Life
Springer's father was Simon Springer and his mother was Lona Kunstlinger Springer. [2] His mistress was Rita Arnould. [2]
Isidore Springer (23 July 1912 in Antwerp, 27 December 1942 in Lyon, France) was Belgian diamond dealer and communist [1] who became an important member of the Red Orchestra organisation in Belgium and later France during World War II. [2] [3] Springer worked as a recruiter and courier between Leopold Trepper, a Soviet agent who was the technical director of Soviet espionage in Western Europe, and Anatoly Gurevich, also a Soviet agent, in Belgium. [4] He would later run the 6th network of Trepper's seven espionage networks in France, providing intelligence from US and Belgian diplomats. [5] His aliases were Romeo, Verlaine, Walter van Vliet, Fred and Sabor. [2]
Springer's father was Simon Springer and his mother was Lona Kunstlinger Springer. [2] His mistress was Rita Arnould. [2]
Between 1930 and 1931, Springer lived in Paris. According to Willy Berg, the member of the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle who interrogated Springer after he was arrested, worked for Trepper before the outbreak of World War II, liaising with the Soviet Embassy when Trepper was away. [2]
In 1938, Springer moved to Belgium and became an active member of the espionage network run by Anatoly Gurevich. [2] Springer fought against fascist forces in Spain from 1937-1938. Springer ran the 6th network of Trepper's 7 networks in Europe, supplying intelligence garnered from US and Belgian diplomats. [6] He was also as a recruiter and a courier between Gurevich in Brussels and Trepper in Paris. [2] After the raid at 101 Rue des Atrébates by the Funkabwehr on 12 December 1941, Mikhail Makarov was arrested, Springer fled to Paris with Gurevich on 15 December 1941. [2] Springer was sent to Lyon by Trepper where he attempted to establish a new espionage network. However, Springer failed to establish a wireless telegraphy link with Moscow. [2]
Springer was arrested on 19 December 1942 and sent to Fresnes Prison. He committed suicide on 24 December 1942. [7]
Leopold Zakharovich Trepper was a Polish Communist and career Soviet agent of the Red Army Intelligence. With the code name Otto, Trepper had worked with the Red Army since 1930. He was also a resistance fighter and journalist.
Heinrich Koenen was a German engineer, anti-fascist resistance fighter and agent of the Soviet military intelligence service GRU, known as a "scout".
Henry Robinson, sometimes known as Henri Robinson, was a Belgian Communist and later intelligence agent of the Communist International (Comintern). Robinson was a leading member of the Red Orchestra in Paris. Robinson used a number of code names(Andre, Lucien, Leo, Giocomo) and aliases
This is a list of participants, associates and helpers of, and certain infiltrators into, the Red Orchestra as it was known in Germany. Red Orchestra was the name given by the Abwehr to members of the German resistance to Nazism and anti-Nazi resistance movements in Allied or occupied countries during World War II. Many of the people on this list were arrested by the Abwehr or Gestapo. They were tried at the Nazi Imperial War Court before being executed either by hanging or guillotine, unless otherwise indicated. As the SS-Sonderkommando also took action against Soviet espionage networks within Switzerland, people who worked there are also included here.
Anatoly Markovich Gurevich was a Soviet intelligence officer. He was an officer in the GRU operating as "разведчик-нелегал" in Soviet intelligence parlance. Gurevich was a central figure in the anti-Nazi Red Orchestra in France and Belgium during World War II.
Johann Wenzel was a German Communist, highly professional GRU agent and radio operator of the espionage group that was later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr in Belgium and the Netherlands. His aliases were Professor, Charles, Bergmann, Hans, and Hermann. Wenzel was most notable as the person who exposed the Red Orchestra after his transmissions were discovered by the Funkabwehr, later leading to his capture by the Gestapo on 29–30 June 1942.
Leon Grossvogel was a Polish-French Jewish businessman, Comintern official, resistance fighter, communist agitator and one of the organizers of a Soviet intelligence network in Belgium and France, that was later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr. Grossvogel used the following code names to disguise his identity: Pieper, Grosser, and Andre. In the autumn of 1938, Grossvogel became associated with Leopold Trepper, a Soviet intelligence agent who would later run a large espionage network in Europe. Grossvogel established two cover companies, the Foreign Excellent Raincoat Company and later Simexco that would be used by Trepper as a cover and funding for his espionage network. Grossvogel who organised funding for the companies, would later become an assistant to Trepper, organising safehouses, couriers, cutouts and agents.
Simexco and Simex were the names of two black market trading companies that were created in 1940 and 1941, respectively in Brussels and Paris on the orders of Red Army Intelligence officer Leopold Trepper, for the express purpose of acting as cover for a Soviet espionage group that operated in Europe, and was later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr.
The Foreign Excellent Raincoat Company was the name of the Brussels company that was established in December 1938, by Polish-French Jewish businessman and ardent communist, Léon Grossvogel on behalf of Red Army Intelligence spy Leopold Trepper, as a cover organisation for Soviet espionage operations in Europe during Nazi Germany. The espionage network was later named as the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr.
Mikhail Varfolomeevich Makarov was a Russian national and career Soviet GRU officer with rank of lieutenant, who was one of the organizers of a Soviet intelligence network in Belgium and Netherlands, that was later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr. His aliases were Alamo, Carlos Alamo and Chemnitz. In March 1939, Makarov became associated with Leopold Trepper, a Soviet intelligence agent who would later run a large espionage network in Europe. Makarov was captured on the 13 December 1941 by the Abwehr and later executed in Plötzensee Prison in 1942.
Jules Jaspar was a diplomat of the Belgian Foreign Office and businessman. He belonged to an eminent family in Belgium and was famous in the Belgian political world. His brother, Henri Jaspar, was Prime Minister of Belgium from 1926 to 1931 and his nephew was the Belgian diplomat Marcel-Henri Jaspar. In 1939, he established the Brussels based Foreign Excellent Raincoat Company that was being used as cover for Soviet espionage operations. Following the German invasion of Belgium, Jaspar fled to Paris where he helped establish the black market trading firm of Simex. In December 1941 he moved to Marseille to open a branch of Simex. On 12 November 1942, he was arrested and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp and survived the war.
Karl Giering was SS-Hauptsturmführer and Criminal Councillor in the Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt Berlin (Gestapo) and later Head of Department IV A 2 in the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA). Giering is regarded as one of the most dangerous persecutors of the communist resistance against the Nazi regime. He commanded the Gestapo to smash the apparatus of the Betriebsberichterstattung (BB) of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and conducted investigations against the Soviet espionage network known as the Red Orchestra while part of the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle.
Konstantin Lukitsch Jeffremov, also known as Konstantin Yeffremov, was a Soviet GRU intelligence officer, known as a scout in Soviet intelligence parlance, with the rank of captain. Jeffremov, an anti-Semite. was an expert in chemical warfare. Jeffremov used the aliases Pascal and Eric Jernstroem to disguise his identity in messages He had been working for Soviet intelligence since 1936. and the alias Bordo. He was the organizer of a Soviet espionage network in the Netherlands and the Low Countries In 1942, Jeffremov took over the running of a number of networks in Belgium and the Netherlands, that had been damaged in the months prior, after several members were arrested by the Abwehr. These networks was later given the moniker, the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr. Jeffremov was arrested in July 1942 and agreed to work for the Abwehr in a Funkspiel operation, after being tortured.
Hillel Katz was a Polish Jewish Communist, who was an important member of a Soviet espionage network in occupied France, that the German Abwehr intelligence service later called the "Red Orchestra". In the role of an underground executive and recruiter, he acted as both secretary and assistant to Leopold Trepper and liaised between Léon Grossvogel and Henry Robinson in matters relating to the running of the French covert black market trading company Simex. Katz had a number of aliases that he used to disguise his identity, including Andre Dubois, Rene and Le Petite Andre.
Malvina Gruber, née Hofstadterova was a Jewish Comintern agent, who was part of a Soviet intelligence network in Belgium and France, that was later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr, during Nazi regime. Gruber worked as a cutout, but her specialism was couriering people across borders. From 1938 to 1942, Gruber worked as assistant to Soviet agent Abraham Rajchmann, a forger, who provided identity papers, e.g. the Kennkarte, Carte d'identité and travel permits, for the espionage group. At the beginning of 1942, she was arrested in Brussels by the Abwehr.
Abraham Rajchmann was a Jewish Polish career criminal and revolutionary militant, expert forger and engraver who worked for Soviet intelligence from 1934. Through his contact with Comintern official Léon Grossvogel, he was recruited into a Soviet espionage group initially in Belgium that was being run by Leopold Trepper, that would later be called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr, during the Nazi period. Rajchmann used a number of aliases to disguise his identity, including Adam Blanssi, Arthur Roussel, Katenmann, Fabrikant and Max.
Basile Maximovitch was a Russian aristocrat and civil mining engineer. He became a Soviet agent by choice and subsequently became an important member of the Red Orchestra organisation in France during World War II. Maximovitch was the son of a Cavalry officer Baron Maximovitch, who held the rank of General, on the staff of Imperial Russian Army.
Anna Pavlovna Maximovitch was a Russian aristocrat and neuropsychiatrist, who became an informer and important member of the Red Orchestra organisation in France during World War II.
Alfred Valentin Corbin was a French communist sympathiser, editor and reviewer, commercial director, and resistance fighter. Before the war, Corbin ran a poultry feed business with his brother. After serving in the French Foreign Legion in the lead up to the war, Corbin was recruited by Soviet intelligence to run a black market trading company. In 1941, Corbin worked as a director of the Paris-based, Simex black market trading company, that was in reality a cover for a Soviet espionage organisation, later known as the Red Orchestra.
Medardo Griotto was an Italian militant communist activist and member of the Italian Communist Party. Trained as a engraver, Griotto became an expert forger, who became an important member in the espionage network run by Communist International (Comintern) intelligence agent Henry Robinson. Griotto was betrayed by Leopold Trepper, arrested and executed by guillotine at Plötzensee Prison.