Alexander Rado
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Born: | 1899-11-05 Ujpest , Hungary |
|---|---|
| Died: | 1981-09 Budapest, Hungary |
| Occupation: | geographer, Soviet military intelligence agent during WWII |
Sandor (Alexander) Rado (Hungarian Radó Sándor 5 November 1899, Újpest – 1981 – Budapest) was a Hungarian-born Soviet military intelligence agent during WWII.
Rado was born in a Jewish family in Újpest near Budapest. His father was a manager in a trade firm and then a businessman. During WWI after the graduation from gymnasium (high school) in 1917 Rado was drafted into Austro-Hungarian army. He was sent into a fortress artillery officer school. After the graduation from the officer school in 1918 he was sent to an artillery regiment. At the same time being on military service he was a correspondence student of law faculty of Budapest university.
In December 1918 after the fall of Austro-Hungarian monarchy Rado joined Hungarian Communist Party. When the communists came to power in Hungary in March 1919 he was appointed a cartographer in the staff of a Hungarian Red Army division. When he came to the division staff the political commissar of the division Ferenz Munich appointed Rado commissar of the artillery of the division. He took part in fighting against Czechoslovak forces and then in fighting against anti-communist insurgents in Budapest.
On 1 September 1919 after the fall of the communist regime in Hungary Rado fled to Austria. He studied geography and cartography in Vienna University and wrote articles on military matters in German-language magazine “Kommunizmus” published by Hungarian political emigrants in Austria. Then in July 1920 he established “Rosta-Wien”, an information agency which was used to spread propaganda materials broadcasted from Soviet Russia. They were received through the bribed head of Vienna radio station. Information bulletins based on these materials were distributed to left-wing newspapers and organizations in various countries.
In 1922 Rado came to Germany and began studying first in Jena and then in Leipzig universities. In October 1923 Rado became the military chief of the communist forces in Leipzig which had to take part in an uprising which was aborted at the last moment. After that fearing arrest in Germany Rado in September 1924 came to Soviet Union where he worked first in All-Union Society for Cultural Contacts with Abroad (VOKS) and then in the World Economy Institute of the Communist Academy. In 1926 Rado returned to Germany, established in Berlin cartographic agency “Pressgeography” and lectured in a Marxist school on economic geography, labour movement and imperialism.
After Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933 Rado and his wife Lena fled through Austria to France. In Paris Rado established “Inpress” (independent anti-Nazi press agency). In 1935 during a visit to [Moscow] Rado was approached by deputy chief of Soviet military intelligence Artur Artuzov and Soviet military intelligence chief Semion Urizkiy, and recruited as an intelligence agent with the main task of obtaining intelligence on Nazi Germany. Following the instructions he received Rado unsuccessfully tried to obtain a residence permit in Belgium and then in 1936 he obtained a residence permit in Switzerland and moved to Geneva. There he established cartographic agency “Geopress”.
In 1937 Rado made a visit to Italy in order to obtain intelligence about the Italian military support of Francist forces during the |Spanish civil war. This intelligence was sent to Moscow through Paris Soviet military intelligence station. In 1938 Rado contacted Swiss journalist Otto Puenter, a Soviet agent in Berne. Through Puetner Rado obtained military intelligence on Italy and its military support of Francist forces from “Gabel”, a yugoslav serving as Spanish republican consul in Sushak, Yugoslavia and military intelligence on Germany from “Puasson”, a German Social Democratic political emigrant living in Switzerland who had sources in Germany.
In 1940 Rado contacted Alexander Foote, an Englishman who was another Soviet agent in Switzerland. Alexander Foote became a radio operator of Rado’s intelligence network and in March 1941 established radio communication with the Moscow center from Lausanne. In the radio communication Rado used codename “Dora”. In the first half of 1941 Puetner provided Rado with information obtained from “Luiza”, a Swiss intelligence officer, that Wermacht divisions were being concentrated in the East.
When Germany attracted Soviet Union Rado’s network continued to provide Soviet General Staff with valuable intelligence on German forces. Some of it was supplied through Puetner by “Zalter”, a press-officer of French embassy in Switzerland dismissed by Vichy government, and “Long”, a French intelligence officer who fled to Switzerland after the capitulation of France. They had sources in Germany. One of them was Ernst Lemmer, the editor of German foreign policy bulletin (codename “Agnessa”).
The intelligence provided by Rado’s network was at least as valuable for the Soviet command as the intelligence provided by “Rotte Kapelle”, the network headed by Leopold Trepper. One of the most valuable pieces of intelligence was provided by Rado’s network to the Center in March 1942. It was the information about the exact date when the summer German offensive aimed at the occupation of Caucasian oilfields would begin (between 31 May and 7 June 1942). This information was obtained through “Long” from General Hamann in OKW. However, the Soviet command did not utilize this valuable intelligence properly.
In November 1942 through Christian Schneider, a German lawyer who worked in the International Labour Bureau in Switzerland, Rado contacted Rudolf Roessler, a German political emigrant living in Lucerne. Roessler (codename “Lucy”) apparently had sources in Germany who provided valuable military intelligence.
At the end of 1942 Abwehr and Gestapo exposed “Rotte Kapelle”. Since “Rotte Kapelle” had some contact with Rado in 1940 through Anatoli Gurewitsch alias Kent, a Soviet undercover intelligence officer, the Germans were able to learn about the existence of Rado’s network in Switzerland. They even obtained the radio cipher used by Rado’s network which enabled them to intercept Rado’s radio communications from Switzerland.
Meanwhile Rado’s network continued to supply Soviet command with valuable intelligence. For example, in April 1943 through a Roessler’s source in Germany (codename “Werter”) Rado obtained intelligence about the planned German offensive near Kursk.
In the second half of 1943 the Germans persuaded Swiss authorities to act against Rado’s network. Using mobile radio direction finders Swiss police tracked down a radio transmitter of Rado’s network operated by Swiss agents Edmond and Olga Hamel. They were arrested on 14 October 1943. On the same day another radio operator of Rado’s network, Margarita Bolli, an Italian emigrant living in Switzerland, was arrested. Rado went into hiding. On 20 November 1943 Alexander Foote was arrested. Christian Schneider and two other agents of Rado’s network in Switzerland were arrested on 19 April 1944. Rudolf Roessler was arrested on 19 May 1944.
16 September 1944 Rado and his wife illegally crossed the Swiss-French border on a French train with the help of French Maquis from Upper Savoy. On 24 September 1944 they reached Paris. There Rado contacted a Soviet military intelligence agent.
On January 1945 Rado together with Leopold Trepper was sent on a plane to the Soviet Union. Since due to military operations in Germany the direct fight to the Soviet Union from Paris was impossible, the plane flew over Northern Africa. During a stopover in Cairo Rado, suspecting that on arrival to the Soviet Union he may be arrested on false charges, escaped, entered the British embassy under an alias and applied for political asylum. However, the asylum application was denied and Rado tried to commit suicide. He only injured himself and was hospitalized (2). After that Rado was extradited by Egypt to the Soviet Union based on a false accusation and in August 1945 he was brought to Moscow under guard. (2,3). In December 1946 without trial he was sentenced by Special Council of MGB to 10 years on espionage charges (3).
In November 1954 after the death of Stalin Rado was released and was allowed to return to Hungary. In 1956 he was officially rehabilitated by Military Chamber of the USSR Supreme Court. There in 1955 Rado was appointed the chief of Hungarian cartographic service. In 1958 Rado got the chair of cartography in Budapest Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences. In 1971 he published his memoirs in Hungarian, which was translated into many languages (1). The first uncersored edition of the book, based on the original manuscript was published in 2006 in Budapest.
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