Jona Freiherr von Ustinov (russian: Иона Платонович Устинов, Iona Platonovich Ustinov; 2 December 18921 December 1962), often known as Klop Ustinov (), was a German journalist and diplomat who worked for
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 ...
during the time of the
Nazi regime
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. His father was the Russian-born emigre Baron
Plato von Ustinov
Plato Freiherr von Ustinov (born Platon Grigoryevich Ustinov, russian: Платон Григорьевич Устинов; 1840–1918) was a Russian-born German citizen and the owner of the Hôtel du Parc (Park Hotel) in Jaffa, Ottoman Empire ...
(1840–1918). His son was the actor Sir
Peter Ustinov.
Early life
Ustinov was born Jonah
Freiherr
(; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...
von Ustinow in
Jaffa,
Palestine, then part of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, the son of
Plato von Ustinov
Plato Freiherr von Ustinov (born Platon Grigoryevich Ustinov, russian: Платон Григорьевич Устинов; 1840–1918) was a Russian-born German citizen and the owner of the Hôtel du Parc (Park Hotel) in Jaffa, Ottoman Empire ...
, a former Russian officer and naturalised citizen of the
Kingdom of Württemberg
The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which existe ...
who had married Magdalena Hall, then living in Jaffa, the daughter of the Ethiopian
court lady
''Court Lady'' () is a 2021 Chinese television series produced by Yu Zheng, starring Xu Kai and Li Yitong.
Once renowned as Chang’an’s number one hedonist, Sheng Chumu could barely ride on a horse without falling off. Now, he has fallen head ...
Katharina Hall, also known as Welette-Iyesus and her husband,
Moritz Hall
Moritz Hall (14 March 183827 January 1914) was a Polish Christian missionary, metalworker, timber merchant, and hotel proprietor.
He was born in the then tripartitely controlled Free City of Cracow, in 1846 annexed to the Austrian Galicia and L ...
, a Jewish-born convert to Protestantism, cannon-
caster
A caster (or castor) is an undriven wheel that is designed to be attached to the bottom of a larger object (the "vehicle") to enable that object to be moved.
Casters are used in numerous applications, including shopping carts, office chairs, ...
of
Tewodros II of Ethiopia
, spoken = ; ''djānhoi'', lit. ''"O steemedroyal"''
, alternative = ; ''getochu'', lit. ''"Our master"'' (pl.)
Tewodros II ( gez, ዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ, baptized as Gebre Kidan; 1818 – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiop ...
and missionary of in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, and later in Jaffa. Magdalena and Plato von Ustinov (sometimes transcribed as "Ustinow") had five children, of whom Jona/Jonah was the eldest.
There is a family photograph that shows Magdalena von Ustinov (née Hall) with her husband and their children, including Jona/Jonah, who disliked his forename so much that he chose the nickname "Klop" ("Bedbug" in Russian) by which he was known to his friends and relatives for the rest of his life.
Ustinov went to school in
Jaffa, where until 1900 his father hosted the school of the Protestant
Immanuel congregation in his ''Hôtel du Parc'', later in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
, and
Yverdon
Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Roman era) is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district. The population of Yverdon-les-Bains, , was ...
. He studied at
Grenoble University
The Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA, French: meaning "''Grenoble Alps University''") is a public research university in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 resea ...
, in France, and worked at the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
before he moved to London. That peripatetic life engendered in Ustinov a cosmopolitan attitude, which made him averse to any kind of nationalism.
Early career
During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Ustinov served in the German Army's
Air Service unit ''Flieger-Abteilung (Artillerie) 250''. He was awarded the
Württembergian Military Merit Order for his services. His brother Peter von Ustinow joined the same unit and was killed in action on 13 July 1917. After the war Ustinov worked for
Wolffs Telegraphisches Bureau
Wolffs Telegraphisches Bureau (1849–1934) was founded by the German Bernhard Wolff (1811–1879), the editor of the ''Vossische Zeitung'' and founder of the '' National Zeitung'' (1848–1938).
It was one of the first press agencies in Europe a ...
, the first German news agency, in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
.
On 17 July 1920, he married the painter
Nadia Benois
Nadezhda Leontievna Ustinova (russian: Надежда Леонтьевна Устинова; 27 April 18968 December 1975), née ''Benois'' (Бенуа), better known as Nadia Benois, was a Russian-born painter of still lifes and landscapes, and ...
, daughter of
Leon Benois
Leon Benois (russian: Леонтий Николаевич Бенуа; 1856 in Peterhof – 1928 in Leningrad) was a Russian architect from the Benois family.
Biography
He was the son of architect Nicholas Benois, the brother of artists Alexandr ...
. The Ustinovs returned to London, where Klop became a press officer for the German Embassy. Their son
Peter Ustinov was born on 16 April 1921.
His political opinions gave difficulties to Ustinov with the new Nazi government almost immediately. In 1935, the conflict culminated when Ustinov refused to prove that he was not of Jewish descent ("
Ariernachweis
In Nazi Germany, the Aryan certificate/passport (german: Ariernachweis) was a document which certified that a person was a member of the presumed Aryan race. Beginning in April 1933, it was required from all employees and officials in the publ ...
"). As a result, he lost his job and chose to become a
British citizen
British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...
, which allowed him to avoid internment and later, during the war, deportation.
Later career
Meanwhile, he had begun working for the British intelligence 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 ...
,
[Day (2014).] and hosted secret meetings of senior British officials and German generals at his home on the fourth floor of 34
Redcliffe Gardens
Redcliffe Gardens is a primary road, the A3220 located in the Chelsea area of southwest central London, England (postcode SW10). It was a development dated from 1864 to 1878.
Redcliffe Gardens runs southeast through Redcliffe Square as par ...
,
Kensington,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. Notable among these guests were the diplomat
Robert Vansittart and
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
(then out of power). Another was
Wolfgang zu Putlitz, a First Secretary of the German Embassy in London who provided detailed information about
German rearmament
German rearmament (''Aufrüstung'', ) was a policy and practice of rearmament carried out in Germany during the interwar period (1918–1939), in violation of the Treaty of Versailles which required German disarmament after WWI to prevent Germ ...
. Former MI5 officer
Peter Wright said it was "priceless intelligence, possibly the most important human-source intelligence Britain received in the prewar period".
[Wright (1987), p. 87.]
He also tried to convince the British government to adopt a more robust attitude towards Nazi Germany. Seven months before the
occupation of Czechoslovakia
Occupation commonly refers to:
*Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment
*Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces
*Military occupation, th ...
in 1939, he was able to acquire the German plans. He later regretted that Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain could not bring himself to take any action.
Death
Ustinov died on 1 December 1962 in
Eastleach, Gloucestershire from a massive heart attack. It was the day before his 70th birthday. Administration of his estate was given to his wife, Nadia, on 7 May 1963 – his effects were valued at £1,196.
[Principal Probate Registry, ''Wills and Administrations'' (1963), p. 522.]
Peter Wright, author of ''
Spycatcher'', said that Ustinov was discovered by another member of the British intelligence community a short time before his death, selling books from his library to supplement his income.
[Wright (1987), p.67-70.] According to Wright, Ustinov's pension had been overlooked, and he was almost penniless.
[ Wright states that someone from MI5 did attempt to rectify the situation, but that Ustinov died a short time later and he (Wright) did not know whether or not the problem was corrected.][
]
See also
* St. Chrischona
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
* See also retitled edition: . Presentations and review
herehere
here
here
an
Klop: Britain’s Most Ingenious Secret Agent by Peter Day
* Holtz, "Hall, Moritz", in: ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'': 3 vols., Siegbert Uhlig (ed.), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2002, 2005, 2007, Vol. 2 / D – Ha (2005), article: 'Hall, Moritz'. .
* (2005). "Verbindungen der Familie Ustinov nach Äthiopien" it. 'Connections of the Ustinov family with Ethiopia'in: ''Aethiopica, International Journal of Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies'', vol. 8, pp. 29–47.
* Wright, Peter (1987). '' Spycatcher''.
Sources
* Peter Ustinov, ''Dear Me'', 1977 Pavor S. A.
External links
The Unmasking of Klop Ustinov, Secret Agent
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ustinov, Jona
1892 births
1962 deaths
People from Jaffa
Barons of Germany
Luftstreitkräfte personnel
German people of Ethiopian descent
German people of Russian descent
German people of Jewish descent
Grenoble Alpes University alumni
MI5 personnel
World War II spies for the United Kingdom
People from Eastleach
Ustinov family