Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko (russian: Игорь Сергеевич Гузенко ; January 26, 1919 – June 25, 1982) was a
cipher
In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode ...
clerk for the
Soviet embassy to Canada in
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, and a lieutenant of the
GRU
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
(Main Intelligence Directorate).
He
defected on September 5, 1945, three days after the end of World War II, with 109 documents on the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...
's espionage activities in the West. This forced Canada's Prime Minister
Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...
to call a
Royal Commission to investigate espionage in Canada.
Gouzenko exposed
Soviet intelligence's efforts to steal nuclear secrets as well as the technique of planting
sleeper agent
A sleeper agent, also called sleeper cell, is a spy who is placed in a target country or organization not to undertake an immediate mission but to act as a potential asset if activated. Even if unactivated, the "sleeper agent" is still an asset ...
s. The "
Gouzenko Affair
The Gouzenko Affair was the name given to events in Canada surrounding the defection of Igor Gouzenko from the Soviet Union in 1945 and his subsequent allegations regarding the existence of a Soviet spy ring of Canadian Communists. Gouzenko's d ...
" is often credited as a triggering event of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
, with historian
Jack Granatstein
Jack Lawrence Granatstein (May 21, 1939) is a Canadian historian who specializes in Canadian political and military history.SeJack Granatsteinfrom The Canadian Encyclopedia
Education
Born on May 21, 1939, in Toronto, Ontario, into a Jewish fam ...
stating it was "the beginning of the Cold War for public opinion" and journalist
Robert Fulford writing he was "absolutely certain the Cold War began in Ottawa".
Granville Hicks described Gouzenko's actions as having "awakened the people of North America to the magnitude and the danger of Soviet espionage".
Background
Gouzenko was born on January 26, 1919, in the village of
Rogachev
Rahachow or Rahačoŭ ( be, Рагачо́ў, ; russian: Рогачёв, Rogachyov, also transliterated Rogachev; pl, Rohaczów; yi, ראגאטשאוו, ''Rogatshov'', ) is a town in the Gomel Region of Belarus. It is center of Rahachow Distri ...
near
Dmitrov
Dmitrov ( rus, Дмитров, p=ˈdmʲitrəf) is a town and the administrative center of Dmitrovsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located to the north of Moscow on the Yakhroma River and the Moscow Canal. Population:
History
Dmitrov ...
,
Moscow Governorate
Moscow Governorate (russian: Московская губерния; pre-reform Russian: ), or the Government of Moscow, was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR, whic ...
(now
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally " under Moscow"), is a federal subject of R ...
), 100 kilometers north-west of Moscow. He was of Ukrainian heritage, the youngest of four children.
His older brother (also Igor, Gouzenko is named in memory of him), born in 1917, died at the age of a year from
malnutrition
Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...
. His father fought in the
Russian Civil War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Russian Civil War
, partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I
, image =
, caption = Clockwise from top left:
{{flatlist,
*Soldiers ...
on the side of the
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
, dying early of
typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...
.
Mother was a school mathematics teacher. Faced with the prospect of her second child dying of starvation, his mother decided to place her son in the care of his mother, Ekaterina A. Filkova, in the village of Semion,
Ryazan Oblast
Ryazan Oblast ( rus, Рязанская область, r=Ryazanskaya oblast, p=rʲɪˈzanskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Ryazan, which is the oblast's largest city.
Geo ...
, where he lived for 7 years. Later his mother took Igor to her relatives in
Rostov-on-Don
Rostov-on-Don ( rus, Ростов-на-Дону, r=Rostov-na-Donu, p=rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the Eas ...
, and she got a job in the village of Verkhne-Spasskoe, after which she moved to
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
and after some time took all the children. Igor Gouzenko entered the fifth grade in the school named after
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...
near the
Automotive Factory No. 2 Zavod Imeni Stalina.
Gouzenko spent a lot of time in the
Lenin Library, where he prepared for admission to the university and then entered the
Moscow Architectural Institute
Moscow Architectural Institute (State Academy) - MArchI (russian: Московский Архитектурный Институт (Государственная Академия) - МАрхИ) is a famous architecture school located in Moscow, ...
. While at the institute he met his future wife Svetlana (Anna) Gouseva in the Lenin Library;
the couple married soon after meeting.
Due to his high academic performance, he was sent to the Military Engineering Academy named after
V.V. Kuybyshev, where he was trained for a year as a cipher clerk, graduating with the rank of
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
. At the start of World War II he was drafted into the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
. Served in the central apparatus of the
GRU
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
(April, 1942 — summer of 1943). His position gave him knowledge of Soviet espionage activities in the West. Gouzenko worked under the leadership of Colonel Nikolai Zabotin.
Defection
In June 1943 Gouzenko arrived in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
to work at the Soviet Embassy, his first overseas mission. In October his pregnant wife joined him.
Due to the increased workload of the staff Gouzenko's family was given the uncommon opportunity to live outside the embassy compound where most of the staff's families lived. Gouzenko was allowed to live in an apartment in the city with Canadian families.
In September 1944, Gouzenko learned that his family had to go home to Moscow. His supervisor, Zabotin, asked for a reprieve. Unwilling to return to the Soviet Union, dissatisfied with the quality of life and the policies of the Soviet Union, he decided to defect. As an example of the freedoms Guzenko recalls in his testimony, he mentions the
elections in Canada in 1945, whereas in the USSR, according to him, there were no free elections and one had to choose from a single candidate.
On September 5, 1945, two days after the end of World War II, the 26-year-old Guzenko walked out of the embassy carrying a briefcase with Soviet code books and decryption materials, a total of 109 documents.
In his statement, Gouzenko recalls that he first wanted to go to the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...
(RCMP) because he knew that there were no Soviet military agents there, but he was not sure that there were no
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
agents. Then he went to the ''
Ottawa Journal
The ''Ottawa Journal'' was a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, from 1885 to 1980.
It was founded in 1885 by A. Woodburn as the ''Ottawa Evening Journal''. Its first editor was John Wesley Dafoe who came from the ...
'' newspaper, but when he reached the editor-in-chief he hesitated to make a statement. When he returned later, the editor-in-chief was no longer at work, and the paper's night editor did not venture to take responsibility, and suggested he go to the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
but nobody was on duty when he arrived there.
The next morning he returned with his wife and child to the Department of Justice and asked to see the minister; after waiting several hours he was denied an appointment. Then he returned to the newspaper and spoke with reporter Elizabeth Fraser, who advised him to contact the naturalization bureau. Later that day Gouzenko applied for Canadian citizenship.
By noon the next day, the Canadian government became aware of Gouzenko, and on September 6,
Prime Minister of Canada
The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as su ...
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...
was informed of the incident, which later led him to convene a Royal Commission to investigate espionage in Canada. Terrified that the Soviets had discovered his duplicity, he went back to his apartment at 511 Somerset Street West and hid his family in the apartment across the hall for the night. Shortly before midnight, four men from the Soviet Embassy (Pavlov, Rogov, Angelov and Farafontov) broke into an apartment on Somerset Street looking for Guzenko and his documents.
The Ottawa Police quickly arrived, followed by the RCMP and officials from the Canadian Department of International Affairs.
The next day Gouzenko was able to find contacts in the RCMP who were willing to examine the documents he had removed from the Soviet embassy. Gouzenko was transported by the RCMP to the secret World War II "
Camp X
Camp X was the unofficial name of the secret Special Training School No. 103, a Second World War British paramilitary installation for training covert agents in the methods required for success in clandestine operations. It was located on the n ...
", comfortably distant from Ottawa. While there, Gouzenko was interviewed by investigators from Britain's internal security service,
MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
(rather than
MI6, as Canada was within the
British Commonwealth
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
) and by investigators from the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...
It has been alleged that, though the RCMP expressed interest in Gouzenko,
Prime Minister of Canada
The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as su ...
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...
initially wanted nothing to do with him. Even with Gouzenko in hiding and under RCMP protection, King reportedly pushed for a diplomatic solution to avoid upsetting the Soviet Union, still a wartime ally and ostensible friend. Documents reveal that King, then 70 and weary from six years of war leadership, was aghast when
Norman Robertson
Norman Alexander Robertson, (March 4, 1904 – July 16, 1968) was a Canadian diplomat and was one of Prime Minister Mackenzie King's advisers.
Background and early life
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he was educated at the Universit ...
, his undersecretary for external affairs, and his assistant,
H. H. Wrong
Humphrey Hume Wrong (September 10, 1894 – January 24, 1954) was a Canadian historian, professor, career diplomat, and Canada's ambassador to the United States.
Background and early life
Wrong was the grandson of Liberal Party leader Edward Bl ...
, informed him on the morning of September 6, 1945, that a "terrible thing" had happened. Gouzenko and his wife Svetlana, they told him, had appeared at the office of Justice Minister
Louis St. Laurent with documents unmasking Soviet perfidy on Canadian soil. "It was like a bomb on top of everything else", King wrote.
[Appendix: Secret and Confidential Diary Relating to Russian Espionage Activities – September 6 to October 31, 1945](_blank)
by William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...
, The Evidence Web, Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is t ...
September 6, 1945
/ref> King's diaries assembled after his death were missing a single volume for November 10 to December 31, 1945, according to Library and Archives Canada.
Robertson told the Prime Minister that Gouzenko was threatening suicide, but King was adamant that his government not get involved, even if Gouzenko was apprehended by Soviet authorities. Robertson ignored King's wishes and authorized the granting of asylum to Gouzenko and his family, on the basis that their lives were in danger.
Ramifications of the defection
In February 1946, news spread that a network of Canadian spies under control of the Soviet Union had been passing classified information to the Soviet government.[Finkel, Alvin. Conrad, Margaret (2002). History Of the Canadian People: 1867 to Present. Toronto:Addison Wesley Longman Publishing, p. 347.] Much of the information taken then is public knowledge now, and the Canadian government was less concerned with the information stolen, but more of the potential of real secrets coming into the hands of future enemies.
Canada played an important part in the early research with nuclear bomb technology, being part of the wartime Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
along with the US and UK. That kind of vital information could be dangerous to Canadian interests in the hands of other nations.
Gouzenko's defection "ushered in the modern era of Canadian security intelligence". The evidence provided by Gouzenko led to the arrest of 39 suspects, including Agatha Chapman, whose apartment at 282 Somerset Street West was a favourite evening rendezvous; a total of 18 were eventually convicted of a variety of offences. Among those convicted were Fred Rose, who was the only Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
in the Canadian House of Commons; Sam Carr, the Communist Party's national organizer; and scientist Raymond Boyer.
Chapman was later acquitted; the judge in her case announced that "No case has been made out and, as far as this trial is concerned, the accused is dismissed."
A Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate espionage, headed by Justices Robert Taschereau and Roy Kellock
Roy Lindsay Kellock, (November 12, 1893 – December 12, 1975) was a Canadian Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Born in Perth, Ontario, he graduated from McMaster University with a B.A. in 1915. Kellock was called to bar in 1920 and ...
, was conducted into the Gouzenko Affair and his evidence of a Soviet spy ring in Canada. It also alerted other countries around the world, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, that Soviet agents had almost certainly infiltrated their nations as well.
Gouzenko provided many vital leads which assisted greatly with ongoing espionage investigations in Britain and North America. The documents he handed over exposed numerous Canadians who were spying for the Soviet Union. A clerk at the External Affairs
A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...
, a Canadian Army
The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...
captain, and a radar engineer working at the National Research Council were arrested for espionage. A spy ring of up to 20 people passing information to the Soviets led by Fred Rose was also exposed. In the United Kingdom, British nuclear scientist Alan Nunn May
Alan Nunn May (sometimes Allan) (2 May 1911 – 12 January 2003) was a British physicist and a confessed and convicted Soviet spy who supplied secrets of British and American atomic research to the Soviet Union during World War II.
Early lif ...
was arrested in March, 1946 after being implicated in Gouzenko's documents. In the United States the FBI tracked down a Soviet spy, Ignacy Witczak Ignacy Witczak was a GRU ''illegal'' officer in the United States during World War II.
Witczak's code name with the GRU and as deciphered by the Venona project and other counterintelligence investigations was "R".
He operated under a cover of a s ...
, at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.
Gouzenko's mother died in the NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
prison at Lubyanka under investigation. Guzenko always assumed that his sister Irina, who worked as an architect, also died as a result of his defection. However, according to 1956 records, she married and lived in Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk ( rus, Челя́бинск, p=tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk, a=Ru-Chelyabinsk.ogg; ba, Силәбе, ''Siläbe'') is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a ...
. His brother, Vsevolod, who Igor believed had been lost in the war, was also in this city. Svetlana Gouzenko's father, mother, and sister each received five years in prison. The sister's daughter, Tatiana, was sent to an orphanage.
Life in Canada
Gouzenko and his family were given another identity by the Canadian government out of fear of Soviet reprisals. Gouzenko, as assigned by the Canadian government, lived the rest of his life under the assumed name of George Brown. Little is known about his life afterwards, but it is understood that he and his wife settled down to a middle-class existence in the Mississauga suburb of Port Credit
Port Credit is a neighbourhood in the south-central part of the City of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located at the mouth of the Credit River on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Its main intersection is Hurontario Street and Lakeshore Road ...
. They raised eight children together. His children thought the language their parents spoke at home was Czech and supported Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
in hockey games. They eventually learned the truth about their family's history from their parents at the age of 16-18. He was, however, involved in a defamation case against ''Maclean's
''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian pers ...
'' for a libellous article written about him. The case was eventually heard by the Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
.
Gouzenko remained in the public eye, writing two books, ''This Was My Choice'', a non-fiction account of his defection, and the novel '' The Fall of a Titan'', which won a Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by th ...
in 1954. In 1955 professor Eugene Hudson Long and writer Gerald Warner Brace nominated the novel for the Nobel Prize in Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901
, ...
. Gouzenko also painted and sold paintings. Gouzenko also appeared on television to promote his books and air grievances with the RCMP, always with a hood over his head.
Death
Gouzenko died of a heart attack in 1982 in Mississauga
Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popu ...
. Svetlana died in September 2001 and was buried next to him. His grave was unmarked until 2002, when family members erected a headstone.
In 2002 federal Heritage Minister Sheila Copps designated "The Gouzenko Affair (1945–46)" an event of national historic significance. In June 2003, the city of Ottawa and in April 2004, the Canadian federal government put up memorial plaques in Dundonald Park commemorating the Soviet defector. It was from this park that RCMP agents monitored Gouzenko's apartment across Somerset Street
Somerset Street may refer to:
*Somerset Street (New Brunswick)
*Somerset Street (Ottawa)
{{Disambiguation, geo ...
the night men from the Soviet embassy came looking for Gouzenko. The story of the process of lobbying the two levels of government to unveil the historic plaques is told in the book ''Remembering Gouzenko: The Struggle to Honour a Cold War Hero'' by Andrew Kavchak (2019).
Film
The story of the Gouzenko Affair was made into the film ''The Iron Curtain'' in 1948, directed by William Wellman
William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and military pilot. He was known for his work in crime, adventure, and action genre films, often focusing on a ...
, with screenplay by Milton Krims, and starring Dana Andrews
Carver Dana Andrews (January 1, 1909 – December 17, 1992) was an American film actor who became a major star in what is now known as film noir. A leading man during the 1940s, he continued acting in less prestigious roles and character parts ...
and Gene Tierney as Igor and Anna Gouzenko, produced by Twentieth Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
. The film's release was accompanied by criticism from the USSR. On February 21, 1948, the propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
newspaper Culture and Life published a critical article by Ilya Ehrenburg
Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian.
Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...
.
Another film version of the Gouzenko Affair was made as ''Operation Manhunt
''Operation Manhunt'' is a 1954 American drama film directed by Jack Alexander and written by Paul Monash. The film stars Harry Townes, Irja Jensen, Jacques Aubuchon, Robert Goodier, Albert Miller and Caren Shaffer. It is a fictionalized story ab ...
'' in 1954, directed by Jack Alexander, with screenplay by Paul Monash, and starring Harry Townes
Harry Rhett Townes (September 18, 1914 – May 23, 2001) was an American actor who later became an Episcopalian minister.
Early life
Harry Townes was born in Huntsville, Alabama. the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Townes. He had a brother and ...
and Irja Jensen, released by United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...
.
Theatre
Theatre Passe Muraille
Theatre Passe Muraille is a theatre company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Brief history
One of Canada's most influential alternative theatres, Theatre Passe Muraille ("theatre beyond walls") was founded in 1968 by director and playwright Jim Gar ...
in Toronto produced ''Head in a Bag, a Cold War Comedy'' in December 1992. The play was written and directed by Baņuta Rubess
Baņuta Rubess (born 1956) is a Canadian theatre director, playwright, and professor. She co-wrote ''This is For You, Anna'' as a member of the Anna Project. Rubess was a co-recipient of the 1988 Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award for childr ...
, who also played Gouzenko. "Rubess, effectively abetted by Oliver Dennis's fumbling performance in the lead role, portrays Gouzenko as a hapless bungler who barely succeeds in rifling the telltale documents," Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...
theater critic Vit Wagner wrote in a review of the production.
See also
* Kellock–Taschereau Commission
The Gouzenko Affair was the name given to events in Canada surrounding the defection of Igor Gouzenko from the Soviet Union in 1945 and his subsequent allegations regarding the existence of a Soviet spy ring of Canadian Communists. Gouzenko's d ...
* List of Eastern Bloc defectors
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* List of KGB defectors
This is a list of KGB officers and agents who have defected.
See also
* List of GRU defectors
* List of Soviet and Eastern Bloc defectors
* List of Soviet Union defections
* List of Cold War pilot defections
* Petrov Affair
References
Fur ...
* Sir William Stephenson
Sir William Samuel Stephenson (23 January 1897 – 31 January 1989), born William Samuel Clouston Stanger, was a Canadian soldier, fighter pilot, businessman and spymaster who served as the senior representative of the British Security Coord ...
References
Books
* "The Defection of Igor Gouzenko: Report of the Canadian Royal Commission" (''Intelligence Series'', Vol. 3, No. 6), Aegean Park, 1996. .
* Amy Knight, ''How the Cold War Began: The Igor Gouzenko Affair and the Hunt for Soviet Spies'', Carroll & Graf
Carroll & Graf Publishers was an American publishing company based in New York City, New York, known for publishing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction by both new and established authors, as well as issuing reprints of previously hard-to ...
, 2006. .
* J.L. Black & Martin Rudner, eds., ''The Gouzenko Affair'', Penumbra Press, 2006. .
* Sawatsky, John, ''Gouzenko: the untold story'', Gage Publishing Ltd., 1984. .
* Granatstein, J.L. & Stafford, David, ''Spy Wars'', Key Porter Books Ltd., 1990. .
* Stevenson, William, ''Intrepid's Last Case''
* Gouzenko, Igor, ''This was My Choice'', Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1948.
* Sawatsky, John, ''Men in the Shadows'', Totem Books,1983. .
* Pickersgill, J.W. & Forster, O.F., eds., ''The Mackenzie King Record''. Toronto: The University of Toronto Press, 1970, Volume III.
* Clément, Dominique, ''Canada's Rights Revolution'', Vancouver: UBC Press, 2008.
* Kavchak, Andrew, ''Remembering Gouzenko: The Struggle to Honour a Cold War Hero'', 2019.
*Whitaker, Reginald (1994). ''Cold War Canada: The Making of a National Insecurity State, 1945–1957''. University of Toronto Press. .
Further reading
A chapter on Igor Gouzenko
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External links
CBC Digital Archives: The Gouzenko Affair
"Spy vs. Spy; What Igor Gouzenko taught the West"
review by Harvey Klehr of "How the Cold War Began; The Igor Gouzenko Affair and the Hunt for Soviet Spies", in ''The Weekly Standard
''The Weekly Standard'' was an American neoconservative political magazine of news, analysis and commentary, published 48 times per year. Originally edited by founders Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes, the ''Standard'' had been described as a "re ...
'', December 18, 2006.
Report of the Royal Commission to Investigate Facts Relating to and the Circumstances Surrounding the Communication, by Public Officials and Other Persons in Positions of Trust of Secret and Confidential Information to Agents of a Foreign Power
1947.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gouzenko, Igor Sergeyevich
1919 births
1982 deaths
People from Dmitrovsky District, Moscow Oblast
Soviet intelligence personnel who defected to the West
Soviet emigrants to Canada
Canadian anti-communists
Governor General's Award-winning fiction writers
People sentenced to death in absentia by the Soviet Union
Russian people of Ukrainian descent
GRU officers
Soviet military personnel of World War II
Moscow Architectural Institute alumni