility, five days before the alleged events, transmitted the time of the start of the war against the USSR, indicating the main direction of the first strike, the exact date and time of the attack of fascist Germany on the Soviet Union.
But it will be in 1941. Before that, something else interesting happened. By 1937, communication with Leman abruptly ceased due to the purges arranged by Stalin in the ranks of the NKVD and foreign intelligence.
In that year, repressions began against the commanders of the highest military personnel and many intelligence chiefs, and, consequently, against the majority of intelligence officers and residents. More than a hundred deep-covered agents were urgently summoned to Moscow from abroad. The majority, without suspecting anything, carried out the order. And they returned to their homeland only to be immediately repressed and, in most cases, shot.
risky letter
Among those who returned to their homeland and were purged was Vasily Zarubin. Only a few survived - those who refused to return, and those with whom communication was temporarily inaccessible. Among the latter were such experienced intelligence officers as Sudoplatov, who in the future headed the intelligence agencies, and Alexander Korotkov, who would be destined to re-establish contact with Leman by the fortieth year.
Naturally, Leman knew little about all these repressions and about the situation in the USSR in general. And so, for some time, he decided that they stopped working with him, since the government of the USSR completely trusted the Ribbentrop-Molotov non-aggression pact and believed Hitler's word.
But by June 1940, Leman, who understood what the Fuhrer's policy was leading to, nevertheless decided to take a chance. And, in despair, he took an extremely dangerous step for him. He managed to discreetly put a letter in the mailbox of the Soviet embassy, which was addressed to the Deputy Military Attache of the USSR. Leman wrote:
“I am in the same position that is well known to the Center. I think that I am able to work for the benefit of the Soviet Union. But if I don't get any response, I'll consider myself of no value to the job. This means that my further work in the Gestapo will lose all meaning for me, and I will be forced to resign.
Korotkov was urgently sent to Berlin, where, after checking the information, whether Lehman had gone over to the side of those with whom he had served side by side for so many years, he resumed uninterrupted work with the extremely important agent Lehman, nicknamed Breitenbach.
Stirlitz prototype Willy Lehman was the first to report the exact date of the German attack on the USSR in 1941
But still, after the start of the war, about which Breitenbach managed to warn the Soviet government, communication with Leman ceased. Only from time to time did he succeed in transmitting extremely important information to members of the anti-fascist organization or random people who, perhaps, could, on occasion, pass it on to reliable representatives of the Soviet intelligence service.
Deadly oversight
In January 1943, Willy Lehmann's wife was informed of her husband's death. And in the official bulletin of the Gestapo it was reported that the criminal inspector Willy Lehman at the end of December 1942 gave his life for the Fuhrer and the Reich. The fact that a high-ranking SS officer and employee of the Gestapo turned out to be a spy was not mentioned not only in the newspapers, but the Führer was not even informed about this. Heinrich Müller personally worried about this in order to avoid scandal and the wrath of Hitler.
In addition, Muller imagined how this information would please Bormann, who waged an undercover fight against him. However, Muller himself was extremely angry. And offended to the core. The first days he could not recover from surprise. How so? This same Leman, whom he trusted so much? Who was referred to by everyone around him as good Uncle Willy, since he was the oldest in age and always lent money to young colleagues? No, it can't be!
Last Christmas
The failure of agent Breitenbach was due to the fault and oversight of Soviet intelligence. In May 1942, a Soviet agent named Beck was abandoned in Berlin. His main goal was the only thing - to restore contact with Lehman in order to continue cooperation. However, fearing that he might refuse to cooperate, the agent was provided with extensive compromising information on Lehman. For pressure.
Unfortunately, Beck was arrested a month later. After several months of torture in the Gestapo, he told everything he knew about Lehman. On December 30, 1942, he was urgently called from vacation, from where he never returned.
The most annoying thing is that of all the anti-fascist heroes, the name of Willy Lehman was hardly mentioned. The Germans could not fall in love with a man who worked for more than 13 years for Soviet intelligence. Leman's widow, Margaret, only in 1969 was given a gold wrist watch with the inscription "In memory from Soviet friends."
The name of Willy Lehman and his activities were officially declassified recently, at the beginning of the 21st century. This means that Leman could not be the prototype of Stirlitz. And the creators of the film "17 Moments" could not know anything about him in the days when they started filming. The only one who could at least know something about the life of this amazing person was Yulian Semyonov, who often received information directly from the KGB to work on the book ... But these are just guesses.
In 1911, he was demobilized and came to Berlin, where he soon met an old friend Ernst Kuhr, who by that time worked in the Berlin police presidium. Under his patronage, Leman was hired in the department for combating org. crime (criminal police), later moved to the political police (which later became the Gestapo), and two years later (in 1913) was hired by the anti-espionage police department, which he later headed. He was never a member of the Abwehr, since it was an exclusively military, not a police structure.
After the Plenipotentiary Representation of the RSFSR was opened in Berlin in May 1918, its employees began to be monitored by the Leman counterintelligence department. After the November 4, 1918 coup, Willy Lehmann became chairman of the general assembly of Berlin police officials.
In 1920, the authorities of the Weimar Republic recreated the secret political police, to which Lehmann and Kur returned. Lehman was scheduled to recertify for further promotions, but due to an attack of diabetes, the exam was postponed. In the meantime, he was appointed acting head of the office of the department that was engaged in spying on foreign diplomatic missions, that is, in fact, he led the counterintelligence department of the police presidium of Berlin. In 1927, an experienced intelligence officer was appointed to the position of chief, and Lehman's chances for further promotion fell sharply. He chose a place to work in the department's filing cabinet, which concentrated all the information on employees of foreign embassies.
Recruitment (1929)
Over the years of service, Leman managed to become disillusioned with the politics of the authorities in the country. He decided to offer his services to Soviet foreign intelligence. In March 1929, at his suggestion, the Soviet embassy was visited by Ernst Kuhr, who by that time was unemployed. After a conversation with him, the OGPU officers in Soviet intelligence came to the conclusion that it was expedient to recruit Kura on a material basis. Agent A-70 was planned to be used to collect information about persons of interest to Soviet intelligence, for which he was entitled to a monthly reward, depending on the quality of the information provided.
However, in order to fulfill the assignment of the USSR, Kur had to turn to Leman, who was not very happy with this state of affairs. In addition, Kur unwisely spent money received from Soviet intelligence, lowering them at noisy parties in Berlin restaurants. Fearing that this would attract the attention of the Berlin police, and then lead him to himself, Leman decided to establish direct contact with the Soviet residency.
According to one version, Leman agreed to cooperate with the USSR because he was a staunch anti-fascist, according to another, for money. Without exception, all German-language sources (both before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall) adhere to the less romantic version of Lehmann's cooperation solely from selfish motives. This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that in the GDR the name of Lehmann was not used at all, and was almost forgotten, while the names of other German resistance fighters and spies with immeasurably less merit were called streets and used them in every possible way for propaganda purposes.
Leman was assigned the operational index A-201 and the operational pseudonym Breitenbach. On September 7, 1929, the head of Soviet foreign intelligence, M. A. Trilisser, sent a telegram to the Berlin residency:
We are very interested in your new source A-201. Our only concern is that you have climbed into one of the most dangerous places where the slightest indiscretion on the part of an A-201 or A-70 can lead to numerous troubles. We consider it necessary to work out the issue of special conditions for communication with A-201
In obedience to instructions, intelligence connections with Lehman were transferred to an illegal residency, headed by an illegal intelligence officer Erich Takke.
intelligence activities
Since 1930, Lehman's duties in the secret police of Berlin included the development of the personnel of the USSR Embassy and the fight against Soviet economic intelligence in the country. The information transmitted by him to Soviet intelligence officers allowed the OGPU residency to be aware of the plans of German counterintelligence and made it possible to avoid failures of agents.
To increase the secrecy in working with a particularly important agent, Soviet intelligence at the beginning of 1931 attracted an experienced illegal intelligence agent, Karl Silly, later it was planned that another experienced intelligence officer, Vasily Zarubin, who was specially supposed to move from France, would keep in touch with Lehman. Considering the unreliability of Ernst Kur's communications, he was removed from the case, and later transferred to Sweden, where he kept a shop that served as a means of communication for intelligence officers at the expense of Soviet intelligence.
After Hitler came to power, Lehmann, on the recommendation of Hermann Goering, was transferred to work in the Gestapo. By that time, Lehman was well acquainted with many prominent figures in the NSDAP. In May 1934, Lehman joined the SS, and on June 30, 1934 he took part in Operation Night of the Long Knives.
During the purge of the political police from old, and, according to the Nazis, unreliable personnel, Leman also came under suspicion, but he did not hold senior positions in the police, worked for many years against Soviet institutions in Germany (which characterized him positively in the eyes of the Nazis), had many positive characteristics and was highly respected by his colleagues for his experience and calm disposition - after all the permutations, he continued to work in the third branch of the Gestapo.
In December 1933, Leman was handed over to Vasily Zarubin for communication, who specially arrived in Germany for this as a representative of one of the American film companies. After establishing constant contact, Zarubin was given detailed information about the structure and personnel of the IV Directorate of the RSHA (the main department of imperial security), its operations, the activities of the Gestapo and Abwehr (military intelligence), military development in Germany, Hitler's plans and intentions in relation to neighboring countries.
Soon Leman was transferred to the Gestapo department, which dealt with issues of counterintelligence support for the defense industry and military construction. Around the same time, the first tests of prototypes of ballistic missiles were taking place, which Moscow was also informed about. And at the end of 1935, after Leman was present at the test of the first V-1 rocket, he compiled a detailed report on them and handed over its description to Soviet intelligence officers. On the basis of these data, on December 17, 1935, Soviet intelligence presented a report to Stalin and Voroshilov, who at that time was the People's Commissar for Defense of the USSR, on the state of rocket science in Germany.
Other information provided by Lehman included submarine construction, armored vehicles, new gas masks, and the production of synthetic gasoline. Information was also transmitted about the development and strengthening of the Nazi regime, about preparations for establishing world domination, about building up military potential and the latest technical developments, about the structure of the German special services, their personnel, and methods of work. Also, all this time, Leman continued to inform the Soviet residency about the counterintelligence activities of the Gestapo, which allowed Soviet intelligence officers to avoid failures.
Leman also conveyed to the Soviet side important information about the introduction of Gestapo agents into the communist underground and into Russian white émigré circles.
The exceptional importance of the information received from Leman forced the OGPU to constantly strengthen security measures in connection with him. Documents were prepared for him in someone else's name, developed detailed diagram exit from Germany in case of failure. After the deterioration of Leman's health, Zarubin was instructed to transfer a large amount of money to him for treatment. Lehman's passion for running made it possible to create a convincing legend of acquiring a substantial amount of money, sufficient for treatment, which made it possible to prevent the further development of the disease.
However, in 1936, Leman was summoned for interrogation by the Gestapo, where they were interested in his connections in the Soviet trade mission. It turned out that it was about the namesake, another Wilhelm Lehman, whom his mistress, on the basis of jealousy, slandered as a Soviet spy. After her arrest and interrogation, the suspicions of the real Soviet agent were removed. On the new year 1937, among the four best Gestapo workers, Willy Lehmann received an autographed portrait of Adolf Hitler in a silver frame
In 1936, Lehman was appointed head of the counterintelligence department at the German military-industrial enterprises. Soon, information about the laying of more than 70 submarines at the shipyards, about the construction of a new plant for the production of chemical warfare agents, a copy of a secret instruction regarding 14 types of the latest German weapons, as well as a copy of a secret report "On the organization of the national defense of Germany" were transferred to the Soviet residency. ". They were given descriptions of the demonstrated new types of artillery pieces, armored vehicles, mortars, including long-range guns, as well as armor-piercing bullets, special grenades and solid-propellant rockets for gas attacks.
Communication problems
Despite the importance of the information transmitted by Lehman, allowing the Soviet leadership to adequately assess the combat power of the Wehrmacht, in 1937 Zarubin's cooperation with the agent ceased.
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Notes
Literature
- Theodor Gladkov. His Majesty Agent. - Printed traditions, 2010. - 280 p. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-91591-047-6.
- David E. Murphy. What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa. - Yale University Press, 2005. - S. 208. - 347 p. - ISBN 0-300-10780-3.
Video
Links
- Sergei Petrovich Vladimirov// Independent military review. - 2010-05-28.
- Ekaterina Zabrodina// News. - 2010-04-15. from the original on April 17, 2013.
An excerpt characterizing Lehman, Willy
Nikolai spent his vacation with his relatives. The 4th letter was received from the fiancé Prince Andrei, from Rome, in which he wrote that he would have been on his way to Russia long ago if his wound had not suddenly opened in a warm climate, which makes him postpone his departure until the beginning of next year . Natasha was just as in love with her fiancé, just as reassured by this love, and just as receptive to all the joys of life; but at the end of the fourth month of separation from him, moments of sadness began to come over her, against which she could not fight. She felt sorry for herself, it was a pity that she had been lost for nothing, for no one, all this time, during which she felt herself so capable of loving and being loved.It was sad in the Rostovs' house.
Christmas time came, and apart from the ceremonial mass, except for the solemn and boring congratulations from neighbors and courtyards, except for all the new dresses put on, there was nothing special commemorating Christmas time, but in a windless 20 degree frost, in a bright blinding sun during the day and in starry winter light at night, the need for some kind of commemoration of this time was felt.
On the third day of the holiday, after dinner, all the households went to their rooms. It was the most boring time of the day. Nikolai, who went to the neighbors in the morning, fell asleep in the sofa room. The old count was resting in his study. Sonya was sitting at a round table in the living room, sketching a pattern. The Countess laid out the cards. Nastasya Ivanovna, with a sad face, was sitting at the window with two old women. Natasha entered the room, went up to Sonya, looked at what she was doing, then went up to her mother and silently stopped.
- Why are you walking around like a homeless person? her mother told her. - What do you want?
“I need him ... now, this minute I need him,” said Natasha, her eyes shining and not smiling. The Countess lifted her head and looked at her daughter intently.
- Don't look at me. Mom, don't look, I'll cry now.
“Sit down, sit with me,” said the countess.
Mom, I need it. Why am I disappearing like this, mother? ... - Her voice broke off, tears splashed from her eyes, and in order to hide them, she quickly turned around and left the room. She went out into the sofa room, stood for a moment, thought, and went into the girls' room. There, the old maid grumbled at a young girl, out of breath, who had come running from the cold from the servants.
“That will play,” said the old woman. - There is all the time.
“Let her go, Kondratyevna,” said Natasha. - Go, Mavrusha, go.
And releasing Mavrusha, Natasha went through the hall into the hall. The old man and two young footmen were playing cards. They interrupted the game and stood up at the entrance of the young lady. "What should I do with them?" thought Natasha. - Yes, Nikita, please go ... where can I send him? - Yes, go to the servants and bring a rooster please; yes, and you, Misha, bring oats.
- Would you like some oats? Misha said cheerfully and willingly.
“Go, go quickly,” said the old man.
- Fedor, and you get me some chalk.
Passing by the buffet, she ordered the samovar to be served, although it was not at all the time.
Fok the barman was the most angry person in the whole house. Natasha loved to try her power over him. He did not believe her and went to ask if it was true?
- Oh, this young lady! said Foka, feigning a frown at Natasha.
No one in the house sent out so many people and gave them so much work as Natasha. She could not see people with indifference, so as not to send them somewhere. It was as if she was trying to see if she would get angry, if one of them would pout at her, but people did not like to fulfill anyone's orders as much as Natasha's. “What should I do? Where should I go? Natasha thought as she slowly walked down the corridor.
- Nastasya Ivanovna, what will be born from me? she asked the jester, who, in his kutsaveyka, was walking towards her.
- From you fleas, dragonflies, blacksmiths, - answered the jester.
“My God, my God, it’s all the same. Ah, where should I go? What should I do with myself? - And she quickly, clattering her feet, ran up the stairs to Vogel, who lived with his wife on the top floor. Vogel had two governesses, and there were plates of raisins, walnuts, and almonds on the table. The governesses talked about where it was cheaper to live, in Moscow or Odessa. Natasha sat down, listened to their conversation with a serious, thoughtful face, and stood up. “The island of Madagascar,” she said. “Ma da gas car,” she repeated each syllable distinctly, and without answering m me Schoss’s questions about what she was saying, she left the room. Petya, her brother, was also upstairs: he and his uncle arranged fireworks, which he intended to set off at night. - Petya! Petka! she shouted to him, “take me downstairs. c - Petya ran up to her and turned his back. She jumped on top of him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and he jumped up and ran with her. “No, no, it’s the island of Madagascar,” she said, and, jumping off it, went down.
As if she had bypassed her kingdom, tested her power and made sure that everyone was submissive, but still boring, Natasha went into the hall, took a guitar, sat in a dark corner behind a cabinet and began to pluck the strings in the bass, making a phrase that she remembered from one opera heard in St. Petersburg together with Prince Andrei. For outsiders, something on her guitar came out that had no meaning, but in her imagination, because of these sounds, a whole series of memories was resurrected. She sat at the cupboard, fixing her eyes on the streak of light falling from the pantry door, listening to herself and remembering. She was in a state of remembrance.
Sonya went to the buffet with a glass across the hall. Natasha looked at her, at the gap in the pantry door, and it seemed to her that she was remembering that light was falling through the gap from the pantry door and that Sonya had passed with a glass. "Yes, and it was exactly the same," thought Natasha. Sonya, what is it? Natasha shouted, fingering the thick string.
- Oh, you're here! – shuddering, said Sonya, came up and listened. - I do not know. Storm? she said timidly, afraid of making a mistake.
“Well, she shuddered in exactly the same way, came up in the same way and smiled timidly when it was already,” Natasha thought, “and in exactly the same way ... I thought that something was missing in her.”
- No, this is the choir from the Water Carrier, do you hear! - And Natasha finished singing the motive of the choir in order to make Sonya understand it.
– Where did you go? Natasha asked.
- Change the water in the glass. I'm painting the pattern now.
“You are always busy, but I don’t know how,” said Natasha. - Where is Nikolai?
Sleeping, it seems.
“Sonya, you go wake him up,” said Natasha. - Say that I call him to sing. - She sat, thought about what it means, that it all happened, and, without resolving this issue and not at all regretting it, she was again transported in her imagination to the time when she was with him, and he, with loving eyes looked at her.
“Oh, I wish he would come soon. I'm so afraid it won't! And most importantly: I'm getting old, that's what! There will be no more what is now in me. Or maybe he will come today, he will come now. Maybe he came and sits there in the living room. Maybe he arrived yesterday and I forgot. She got up, put down her guitar and went into the living room. All the household, teachers, governesses and guests were already sitting at the tea table. People stood around the table - but Prince Andrei was not there, and there was still the old life.
“Ah, here she is,” said Ilya Andreevich, seeing Natasha come in. - Well, sit down with me. But Natasha stopped beside her mother, looking around, as if she was looking for something.
- Mother! she said. “Give it to me, give it to me, mother, hurry, hurry,” and again she could hardly restrain her sobs.
She sat down at the table and listened to the conversations of the elders and Nikolai, who also came to the table. “My God, my God, the same faces, the same conversations, the same dad holds a cup and blows the same way!” thought Natasha, feeling with horror the disgust that rose in her against all the household because they were still the same.
After tea, Nikolai, Sonya and Natasha went to the sofa room, to their favorite corner, in which their most intimate conversations always began.
“It happens to you,” Natasha said to her brother when they sat down in the sofa room, “it happens to you that it seems to you that nothing will happen - nothing; that all that was good was? And not just boring, but sad?
- And how! - he said. - It happened to me that everything was fine, everyone was cheerful, but it would occur to me that all this was already tired and that everyone needed to die. Once I didn’t go to the regiment for a walk, and there was music playing ... and I suddenly became bored ...
“Ah, I know that. I know, I know, - Natasha picked up. “I was still little, so it happened to me. Do you remember, since they punished me for plums and you all danced, and I sat in the classroom and sobbed, I will never forget: I was sad and felt sorry for everyone, and myself, and I felt sorry for everyone. And, most importantly, I was not to blame, - said Natasha, - do you remember?
“I remember,” Nikolai said. - I remember that I came to you later and I wanted to console you and, you know, I was ashamed. We were awfully funny. I had a bobblehead toy then and I wanted to give it to you. Do you remember?
“Do you remember,” Natasha said with a thoughtful smile, how long, long ago, we were still very young, our uncle called us into the office, back in the old house, and it was dark - we came and suddenly it was standing there ...
“Arap,” Nikolai finished with a joyful smile, “how can you not remember? Even now I don’t know that it was a black man, or we saw it in a dream, or we were told.
- He was gray, remember, and white teeth - he stands and looks at us ...
Do you remember Sonya? Nicholas asked...
“Yes, yes, I also remember something,” Sonya answered timidly ...
“I asked my father and mother about this arap,” said Natasha. “They say there was no arap. But you do remember!
- How, as now I remember his teeth.
How strange, it was like a dream. I like it.
- Do you remember how we rolled eggs in the hall and suddenly two old women began to spin on the carpet. Was it or not? Do you remember how good it was?
- Yes. Do you remember how daddy in a blue coat on the porch fired a gun. - They sorted through the memories, smiling with pleasure, not sad old, but poetic youthful memories, those impressions from the most distant past, where the dream merges with reality, and laughed quietly, rejoicing at something.
Sonya, as always, lagged behind them, although their memories were common.
Sonya did not remember much of what they remembered, and what she remembered did not arouse in her that poetic feeling that they experienced. She only enjoyed their joy, trying to imitate it.
She took part only when they recalled Sonya's first visit. Sonya told how she was afraid of Nikolai, because he had cords on his jacket, and her nanny told her that they would sew her into cords too.
“But I remember: they told me that you were born under cabbage,” said Natasha, “and I remember that then I did not dare not to believe, but I knew that this was not true, and I was so embarrassed.
During this conversation, the maid's head poked out of the back door of the divan. - Young lady, they brought a rooster, - the girl said in a whisper.
“Don’t, Polya, tell them to take it,” said Natasha.
In the middle of conversations going on in the sofa room, Dimmler entered the room and approached the harp in the corner. He took off the cloth, and the harp made a false sound.
“Eduard Karlych, please play my favorite Monsieur Filda’s Nocturiene,” said the voice of the old countess from the drawing room.
Dimmler took a chord and, turning to Natasha, Nikolai and Sonya, said: - Young people, how quietly they sit!
“Yes, we are philosophizing,” said Natasha, looking around for a minute, and continued the conversation. The conversation was now about dreams.
Dimmler began to play. Natasha inaudibly, on tiptoe, went up to the table, took the candle, carried it out, and, returning, quietly sat down in her place. It was dark in the room, especially on the sofa on which they sat, but the silver light of a full moon fell on the floor through the large windows.
“You know, I think,” Natasha said in a whisper, moving closer to Nikolai and Sonya, when Dimmler had already finished and was still sitting, weakly plucking the strings, apparently in indecision to leave or start something new, “that when you remember like that, you remember, you remember everything , until you remember that you remember what was even before I was in the world ...
“This is metampsikova,” said Sonya, who always studied well and remembered everything. “The Egyptians believed that our souls were in animals and would go back to animals.
“No, you know, I don’t believe that we were animals,” Natasha said in the same whisper, although the music ended, “but I know for sure that we were angels there somewhere and here, and from this we remember everything.” …
- May I join you? - Dimmler said quietly approached and sat down to them.
- If we were angels, why did we get lower? Nikolay said. - No, it can't be!
“Not lower, who told you that it was lower? ... Why do I know what I was before,” Natasha objected with conviction. - After all, the soul is immortal ... therefore, if I live forever, so I lived before, lived for eternity.
“Yes, but it’s hard for us to imagine eternity,” said Dimmler, who approached the young people with a meek, contemptuous smile, but now spoke as quietly and seriously as they did.
Why is it so hard to imagine eternity? Natasha said. “It will be today, it will be tomorrow, it will always be, and yesterday was and the third day was ...
- Natasha! now it's your turn. Sing me something, - the voice of the countess was heard. - Why are you sitting down, like conspirators.
- Mother! I don’t feel like it,” Natasha said, but at the same time she got up.
All of them, even the middle-aged Dimmler, did not want to interrupt the conversation and leave the corner of the sofa, but Natasha got up, and Nikolai sat down at the clavichord. As always, standing in the middle of the hall and choosing the most advantageous place for resonance, Natasha began to sing her mother's favorite play.
She said that she did not feel like singing, but she had not sung for a long time before, and for a long time after, as she sang that evening. Count Ilya Andreevich, from the study where he was talking to Mitinka, heard her singing, and like a pupil in a hurry to go to play, finishing the lesson, he got confused in words, giving orders to the manager and finally fell silent, and Mitinka, also listening, silently with a smile, stood in front of count. Nikolai did not take his eyes off his sister, and took a breath with her. Sonya, listening, thought about what an enormous difference there was between her and her friend, and how impossible it was for her to be in any way as charming as her cousin. The old countess sat with a happily sad smile and tears in her eyes, occasionally shaking her head. She thought about Natasha, and about her youth, and about how something unnatural and terrible is in this upcoming marriage of Natasha to Prince Andrei.
Dimmler, sitting down next to the countess and closing his eyes, listened.
“No, countess,” he said at last, “this is a European talent, she has nothing to learn, this gentleness, tenderness, strength ...
– Ah! how I fear for her, how I fear,” said the countess, not remembering to whom she was speaking. Her maternal instinct told her that there was too much in Natasha, and that she would not be happy from this. Natasha had not yet finished singing, when an enthusiastic fourteen-year-old Petya ran into the room with the news that mummers had come.
Natasha suddenly stopped.
- Fool! she shouted at her brother, ran up to a chair, fell on it and sobbed so that she could not stop for a long time afterwards.
“Nothing, mother, really nothing, so: Petya scared me,” she said, trying to smile, but tears kept flowing and sobs squeezed her throat.
Dressed-up servants, bears, Turks, innkeepers, ladies, terrible and funny, bringing with them cold and fun, at first timidly huddled in the hallway; then, hiding one behind the other, they were forced into the hall; and at first shyly, but then more and more cheerfully and amicably, songs, dances, choral and Christmas games began. The countess, recognizing the faces and laughing at the dressed up, went into the living room. Count Ilya Andreich sat in the hall with a beaming smile, approving the players. The youth has disappeared.
Half an hour later, in the hall, among the other mummers, another old lady in tanks appeared - it was Nikolai. The Turkish woman was Petya. Payas - it was Dimmler, the hussar - Natasha and the Circassian - Sonya, with a painted cork mustache and eyebrows.
After condescending surprise, misrecognition and praise from those who were not dressed up, the young people found that the costumes were so good that they had to be shown to someone else.
Nikolay, who wanted to give everyone a ride on his troika along an excellent road, suggested that, taking ten dressed-up people from the yard with him, go to his uncle.
- No, why are you upsetting him, the old man! - said the countess, - and there is nowhere to turn around with him. To go, so to the Melyukovs.
Melyukova was a widow with children of various ages, also with governesses and tutors, who lived four miles from the Rostovs.
“Here, ma chere, clever,” said the old count, who had begun to stir. “Now let me dress up and go with you.” I'll stir up Pasheta.
But the countess did not agree to let the count go: his leg hurt all these days. It was decided that Ilya Andreevich was not allowed to go, and that if Luiza Ivanovna (m me Schoss) went, the young ladies could go to Melyukova's. Sonya, always timid and shy, began to beg Louisa Ivanovna more insistently than anyone else not to refuse them.
Sonya's outfit was the best. Her mustache and eyebrows were unusually suited to her. Everyone told her that she was very good, and she was in a lively and energetic mood unusual for her. Some kind of inner voice told her that now or never her fate would be decided, and in her man's dress she seemed like a completely different person. Luiza Ivanovna agreed, and half an hour later four troikas with bells and bells, screeching and whistling in the frosty snow, drove up to the porch.
Natasha was the first to give the tone of Christmas merriment, and this merriment, reflected from one to the other, grew more and more intensified and reached the highest degree at a time when everyone went out into the cold, and talking, calling to each other, laughing and shouting, sat down in the sleigh.
Two troikas were accelerating, the third troika of the old count with an Oryol trotter in the bud; Nikolai's fourth own, with its low, black, shaggy root. Nikolay, in his old woman's attire, on which he put on a hussar, belted cloak, stood in the middle of his sleigh, picking up the reins.
It was so bright that he could see plaques gleaming in the moonlight and the eyes of the horses looking frightened at the riders rustling under the dark canopy of the entrance.
Natasha, Sonya, m me Schoss and two girls sat in Nikolai's sleigh. In the old count's sleigh sat Dimmler with his wife and Petya; dressed up courtyards sat in the rest.
- Go ahead, Zakhar! - Nikolai shouted to his father's coachman in order to have an opportunity to overtake him on the road.
The troika of the old count, in which Dimmler and other mummers sat, screeching with runners, as if freezing to the snow, and rattling with a thick bell, moved forward. The trailers clung to the shafts and bogged down, turning the strong and shiny snow like sugar.
Nikolai set off for the first three; the others rustled and squealed from behind. At first they rode at a small trot along a narrow road. While we were driving past the garden, the shadows from the bare trees often lay across the road and hid the bright light of the moon, but as soon as we drove beyond the fence, a diamond-shiny, with a bluish sheen, a snowy plain, all doused with moonlight and motionless, opened up on all sides. Once, once, pushed a bump in the front sleigh; the next sleigh and the following jogged in the same way, and, boldly breaking the chained silence, the sleigh began to stretch out one after the other.
Biography
Born in the family of a school teacher. He studied as a carpenter, at the age of 17 he volunteered for the Navy, where he served for 12 years. During his service in May 1905, from the side of a German ship, he watched the battle of Russian and Japanese ships in the Battle of Tsushima.
In 1913, he was demobilized and came to Berlin, where he soon met an old friend Ernst Kuhr, who by that time worked in the Berlin secret political police. Under his patronage, Lehman was hired as a patrol policeman in 1913, and a year later he was enrolled in the counterintelligence department of the Berlin police presidium as assistant to the head of the office. As an employee of the secret political police, Leman was not drafted into the army during the First World War.
After the Plenipotentiary Representation of the RSFSR was opened in Berlin in May 1918, its employees began to be monitored by the Leman counterintelligence department. After the November 4, 1918 coup, Willy Lehmann became chairman of the general assembly of Berlin police officials.
In 1920, the authorities of the Weimar Republic recreated the secret political police, to which Lehmann and Kur returned. Lehman was supposed to take an exam for further promotion, but due to an attack of diabetes, the exam was postponed. In the meantime, he was appointed acting head of the office of the department that was engaged in spying on foreign diplomatic missions, that is, in fact, he led the counterintelligence department of the police presidium of Berlin. An experienced scout was appointed to the position of chief in 1927, and Lehman's chances for further promotion fell sharply. He chose a place to work in the department's filing cabinet, which concentrated all the information on employees of foreign embassies.
Recruitment
Over the years of service, Leman managed to become disillusioned with the politics of the authorities in the country. He decided to offer his services to Soviet foreign intelligence. In March 1929, at his suggestion, the Soviet embassy was visited by Ernst Kuhr, who by that time was unemployed. After a conversation with him, the OGPU officers in Soviet intelligence came to the conclusion that it was expedient to recruit Kura on a material basis. Agent A-70 was planned to be used to collect information about persons of interest to Soviet intelligence, for which he was entitled to a monthly reward, depending on the quality of the information provided.
However, in order to fulfill the assignment of the USSR, Kur had to turn to Leman, who was not very happy with this state of affairs. In addition, Kur unwisely spent money received from Soviet intelligence, lowering them at noisy parties in Berlin restaurants. Fearing that this would attract the attention of the Berlin police, and then lead him to himself, Leman decided to establish direct contact with the Soviet residency.
According to one version, Leman agreed to cooperate with the USSR because he was a staunch anti-fascist, according to another, for money.
Leman was assigned the operational index A-201 and the operational pseudonym Breitenbach. On September 7, 1929, the head of Soviet foreign intelligence, M. A. Trilisser, sent a telegram to the Berlin residency:
We are very interested in your new source A-201. Our only concern is that you have climbed into one of the most dangerous places where the slightest indiscretion on the part of an A-201 or A-70 can lead to numerous troubles. We consider it necessary to work out the issue of special conditions for communication with A-201
In obedience to instructions, intelligence ties with Lehman were transferred to an illegal residency, headed by an illegal intelligence officer, Erich Takke.
intelligence activities
Since 1930, Lehman's duties in the secret police of Berlin included the development of the personnel of the USSR Embassy and the fight against Soviet economic intelligence in the country. The information transmitted by him to Soviet intelligence officers allowed the OGPU residency to be aware of the plans of German counterintelligence and made it possible to avoid failures of agents.
To increase the secrecy in working with a particularly important agent, Soviet intelligence at the beginning of 1931 attracted an experienced illegal intelligence officer, Karl Silly, later it was planned that another experienced intelligence officer, Vasily Zarubin, who was specially supposed to move from France, would keep in touch with Leman / Breitenbach. Given the unreliability of Ernst Kur's communications, he was removed from the case, and later transferred to Sweden, where he kept a shop that served as a means of intelligence communications at the expense of Soviet intelligence.
After Hitler came to power, Lehmann, on the recommendation of Hermann Goering, was transferred to work in the Gestapo. By that time, Leman was well acquainted with many prominent figures of the NSDAP. In May 1934, Leman joined the SS, and on June 30, 1934, he took part in Operation Night of the Long Knives.
During the purge of the political police from old, and, according to the Nazis, unreliable personnel, Leman also came under suspicion, but he did not hold senior positions in the police, worked for many years against Soviet institutions in Germany (which characterized him positively in the eyes of the Nazis), had many positive characteristics and was highly respected by his colleagues for his experience and calm disposition - after all the permutations, he continued to work in the third branch of the Gestapo.
In December 1933, agent Breitenbach was handed over to Vasily Zarubin, who arrived in Germany specifically for this as a representative of one of the American film companies. After establishing constant contact, Zarubin was given detailed information about the structure and personnel of the IV Directorate of the RSHA (the main department of imperial security), its operations, the activities of the Gestapo and Abwehr (military intelligence), military development in Germany, Hitler's plans and intentions in relation to neighboring countries.
Soon Leman was transferred to the Gestapo department, which dealt with issues of counterintelligence support for the defense industry and military construction. Around the same time, the first tests of prototypes of ballistic missiles were taking place, which Moscow was also informed about. And at the end of 1935, after Leman was present at the test of the first V-1 rocket, he compiled a detailed report on them and handed over its description to Soviet intelligence officers. On the basis of these data, on December 17, 1935, Soviet intelligence presented a report to Stalin and Voroshilov, who at that time was the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, on the state of rocket science in Germany.
Other information provided by Lehman/Breitenbach included submarine construction and armored vehicles, new gas masks, and synthetic gasoline production. Information was also transmitted about the development and strengthening of the Nazi regime, about preparations for establishing world domination, about building up military potential and the latest technical developments, about the structure of the German special services, their personnel, and methods of work. Also, all this time, Leman continued to inform the Soviet residency about the counterintelligence activities of the Gestapo, which allowed Soviet intelligence officers to avoid failures.
Leman also conveyed to the Soviet side important information about the introduction of Gestapo agents into the communist underground and into Russian white émigré circles.
The exceptional importance of the information received from Breitenbach forced the OGPU to constantly strengthen security measures in connection with him. Documents were prepared for him in a false name, a detailed scheme for leaving Germany in case of failure was developed. After the deterioration of Leman's health, Zarubin was instructed to transfer a large amount of money to him for treatment. Lehman's passion for running made it possible to create a convincing legend of acquiring a substantial amount of money, sufficient for treatment, which made it possible to prevent the further development of the disease.
However, in 1936, Leman was summoned for interrogation by the Gestapo, where they were interested in his connections in the Soviet trade mission. But the scheme to escape from Germany and false documents were not required. It turned out that it was about the namesake, another Wilhelm Lehman, whom his mistress, on the basis of jealousy, slandered as a Soviet spy. After her arrest and interrogation, the suspicions of the real Soviet agent were removed. On the new year 1937, among the four best Gestapo workers, Willy Lehman received an autographed portrait of Adolf Hitler in a silver frame
In 1936, Lehman was appointed head of the counterintelligence department at the German military-industrial enterprises. Soon, information about the laying of more than 70 submarines at the shipyards, about the construction of a new plant for the production of chemical warfare agents, a copy of a secret instruction regarding 14 types of the latest German weapons, as well as a copy of a secret report "On the organization of the national defense of Germany" were transferred to the Soviet residency. ". They were given descriptions of the demonstration of new types of artillery pieces, armored vehicles, mortars, including long-range guns, as well as armor-piercing bullets, special grenades and solid-propellant rockets for gas attacks.
Communication problems
Despite the importance of the information transmitted by agent Breitenbach, allowing the Soviet leadership to adequately assess the combat power of the Wehrmacht, in 1937 Zarubin's cooperation with the agent ceased.
In the USSR, repressions began against intelligence officers, during which many intelligence officers were destroyed. Zarubin was summoned to Moscow, and although he managed to avoid repression, he never returned to Berlin. Communication with Breitenbach continued to be maintained by the only Soviet intelligence officer remaining in Berlin, Alexander Agayants, who, despite the enormous workload, understood the importance of such an agent as Willy Lehman.
Leman, left without an experienced curator, acted largely at his own peril and risk, obtaining information that, in his opinion, could be of interest to Soviet intelligence. In one of the messages to the center, he wrote:
At that time, Hitler was preparing the Anschluss of Austria, the Munich Agreement soon followed, Breitenbach had top secret information, which, in his opinion, was of paramount interest to the Soviets, but did not receive any support and help from the USSR. In December 1938, the last meeting between Agayants and Breitenbach took place; soon after, the Soviet intelligence officer was hospitalized and died during the operation. Agent Breitenbach was left completely without communication, while Germany intensively began preparations for a war with Poland, turned the Wehrmacht into the most powerful army in the world, and a lot of important information passed through the hands of the agent.
By that time, Leman’s cooperation with the USSR was already largely ideological in nature, since he was financially secure: his wife inherited a hotel that brings a good income, and access to secret information made it possible to see the preparations for a world war, which did not suit Leman at all. He did not know about the situation in the USSR, did not know about the repressions, and apparently decided that the USSR authorities believed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. This led to the fact that in June 1940 he decided on an unprecedented and extremely dangerous step: he dropped a letter addressed to the military attache or his deputy into the mailbox of the Soviet embassy. In the letter, he offered to immediately restore operational contact with him.
I am in the same position, which is well known in the Center, and I think that I am again able to work in such a way that my bosses will be pleased with me ... If I do not receive any answer, I will consider that I am now of no value and I'm not being used at work. My further work in the Gestapo will also then lose all meaning ...
However, there was no contact until September 1940, when Alexander Korotkov, the new deputy NKVD resident in Berlin, met with Breitenbach. A new stage in the activity of the agent has begun. In fact, all work with an extremely important agent had to be built anew.
The new head of agent Breitenbach was a young employee Boris Zhuravlev, who had recently graduated from the School special purpose. By this time, the position and duties of Lehman in the Gestapo were so extensive that he did not even need other tasks to obtain information. On September 9, 1940, the Berlin residency received an instruction personally from People's Commissar Beria:
Breitenbach should not be given any special assignments. It is necessary to take for the time being everything that is within his immediate capabilities, and, in addition, everything that he will know about the work of various intelligence agencies against the USSR, in the form of documents and personal reports of the source
Having received the materials, Zhuravlev photographed them and returned them before Leman entered the service the next day. Lehman handed over to Moscow the key to the Gestapo ciphers used in telegraph "Fernshpruch" and radio "Funkshpruch" messages to communicate with his territorial and foreign employees. Among other materials, there was a large number of documents indicating that Germany had begun preparations for a war against the USSR. So, in March 1941, he reported that the Abwehr urgently expanded a unit engaged in intelligence work against the USSR. In the spring of 1941, Leman informed Soviet intelligence officers about the upcoming Wehrmacht invasion of Yugoslavia. At a meeting on May 28, 1941, the agent informed Zhuravlev that he had been ordered urgently to draw up a schedule for the round-the-clock duty of his unit's employees. And on June 19, having called a scout for an emergency meeting, Breitenbach reported that the Gestapo had received the text of Hitler's secret order to German troops stationed along the Soviet border. It ordered the start of hostilities against the USSR after 3 o'clock in the morning on June 22.
After the outbreak of the war, contact with Breitenbach was lost forever.
Failure
At the end of the war, the NKVD began to investigate the fate of pre-war sources and agents. Documents were found in the ruins of the Gestapo headquarters stating that Willy Lehman had been arrested by the Gestapo in December 1942. The reasons for the arrest were not specified. In Moscow, it was established that the executed Gestapo officer Willy Lehman was an NKVD agent Breitenbach.
Later it was possible to restore the cause of the death of the agent.
In May 1942, Soviet intelligence agent Beck (German communist Robert Barth, who voluntarily surrendered to Soviet captivity) was abandoned in Berlin. One of the agent's goals was to restore contact with Breitenbach. However, he failed to deceive the Gestapo, he was arrested. Under torture, he gave out the conditions for appearing with Breitenbach and the information he knew about him. The Gestapo figured out Leman, but the operation to eliminate him was carried out secretly. Himmler and Muller did not report to Hitler that a Soviet agent had been working in the Gestapo for many years. Willy Lehman was urgently called to duty on Christmas Eve 1942, from where he never returned. The exact date of death of the scout and the place of his burial are not known.
In January 1943, a notice was published in the official bulletin of the Gestapo:
Criminal inspector Willy Lehman in December 1942 gave his life for the Fuhrer and the Reich
The fact of the betrayal of such a high-ranking SS officer was hidden - even Leman's wife was not informed about the circumstances of her husband's death.
Robert Barth
Robert Barth agreed to participate in the radio game with Moscow, fearing for his wife and son. After the war, he again voluntarily surrendered to the representatives of the Red Army and insisted that he had transmitted a signal of disinformation in the transmitted information. However, either he did not do this, or one of the technicians on the Soviet side made a mistake, but the signal of disinformation was not understood. Bart was convicted and shot.
Memory
In 1969, in Moscow, Leman's widow Margaret was presented with a gold wrist watch with the inscription "As a keepsake from Soviet friends." However, official information about the Soviet agent Willy Lehmann, who had been transmitting the most important information from the very center of German counterintelligence for twelve years, remained classified for many years. Many documents related to the activities of agent Breitenbach lost the stamp "Top Secret" only in 2009.
Sergei Petrovich Vladimirov Our man in the Gestapo, or who was the prototype of Stirlitz // Independent military review. - 2010-05-28.
Ekaterina Zabrodina The feat of the scout Leman // Izvestia. - 2010-04-15.
Literature
Theodor Gladkov His Majesty Agent. - Printed traditions, 2010. - 280 p. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-91591-047-6
David E. Murphy What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa. - Yale University Press, 2005. - S. 208. - 347 p. - ISBN 0-300-10780-3
Notes
T. K. Gladkov in the book "The King of Illegals" (M., 2000) defends the version of the ideological motives that inspired Leman to cooperate with Soviet intelligence. K. A. Zalessky in his book “Seventeen Moments of Spring. The Crooked Mirror of the Third Reich” (M., “Veche”), 2006, says that Leman was “an agent who served not out of some ideological principles, but for banal money.” (p. 25)
P. A. Sudoplatov. "Intelligence and the Kremlin" M.: "Gaia", 1996, p. 166
T. K. Gladkov. "King of illegal immigrants" M .: "Geya Iterum", 2000, p. 168
The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of Russia publishes new documents about Willy Lehman
MOSCOW, June 19, 2009 - RIA Novosti: The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of Russia has declassified archival materials of the Breitenbach case - one of the most valuable agents of Soviet intelligence, Willy Lehman, worked under such a pseudonym in Germany, RIA Novosti was told on Friday by the head of the bureau for relations with public and mass media Sergei Ivanov.
In My World ;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://top.seosap.ru/?fromsite=231" target="_blank"amp;amp;amp amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp ;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp ;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img src="http://top.seosap.ru/img.php?id =231" border="0" alt="(!LANG:Seo SeoSap site ranking and statistics system" width="88" height="31"></a> <a href="http://top100.rambler.ru/navi/2503112/"> <img src="http://counter.rambler.ru/top100.cnt?2503112" alt="Rambler"s Top100" border="0" /> </a> <a target="_top" href="http://www.akavita.by/"><img src="http://adlik.akavita.com/bin/lik?id=49852&it=1"border="0" height="1" width="1" alt="Akavita"/></a> !}Born in the family of a school teacher. He studied as a carpenter, at the age of 17 he volunteered for the Navy, where he served for 12 years. During his service in May 1905, from the side of a German ship, he watched the battle of Russian and Japanese ships in the Battle of Tsushima.
In 1913, he was demobilized and came to Berlin, where he soon met an old friend Ernst Kuhr, who by that time worked in the Berlin secret political police. Under his patronage, Lehman was hired as a patrol policeman in 1913, and a year later he was enrolled in the counterintelligence department of the Berlin police presidium as assistant to the head of the office. As an employee of the secret political police, Leman was not drafted into the army during the First World War.
After the Plenipotentiary Representation of the RSFSR was opened in Berlin in May 1918, its employees began to be monitored by the Leman counterintelligence department. After the November 4, 1918 coup, Wilhelm Lehmann became chairman of the general assembly of Berlin police officials.
In 1920, the authorities of the Weimar Republic recreated the secret political police, to which Lehmann and Kur returned. Lehman was supposed to take an exam for further promotion, but due to an attack of diabetes, the exam was postponed. In the meantime, he was appointed acting head of the office of the department that was engaged in spying on foreign diplomatic missions, that is, in fact, he led the counterintelligence department of the police presidium of Berlin. An experienced scout was appointed to the position of chief in 1927, and Lehman's chances for further promotion fell sharply. He chose a place to work in the department's filing cabinet, which concentrated all the information on employees of foreign embassies.
Recruitment
Over the years of service, Leman managed to become disillusioned with the politics of the authorities in the country. He decided to offer his services to Soviet foreign intelligence. In March 1929, at his suggestion, the Soviet embassy was visited by Ernst Kuhr, who by that time was unemployed. After a conversation with him, the OGPU officers in Soviet intelligence came to the conclusion that it was expedient to recruit Kura on a material basis. Agent A-70 was planned to be used to collect information about persons of interest to Soviet intelligence, for which he was entitled to a monthly reward, depending on the quality of the information provided.
However, in order to fulfill the assignment of the USSR, Kur had to turn to Leman, who was not very happy with this state of affairs. In addition, Kur unwisely spent money received from Soviet intelligence, lowering them at noisy parties in Berlin restaurants. Fearing that this would attract the attention of the Berlin police, and then lead him to himself, Leman decided to establish direct contact with the Soviet residency.
According to one version, Leman agreed to cooperate with the USSR because he was a staunch anti-fascist, according to another, for money.
Best of the day
In obedience to instructions, intelligence ties with Lehman were transferred to an illegal residency, headed by an illegal intelligence officer, Erich Takke.
intelligence activities
Since 1930, Lehman's duties in the secret police of Berlin included the development of the personnel of the USSR Embassy and the fight against Soviet economic intelligence in the country. The information transmitted by him to Soviet intelligence officers allowed the OGPU residency to be aware of the plans of German counterintelligence and made it possible to avoid failures of agents.
To increase the secrecy in working with a particularly important agent, Soviet intelligence at the beginning of 1931 attracted an experienced illegal intelligence officer, Karl Silly, later it was planned that another experienced intelligence officer, Vasily Zarubin, who was specially supposed to move from France, would keep in touch with Leman / Breitenbach. Given the unreliability of Ernst Kur's communications, he was removed from the case, and later transferred to Sweden, where he kept a shop that served as a means of intelligence communications at the expense of Soviet intelligence.
After Hitler came to power, Lehmann, on the recommendation of Hermann Goering, was transferred to work in the Gestapo. By that time, Leman was well acquainted with many prominent figures of the NSDAP. In May 1934, Leman joined the SS, and on June 30, 1934, he took part in Operation Night of the Long Knives.
During the purge of the political police from old, and, according to the Nazis, unreliable personnel, Leman also came under suspicion, but he did not hold senior positions in the police, worked for many years against Soviet institutions in Germany (which characterized him positively in the eyes of the Nazis), had many positive characteristics and was highly respected by his colleagues for his experience and calm disposition - after all the permutations, he continued to work in the third branch of the Gestapo.
In December 1933, agent Breitenbach was handed over to Vasily Zarubin, who arrived in Germany specifically for this as a representative of one of the American film companies. After establishing constant contact, Zarubin was given detailed information about the structure and personnel of the IV Directorate of the RSHA (the main department of imperial security), its operations, the activities of the Gestapo and Abwehr (military intelligence), military development in Germany, Hitler's plans and intentions in relation to neighboring countries.
Soon Leman was transferred to the Gestapo department, which dealt with issues of counterintelligence support for the defense industry and military construction. Around the same time, the first tests of prototypes of ballistic missiles were taking place, which Moscow was also informed about. And at the end of 1935, after Leman was present at the test of the first V-1 rocket, he compiled a detailed report on them and handed over its description to Soviet intelligence officers. On the basis of these data, on December 17, 1935, Soviet intelligence presented a report to Stalin and Voroshilov, who at that time was the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, on the state of rocket science in Germany.
Other information provided by Lehman/Breitenbach included submarine construction and armored vehicles, new gas masks, and synthetic gasoline production. Information was also transmitted about the development and strengthening of the Nazi regime, about preparations for establishing world domination, about building up military potential and the latest technical developments, about the structure of the German special services, their personnel, and methods of work. Also, all this time, Leman continued to inform the Soviet residency about the counterintelligence activities of the Gestapo, which allowed Soviet intelligence officers to avoid failures.
Leman also conveyed to the Soviet side important information about the introduction of Gestapo agents into the communist underground and into Russian white émigré circles.
The exceptional importance of the information received from Breitenbach forced the OGPU to constantly strengthen security measures in connection with him. Documents were prepared for him in a false name, a detailed scheme for leaving Germany in case of failure was developed. After the deterioration of Leman's health, Zarubin was instructed to transfer a large amount of money to him for treatment. Lehman's passion for running made it possible to create a convincing legend of acquiring a substantial amount of money, sufficient for treatment, which made it possible to prevent the further development of the disease.
However, in 1936, Leman was summoned for interrogation by the Gestapo, where they were interested in his connections in the Soviet trade mission. But the scheme to escape from Germany and false documents were not required. It turned out that it was about the namesake, another Wilhelm Lehman, whom his mistress, on the basis of jealousy, slandered as a Soviet spy. After her arrest and interrogation, the suspicions of the real Soviet agent were removed. On the new year 1937, among the four best employees of the Gestapo, Wilhelm Lehmann received an autographed portrait of Adolf Hitler in a silver frame.
In 1936, Lehman was appointed head of the counterintelligence department at the German military-industrial enterprises. Soon, information about the laying of more than 70 submarines at the shipyards, about the construction of a new plant for the production of chemical warfare agents, a copy of a secret instruction regarding 14 types of the latest German weapons, as well as a copy of a secret report "On the organization of the national defense of Germany" were transferred to the Soviet residency. ". They were given descriptions of the demonstration of new types of artillery pieces, armored vehicles, mortars, including long-range guns, as well as armor-piercing bullets, special grenades and solid-propellant rockets for gas attacks.
Communication problems
Despite the importance of the information transmitted by agent Breitenbach, allowing the Soviet leadership to adequately assess the combat power of the Wehrmacht, in 1937 Zarubin's cooperation with the agent ceased.
In the USSR, repressions began against intelligence officers, during which many intelligence officers were destroyed. Zarubin was summoned to Moscow, and although he managed to avoid repression, he never returned to Berlin. Communication with Breitenbach continued to be maintained by the only Soviet intelligence officer remaining in Berlin, Alexander Agayants, who, despite the enormous workload, understood the importance of such an agent as Wilhelm Lehmann.
At that time, Hitler was preparing the Anschluss of Austria, the Munich Agreement soon followed, Breitenbach had top secret information, which, in his opinion, was of paramount interest to the Soviets, but did not receive any support and help from the USSR. In December 1938, the last meeting between Agayants and Breitenbach took place; soon after, the Soviet intelligence officer was hospitalized and died during the operation. Agent Breitenbach was left completely without communication, while Germany intensively began preparations for a war with Poland, turned the Wehrmacht into the most powerful army in the world, and a lot of important information passed through the hands of the agent.
By that time, Leman’s cooperation with the USSR was already largely ideological in nature, since he was financially secure: his wife inherited a hotel that brings a good income, and access to secret information made it possible to see the preparations for a world war, which did not suit Leman at all. He did not know about the situation in the USSR, did not know about the repressions, and apparently decided that the USSR authorities believed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. This led to the fact that in June 1940 he decided on an unprecedented and extremely dangerous step: he dropped a letter addressed to the military attache or his deputy into the mailbox of the Soviet embassy. In the letter, he offered to immediately restore operational contact with him.
However, there was no contact until September 1940, when Alexander Korotkov, the new deputy NKVD resident in Berlin, met with Breitenbach. A new stage in the activity of the agent has begun. In fact, all work with an extremely important agent had to be built anew.
The new head of agent Breitenbach was a young employee, Boris Zhuravlev, who had recently graduated from the Special Purpose School. By this time, the position and duties of Lehman in the Gestapo were so extensive that he did not even need other tasks to obtain information. On September 9, 1940, the Berlin residency received an instruction personally from People's Commissar Beria:
Breitenbach should not be given any special assignments. It is necessary to take for the time being everything that is within his immediate capabilities, and, in addition, everything that he will know about the work of various intelligence agencies against the USSR, in the form of documents and personal reports of the source
Having received the materials, Zhuravlev photographed them and returned them before Leman entered the service the next day. Lehman handed over to Moscow the key to the Gestapo ciphers used in the Funkshpruch telegraph and Fernshpruch radio messages to communicate with his territorial and foreign employees. Among other materials, there was a large number of documents indicating that Germany had begun preparations for a war against the USSR. So, in March 1941, he reported that the Abwehr urgently expanded a unit engaged in intelligence work against the USSR. In the spring of 1941, Leman informed Soviet intelligence officers about the upcoming Wehrmacht invasion of Yugoslavia. At a meeting on May 28, 1941, the agent informed Zhuravlev that he had been ordered urgently to draw up a schedule for the round-the-clock duty of his unit's employees. And on June 19, having called a scout for an emergency meeting, Breitenbach reported that the Gestapo had received the text of Hitler's secret order to German troops stationed along the Soviet border. It ordered the start of hostilities against the USSR after 3 o'clock in the morning on June 22.
After the outbreak of the war, contact with Breitenbach was lost forever.
Failure
At the end of the war, the NKVD began to investigate the fate of pre-war sources and agents. Documents were found in the ruins of the Gestapo headquarters stating that Wilhelm Lehmann had been arrested by the Gestapo in December 1942. The reasons for the arrest were not specified. In Moscow, it was established that the executed Gestapo officer Wilhelm Lehman was an NKVD agent Breitenbach.
Later it was possible to restore the cause of the death of the agent.
In May 1942, Soviet intelligence agent Beck (German communist Robert Barth, who voluntarily surrendered to Soviet captivity) was abandoned in Berlin. One of the agent's goals was to restore contact with Breitenbach. However, he failed to deceive the Gestapo, he was arrested. under torture, he gave out the conditions for appearing with Breitenbach and the information he knew about him. The Gestapo figured out Wilhelm Lehmann, but the operation to eliminate him was carried out secretly. Himmler and Muller did not report to Hitler that a Soviet agent had been working in the Gestapo for many years. Wilhelm Lehmann was urgently called to duty on Christmas Eve 1942, from where he never returned. The exact date of death of the scout and the place of his burial are not known.
In January 1943, a notice was published in the official bulletin of the Gestapo:
Criminal inspector Willy Lehman in December 1942 gave his life for the Fuhrer and the Reich
The fact of the betrayal of such a high-ranking SS officer was hidden - even Leman's wife was not informed about the circumstances of her husband's death.
Robert Barth
Robert Barth agreed to participate in the radio game with Moscow, fearing for his wife and son. After the war, he again voluntarily surrendered to the representatives of the Red Army and insisted that he had transmitted a signal of disinformation in the transmitted information. However, either he did not do this, or one of the technicians on the Soviet side made a mistake, but the signal of disinformation was not understood. Bart was convicted and shot.
Memory
In 1969, in Moscow, Leman's widow Margaret was presented with a gold wrist watch with the inscription "As a keepsake from Soviet friends." However, official information about the Soviet agent Wilhelm Lehmann, who for twelve years was transmitting the most important information from the very center of German counterintelligence, remained classified for many years. Many documents related to the activities of agent Breitenbach lost the stamp "Top Secret" only in 2009.
Willy Lehman(German Willy Lehmann; operative pseudonym Breitenbach; March 15, 1884, near Leipzig, German Empire - December 1942, Berlin, Germany) - Gestapo officer, SS Hauptsturmführer and criminal inspector. A secret agent of Soviet intelligence, who has become one of the most valuable during almost thirteen years of cooperation with her.
Biography
Born in the family of a school teacher. He studied as a carpenter, at the age of 17 he volunteered for the Navy, where he served for 12 years. From the side of a German ship, he watched the battle of the Russian cruiser Varyag and Japanese ships in the battle near Chemulpo on January 27, 1904.
In 1911, he was demobilized and came to Berlin, where he soon met an old friend Ernst Kuhr, who by that time worked in the Berlin police presidium. Under his patronage, Leman was hired in the department for combating org. crime (criminal police), later moved to the political police (which later became the Gestapo), and two years later (in 1913) was hired by the anti-espionage police department, which he later headed. He was never a member of the Abwehr, since it was an exclusively military, not a police structure.
After the Plenipotentiary Representation of the RSFSR was opened in Berlin in May 1918, its employees began to be monitored by the Leman counterintelligence department. After the November 4, 1918 coup, Willy Lehmann became chairman of the general assembly of Berlin police officials.
In 1920, the authorities of the Weimar Republic recreated the secret political police, to which Lehmann and Kur returned. Lehman was scheduled to recertify for further promotions, but due to an attack of diabetes, the exam was postponed. In the meantime, he was appointed acting head of the office of the department that was engaged in spying on foreign diplomatic missions, that is, in fact, he led the counterintelligence department of the police presidium of Berlin. In 1927, an experienced intelligence officer was appointed to the position of chief, and Lehman's chances for further promotion fell sharply. He chose a place to work in the department's filing cabinet, which concentrated all the information on employees of foreign embassies.
Recruitment (1929)
Over the years of service, Leman managed to become disillusioned with the politics of the authorities in the country. He decided to offer his services to Soviet foreign intelligence. In March 1929, at his suggestion, the Soviet embassy was visited by Ernst Kuhr, who by that time was unemployed. After a conversation with him, the OGPU officers in Soviet intelligence came to the conclusion that it was expedient to recruit Kura on a material basis. Agent A-70 was planned to be used to collect information about persons of interest to Soviet intelligence, for which he was entitled to a monthly reward, depending on the quality of the information provided.
However, in order to fulfill the assignment of the USSR, Kur had to turn to Leman, who was not very happy with this state of affairs. In addition, Kur unwisely spent money received from Soviet intelligence, lowering them at noisy parties in Berlin restaurants. Fearing that this would attract the attention of the Berlin police, and then lead him to himself, Leman decided to establish direct contact with the Soviet residency.
According to one version, Leman agreed to cooperate with the USSR because he was a staunch anti-fascist, according to another, for money. Without exception, all German-language sources (both before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall) adhere to the less romantic version of Lehmann's collaboration solely out of selfish motives. This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that in the GDR the name of Lehmann was not used at all, and was almost forgotten, while the names of other German resistance fighters and spies with immeasurably less merit were called streets and used them in every possible way for propaganda purposes.