In the 20th century, the Soviet Union waged and won wars not only thanks to generals, tactics and modern weapons. He also owed his military and political successes to the work of outstanding spies, whose achievements even agent 007 would not be ashamed of.
Spy in a skirt. Olga Chekhova (1897–1980)
Undoubtedly, one of the most unusual and mysterious Soviet intelligence agents was the actress Olga Chekhova (related to the writer Antoni Chekhov). She had a stunning success in the Third Reich, and her greatest admirer was ... Adolf Hitler.
In August 1920, she left for Berlin because she did not accept the Soviet authorities. She did not speak German, so the only job she was hired for was carving chess pieces. And yet on April 7, 1921, just eight months after the move, the premiere of the film "Vogelöd Castle" with Olga Chekhova in the lead role took place. How is that possible?
Thanks to her name, the woman found her way into the circles of Russian society in Berlin. During one of the parties, she met a member of the Romanov family (she never revealed his identity), who decided that she has the face she's just dreamed of for cinematography. . He introduced it to the influential producer Erich Pommer. From that moment on, the events happened very quickly - in the 1920s Chekhov starred in about 40 silent films, and when the Nazis took power in 1933, Olga's career ... accelerated even further.
The top officials of the Third Reich were truly obsessed with cinema:during his tenure in office, Propaganda Minister Goebbels watched over 1,100 films, and in the Berghof, Hitler's private headquarters, there was a screening room. At official receptions, the Führer always seated Chekhova next to him, and their joint photos appeared in the press regularly.
Chekhova gained popularity as a silent film actress in the 1920s.
No one even suspected that this cinematic diva was a dormant Soviet spy since 1922. Olga was recruited by her brother Lew. In return for helping Soviet intelligence, Chekhov was able to bring her daughter Ada to Berlin. The Soviets demanded the actress in the late 1930s. As Olga was among the most important people in the Third Reich, her Moscow principals demanded that she deliver the latest news and rumors circulating around Hitler. In March 1945, the agent was to establish that Nazi dignitaries had begun negotiations with the US on a separatist peace.
Soon Olga reported that a meeting of the chief of American intelligence in Europe, Allen Dulles, with German high-ranking commanders took place in neutral Switzerland. Outraged, Stalin wrote a protest note to President F. D. Roosevelt - and the talks were interrupted.
After World War II, Chekhova remained in Germany. After finishing her acting career, she founded the cosmetics company "Olga Tschechowa Kosmetik", most likely with the money of her Moscow employers.
In a German uniform. Nikolai Kuznetsov (1911–1944)
Nothing foreshadowed Kuznetsov's extraordinary career. He was born in the small Ural village of Zyrianka. Even as an elementary school student, he distinguished himself by his systematic nature and eagerness for knowledge - he decided to master the German language. He did not know yet that this would enable him to do espionage in the future.
In 1931, 20-year-old Kuznetsov moved to Sverdlovsk and started working in the Soviet security service. He worked for foreigners employed in local production plants. He used to visit his foreign friends' homes, he observed their everyday life, relations between family members, and even the way of serving meals or furnishing their apartments . Due to his taste for fashionable clothes, he was nicknamed "dandy".
In 1938 he came to Moscow, recommended by a Chekist delegated to the province, who decided that an experienced collaborator would be useful in the capital. The Soviet command planned that over time it would send Kuznetsov to an outpost in Germany, but changed its mind after the Third Reich attacked the USSR. Kuznetsov, a great skier, paratrooper and shooter, was to hit the front in the ranks of the airborne battalion. Ultimately, however, his fate turned out differently - someone at the top decided that the spy's abilities would be useful elsewhere.
Kuznetsov, it was informed that he would be placed in a partisan unit in the forest, not far from an important administrative center. Dressed in the uniform of a German officer, he was supposed to go there for intelligence purposes. Before that, however, he was sent to a training camp near Moscow, where he studied, inter alia, hand-to-hand combat and silent killing, and slowly transforming into lieutenant Paul Siebert (the real Siebert was in a POW camp).
Kuznetsov in 1920.
On August 25, 1942, Nikolai landed with a group of partisans near Rivne, which was the capital of Ukraine during the war. Soon Kuznetsov began to appear in the city and make friends with German officers. He met them in a casino or restaurant - he would sit at a table and start a conversation when he felt that his neighbor wanted a chat. He often chose a partying company because drunk military men were more effusive. None of the newly met Germans suspected that Paul Siebert, with whom they spend so much time, is a Russian (interestingly, Nikolai has never been to Germany or Austria)!
Meetings with German soldiers resulted in the acquisition of valuable data, for example on the number of troops sent to Stalingrad and the number of new "Tiger" tanks. At the beginning of 1943, Kuznetsov informed the command that the enemy was forming the army group "South", which included almost half of the personnel of the German troops on the Eastern Front, and that he was going to bring the SS tank corps to Ukraine from Western Europe. The crowning achievement of his activity was obtaining top secret information about the offensive on the Kursk region planned by the Germans.
A couple at work and in life. Jelizawieta Mukasiej (1907–2008) and Mikhail Mukasiej (1912–2009)
The spouses spent 22 years in various countries of Western Europe as illegal . This meant that - unlike spies pretending to be diplomats and operating under the "care" of the embassy - Yelizaveta and Mikhail played the roles of citizens of a foreign country and could only count on themselves.
Outside the Soviet Union, Mikhail pretended to be a Jewish entrepreneur who was born in Tsarist Russia, lived in the USSR, during World War II he was in a concentration camp in Belarus, and fled to Western Europe after liberation. This tragic story evoked sympathy among the citizens of Switzerland, where he settled with his wife and founded a company. The spouses received the money to develop their business from their Moscow principals.
The spouses were kept secret until their deaths. They were buried at the Chowaniec Cemetery in Moscow.
Mikhail's business prospered; meeting other businessmen and Swiss politicians allowed him to obtain useful data. In addition, under the guise of business delegations, the couple traveled all over Europe, coordinating and supporting the activities of other illegal people . The spouses also visited countries with which the Soviet Union did not maintain diplomatic relations.
Although they ended their espionage adventure in the late 1970s, their state secrets remained in force until their deaths. Therefore, even in the memoirs they wrote down in the last years of their lives, they did not disclose the details of their operations. It is only known that the Mukasiejów stole many NATO secrets. Instead, they willingly shared the details of everyday life. It turned out that they spoke Russian only during walks in the woods.
After the collapse of the USSR, Mikhail was honored for his "outstanding contribution to the security of the Russian Federation".