On the night of October 22, 1966, in the darkness of the night and the torrential rain, a figure suddenly rolled out of the dormitory building of Skolapos Prison and ran quickly to the edge of the prison.
Immediately after that, the man climbed the rope ladder that had already been placed here, and in a few breaths, he climbed over the high wall of the prison, fell outside the prison wall, and ran towards the distance...
This person was the double-sided spy of the British spy network during the Cold War, George Blake.
Embark on the path of intelligence work
George Blake was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 1922, to a mother of Dutch aristocratic descent and an English-Turk father.
Before the outbreak of World War II, his mother left the Netherlands early and settled in England, and Blake lived with his father in the Netherlands.
After his poor, debt-laden father died of illness in 1933, he entrusted Black to his aunt in Cairo, Egypt, to raise him.
His uncle, Daniel Curiel, was a well-to-do banker in Cairo and a sympathetic philanthropist, both cousins of charismatic, intelligent and intelligent young intellectuals.
The aunt's family was concerned about the tragic fate of the peasants in Egypt and worried about the spread of fascism in Europe.
During the three years of getting along, the aunt and family did not hesitate to talk about their views on the world situation in front of Blake and express their sympathy for the poor peasants.
They thought that Blake was just a schoolboy who did not understand the world, but what they did not expect was that their remarks had a profound impact on Blake.
At the age of 16, Blake returned to the Netherlands, dreaming of becoming a Calvinist priest, but before he could realize his dream, World War II broke out.
In 1940, germany invaded the Netherlands, and Blake and many other Dutch people were imprisoned in concentration camps. Luckily, Blake managed to escape with his clever mind and hide in his uncle's house.
In November of that year, Blake had just turned 18 when he happened to encounter the occupation army conscription. In order to avoid military service, Blake chose to join a local resistance group.
He forged documents and hid in Tibet, passing on a lot of intelligence to the organization in the process.
Later, Blake decided to set out for England in search of his mother, and he trekked all the way to England via France, Spain, and through the Strait of Gibraltar.
Because Black's father was a British citizen, Black was also admitted as a British citizen. Blake wanted to join the British intelligence service, and he wanted to find the opportunity to return to the Netherlands to participate in the struggle against fascism.
As a result, he was absorbed into the Dutch Resistance Organization's Secret Telegram Office. During his years of wandering outside, Blake learned several languages, and he was very proficient in English, Dutch, French and German.
His superiors saw Braque's talent for language and sent him to the Officers' School to train him to be a good intelligence officer.
After graduating from school, Blake worked for a time in the Royal Navy's intelligence service, and was later assigned to the Dutch branch of the Special Operations Committee to work on code interception and deciphering.
By the end of World War II, Blake had become a naval captain. Because he was proficient in German, the organization sent him to Hamburg, Germany, at this time to organize a British spy network in the Soviet occupation zone.
It didn't take long, however, for Blake to be hired by the British Foreign Office and sent to downing college in Cambridge to study Russian.
On the surface, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wanted him to be a good diplomat, but behind the scenes, it trained him to be a good agent. But what the Foreign Ministry did not expect was that it was their move that pushed Blake to the Soviet side.
After entering Cambridge University, Blake studied Russian at the request of his superiors and became acquainted with a professor named Elizabeth Hill.
Under the influence of Professor Hill's culture and ideas, and the influence of Blake's thoughts and speeches from his aunt's family from an early age, Blake became a pro-Russian element.
Of course, this was not enough for Blake to betray Britain, and what really made him see the ugly face of Western imperialism began with the Korean War.
Double-sided espionage, destroying the British spy network
In 1948, Black was sent to Seoul, South Korea, where he was tasked with gathering intelligence on the Soviet Far East, the Coast, Siberia, and elsewhere.
On June 25, 1950, the Korean War broke out, syngman Rhee's government was defeated, and after the North Korean army broke through Seoul, all the staff of the British legation became prisoners.
After Blake and his colleagues were arrested, everyone's mood was relatively low, and only Blake was calm.
Long before coming to Korea, Blake had read a pamphlet on communism written by the British spy agency, which Blake thought was very objective.
Syngman Rhee
Later, however, when he arrived in Seoul, he found that the corruption of Syngman Rhee's authorities was disgusting; The bombing of North Korean villages and civilians by UN fighter jets is infuriating. This prompted Blake to undergo a great shift in his thinking.
During his detention, the Soviet Union and North Korea began to promote communist ideas to prisoners, which further deepened Blake's understanding and belief in communism.
Late one night in the autumn of 1951, while everyone in the camp was asleep, Blake quietly handed the guards a note written in Russian, which read: I have something to tell.
A month and a half later, Blake was taken to a small room opposite a Soviet agent.
"I am the British Deputy Consul in South Korea and an officer in British intelligence, and I am willing to serve the Soviet government," Blake said. ”
Since then, Blake has become a double-sided spy. In March 1953, Blake and the staff of the British Legation returned to England via Beijing, Moscow, and West Berlin.
After a period of recuperation, Blake was assigned to the Cromwell Street division of MI6, where he was responsible for eavesdropping on intelligence information and routinely unpacking diplomatic pouches. At the same time, Blake began to work for the Soviet Union.
At the time, the Soviets were suspicious of Blake, believing that he might be a double agent who had infiltrated the KGB, but soon after Blake relayed information to the Soviets about "Western phone tapping in Austria."
The veracity and importance of the intelligence made the Soviets believe in Blake. Soon after, Blake was given a miniature camera, which Blake used to photograph important documents in his possession.
As agreed, Blake met with Soviet agents once every three to four weeks, and each time Blake would hand them at least 3 shots of film.
In early 1955, Blake was transferred to the west Berlin Secret Intelligence Service workstation, and it was during this period that Blake had access to the Spy Network of the British Secret Intelligence Service.
During his time in West Berlin, in addition to the task of obtaining the garrison of Soviet troops in Germany, Blake was also tasked with expanding his team and plotting against the Soviet side.
It was because of this special task that Blake had the opportunity to find out the clues of the British spy network, and then gradually clarified the deployment of spies, the list of spy personnel, and passed them on to the Soviet Union.
With the help of this information, the Soviet authorities swept away nearly 400 spies from the British Secret Intelligence Service in various countries around the world.
In addition to helping the Soviets get rid of the spy network, another important feat of Black was the "Berlin Tunnels" incident.
At that time, in order to eavesdrop on Soviet intelligence, the Americans planned to dig a tunnel from West Berlin to East Berlin and connect the cable to Moscow, thus achieving eavesdropping.
The tunnel, which took a year and cost the U.S. $25 million, is a masterpiece in the minds of Americans. What the Americans did not expect was that Blake had already told the KGB about the plan and engineering of the tunnel.
So, from the time the Berlin Tunnel was put into service until April 1956, the Americans received false information that the Soviet Union had deliberately transmitted to it.
His identity was exposed and he fled to Moscow
Blake was detected by the British after 6 years of lurking in MI6. In 1961, a Polish communist defector told the British: "Berlin has a serious leak problem!" ”
When Blake heard about it, he did not worry, because he had never received a reward from the Soviet side, nor had he ever exchanged telegrams or anything like that, and there was no trace of communication with the KGB.
Black thought his intelligence work had been clean enough, but what he didn't expect was that Soviet agents had installed a bugging device in the British intelligence studio.
This studio was exactly what Black had used before, and it was installed by the KGB after Black was transferred. London thought the incident was suspicious, so Black was recalled for questioning.
At first thought that he had been exposed, Blake wanted to flee to Damascus and then change to Moscow, but kgb agents insisted that London did not have key evidence, and Blake took a reassurance.
It turned out that there was indeed no conclusive evidence in London, and Blake's exposure depended entirely on his own impulsiveness.
During the interrogation, an agent deliberately tested Blake: "You were the Soviet Union that fell during the Korean War, and you made a deal with the KGB in order to improve the conditions of imprisonment." ”
This speculation infuriated Blake because his choice was based on faith, not because he was greedy for life and afraid of death. Enraged, Blake reveals his journey and exploits as a spy.
On 3 May 1961, the Central Criminal Court in London sentenced Black to 42 years in prison for treason. It is said that the reason why it was 42 years was because Blake's rebellion led to the death of 42 British spies.
Blake did not sit still, and from the moment he was imprisoned in Skolapos Prison, he began to plan his escape.
He knew that the Soviets would not risk causing an international sensation to save themselves, so he had only two choices: to spend a long 42-year sentence in prison or to find a way to escape.
Blake has been looking for the right person to escape from prison, and there is only one person who is ideal, and he is Sean Burke, who is suspected of murdering the police and imprisoned.
The man was coming to the end of his eight-year sentence and was about to take up residence in a dormitory outside the prison, where he would work like an ordinary citizen for several months, and where he slept at night, just a wall away from the prison dormitory.
Burke readily agreed to Blake's request, because he hated the authorities and always wanted revenge. In 1966, after Burke's release from prison, he began planning a prison escape for Black.
On October 22, Burke took advantage of the relaxation of the prison movie to quietly shove an iron rod into Black's cell. Blake immediately pried open the window with an iron rod and climbed out of the roof.
In the darkness of the night, Blake grabbed Burke's nylon rope ladder hanging on the side of the high wall and escaped over the wall.
Two months later, Blake hid in the cabinet of a friend's camping sedan, evaded the hunt along the way, and boarded a steamship from England to Belgium and from his destination to the GDR.
Two days later, Blake arrived at a checkpoint near Berlin, and a Soviet agent who had been in contact with him arrived in time to pick him up. It didn't take long for Blake to arrive in Moscow.
No regrets about the choice of the year
Black was warmly welcomed by the Soviet authorities in Moscow, and the Soviet government awarded him the Order of Lenin and the Red Banner Medal in recognition of his intelligence contributions during these years undercover MI6.
Since then, Blake has been working at the Institute of World Economics and International Relations in Moscow. Blake's escape infuriated the British, who referred to him as a "traitor." ”
But Blake didn't think so: "To commit treason, first you have to belong to that country, I never belonged to Britain." ”
"When I was on the Korean battlefield and saw U.S. fighter jets bombing completely defenseless North Korean villages, I was ashamed to be on the side of the Western world at the time!"
Blake later recalled: "The moment I saw the American military machine slaughter civilians, I realized that this conflict was fatal and dangerous for humanity as a whole, so I made the most important decision of my life, to fight to help the world maintain peace." ”
After arriving in Moscow, Blake gradually faded from sight. He worked at the institute, wrote daily reports on the world situation, and stayed in the four-room apartment provided to him by the KGB.
On the family side, after Blake joined the Soviet Union, his British wife divorced him. In Moscow Black remarried a Soviet wife and had a son.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Blake had a difficult time.
At that time, there were some people in the Russian government who wanted to deport him, but Sergei Ivanov, the foreign intelligence spokesman of Russia's Interfax News Agency, said: "Blake is still loyal to socialism and believes in social justice, and we should protect his safety." ”
In this way, Blake continued to stay in Moscow, and at the age of 69, Blake was interviewed by a French journalist, and Blake once again relived the experience of double-sided espionage in his youth.
"Are you still working for the KGB?" The reporter asked.
"Yes, I would give them some advice, sometimes to give a report to the young officers who were going to work abroad, to introduce the Western intelligence agencies."
"Do you ever regret choosing the Soviet Union?"
At this moment, Blake, who was originally a bit old-fashioned, suddenly became serious: "I think that dedicating your life to a lofty ideal will never be wrong, and you will never regret it." ”
"Do you want to go back to England to have a look?"
"Of course I would like to go sightseeing in London again, but that was too dangerous for me. I would also like to visit my mother in the Netherlands, who is 95 years old, but I can't take the risk, fortunately my three sons in england come to Moscow every year to visit me. ”
At this time, Blake's eyes suddenly darkened, and getting along with his family became the old man's most anticipated thing.
On November 12, 2007, on Blake's 85th birthday, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service awarded Blake the Order of Friendship, which symbolizes the country's highest honor, and read a congratulatory message from a Russian high-level to pay tribute to the legendary agent.
Since then, Blake has rarely appeared in the international community. Until December 26, 2020, Ivanov announced to the world: 98-year-old legendary intelligence officer George Blake, who died today.
On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his deep condolences to Blake's family and friends.
On the Kremlin's website, Putin said: "Blake has made a valuable contribution to ensuring strategic balance and maintaining world peace, and our memory of this legendary figure will always be in our hearts." ”
Resources
[1] "China News Network", "British legendary double-sided spy died at the age of 98 Putin's "deep condolences""
[2] "CCTV News", "Legendary Double Agent" Died Russian President Putin Mourns"
[3] The Paper, The Legendary "Double Agent" Died 98-year-old Soviet intelligence officer George Black