Ursula Kuczynski

Ruth Werner
Born
Ursula Maria Kuczynski

15 May 1907
Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany
Died7 July 2000(2000-07-07) (aged 93)
Berlin, Germany
Occupation(s)Spy, writer
Political partyKPD (1926)
SED (1950)
Spouses
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(m. 1929; div. 1939)​
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(m. 1940; died 1997)​
ChildrenMaik Hamburger (1931–2020)
Janina "Nina" Hamburger/Blankenfeld (1936–2012)
Peter John Beurton (1943)

Ursula Kuczynski (15 May 1907 – 7 July 2000),[1] also known as Ruth Werner, Ursula Beurton and Ursula Hamburger, was a German Communist activist who spied for the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s, most famously as the handler of nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchs.[2][3] She moved to East Germany in 1950 when Fuchs was unmasked, and published a series of books related to her espionage activities, including her bestselling autobiography, Sonjas Rapport.

Sources concerned with her espionage work in the 1930s/40s sometimes use the cover name originally suggested to her in Shanghai by her fellow intelligence operative and lover[4][5] Richard Sorge: "Sonja",[1][6] "Sonja Schultz"[2] or, after she moved to Britain, "Sonya".[3]

  1. ^ a b "Gestorben Ruth Werner". Der Spiegel (online). 10 July 2000. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  2. ^ a b Barth, Bernd-Rainer; Hartewig, Karin. "Werner, Ruth (eigtl.: Ursula Maria Beurton) geb. Kuczynski * 15.05.1907, † 07.07.2000 Schriftstellerin, Agentin des sowjetischen Nachrichtendienstes GRU". Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  3. ^ a b Norton-Taylor, Richard (11 July 2000). "Ruth Werner: Communist spy who passed the west's atomic secrets to Moscow in the cause of fighting fascism". The Guardian (online). Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  4. ^ "Former Soviet spy Sorge's girlfriend Ishii dies". Archived from the original on 23 June 2011.
  5. ^ "Ursula Kuczynski (Ruth Werner)". 9 March 2022. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference BerlZeitRW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).