Rudolf Abel | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel on a 1990 USSR commemorative stamp | |
| Born | William August Fisher 11 July 1903 |
| Died | 15 November 1971 (aged 68) |
| Burial place | Donskoye Cemetery |
| Nationality | British Soviet |
| Spouse |
Elena Stepanovna Lebedeva
(m. 1927) |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | Order of the Red Banner |
| Espionage activity | |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Codename | Andrew Yurgesovich Kayotis |
| Codename | Emil Robert Goldfus |
| Codename | Mark Collins[1] |
| Codename | MARK[2] |
| Codename | ALEC[2] |
| Operations | World War II (1944–1945) Soviet Cold War spy (1948–1957) |
Rudolf Ivanovich Abel (Russian: Рудольф Иванович Абель), real name William August Fisher (11 July 1903 – 15 November 1971), was a Soviet intelligence officer. He adopted his alias when arrested on charges of conspiracy by the FBI in 1957.
Fisher was born and grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England in the United Kingdom to Russian émigré parents. He moved to Russia in the 1920s, and served in the Soviet military before undertaking foreign service as a radio operator in Soviet intelligence in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He later served in an instructional role before taking part in intelligence operations against the Germans during World War II. After the war, he began working for the KGB, which sent him to the United States where he worked as part of a spy ring based in New York City.
In 1957, Fisher was convicted in US federal court on three counts of conspiracy as a Soviet spy for his involvement in what became known as the Hollow Nickel Case and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Georgia.[4] He served just over four years of his sentence before he was exchanged for captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers. Back in the Soviet Union, he lectured on his experiences. He died in 1971 at the age of 68. His real identity and country of birth were only revealed after his death.