Gurevich Anatoly Markovich. Legend of Soviet military intelligence

On the night of January 2, 2009, the famous Soviet illegal military intelligence officer ANATOLY MARKOVIC GUREVICH died at the age of 96.

KENT - THE BEST Illegal Scout

When he was rehabilitated and declassified in the summer of 1991, it was officially reported in the press that from now on, Anatoly Markovich Gurevich, better known under the pseudonym Kent, can be safely added to such famous names as Richard Sorge, Rudolf Abel and Nikolai Kuznetsov. He was a brilliant scout, experts call him the king of illegal immigrants.

Many years have passed since the time when the named four acted. Many are gone, but Kent lives in good health in St. Petersburg. True, due to bad weather, health is playing tricks, but he still enthusiastically talks about amazing stories his adventures, as if everything happened to him yesterday.

I met him quite by accident. Resting in the summer in the wilderness in the Tver region, I a terrible secret I heard from the headman of the village that a few steps from our house every year the legendary "little boss" of the "Red Chapel", which successfully fought against the Nazis, an organization, most of whose members were subsequently executed or tortured, also rests. Since I knew almost nothing about Kent's activities (to my shame), I turned to the local library, where, to my surprise, they gave me a small book about Kent by Sergei Poltorak. After reading it from cover to cover, I considered myself, if not an expert in this matter, then clearly knowledgeable. And I was gravely mistaken. Kent and I were introduced, and he told so much about himself and his comrades-in-arms that we may have to write a book ...

KENT - ABOUT MYSELF

I was born in the family of a pharmacist on November 7, 1913 in the city of Kharkov. My father kept in touch with the Bolsheviks, one of whom, Chudakov, later became the head of the Ukrainian Cheka. I remember how they often met, talked, then my father left somewhere and soon returned. Then it turned out that we had a hiding place in the attic, as well as a room adapted for the underground workers. In 1923 we moved to Petrograd, where we began to live in a house on the corner of Tchaikovsky and Chernyshevsky. After graduating from the seventh grade, with the consent of my father, I entered the labor exchange, and at the age of 16 I was sent to the Znamya Truda No. 2 plant as an apprentice metal scriber. While working and at the same time continuing my studies, I participated in civil defense duties. And since he showed himself better side, then he was sent to the courses of the Leningrad City Council for the training of specialists in civil defense. I was the youngest, but I graduated with honors and with a certificate. And when, upon admission to the plant, he presented it, he immediately began to lead the chemical detachment of the plant.

One day, a commission came to us to check the readiness of the enterprise for civil defense, headed by the chairman of the district council of the Narva region and the secretary of the district committee of the party, Ivan Gaza. Oddly enough, Ivan Ivanovich especially liked my detachment. Literally a day later, I was summoned to the district committee of the party, and Gaza suggested that I go to the district council, to the headquarters air defense, which was then just organized. This happened on November 30, 1930. At almost the age of 18, I became a detachment commander, then an inspector of the district and reached the deputy chief of the air defense headquarters. And in 1934 I was already involved in drawing up a mobilization plan for the region.

After the tragic date for Leningrad - December 1, 1934 - the death of Sergei Mironovich Kirov, I had to take part in organizing his funeral. Soon I was appointed head of the special department and air defense group of the razhilsoyuz. And then he went to the institute "Intourist" to study.

FOREIGN BUSINESS

This went on until the moment when, together with his comrades, he read that the Civil War in Spain. We decided to organize a study group Spanish and expressed their desire to get to this country as translators. One fine day we were summoned to the Evropeiskaya Hotel, where people in civilian clothes talked to each of us individually and eventually gave us the go-ahead to go.

I was appointed deputy chief of the echelon, which sailed from Leningrad on a ship through Belgium and Germany to France. From there, I had to send in groups all those on the ship to Spain. There were about 300 of us, including quite a few Spaniards who graduated from an aviation school in the Soviet Union.

Already in Spain, I met with senior adviser Grigory Mikhailovich Stern. "Would you like to work as an interpreter for civil defense and not only?" I agreed, but a man in civilian clothes sitting next to me said: "Stern, listen, sell it to us." He introduced himself to me as a submariner of Egipko and offered to become an interpreter on a submarine. In the end, I went with him to Cartagena. I was issued a Lieutenant of the Republican Spanish Navy and appointed an adjutant-translator of the submarine commander Ivan Alekseevich Burmistrov, who was supposed to arrive from Soviet Union. When he arrived, we went to France, where, after the occupation of northern Spain by the Francoists, there were two republican submarines. Ours was in Bordeaux. Only the two of us turned out to be Soviet on the submarine, the rest of the crew - 45 people - were Spaniards. Moreover, we were warned that among them there are those who cannot be trusted.

ON A SUBBOAT TO SPAIN

After a month and a half of preparation, I studied both the submarine and some of the commands that had to be given. We soon received orders to put to sea for Spain. Burmistrov warned me not to tell the crew that we are heading via Gibraltar to Spain. According to legend, we are only going out for an in-depth check after the repair. Some time after the start of the campaign, Burmistrov called me and said - now gather all the officers and say that we are going to Cartagena through Gibraltar. The sailors did not take this news very kindly, because many had acquaintances of girls on the French coast, and, besides, they did not have time to buy anything for their families in Spain.

When we passed through the Atlantic, the periscope suddenly broke down. Prior to that, we had lost radio contact with Cartagena. As a result, almost all the time we were on the surface, alternately on duty on the bridge and in the central command post. Once, after surfacing, Burmistrov noticed an enemy ship nearby. He gave the command for a quick dive. I saw how the sailors began to hastily close the hatch, and I realized that the captain, who remained on the surface, would die. When I ordered to tear open the hatch, reluctantly, but still they obeyed, although the situation was critical.

Together with the water, Burmistrov dived into the boat, and we began to sink again. After that, he firmly decided that his sons would not be submariners ... But both of them followed in his footsteps. Subsequently, one of them died on a submarine, and the second, a captain of the second rank in the reserve, lives in Stavropol in his father's house on the street named after Burmistrov.

We safely returned to Cartagena, where we were given a solemn welcome. After that, with senior naval adviser Orlov, I participated in the passage from Cartagena to Barcelona on warships carrying gold from vaults that belonged to the USSR and other countries in payment for weapons. Upon arrival in Barcelona, ​​our destroyers were attacked from the air, but we held out.

When we returned to Cartagena, Orlov was suddenly summoned to Moscow. He offered me to go with him, especially since the deadline - 6 months - had already expired. Everything went according to plan, but on the day of departure, military attache Vasilchenko arrived in Le Havre. And then he began to say goodbye to everyone except me. Noticing that I was embarrassed, Vasilchenko took a document out of his pocket and gave it to me to read: an order for Gurevich to return to Spain in order to illegally escort pilots across the border. Which was done.

BECOMING VINCENT SIERRA

I spent several months at the front. In September 1939, together with Rear Admiral Yakhnenko and Captain 1st Rank Mikhailov, we left by train through Belgium, Germany and Poland for our homeland, where we were placed in a dacha near Moscow and asked to write activity reports. Then we were given 5 minutes each for a personal report to the head of the GRU, Gendin.

After our report, everyone was released, Gendin asked only me to stay. He said that Orlov and Burmistrov spoke very well of me and offered me a job in the GRU. But I had no idea about working in intelligence and said that I could not give an answer right away. And went home to Leningrad.

I had two months of vacation ahead of me. But three weeks later I was urgently summoned from Kislovodsk to Moscow. They said that the international situation, as I understand it, is becoming more complicated, and therefore there is a need to strengthen intelligence. I replied that I had nothing to do with intelligence and that I could be useful only by working in the apparatus. But I was reassured that I would have to work as a cryptographer and radio operator. As a result, after studying at a school near Moscow, I went through Leningrad to Finland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and, having arrived in Paris as a Mexican, received a passport of Uruguayan citizen Vincent Sierra.

NOT THAT TICKET

The first time I, one might say, pierced immediately when boarding a train to Helsinki. The fact is that Intourist should have given me a ticket from Leningrad to Helsinki and a reservation for a hotel room. The conductor did not immediately look at the ticket and let me into the car. But when I went out for a smoke, he nevertheless asked about my travel documents, and it turned out that the ticket was from Beloostrov to Helsinki. I spent all Soviet money on a taxi and a porter. There were only a few seconds left before departure, but I ran to change 100 dollars.

Playing on the fact that although I am a foreigner, I still speak Russian a little, I went up to the station duty officer, got on the policeman, and he took pity on me, giving me 50 kopecks for an additional payment.

My misadventures didn't end there. In the carriage, foreign tourists boasted of photographs, but I had nothing. But it passed. The nightmare began at the border. When they began to show passports and documents, I saw an interpreter who knew me well - she studied with me at Intourist. The girl turned out to be quick-witted: when she saw my passport and knowing that I was in Spain, she realized that I was obviously traveling as an illegal immigrant ...

From Finland, by plane through Sweden and the Netherlands, I got to Paris, and from there to Brussels, legalized as a citizen of Uruguay, Vincent Sierra. There I met with the resident, whom I knew under the pseudonym Otto - it was Leopold Trepper. With him, I had to arrange to settle in Sweden as a representative of the firm that Otto allegedly created in Brussels. We decided that we would keep in touch through his wife, since I would not be able to meet with him often.

To facilitate contacts, we entered ballroom dancing courses with her. There was only one snag - she was a lady of quite respectable age, and I was often asked why I was dealing with such an unattractive-looking person ...

While still at school, I worked in a theater group, graduated from the University of the Sunday Society "Knowledge" and, in addition, studied at a decent university, so I knew history, literature, and languages. It was easy for me to register with the police and infiltrate secular society. This helped - unlike Trepper, who could mostly only meet with members of the Jewish community. He never penetrated into secular or business society. It was a big blow for him, and he did not hide it.

And it soon became clear that Trepper misled the center, saying that I could be its representative in Sweden - there none of the foreigners could manage a branch of a foreign company. Only the Swedes had this right by law.

THE SOCIAL LION

In 1940, as an assistant to Trepper, I kept in touch with legal signalmen - employees of our trade mission. Once again, having received a package from them, I informed the management about this, and we gathered at my apartment on Be Ko Avenue.

We usually worked until late at night sorting through the mail. Suddenly we were awakened by the sound of aircraft, which seemed strange: after all, the Belgian king would not conduct exercises at such an inopportune time for this. I turned on the receiver. They played a march. It was suddenly announced that Germany had shown aggression against Belgium, in connection with which hostilities began. It was absolutely unexpected - after all, the day before, the German ambassador announced that his country would completely adhere to neutrality with respect to Belgium. Already at six in the morning, when we decided on our actions in the situation that had arisen and went out into the street, we saw a group of people being led past us, who had previously been suspected of working for German intelligence. We went home.

Shortly thereafter, Trepper and I met at a safe house with a representative of the GRU, who announced that Trepper was to leave the country. After all, if he is well known as a Canadian Jew, he can be arrested at any moment both for his nationality and for being a citizen of a country participating in the war against Germany. A man from the GRU offered to hand over the management of the residency to me. But I objected that before the start of the war I was engaged only in communications issues and now I am not ready for intelligence work. The trepper replied that this was not true, and that I could be an illegal resident intelligence officer.

The Trepper left soon after. His wife, left without protection, I managed to hide in our trade mission. Then she was transferred to Moscow. His company, of course, collapsed, but he was able to take 300,000 francs with him. According to some reports, he managed to transfer the money through the bank, according to others, an employee of the Bulgarian consulate helped.

The residency has collapsed completely. Only one Soviet intelligence agent - Makarov - was legalized as the owner of a rubber shop in Ostend. But he quite often violated the conspiracy: having a lot of money, he was very interested in girls ... Thus, only I remained from the current employees. By that time, I had the opportunity to continue living in Belgium. I met the millionaires Singer and Barcha. Their children were married and lived next to their parents. And suddenly, even before the start of the aggression, Singer unexpectedly turned to me and asked what I thought about the possible start of the war. I replied that I had normal business relationship and I'm not going to leave. "Tell me, can't you patronize my daughter Margarita? You know, her husband has died, and she refuses to go to America with us, preferring to constantly visit his grave." I thought about it and agreed to help. Singer offered me money for expenses, handed over all his business connections and left. Thus began my business life. At that time, Margarita Barcha and I were only on friendly terms.

TREPPER'S LAST MYSTERY

On December 25, 1942, Trepper started the game with the center (Moscow). I also played the game. The official date is March 3rd, but I started the game much later because Trepper didn't want it, afraid I might give him away. And he continued the radio play on my behalf.

Trepper managed to convince the Gestapo that he needed to hide his arrest by moving around Paris frequently. They went towards him. On December 13, 1943, he was driving with Berg. He felt unwell, and Trepper offered to drop in at the pharmacy for medicines, volunteering to buy them. Berg was convinced that by volunteering with the Gestapo, Trepper would never allow himself to escape. Entering the pharmacy, Trepper left through the back door.

By this time former boss Sonderkommando Giering was forced to resign and go to the hospital for an operation, as a result of which he died. Heinz Pannwitz, a Gestapo man known for his brutality in Prague, was appointed in his place. Fearing that Trepper's flight might negatively affect his reputation, and, having calculated that after the war he might fall into the hands of the Americans, Pannwitz decided to cooperate with me. By this decision he contributed to the salvation Soviet intelligence officers and a number of leaders of the French resistance movement.

In August 1944, on the eve of the uprising in Paris, the Sonderkommandos were disbanded. Pannwitz, his secretary Kempa and radio operator Stluka left for Germany. Together with Margarita and the children, I was placed in the camp. Having convinced Muller that only I could help him in his future work, I received a new appointment. "Joint work" allegedly continued until April 1945. Further, having received guarantees of inviolability, we took refuge in the Austrian Alps. In case allies appeared, I came up with a legend that I was a major of the Soviet army Vladimir Sokolov and I was in Germany to help Soviet prisoners of war who had escaped from the camps, and German citizens with me were anti-fascists.

Soon we were with the French. A request was sent to confirm my legend, and soon a positive answer came to Paris. After that, the French brought us to Paris with archival materials and radio equipment. But there, Colonel Novikov, a representative of SMERSH, "arrested us," and upon arrival in Moscow, we were taken directly from the airfield to Lubyanka, where the investigation began.

Hiding our arrest from the GRU, the People's Commissariat of Defense was forced to send my parents a certificate stating that I was missing under circumstances that did not give me the right to benefits. My parents found out that I was alive and in the camp only in 1948. I was sentenced in 1947 by a special meeting of SMERSH as a civilian to 20 years in labor camps under Article 58-1-a. While in the camp in Vorkuta, I was convinced that a mistake had occurred and that the truth would prevail. I worked conscientiously, understood economics and accounting, and I was appointed dispatcher of camp divisions and senior economist of planning and production departments.

I was rehabilitated in August 1991. Prior to that, for 45 years, I had applied to various authorities for reconsideration of my case, but to no avail. After rehabilitation, an order was issued by the Ministry of Defense that I was a captain of the Soviet army and served with grace years for 46 years and 1 month. During my service - and even while working abroad - I have never received a salary, and even more so - compensation for material and moral losses.

"DAD, IT'S ME!"

After serving a total of 12 years in the camps, I nevertheless returned home to Leningrad, to my mother. Then there was a meeting with my faithful friend of life - Lydia Vasilievna. It’s hard to talk about what happened next. Somehow the phone rang, and I picked up the phone. "Dad, it's me!" I did not believe and demanded details. When the man told me those who were godparents at his birth, I fainted. It was Michel, the son of Marguerite Bartsch and Vincent Sierra, who was born in the Gestapo in April 1944. Then Michel came to St. Petersburg. He said that Margarita was constantly searching, but did not know my real surname. Only Michel managed to find his father. He conducted his own investigation, compared some facts and figured out (after all, the son of a scout) who his father was. And they told me at the Lubyanka that Margarita and her baby died in the camp under the Allied bombing.

P.S. Michel and his family visit their father almost every year, they exchange letters. Anatoly Markovich still does not lose hope of receiving compensation for the time of work and exile and writes his memoirs. By the way, for all the time he worked in intelligence, Kent did not receive any award from the state. Even the presentation for the order - for the rescue of the submarine commander - was lost somewhere. Kent - a living legend and the pride of our intelligence - lives in a small apartment in "Khrushchev" on a modest military pension. All money goes to medicines. He was not even congratulated on the anniversary of the city. But he is well remembered and loved by those who at least somehow touched his biography. Anatoly Markovich once said that for him the best reward is his friends.

Mikhail BUREnin

http://www.nevskoevremya.spb.ru/

Anatoly Markovich Gurevich(November 7, Kharkov, Russian Empire - January 2, St. Petersburg, Russia) - an employee of the Soviet military intelligence GRU, an illegal intelligence officer, one of the leaders of the Red Chapel.

studies

Born in Kharkov in a Jewish family. Father, pharmacist Mark Osipovich Gurevich (1870 - after 1952), was the owner of the large "M. O. Gurevich's Mariinsky Pharmacy" at the corner of Sumskaya and Veterinary streets, which served as a safe house for underground revolutionaries. Mother, Yulia Lvovna (nee Vinnitskaya, 1879-1959), worked in the family pharmacy as a laboratory pharmacist. After establishing Soviet power, father worked in RKI and People's Commissariat healthcare. In 1924 the family moved to Petrograd.

In the 3rd gymnasium (now 181 school in St. Petersburg) favorite subjects were literature, social science and German. Gurevich actively participated in the circles of Osoaviakhim.

After leaving school, Gurevich studied at the Institute of Railway Transport, and then at the Intourist Institute (specializing in working with foreigners).

Spanish Civil War

On Atrebat Street in Brussels, Kent rents a villa in someone else's name, there is a turnout, and Mikhail Makarov settles there.

Gurevich established contact with German officer, chief lieutenant - anti-fascist Schulze-Boysen, who was one of the leaders of the Red Chapel, which made it possible for Soviet military intelligence to regularly receive information of extreme importance. (Not confirmed by an official source).

In October 1941, the resident in Brussels "Kent" received a cipher telegram by radio, according to which he was to leave for Berlin with a radio transmitter. He handed it over to agents "Corsican" and "Sergeant". Upon returning to Brussels, "Kent" confirmed by radio the successful completion of the mission and reported to Moscow the information received in Berlin about the difficulties that the Germans were experiencing in supplying and replenishing reserves, about the realistic assessment by the German command of the failure of the blitzkrieg, about a possible enemy offensive in the spring - summer 1942 with the aim of mastering our oil fields.

The failure of the Red Chapel

On December 12, 1941, on Atrebat Street, the Germans located Makarov's transmitter. Trepper arrived from Paris the day before. However, for some reason, he did not say that the next day he was gathering the Kent reconnaissance group at the villa. In the morning, Trepper called Gurevich and said that radio operators and a cryptographer had been arrested at the villa, and Trepper himself miraculously managed to escape. Gurevich called Margaret, and they fled without taking any things so as not to arouse suspicion. They took refuge for some time in the house of friends, and then moved to Marseille. There they lived in freedom for another eleven months. One of the radio operators, unable to withstand the torture, revealed the cipher he was using. The Germans began to read radio messages, and with amazement the Gestapo read the addresses of Schulze-Boysen and other underground workers in Berlin. Many underground workers were arrested and subsequently executed.

In November 1942, "Kent" and Margaret were arrested in an apartment they rented in Marseille. Only after the arrest did Margaret find out that she had fallen in love with a Russian intelligence officer.

Arrest of Kent

I. A. Damaskin in the book “One Hundred Great Scouts” writes:

“Most of the members of the Belgian Red Chapel were executed after being tortured. But the worst thing is that an undeserved stain of betrayal fell on many, such as K. Efremov and M. Makarov. Great in this is the “merit” of L. Trepper, who slandered Gurevich, Efremov, Makarov and some others in his post-war testimony and in the book The Great Game.

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Notes

Literature

• Gurevich A. St. Petersburg: Nestor, 2007.- 500 p.- ISBN 978-5-303-00304-0. ()
• Sergei Poltorak. Scout Kent
• Sergei Poltorak. Soviet intelligence agent Kent or the big lie about the "little boss"
• Gilles Perrot. "Red Chapel"
• Leopold Trepper. "Big game"
• Kolpakidi A. [I.] GRU in the Great Patriotic War. - M.: Yauza: Eksmo, 2010. - 608 p. - (GRU) - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-699-41251-8
• V.L. Peschersky. Red chapel. Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf, 2000.
• P.A. Sudoplatov. Intelligence and the Kremlin. Moscow: Geya, 1997.

Sudoplatov, Pavel Anatolyevich Special Operations. Lubyanka and the Kremlin 1930–1950

Links

An excerpt characterizing Gurevich, Anatoly Markovich

I turned around abruptly... and once again faced with beautiful purple eyes - Veya was standing behind me...
– Oh, is it really you?!!.. – I almost squealed from unexpected happiness.
“I saw that you unwrapped the crystal, I came to help,” the girl answered calmly.
Only her big eyes again peered very attentively into my frightened face, and deep, “adult” understanding flickered in them.
“You have to trust me,” the “star” girl whispered softly.
And I really wanted to tell her that, of course - I believe! .. And that this is just my bad character, which all my life makes me “beat my head against the wall”, and comprehend the world... But Veya apparently understood everything perfectly, and, smiling with her amazing smile, said affably:
- Do you want me to show you my world, since you are already here? ..
I just nodded my head happily, already fully perked up again and ready for any “exploits”, just because I was no longer alone, and that was enough to instantly forget all the bad things and the world again seemed fascinating and beautiful.
"But you said you've never been here, did you?" I asked boldly.
“But I’m not here right now,” the girl answered calmly. “My essence is with you, but my body never lived there. I never knew my real home... – her huge eyes were filled with deep, not at all childish sadness.
- Can I ask you - how old are you? .. Of course, if you don’t want to, don’t answer, - I asked a little embarrassed.
“By earthly calculation, it will probably be about two million years,” the “baby” answered thoughtfully.
For some reason, my legs suddenly became completely cottony from this answer ... This simply could not be! .. No creature is able to live so long! Or, depending on what kind of creature? ..
"Then why do you look so small?" We only have children like that... But you know that, of course.
- This is how I remember myself. And I feel it's right. So that's how it should be. We live for a very long time. I'm probably the little one...
All this news made me dizzy... But Veya, as usual, was surprisingly calm, and this gave me the strength to ask further.
- And who do you call an adult? .. If there are such, of course.
- Well, of course! The girl laughed sincerely. - Want to see?
I just nodded, because my throat was completely seized with fright, and my “fluttering” conversational gift was lost somewhere ... I perfectly understood that right now I would see a real “star” creature! .. And, despite the fact that, as far as I could remember, I had been waiting for this all my conscious life, now all of a sudden all my courage for some reason quickly “went to the heels” ...
Veya waved her hand - the terrain has changed. Instead of golden mountains and a stream, we found ourselves in a marvelous, moving, transparent "city" (in any case, it looked like a city). And right towards us, along a wide, wet-glittering silver "road", an amazing man was slowly walking ... He was a tall, proud old man, who could not be called anything else but majestic! sometimes very correct and wise - and pure, like crystal, thoughts (which for some reason I heard very clearly); and long silvery hair covering him with a shimmering cloak; and the same, surprisingly kind, huge violet "Vaina" eyes ... And on his high forehead shining, wonderfully sparkling with gold, diamond "star".
“Rest to you, Father,” Veya said softly, touching her forehead with her fingers.
“And you, the departed one,” the old man answered sadly.
From him emanated endless kindness and affection. And all of a sudden I really wanted to to a small child, bury in his knees and, hide from everything for at least a few seconds, breathing in the deep peace emanating from him, and not think about the fact that I'm scared ... that I don't know where my house is ... and that I I don’t know at all - where I am, and what is happening to me in this moment really happening...
– Who are you, creature?.. – I mentally heard his gentle voice.
“I am human,” I replied. “Sorry to disturb your peace. My name is Svetlana.
The elder looked at me warmly and attentively with his wise eyes, and for some reason approval shone in them.
“You wanted to see the Wise One – you see him,” Veya said quietly. - Do you want to ask something?
- Please tell me, does evil exist in your wonderful world? – although ashamed of my question, I still decided to ask.
- What do you call "evil", Human-Svetlana? the sage asked.
- Lies, murder, betrayal ... Don't you have such words? ..
- It was a long time ago ... no one remembers anymore. Only me. But we know what it was. This is embedded in our "ancient memory" to never forget. Have you come from where evil lives?
I nodded sadly. I was very sorry for my native Earth, and for the fact that life on it was so wildly imperfect that it made me ask such questions ... But, at the same time, I really wanted Evil to leave our House forever, because that I loved this house with all my heart, and very often dreamed that someday such a wonderful day would come when:
a person will smile with joy, knowing that people can only bring him good ...
when a lonely girl is not afraid to walk through the darkest street in the evening, not being afraid that someone will offend her...
when you can open your heart with joy, without fear that your best friend will betray you...
when it will be possible to leave something very expensive right on the street, not being afraid that if you turn away - and it will be immediately stolen ...
And I sincerely, with all my heart, believed that somewhere such a wonderful world really exists, where there is no evil and fear, but there is simple joy life and beauty... That is why, following my naive dream, I took the slightest opportunity to learn at least something about how it is possible to destroy this same, so tenacious and so indestructible, our earthly Evil... And also - so that it would never be ashamed to tell someone somewhere that I am a Human ...
Of course, these were naive childhood dreams ... But then I was still just a child.
– My name is Atis, Svetlana Man. I live here from the very beginning, I have seen Evil... A lot of evil...
– And how did you get rid of him, wise Hatis?! Did someone help you? .. - I asked hopefully. - Can you help us? .. Give at least advice?
– We found the reason... And killed it. But your evil is beyond our control. It is different... Just like others and you. And not always someone else's good may be good for you. You must find your own reason. And destroy it, - he gently put his hand on my head and a wonderful peace flowed into me ... - Farewell, Human Svetlana ... You will find the answer to your question. Rest to you...
I stood deep in thought, and did not pay attention to the fact that the reality surrounding me had changed a long time ago, and instead of a strange, transparent city, we now “floated” on dense purple “water” on some unusual, flat and transparent device, which there were no handles, no oars - nothing at all, as if we were standing on a large, thin, moving transparent glass. Although no movement or pitching was felt at all. It glided over the surface surprisingly smoothly and calmly, making you forget that it was moving at all ...
– What is it?.. Where are we sailing? I asked in surprise.
“To pick up your little friend,” Veya replied calmly.
- But how?!. She can't...
- Will be able. She has the same crystal as yours, was the answer. - We will meet her at the "bridge", - and without explaining anything else, she soon stopped our strange "boat".
Now we were already at the foot of some brilliant “polished” black as night wall, which was sharply different from everything bright and sparkling around, and seemed artificially created and alien. Suddenly, the wall “parted”, as if in that place it consisted of dense fog, and in a golden “cocoon” appeared ... Stella. Fresh and healthy, as if she had just gone for a pleasant walk... And, of course, she was wildly pleased with what was happening... When she saw me, her pretty face beamed happily and, out of habit, she immediately chattered:
– Are you here too?!... Oh, how good!!! And I was so worried! .. So worried! .. I thought something must have happened to you. But how did you get here? .. - the baby stared dumbfounded at me.
“I think the same as you,” I smiled.
- And when I saw that you were carried away, I immediately tried to catch up with you! But I tried and tried and nothing worked ... until she came. Stella pointed at Wei with her pen. “I am very grateful to you for this, Wei girl! - according to her funny habit of addressing two people at once, she thanked sweetly.
- This "girl" is two million years old... - I whispered in my friend's ear.
Stella's eyes widened in surprise, and she herself remained standing in a quiet tetanus, slowly digesting the stunning news ...
“Ka-a-ak - two million? .. Why is she so small? ..” breathed Stella, stunned.
- Yes, she says that they live a long time ... Maybe your essence is from the same place? I joked. But Stella, apparently, did not like my joke at all, because she was immediately indignant:
- How can you?! .. I'm the same as you! I'm not purple at all!
I felt funny, and a little ashamed - the baby was a real patriot ...
As soon as Stella appeared here, I immediately felt happy and strong. Apparently, our common, sometimes dangerous, “floor walks” had a positive effect on my mood, and this immediately put everything in its place.
Stella looked around in delight, and it was clear that she was eager to bombard our “guide” with a thousand questions. But the little girl heroically restrained herself, trying to appear more serious and mature than she really was...
“Tell me please, Weya’s girl, where can we go?” Stella asked very politely. Apparently, she was never able to "put" in her head the idea that Veya could be so "old" ...
“Wherever you want, since you are here,” the “star” girl calmly replied.
We looked around - we were pulled in all directions at once! .. It was incredibly interesting and we wanted to see everything, but we perfectly understood that we could not stay here forever. Therefore, seeing how Stella fidgets in place with impatience, I suggested that she choose where we would go.
- Oh, please, can we see what kind of "animal" you have here? – unexpectedly for me, asked Stella.
Of course, I would like to see something else, but there was nowhere to go - she herself suggested that she choose ...
We found ourselves in the likeness of a very bright forest, raging with colors. It was absolutely amazing!.. But for some reason I suddenly thought that I wouldn’t want to stay in such a forest for a long time... Again, it was too beautiful and bright, a little oppressive, not at all like our soothing and fresh, green and light earthy forest.
Perhaps it is true that everyone should be where he truly belongs. And I immediately thought of our sweet "star" baby ... How she must have missed her home and her native and familiar environment! .. Only now I could at least understand a little how lonely she must have been on our imperfect and sometimes dangerous Earth...
- Please tell me, Veya, why did Atis call you gone? I finally asked the question that was circling in my head.
“Oh, that’s because, a long time ago, my family volunteered to help other beings who needed our help. This happens to us often. And the departed never return to their home... This is the right of free choice, so they know what they are doing. That's why Atis took pity on me...

On January 2, 2009, one of the most prominent intelligence officers of World War II died at the age of 96.

A special plane from Paris, which arrived in Moscow a month after the Victory, was immediately surrounded by SMERSH officers, who arrested all passengers. Such booty in hand military counterintelligence even in those victorious days came across infrequently. Still would! The first to descend the ladder was SS-Hauptsturmführer Heinz Panwitz, former head of the SD (SS counterintelligence) in Czechoslovakia. The very one who tracked down and destroyed the murderers of Heydrich and, in the form of retribution for the death of the Reichsleiter, ordered the village of Lidice to be wiped off the face of the earth and its inhabitants to be shot.

Panwitz and two other Gestapo men, as well as six suitcases with important documents from the Reich Security Office, were brought to Moscow by a tall, black-haired man, who, however, was arrested along with his wards. Meanwhile, it was Anatoly Markovich (Aron Mordkovich) Gurevich, one of the largest Soviet intelligence officers, who operated in Western Europe During the Second World War.

He was born on November 7, 1913 in the family of a Kharkov pharmacist. The boy was eleven years old when his family moved to Leningrad, where Anatoly finished school. In 1935, he entered the newly opened Intourist Institute, which trained guides, translators and other specialists to work with foreigners. In "Intourist" he perfectly mastered Spanish and French and in September 1937 he was enrolled in the staff of the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff as an interpreter.

Anatoly was immediately sent to courses, and after short training he left for Spain, where a civil war was then going on. In Barcelona, ​​he was appointed assistant commander of the Soviet submarine S-4, operating under the flag of Republican Spain. Since only Gurevich (pseudonym - Lieutenant Antonio Gonzalez) knew Spanish in her crew, he helped the commander many times to get out of difficult, sometimes - dangerous situations. But, in addition, he got military information and passed it on to the Intelligence Agency via the ship's radio. In this field, Anatoly met more than once with the chief military adviser, General Grigory Stern. He was introduced to the Order of the Red Star, which, however, he did not receive. As, however, and many other high awards, laid down and promised. In September 1939 he returned to Moscow. In the Main Intelligence Directorate, they offered to work behind the cordon as a cipher-radio operator.

The training took place at a special dacha in the Moscow region. Six months later, he knew everything about the device of the radio, knew how to work on the key, encrypt and decrypt radio messages, mastered the science of conspiracy. He was given the intelligence pseudonym "Kent" and came up with a legend according to which he was supposed to portray the Uruguayan citizen Vincente Sierra abroad - the son of wealthy parents, preparing for commercial activities. In order not to get into trouble when meeting with a "countryman" or simply with a person who knows Uruguay firsthand, Anatoly carefully studies his "homeland" from maps and reference books. He remembers the streets where his "childhood, adolescence and youth" passed, where his "elderly parents" now live and "a young beautiful bride is waiting ..." On February 23, 1939, Lieutenant Gurevich receives military oath, and on April 15 he boards a train with a foreign passport in his pocket. A few days later he arrives in Brussels.

Talking to journalists in 2000, Anatoly Gurevich recalled:

"... For several months I worked illegally in Brussels. And in September the war began, and it became clear that as a communications resident I would not go anywhere ... But I quickly made friends with the high society of Brussels, started cultural and business ties "Among my friends is the nephew of the governor of Flanders. I rented a luxurious apartment in a prestigious area of ​​the city, entered the Free University, attended social evenings. All this confirmed the legend. From my Belgian friends and acquaintances, I received a lot of important information. They considered me a person who did nothing does not understand politics and military affairs: - I always tried to show it. Therefore, they said what they wanted in front of me. And then I went to my office and encrypted radio messages ... ".

Soon Gurevich becomes the second person in the residency after Leopold Trepper (aka "Otto"). He instructed him to prepare all the reports transmitted to the Center and decipher the response instructions. On the night of May 10, 1940 Hitler's troops began the occupation of neutral Belgium. Trepper felt that the intelligence network in Belgium could no longer work under his command. According to legend, Otto was a Canadian, and Canada also fought with Germany. He would have been arrested in no time. He therefore decided to leave for Paris and handed over the residency, which consisted almost entirely of Jews, to Kent.

It was with this agent that Gurevich began to work, and yet each of them, as a Jew, could be arrested or destroyed at any moment. In addition, Trepper did not leave a penny for operating expenses. Help came unexpectedly. His neighbor, the Czech Jew millionaire Singer, who lived in the apartment on the floor above, was about to emigrate to the States. Everything would be fine, he complained to Vincent Sierra, only his daughter, Margaret, flatly refused to leave her husband's grave. Maybe a noble Uruguayan will take a young woman and her 8-year-old son under his protection?

Of course, Anatoly agreed. Moreover, the beautiful Margaret had long become his mistress and did not want to leave for that very reason. Yes, and he fell in love with this charming blonde, who, by the way, did not look like a Jewess at all. Singer transferred to him all his business connections, thanks to which Kent created a new roof for the Soviet agents - the firm "Simeksko". This joint-stock company enters into trade deals only with reputable customers. Main client- Wehrmacht. Soon, President Vincent Sierra rents a huge house on Slezher Avenue for prestige. He moves there with Margaret Barcha. Without knowing it herself, she will go down in intelligence history under the pseudonym "Blonde".

In the suburbs of Brussels, Kent rents a villa in which there was a place for a walkie-talkie and a radio operator sent from Moscow, senior lieutenant Mikhail Makarov, according to legend, also a Uruguayan Carlos Alamo. The cipher clerk Sophie Poznanskaya and the second radio operator David Kami, sent by Trepper, also worked there.

Meanwhile, the Nazis are already in full swing in Brussels. Having met some influential people from the Wehrmacht quartermaster, Kent was able to get a pass and freely travel around the occupied territory. Anytime. Even during curfew. Kent uses this right with desperate courage.

Subsequently, Gurevich said: "... Margaret introduced me to her friend, Fraulein Amann. She was the mistress of one of the leaders of the Wehrmacht quartermaster office. He recommended me to his subordinates and superiors. As a result, I could easily enter the military of any rank. The only foreigner! Knowing that the Uruguayan was indifferent to politics, the quartermasters did not hang maps on which multi-colored flags indicated the location military units, did not try to hide from the eyes of others important documents with information about the number of German troops, their equipment, about military airfields ... ". Gurevich's memory has always been phenomenal. Every night a radio transmitter works on Atrebat Street, ciphers are sent to the Center. And Mr. Vincent Sierra, in a series of business meetings, official receptions, friendly visits and solemn banquets, it produces more and more important information about the location German armies about Hitler's military plans.

It was Anatoly Gurevich who, back in December 1940, handed over to the Center a coded message with information about the Barbarossa plan. Joseph Stalin did not believe Kent, and on June 22 the first Germans invaded the Union. In December 1941, a new cipher flies to the Center: this time about plans German command postpone the capture of Moscow and transfer the main forces to Ukraine to further offensive to Stalingrad-Caucasus. And this message was also ignored in Moscow. In addition, the Center was regularly informed of data on the losses of German aviation, on the capabilities of German aircraft manufacturing enterprises, on the capture by the Germans of the key to the ciphers used by Soviet diplomatic institutions abroad to communicate with Moscow, data on the landing of German paratroopers near Leningrad, on the possible use fascists of chemical weapons against the USSR, about the disclosure by German counterintelligence of British agents in the Balkans, and much more. Naturally, in addition to Kent, many people worked to obtain such information, and huge efforts were required to collect it for transmission to the Center.

Meanwhile, the Germans intercepted a large number of radiograms sent by unknown radios. They called the radio operators "pianists" and the whole system of illegal radio stations "Red Chapel". By September 1941, the SS managed to intercept and register many radio messages from Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and even from the very heart of the Third Reich - Berlin. We calculated the direction - Moscow. The broadcast was especially dense over Belgium... Dangerous Russian pianists had to be urgently found and recognized from them, since the intercepted radiograms could not be deciphered due to the complexity of the code. The grandiose operation, carefully prepared by the Imperial Security Service, was led by Heinrich Müller himself. To capture the members of this intelligence group, a special Gestapo Sonderkommando was created. She was equipped with the latest auto direction finders.

On December 12, 1941, on Atrebat Street, the Germans located Mikhail Makarov's transmitter. Bursting unexpectedly, they captured the "pianist" along with encrypted reports. In the Gestapo, under torture, Makarov revealed the secret of the code he used, which made it possible for the Germans to decipher the previously intercepted radio messages. Thus, they were able to arrest most of the members of Trepper and Gurevich's undercover groups.

When Kent found out about the failure of Makarov's radio station, he called Margaret and they fled, leaving their belongings so as not to arouse suspicion. They hid for some time in the house of friends, and then moved to Marseille. There they lived in freedom for another eleven months. During this time, the "Red Chapel" was mostly destroyed. The Gestapo found and arrested Trepper himself. In November 1942, Kent and Margaret were arrested in an apartment they rented in Marseille. Soon he was transferred to Berlin. The interrogation took place the next day.

The office is overcrowded with many Gestapo officers. Among them is SS Gruppenfuehrer Heinrich Müller. “And because of this boy, the Reich lost thousands of soldiers ?! - when he saw Kent, the Gestapo chief exclaimed. “He is the resident of the Soviet military intelligence?! Is he the president of a firm that profits from the Wehrmacht?!"

Some time later, Kent was offered a radio game against the Soviet Union in exchange for saving his life. He was given face-to-face confrontations with all the newly arrested comrades in arms, with many after they had been tortured. But Gurevich did not agree. Finally, they read a transcript of a radiogram from the Center to him: Moscow congratulated its "Uruguayan" on the Day of the Red Army and the assignment military rank captain. And the investigators also showed him the materials of the radio exchange between the Center and the Gestapo, acting on his behalf. There was no way out, and when Kent was again offered to join the game, he agreed: after all, more than a dozen radiograms had already been sent to the Center on his behalf. In any case, in his homeland he will be taken for a traitor. At the very least, by taking part in this game, he will be able to reduce the amount of disinformation coming to Moscow.

Gurevich later said: "... I decided to "recognize" what the Gestapo and the Abwehr already knew. In addition, preparing texts for the Center, I changed the style of my report, the manner of documentation and other characteristic features of my "handwriting", hoping I even managed to pass on a code sign that testified to work under control. Later, however, it turned out that the radio operator of the Intelligence Agency, who received these reports, had been arrested by SMERSH people by the time of my arrest, accused of espionage and shot. So in Moscow, radio game transmissions were taken at face value ... ".

But, in addition, in the behavior of Anatoly, a personal moment played a prominent role. He worried about the fate of Margaret and by all means shielded her from espionage charges. He succeeded. Obersturmführer Karl Giering, who led the investigation, was pleased with the cooperation with Anatoly and even allowed intimate dates with Margaret. On these dates, their son was conceived, who was born on April 21, 1944 and was named Michel. By that time, the post of Giering, who was dying of cancer, was taken by Heinz Panwitz, who was well aware that not today or tomorrow the Third Reich the end will come: the Germans hastily retreat, pressed Soviet troops, the anti-Hitler coalition is winning one victory after another ...

Kent subtly feels the mental anguish of Panwitz and, for his part, inspires that in defeated Germany he will have a hard time. Panwitz hears the same thing from his closest friends.

Summer 1944. Second front opened. Allied troops approach Paris. The Germans are fleeing. Kent sent a request to the Center - Panwitz agreed to come to the USSR, taking with him the documents of the Imperial Security Main Directorate (RSHA), but he demanded a guarantee of saving his life. However, there is still no confirmation from the Center, and then he decides to take a desperate step - to send a radiogram to the head of the GRU and the Boss himself. The answer comes quickly: they are expected in Moscow. So for the first time in the history of military intelligence, a prisoner managed to recruit and deliver his own jailer to his homeland.

At this time, Gurevich had a real chance - to hide, to stay abroad with Margaret and his son. But he doesn't. Margaret remains in the West, and communication with her is interrupted. After another encryption to the Center and receiving guarantees of immunity, on June 9, 1945, Gurevich with his new team ended up in Moscow, where all four were immediately arrested.

Meanwhile, except for Gurevich, almost all the other leaders of the Soviet intelligence groups in Europe did the same. During World War II, five such groups operated there. They all belonged Intelligence Directorate General Staff of the Red Army. It just so happened that the leaders of these reconnaissance groups were Jews: Leopold Trepper - a Polish Jew; the head of the Swiss group "Dora" - the Hungarian Jew Sandor Rado; the reconnaissance group "Sissi" was led by a Polish Jewess Rachel Dubendorf; The Berlin reconnaissance group "Krona" was commanded by the Romanian Jew Jan Cherniak. Except for Chernyak, all of them, after returning to Moscow, were immediately sent to the Lubyanka. Yan Chernyak escaped arrest only because by the end of the war he was in the United States, where he led the agents of the Red Army Intelligence Agency, which was engaged in the extraction of secret information about atomic bomb developed in American laboratories.

Sandor Rado, Leopold Trepper and Rachel Dubendorf were not Soviet citizens. All of them were accused of double espionage: Trepper and Gurevich - in favor of Germany, the rest - in favor of England. The Lubyanka executioners managed to force everyone to "confess" to the false accusation and sentenced them to 15 years of strict isolation. Unlike Trepper, Dübendorf and Rado, Gurevich was a Soviet citizen and officer, which led to a longer sentence: he was "rolled off" for all 20 years and sent to Vorkuta.

After 10 years, all four were released under the amnesty of 1955, but no one was rehabilitated. In 1957, Trepper received permission to leave with his family for Poland. After the anti-Jewish action of Gomulka, Trepper decided to leave for Israel in 1970, where he died in 1982. Sandor Rado immediately left for Budapest, became a respected professor of cartography and died in 1981. Rachel Dubendorf was allowed to travel to the GDR, where she was given a pension. She died in 1989 without saying a word about her intelligence work.

Yan Chernyak turned out to be more prosperous than all the leaders of the reconnaissance groups. He continued to work in the GRU General Staff until 1969, then was a translator for TASS. In 1995, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Victory, President Yeltsin awarded Chernyak the title of Hero of Russia. Chernyak did not find out about this, he was in a coma and died a few days later.

Let us return, however, to Anatoly Gurevich. He, too, was released under an amnesty in 1955. But not rehabilitated. And although he tirelessly made his way to all instances, intelligence and counterintelligence, legal and judicial, not only was the undeserved charge not removed from him, but he was again arrested, tried and sent to prison.

Why, however, were the invaluable merits of the commanders of almost all military intelligence groups completely crossed out? The reasons for this have only become apparent now, years later. The fact is that the effectiveness of the illegal work of Trepper, Gurevich, Rado, Dübendorf and Chernyak was very high, recognition of their merits could put an end to the careers of many high officials from military intelligence, who had nothing to brag about ... Therefore, it was beneficial to keep all of them behind bars as traitors, while the Moscow "armchair" scouts received awards for the fruits of someone else's hard work ...

In addition, all of them actually became hostages of the struggle between the GRU and the counterintelligence of the NKVD, who competed with each other. "Competing", these special services intercepted each other's information. But while the NKVD's foreign intelligence was practically "at zero", military intelligence groups brought a lot of important and timely information. After the war, these scouts returned to Moscow and fell into the clutches of the same NKVD or NKGB. Accusing them of betrayal, imprisoning them in prisons and camps allowed the ruthless and shameless security officers to cross out the successes of their competitors from the Intelligence Department of the General Staff of the Red Army.

And one more important reason. It turned out that some Jews during the war years successfully operated in the enemy camp, obtaining the most secret operational information. But what about the Russians and Ukrainians, where were they spying at that time?.. So, apparently, those who decided the fate of real intelligence heroes reasoned. That is why, even after serving two camp terms, Gurevich could not achieve a fair assessment of his work, although he did everything possible for this. Only in 1991 did he receive a document on rehabilitation, which cleared him of charges of betrayal.

I will quote an excerpt from this document: "... From the protocols of interrogations of Gurevich by the Germans, it is seen that he evaded giving specific evidence about the activities of the Soviet residency, referring to forgetfulness or lack of information. He confirmed known to the Germans from other sources, facts only after he was exposed at face-to-face confrontations by other arrested or presented documents ... Gurevich never gave his real name ... At the same time, in an effort to drag out the investigation and not harm the Soviet intelligence agents not identified by the Germans, he gave false testimony to the Gestapo ... During interrogations, Gurevich chose the right course of action, which prevented German counterintelligence from revealing Soviet agents ... During this period, he also did not extradite and saved the lives of the agents he personally recruited earlier - only 15 employees ... ".

How did the personal life of this outstanding person develop after military anxieties and tragedies in peacetime? Anatoly said: “I was still a traitor in the eyes of my country, just a lucky prisoner - this poisoned the joy of liberation. I returned to Leningrad, finally saw my mother. before my release. Mom said that he did not believe that his Tolya was a traitor ... ".

But besides such a stigma, the memory of Margaret was an unhealed wound. At the Lubyanka, already at the first interrogations, Gurevich was informed that Margaret and Michel had died in some kind of transit camp. He could not check: in the USSR, of course, there could be no question of any connection with the West. After all, he was still considered only amnestied.

It was at this time that he met Lida Kruglova. A girl from an intelligent Leningrad family, she was 13 years younger than Anatoly, an engineer, calm and homely, she was not afraid to link her fate with a recent prisoner who had an "indistinct" past and not withdrawn Article 58, the meaning of which was known to everyone. The fact that her husband is a hardened military intelligence officer, Lydia found out 30 years later...

They fell in love with each other, decided to link their destinies. But a week before the wedding, Gurevich was arrested again. His "crime" fell under the decree Supreme Council USSR, stating that the amnesty does not apply to persons who participated in Nazi punitive actions. So Gurevich was also charged with participation in fascist punitive actions. And de facto, "landing" was the response of the authorities to letters asking for a review of the case.

Gurevich recalled: "... At some point, I had the feeling that I would not wait for justice. I did not know what happened to my beloved, because she could be arrested, they could be intimidated, and she could decide not to link her fate with mine. But Lidochka swept aside all my anxieties at once, coming to my camp in Mordovia. She was waiting for me, and I lived by this ... ".

Anatoly Markovich left the camp in 1960 - the term was reduced from 20 to 15 years, and he was released on parole. They merried. By the way, Gurevich had to ask for permission to marry at the local KGB department. And 48 years old, before last days life of the legendary scout, Lidia Vasilievna was his faithful friend, support in all moral trials and domestic hardships. Despite the fact that Gurevich was an officer of the GRU General Staff, and for more than forty-six years he was officially listed on military service He never received a paycheck. The retiree's pension was taken away from him. He did not receive any of the government awards, to which he was presented many times.

The couple lived poorly in a tiny Leningrad "Khrushchev", God did not give children. But even before full rehabilitation, in November 1990, a telephone rang in Gurevich's apartment. An unknown man said in French: "Dad, hello, this is your son, Michel." Gurevich recalled: “...At first I decided that this was a provocation. I was assured of their death - almost immediately after the arrest they said that Margaret and Michel had died. I asked my son: where were you baptized? He answered: in an internment camp during Friedrichrode, Germany.I later managed to get a certificate from there.The godparents there were my wife French general Giraud and the widow of the Italian prince, Countess Isabel Rospuli. Indeed, while in prison, Margaret became very close to these women, they even agreed to baptize Michel, although he was a full-blooded Jew. Apparently, such were the circumstances ... "

As it turned out, Margaret was also misled, saying that her lover was dead. After the victory, she returned to Belgium, and for all subsequent years she was looking for Anatoly. She died in 1985 without knowing the truth. The only thing she never doubted was that her lover could not be a traitor. "Your father is a wonderful person," she said to Michel. "If you ever have children, call them Russian names." And so it happened. In August 1991, Anatoly Markovich saw his son and 12-year-old grandson Alexander at Pulkovo Airport ...

When Anatoly Gurevich and his wife first came to Spain to Michel, he offered them to stay forever. He showed a luxurious villa with a huge garden - the future place of residence. They admired, thanked and ... returned to their tiny Leningrad "Khrushchev". In one of recent interviews Gurevich said: “I can’t imagine that I could live in another country. Of course, if it were on assignment, I would agree. But just like that - why? love".

And so he left, the last of the top five Soviet intelligence officers who led the most powerful illegal organizations in World War II. Five fearless Jews. Four of them, instead of the highest awards, received prisons, camps and the brand of a traitor. But the only one named Hero of Russia never knew about it...

GUREVICH Anatoly Markovich
(pseudonyms: Victor Sukulov, Vincent Siera, Kent))

The word "conspiracy" Anatoly Gurevich learned in childhood: the apartment of his father, a Kharkov pharmacist, before the revolution was a "turnout" for underground communists. In 1924, the Gurevich family moved from Kharkov to Leningrad, and Tolya continued his studies at one of the best St. Petersburg schools, where teachers who taught in pre-revolutionary gymnasiums worked. The favorite subjects of the future intelligence officer were literature, social science, and especially the German language. Gurevich's "career" began at school: having instantly mastered big city, the boy became the chairman of the school council "Osoaviahima".

I was a member of the air defense group of our region, already in 1934 I was admitted to top secret work - drawing up a mobilization plan for the region, - says Anatoly Gurevich. - This went on until the moment I read that the civil war in Spain was starting. My comrades and I decided to organize a Spanish language study group and expressed our desire to get to this country as volunteer translators. And then one fine day we were called to the Evropeyskaya Hotel, where people in civilian clothes talked to each of us and selected some of us to be sent to Spain. Already in Spain, I met for the first time with the chief adviser at the headquarters of the Spanish Republic, Grigory Stern. He asked me: "Do you want to be a translator and not only?" I agreed. I was issued a lieutenant of the Republican Spanish fleet and given the name - Antonio Gonzalez. In September 1939 he returned to Moscow. In the GRU, I was offered to work in intelligence. They said: "We will prepare you - you will become a cryptographer and a radio operator." After studying at a school near Moscow, I received my first assignment - I had to work abroad.

SON OF RICH URUGUAYAN PARENTS
- I did not have clear ideas about how a young man behaves, "the son of wealthy Uruguayan parents." There was no detailed briefing, and I acted almost "by touch". Then many Soviet agents were forced to learn about political structure, industries and sights of their "native" states exclusively from literature. Sometimes - only encyclopedic dictionary... We were simply sent to libraries to read.
There was still no own experienced and professional agency: the country is young, the tradition of educating personnel in this area was interrupted after 1917. At that time, the security officers were engaged in foreign intelligence almost exclusively. It is hard to imagine, but it happened that the documents were given to us with spelling errors! There were also serious punctures in our "legends": information about safe houses, reliable hotels and "friendly" firms often turned out to be outdated, and our fictional past was painted so generally that abroad in the very first casual conversations we were forced to fantasize on the move. So - "the son of rich Uruguayans." I got to Brussels. I got into a taxi, gave the address of the hotel where, in accordance with the instructions of the Center, I was to be accommodated. The driver was dumbfounded: it turns out that there had been a brothel there for several years, and the fact that a "serious gentleman" was heading there straight from the station caused a smile and bewilderment. Having corrected this oversight, I made another mistake, already through my own fault: when the concierge woke me up in the morning, I asked in Russian: "Who is there?" So I made my debut as the Uruguayan Vincent Sierra. My work has begun.

In Brussels, the "Uruguayan", who was listed in the Center as Agent Kent, met with the curator of the Belgian "bush" of intelligence, Leopold Trepper, and kept in touch with legal signalmen - employees of the Soviet trade mission. And he was actively taking root on Wednesday: he went to study at Select School, a privileged school for wealthy youth, went to parties, rotated in an elite student environment. Kent quickly became the soul of the company, was nimble and talkative.
He adopted the style of life, made friends and useful acquaintances.
- We kept in touch with Trepper through his wife, with whom I went to ballroom dancing school. Then many wondered why I always dance with the same partner, who is much older than me ... In general, having "mothballed", I did not get close to women, remembering the GRU warning that they could be spies.
In the Soviet Union, morals were completely different, and I did not immediately understand this. I urgently came up with a legend: I was engaged to a Uruguayan girl and, returning to my homeland, I would play a wedding with her. I also had another problem: as the beloved son of Uruguayan parents, I would have to receive letters and money orders from them - otherwise what would I be able to live in Belgium? I had to get out, unobtrusively explaining to the curious that I receive both letters and money through Switzerland. But practically no money was received from the Center for the maintenance of agents. I decided that it was necessary to organize my own company. (This company - "Simex" - for several years fed the Soviet residency in Belgium)
- At this time, I became friends with the Singer family of millionaires. Their daughter, Margaret, by Barch's husband, was recently widowed. When the threat of Nazi occupation arose, the family was forced to urgently leave. But, Margaret decided to stay in Belgium, not wanting to leave the grave of her beloved husband. She did not look like a Jew at all, and she had a chance to hide her origin. Margaret's father invited me - a friend of the family, and, moreover, "an enterprising foreigner with a well-developed business" - to patronize his daughter and passed on some of his business connections. So I got an extra roof. At this time, Trepper was forced to emigrate from Belgium, legalized as a Canadian citizen - that is, a citizen of the country that fought on the side of the Allies. And I actually took over the entire Belgian network.
Margaret and I were practically "married". Only this game was spoiled by her maid, who did not understand why the young free man drinks coffee with a young beauty, after which he retires to his home. Margaret, described as "Blonde" in my reports, socialite, raised in an elitist environment, has always been the center of attention. Communication with her gave me additional weight in the Belgian high circles. We settled together in one of the magnificent villas, however, on different floors. They arranged magnificent parties, which were attended by many people, including those I needed. I played the role of a person who is absolutely far from politics, very sociable (the latter was not at all difficult), and gradually my guests stopped lowering their voices when discussing the latest news. And even began to answer the questions "accidentally" thrown by me. Of course, this was only the outer, the most simple part work. Gradually, infiltrating the highest circles of Belgium and converging with people close to the Nazis, I - as a representative of the company - began to cooperate with the Nazi quartermaster. This made it possible to receive information about plans for the development of hostilities. Soon I even managed to establish a joint-stock company and become its president.
- But, of course, we did not deal with weapons. Our work was somewhat different. For example, once we were asked to order special fabrics. I asked: for what? And thus found out that the war is starting in Africa. Some time later, I was ordered one and a half million aluminum spoons. I, as a businessman, was surprised at the number of products made from such a low-value metal. The answer shocked me: "War is being prepared against the Soviet Union, it may be necessary to organize camps for prisoners of war - these spoons are for them." Of course, I urgently transferred all this data to Moscow.
This was even before Sorge... And in 1942, Kent informed Moscow that the Nazi command, having abandoned the idea of ​​a second strike on Moscow, decided to send troops to the Caucasus. The goal is to take over the oil-rich area. Stalin thanked Kent for this information, which allowed the Red Army to urgently regroup troops and repel the enemy's blow.

From the memoirs of Walter Schellenberg: "In May 1942, Himmler took over the coordination of the activities for the operation "Red Chapel" ... In June 1942, he ordered Muller and I to arrive at Headquarters ... with a detailed report on the activities of the "Red Chapel" "Red Chapel" - a Russian spy network operating throughout the territory that was then under German rule, as well as in those countries that remained neutral for the time being. This network, which had many illegal shortwave radio stations at its disposal, launched its activities from Norway to the Pyrenees, from Atlantic Ocean to the Oder, from North Sea to the Mediterranean ... The main agent in Belgium, working under the nickname "Kent", remained undetected. It was only thanks to the tireless work of our agents that we were able to get on Kent's trail in Brussels"...

The Gestapo arrested Kent and Margaret in November 1942. In Berlin, he, as a particularly valuable "player", was not tortured, only interrogated. The Gestapo created a special Sonderkommando, which was called the "Red Chapel".

Among those gathered, a fit general stood out with a hard face and small, but literally boring eyes. It was Muller, - Gurevich recalls. - Looking at me, he suddenly asked sharply: "Do you want to prove to me that because of this boy there were such leaks of information, because of him we lost so many soldiers of the Fuhrer?" Hearing an affirmative answer from the criminal commissar Strübing, he left. But he was repeatedly interrogated in the future. He didn't ask questions. Watched.

Kent was later offered a radio game against the Soviet Union in exchange for saving his life. Kent had confrontations all with newly arrested comrades in arms, with many after they had been tortured. Finally, a transcript of a radiogram from the Center was read to him: Moscow congratulated its "Uruguayan" on the Day of the Red Army and the assignment of the next military rank. And he was also shown materials of a radio exchange between the Center and the Gestapo, acting on his behalf. Kent was again offered to join the game. And he agreed.
- I decided to "recognize" what the Gestapo and the Abwehr already knew. In addition, when preparing texts for the Center, I changed the style of my report, the manner of documentation and other characteristic features of my "handwriting", hoping that the GRU officers would guess about my work under control.

From the conclusion on the case of Kent's rehabilitation: "From the protocols of Gurevich's interrogations, it is seen that he evaded giving specific evidence on his own initiative about the activities of the Soviet residency, referring to forgetfulness or lack of information. He confirmed the facts known to the Germans from other sources only after he was exposed at confrontations other arrested or presented documents ... Gurevich never gave his real name ... At the same time, in an effort to delay the investigation and not cause harm to Soviet intelligence agents not identified by the Germans, he gave false testimony to the Gestapo ... The objectivity of Gurevich's testimony is confirmed by the materials attached to the case Gestapo investigations ... Their analysis indicates that during interrogations he chose the right course of action, which prevented German counterintelligence from revealing Soviet agents ... During this period, he also did not extradite and saved the life of Soviet agents personally recruited by him in Czechoslovakia, Belgium and France - only 15 employees".

And then there was a story that even a detective with the most unbridled imagination would not have dared to come up with: Kent recruited the head of the Sonderkommando "Red Chapel" Heinz Pannwitz and two more Gestapo officers. Kent played on Pannwitz's fear: after escaping from the arrest of Leopold Trepper, the Parisian resident of the Red Chapel, a high-ranking Gestapo man was threatened with being sent to Eastern front. The fact that the war was coming to an end and that, at best, a prison awaited him, he also had no doubt. And he went to cooperate with Kent, that is, with Soviet intelligence.

In February 1945, Kent saw Margaret Barcha and his young son Michel for the last time. He was sure that soon, after the end of the war, they would live together in Leningrad.

Kent returned to Moscow in May 1945 and brought with him recruited Germans.

We were returning to Moscow, and it seemed to me that the plane was crawling, not flying. What is it, the post-war capital, what happened to my Leningrad after the blockade? I haven't been home for seven years. I didn't know anything about my parents, I lost the habit of being Tolya Gurevich. I didn't speak my native language for seven years.
- I already dreamed of walking around Moscow and Leningrad, finally seeing my parents. And so we get off the plane, go down the ladder, and NKVD officers approach each of us with a quick step and, after politely greeting us, put each of us in a separate car. I asked my escort: "Let's pass through Red Square." He replied dryly: "Don't you see where we've come?" For some reason, we arrived at the NKVD, at the Lubyanka, and not at the GRU. When I got out of the car, I saw the inscription: "Reception of the arrested." Then everything was in a fog - a sharp command: "Hands back!" and the clatter of closing doors.
There was no trial, of course. The former "agent number one" was sentenced by a special meeting as a traitor to the Motherland to 20 years in prison under Article 58. As a civilian. They did not remember that he was a staff member of the GRU. In a freight car - "calf-house" - Anatoly Gurevich was transferred to Vorkuta.
He was released only in 1955 under the decree "On amnesty Soviet citizens who collaborated with the occupiers during the period Patriotic War 1941-1945".

I was still a "traitor" in the eyes of my country, just a lucky prisoner - this poisoned the joy of liberation. I returned to Leningrad and finally saw my mother. My father, who could not bear my arrest, was ill for a long time and died, never having lived to see my release. Mom said that he did not believe that his Tolya was a traitor ... I don’t know how I could live on after everything if I hadn’t met Lida.

The quick-eyed and graceful Lida Kruglova was 13 years younger than her future husband. A girl from an intelligent Leningrad family, an engineer, calm and homely, she was not afraid to link her fate with a recent convict who had an "indistinct" past and not removed Article 58, the meaning of which was known to everyone. The fact that her husband is a scout, Lydia found out 30 years later.

I somehow immediately believed that he was very good man- says Lydia Vasilievna. - It was impossible not to succumb to his charm. Of course, I knew that there were camps behind him, but even then I understood that an innocent could be imprisoned in our country. I intuitively felt that wit, gaiety are only the external features of his nature, that next to me is a very reliable person, a real man. I wasn't wrong. Do you know why he survived? He could not get angry.

Anatoly and Lida counted the days until the wedding. Seven days before the wedding, Gurevich was arrested again. His "crime" fell under the decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which states that the amnesty does not apply to persons who participated in Nazi punitive actions. So Gurevich, again in absentia, was also charged with participation in fascist punitive actions. And de facto, "landing" was the response of the authorities to a letter asking for a review of the case.

At some point, I had a feeling that I would not wait for justice. I did not know what happened to my beloved, because she could be arrested, they could be intimidated, and she could decide not to link her fate with mine. But Lidochka immediately dismissed all my anxieties by coming to my camp in Mordovia. She was waiting for me, and that's what I lived for.

Anatoly Markovich left the camp in 1960 - the term was reduced from 20 to 15 years, and he was released on parole. They got married and have been together for 43 years.

The honest name of the state returned to him only 45 years later after it had been slandered. Rehabilitation came on August 9, 1991. Izvestia was the first to report on it: "Among the legendary Soviet intelligence officers, such as Richard Sorge, Nikolai Kuznetsov, Rudolf Abel, another name returned - Anatoly Markovich Gurevich ...

Once in our apartment there was a telephone call, long-distance. This was at the end of November 1990. Male voice asked in French for Mr. Gurevich. I said it was me. And I heard: "Dad, I finally found you!" It was my and Margaret's son Michel, who lives in Spain. Margaret, it turns out, survived and, until her death in 1985, was looking for me, turning to everything Soviet embassies. And our "channels" told me that they died during the bombing at the very end of the war. I found a son 45 years later. I couldn't even believe that it was all true. But when Michel came to me in Leningrad, all doubts dissipated: he is like two drops of water like me. Since then, we meet annually, often correspond and call back. My wife is sincerely attached to him.

We were happy when Michelle came into our lives. Tolya and I do not have our own children, although we really wanted a child. But it was dangerous. Tolya was an "enemy of the people" when we got married, he could be arrested again at any moment, and me, as the wife of a "traitor to the Motherland", too. And then our child would end up in a special orphanage. And we did not dare, - Lidia Vasilievna is barely holding back her tears. And here we have Michelle. And his son, the grandson of Anatoly Markovich, Sasha.

When Anatoly Gurevich and his wife first came to Spain to Michel, they were offered to stay there forever. Showed a chic villa with a huge garden - the future place of residence. They admired, thanked and ... returned to their tiny Leningrad Khrushchev. "I can't imagine that I could live in another country. Of course, if it was on assignment, I would agree. But just like that - why?"

In the history of the Second World War, he entered as "the number one illegal intelligence officer." Hundreds of articles and books have been published about him in the English, German, French and Spanish press. In Russia, until recently, almost nothing was known about him: Leningrader Anatoly Gurevich was considered a traitor to the Motherland. He was rehabilitated only in 1991. Starting in Paris to shoot the television feature series "Red Chapel", dedicated to the anti-fascist intelligence network, RTR reported: "None of the members of the Red Chapel are already dead." Anatoly Markovich Gurevich, aka Agent Kent, heard this news with his own ears. At 90, he retained a clear mind and an excellent memory. Where does the boy get Spanish sadness Anatoly Gurevich learned the word "conspiracy" in childhood: the apartment of his father, a Kharkov pharmacist, before the revolution was a "turnout" for underground communists. In 1924, the Gurevich family moved from Kharkov to Leningrad, and Tolya continued his studies at one of the best St. Petersburg schools, where teachers who taught in pre-revolutionary gymnasiums worked. The favorite subjects of the future intelligence officer were literature, social science, and especially the German language. Gurevich's "career" began at school: having instantly settled in the big city, the boy became the chairman of the Osoaviakhim school council, the premier of the school drama circle, the "Voroshilov shooter" and an excellent student of the TRP, in a word, an activist. After school he went to college railway transport , then to the Intourist Institute, which trained "specialists to work with foreigners." - I was a member of the air defense group of our region, already in 1934 I was admitted to top secret work - drawing up a mobilization plan for the region, - says Anatoly Gurevich. - This went on until the moment I read that the civil war in Spain was starting. My comrades and I decided to organize a Spanish language study group and expressed our desire to get to this country as volunteer translators. And then one fine day we were called to the Evropeyskaya Hotel, where people in civilian clothes talked to each of us and selected some of us to be sent to Spain. Already in Spain, I met for the first time with Grigory Stern, senior adviser at the headquarters of the Spanish Republic. He asked me: "Do you want to be a translator and not only?" I agreed. I was issued a lieutenant of the Republican Spanish fleet and given the name - Antonio Gonzalez. In September 1939 he returned to Moscow. In the GRU, I was offered to work in intelligence. They said: "We will prepare you - you will become a cryptographer and a radio operator." After studying at a school near Moscow, I received my first assignment - I had to work abroad. Son of wealthy Uruguayan parents - I had no clear idea of ​​how a young man, "the son of wealthy Uruguayan parents", behaves. There was no detailed briefing, and I acted almost "by touch". At that time, many Soviet agents were forced to learn about the political structure, industry and sights of their "native" states exclusively from literature. Sometimes - only according to the encyclopedic dictionary ... We were simply sent to libraries to read. - Such unprofessionalism? Where does professionalism come from? There was still no own experienced and professional agency: the country is young, the tradition of educating personnel in this area was interrupted after 1917. At that time, the security officers were engaged in foreign intelligence almost exclusively. It is hard to imagine, but it happened that the documents were given to us with spelling errors! There were also serious punctures in our "legends": information about safe houses, reliable hotels and "friendly" firms often turned out to be outdated, and our fictional past was painted so generally that abroad, in the very first casual conversations, we were forced to fantasize right off the bat. Fortunately, this was easy for me: my love for acting saved me. Models of our behavior in case of failure were not worked out either ... So here is the "son of rich Uruguayans." I got to Brussels. I got into a taxi, gave the address of the hotel where, in accordance with the instructions of the Center, I was to be accommodated. The driver was dumbfounded: it turns out that there had been a brothel there for several years, and the fact that a "serious gentleman" was heading there straight from the station caused a smile and bewilderment. Having corrected this oversight, I made another mistake, already through my own fault: when the concierge woke me up in the morning, I asked in Russian: "Who is there?" So I made my debut as the Uruguayan Vincent Sierra. My work has begun. In Brussels, the "Uruguayan", who was listed in the Center as Agent Kent, met with the curator of the Belgian "bush" of intelligence, Leopold Trepper, and kept in touch with legal signalmen - employees of the Soviet trade mission. And he was actively taking root on Wednesday: he went to study at Select School, a privileged school for wealthy youth, went to parties, rotated in an elite student environment. Kent quickly became the soul of the company, was nimble and talkative. He adopted the style of life, made friends and useful acquaintances. - We kept in touch with Trepper through his wife, with whom I went to ballroom dancing school. Then many wondered why I always dance with the same partner, who is much older than me ... In general, having "mothballed", I did not get close to women, remembering the GRU warning that they could be spies. - This distance certainly aroused suspicion? - Of course. But after all, in the Soviet Union, morals were completely different, and I did not immediately understand this. I urgently came up with a legend: I was engaged to a Uruguayan girl and, returning to my homeland, I would play a wedding with her. I also had another problem: as the beloved son of Uruguayan parents, I would have to receive letters and money orders from them - otherwise what would I be able to live in Belgium? I had to get out, unobtrusively explaining to the curious that I receive both letters and money through Switzerland. But practically no money was received from the Center for the maintenance of agents. I decided that it was necessary to organize my own company. (This company - "Simeksko" - for several years fed the Soviet residency in Belgium. - Yu.K.) The beautiful blonde served as a "roof" - At that time I became friends with the Singer family of millionaires. Their daughter, Margaret, by Barch's husband, was recently widowed. When the threat of Nazi occupation arose, the family was forced to urgently leave. But Margaret decided to stay in Belgium, not wanting to leave the grave of her beloved husband. She did not look like a Jew at all, and she had a chance to hide her origin. Margaret's father invited me - a friend of the family, and, moreover, "an enterprising foreigner with a well-developed business" - to patronize his daughter and passed on some of his business connections. So I got an extra roof. At this time, Trepper was forced to emigrate from Belgium, legalized as a Canadian citizen - that is, a citizen of the country that fought on the side of the Allies. And I actually took over the entire Belgian network. - And, of course, everyone immediately "married" you and Margaret? - Yes, but this game was spoiled by her maid, who did not understand why a young free man drinks coffee with a young beauty, after which he retires to his home. Margaret, described as "Blonde" in my reports, socialite, raised in an elitist environment, has always been the center of attention. Communication with her gave me additional weight in the Belgian high circles. We settled together in one of the magnificent villas, however, on different floors. They arranged magnificent parties, which were attended by many people, including those I needed. I played the role of a person who is absolutely far from politics, very sociable (the latter was not at all difficult), and gradually my guests stopped lowering their voices when discussing the latest news. And even began to answer the questions "accidentally" thrown by me. Of course, this was only the external, the simplest part of the work. - Didn't you worry that Margaret, who played the role of your "roof", in case of your failure, would fall into the hands of the Gestapo, as, in fact, happened later? - It constantly tormented me, especially since I sincerely became attached to her. But there was no other choice. Gradually, infiltrating the highest circles of Belgium and converging with people close to the Nazis, I - as a representative of the company - began to cooperate with the Nazi quartermaster. This made it possible to receive information about plans for the development of hostilities. Soon I even managed to establish a joint-stock company and become its president. - Did your company carry out military orders? - Yes. But, of course, we did not deal with weapons. Our work was somewhat different. For example, once we were asked to order special fabrics. I asked: for what? And thus found out that the war is starting in Africa. Some time later, I was ordered one and a half million aluminum spoons. I, as a businessman, was surprised at the number of products made from such a low-value metal. The answer shocked me: "War is being prepared against the Soviet Union, it may be necessary to organize camps for prisoners of war - these spoons are for them." Of course, I urgently transferred all this data to Moscow. This was even before Sorge... And in 1942, Kent informed Moscow that the Nazi command, having abandoned the idea of ​​a second strike on Moscow, decided to send troops to the Caucasus. The goal is to take over the oil-rich area. Stalin thanked Kent for this information, which allowed the Red Army to urgently regroup troops and repel the enemy's blow. Under the hood of Muller From the memoirs of Walter Schellenberg: "In May 1942, Himmler took over the coordination of the activities for the operation" Red Capella "... In June 1942, he ordered Muller and I to arrive at Headquarters ... with a detailed report on the activities "Red Chapel" "Red Chapel" - a Russian spy network operating throughout the territory that was under German rule at that time, as well as in those countries that remained neutral for the time being. This network, which had many illegal shortwave radio stations at its disposal, spread its activities from Norway to the Pyrenees, from the Atlantic to the Oder, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean ... The main agent in Belgium, working under the nickname "Kent", remained undetected. Only thanks to the tireless work of our agents, we managed to get on the trail of Kent in Brussels"... The Gestapo arrested Kent and Margaret in November 1942. In Berlin, he, as a particularly valuable "player", was not tortured, only interrogated. The Gestapo created a special Sonderkommando, which was called the "Red Chapel". - Among those gathered stood out a taut general with a hard face and small, but literally boring eyes. It was Muller, - Gurevich recalls. - Looking at me, he suddenly asked sharply: "Do you want to prove to me that because of this boy there were such leaks of information, because of him we lost so many soldiers of the Fuhrer?" Hearing an affirmative answer from the criminal commissar Strübing, he left. But he was repeatedly interrogated in the future. However, he did not delve into the details and did not ask questions. Watched. Kent was later offered a radio game against the Soviet Union in exchange for saving his life. Kent had confrontations all with newly arrested comrades in arms, with many after they had been tortured. Finally, a transcript of a radiogram from the Center was read to him: Moscow congratulated its "Uruguayan" on the Day of the Red Army and the assignment of the next military rank. And he was also shown materials of a radio exchange between the Center and the Gestapo, acting on his behalf. Kent was again offered to join the game. And he agreed. - I decided to "recognize" what the Gestapo and the Abwehr already knew. In addition, when preparing texts for the Center, I changed the style of my report, the manner of documentation and other characteristic features of my "handwriting", hoping that the GRU officers would guess about my work under control. From the conclusion on the case of Kent's rehabilitation: "From the protocols of Gurevich's interrogations, it is seen that he evaded giving specific evidence on his own initiative about the activities of the Soviet residency, referring to forgetfulness or lack of information. He confirmed the facts known to the Germans from other sources only after he was exposed at confrontations other arrested or presented documents ... Gurevich never gave his real name ... At the same time, in an effort to delay the investigation and not cause harm to Soviet intelligence agents not identified by the Germans, he gave false testimony to the Gestapo ... The objectivity of Gurevich's testimony is confirmed by the materials attached to the case Gestapo investigations ... Their analysis indicates that during interrogations he chose the right course of action, which prevented German counterintelligence from revealing Soviet agents ... During this period, he also did not extradite and saved the life of Soviet agents personally recruited by him in Czechoslovakia, Belgium and France - only 15 employees". And then there was a story that even a detective with the most unbridled imagination would not have dared to come up with: Kent recruited the head of the Sonderkommando "Red Chapel" Heinz Pannwitz and two more Gestapo officers. Kent played on Pannwitz's fear: after escaping from the arrest of Leopold Trepper, the Parisian resident of the Red Chapel, a high-ranking Gestapo man was threatened with being sent to the Eastern Front. The fact that the war was coming to an end and that, at best, a prison awaited him, he also had no doubt. And he went to cooperate with Kent, that is, with Soviet intelligence. In February 1945, Kent saw Margaret Barcha and his young son Michel for the last time. He was sure that soon, after the end of the war, they would live together in Leningrad. Kent returned to Moscow in May 1945 and brought with him recruited Germans. - We were returning to Moscow, and it seemed to me that the plane was crawling, not flying. What is it, the post-war capital, what happened to my Leningrad after the blockade? I haven't been home for seven years. I didn't know anything about my parents, I lost the habit of being Tolya Gurevich. I didn't speak my native language for seven years. Through Red Square - to Vorkuta - I already dreamed of walking around Moscow and Leningrad, finally seeing my parents. And so we get off the plane, go down the ladder, and NKVD officers approach each of us with a quick step and, after politely greeting us, put each of us in a separate car. I asked my escort: "Let's pass through Red Square." He replied dryly: "Don't you see where we've come?" For some reason, we arrived at the NKVD, at the Lubyanka, and not at the GRU. When I got out of the car, I saw the inscription: "Reception of the arrested." Then everything was in a fog - a sharp command: "Hands back!" and the clatter of closing doors. And then I was taken to the office of the head of the special department of the NKVD, General Abakumov, who also headed SMERSH. My case was not particularly carefully studied, the investigators did not bother to build logical chains of evidence of my "guilt". The investigation lasted 16 months. During all this time, Anatoly Gurevich was not presented with a single protocol with evidence against him from Pannwitz and other Germans brought by him. He demanded confrontation with them, but to no avail. Tried to insist on the opportunity to meet with the prosecutor. Also unsuccessful. There was no trial, of course. The former "agent number one" was sentenced by a special meeting as a traitor to the Motherland to 20 years in prison under Article 58. As a civilian. They did not remember that he was a staff member of the GRU. In a freight car - "calf-house" - Anatoly Gurevich was transferred to Vorkuta. He was released only in 1955 under the decree "On the amnesty of Soviet citizens who collaborated with the occupiers during the Patriotic War of 1941-1945." - I was still a "traitor" in the eyes of my country, just a lucky prisoner - this poisoned the joy of liberation. He returned to Leningrad, finally saw his mother. My father, who could not bear my arrest, was ill for a long time and died, never having lived to see my release. Mom said that he did not believe that his Tolya was a traitor ... I don’t know how I could live on after everything if I hadn’t met Lida. The quick-eyed and graceful Lida Kruglova was 13 years younger than her future husband. A girl from an intelligent Leningrad family, an engineer, calm and homely, she was not afraid to link her fate with a recent convict who had an "indistinct" past and not removed Article 58, the meaning of which was known to everyone. Lida's parents regarded her decision to become the wife of an "enemy of the people" as inevitable. The fact that her husband is a scout, Lydia found out 30 years later. “Somehow I immediately believed that he was a very good person,” says Lidia Vasilievna. - It was impossible not to succumb to his charm. Of course, I knew that there were camps behind him, but even then I understood that an innocent could be imprisoned in our country. I intuitively felt that wit, gaiety were only the outward features of his nature, that next to me was a very reliable person, a real man. I wasn't wrong. Do you know why he survived? He could not get angry. Anatoly and Lida counted the days until the wedding. Seven days before the wedding, Gurevich was arrested again. His "crime" fell under the decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which states that the amnesty does not apply to persons who participated in Nazi punitive actions. So Gurevich, again in absentia, was also charged with participation in fascist punitive actions. And de facto, "landing" was the response of the authorities to a letter asking for a review of the case. - At some point, I had a feeling that I would not wait for justice. I did not know what happened to my beloved, because she could be arrested, they could be intimidated, and she could decide not to link her fate with mine. But Lidochka immediately dismissed all my anxieties by coming to my camp in Mordovia. She was waiting for me, and that's what I lived for. Anatoly Markovich left the camp in 1960 - the term was reduced from 20 to 15 years, and he was released on parole. They got married and have been together for 43 years. Homeland for life The honest name of the state returned to him only 45 years later after it had been slandered. Rehabilitation came on August 9, 1991. Izvestia was the first to report on it: “Among the legendary Soviet intelligence officers, such as Richard Sorge, Nikolai Kuznetsov, Rudolf Abel, another name returned - Anatoly Markovich Gurevich ... August 8, Deputy Prosecutor General of the USSR, Chief Military Prosecutor - General Lieutenant of Justice Anatoly Katusev handed Anatoly Gurevich a certificate of rehabilitation. The resolution on rehabilitation states: “For treason to the Motherland, Gurevich was unjustifiably brought to criminal responsibility by a resolution of a special meeting under the Ministry of State Security of the USSR of January 18, 1947. In accordance with clause 1 of the Decree of the President of the USSR “On the restoration of all rights of victims political repression 20-50 years." dated August 13, 1990, Anatoly Markovich Gurevich is considered rehabilitated. - Once in our apartment there was a telephone call, long-distance. This was at the end of November 1990. A man's voice in French asked Mr. Gurevich to the phone. I said it was me. And I heard: "Dad, I finally found you!". It was my and Margaret's son Michel, who lives in Spain. Margaret, it turns out, survived and until her death in 1985 she was looking for me, turning to all Soviet embassies. And our "channels" told me that they died during the bombing at the very end of the war. I found a son 45 years later. I couldn't even believe that it was all true. But when Michel came to me in Leningrad, all doubts dissipated: he is like two drops of water like me. Since then, we meet annually, often correspond and call back. My wife is sincerely attached to him. - We were happy when Michel appeared in our life. Tolya and I do not have our own children, although we really wanted a child. But it was dangerous. Tolya was an "enemy of the people" when we got married, he could be arrested again at any moment, and me, as the wife of a "traitor to the Motherland", too. And then our child would end up in a special orphanage. And we did not dare, - Lidia Vasilievna is barely holding back her tears. And here we have Michelle. And his son, the grandson of Anatoly Markovich, Sasha. When Anatoly Gurevich and his wife first came to Spain to Michel, they were offered to stay there forever. Showed a chic villa with a huge garden - the future place of residence. They admired, thanked and ... returned to their tiny Leningrad Khrushchev. “I can’t imagine that I could live in another country. Of course, if it were on assignment, I would agree. But just like that - why?” Kent smiles. one for life, like true love." Sergey POLTORAK, doctor historical sciences, retired colonel, author of the book "Scout Kent", published in October 2003: "He knew too much" I can not leave the feeling of blatant injustice committed against Anatoly Markovich Gurevich. A legendary man, the only one in the world of the leaders of the "Red Chapel" who has survived to this day, a fantastically talented person - he lived slandered all his life. They disfigured his life, not only not considering him a hero - and he undoubtedly deserves this title - but also stigmatizing him as a traitor. Gurevich actually became a hostage of the struggle between the GRU and the counterintelligence of the NKVD, who competed with each other, just as the departments of Muller and Schellenberg competed in Nazi Germany. Competing with each other, the special services seized the initiative from each other. The NKVD caught yet another major "spy", while the GRU remained indifferent to the fate of its employee, apparently because Kent was, like no one else, informed about the foreign intelligence blunders. He knew too much. As a historian who has been dealing with the fate of Agent Kent for many years, I have questions for our authorities and for power structures. Anatoly Gurevich is recognized as an internationalist soldier for the war in Spain. His military experience was restored, having issued a certificate stating that he had been dismissed from the ranks of the Armed Forces of the USSR on June 20, 1960, including the years of Soviet camps in the experience. Only in 1992 he was granted benefits as a participant in the Great Patriotic War. Why is the veteran of domestic intelligence still not awarded the Motherland? Why did he not receive a penny for his many years of service in the Armed Forces of the USSR? Why, having been repressed and rehabilitated, does he not receive a pension supplement guaranteed by our legislation? Why is there still a wall of unforgivable indifference around him?