Читать книгу Rouble Nationalization – the Way to Russia’s Freedom - Николай Стариков - Страница 6

This man was not just an agent; he was considered the most valuable agent of the USSR in Nazi Germany. A book about him is actually called 'His Majesty the Agent'[133]. With a capital letter as they use for royalty. And this is not for nothing – Willy Lehmann was indeed a very precious agent. For as many as twelve years he supplied very sensitive information to Moscow under the pseudonym of Breitenbach, while working not just for an agency but for the Gestapo. 'Willy Lehmann took the initiative and offered his services himself… Lehmann spent twelve years working for Soviet intelligence. During that period he did not make a single professional mistake, nothing that could have attracted any suspicion',[134] says the author of the book, Theodore Gladkov, about the agent. Having started working with Soviet intelligence even before the Nazis came to power, he passed on the last piece of sensitive information on 19^th June, 1941. On that day, Lehmann reported the exact and accurate day of the German invasion of the USSR.[135] After that, contact with him was broken.

As a result, there was a very strange situation: there was a very precious agent but no contact with him. 'By spring 1942 the Centre managed to restore contact with none of their agents in Berlin'[136]. That means there was physically no one who could have contacted Lehmann. Then it was decided to send some liaisons over the front line. Two agents were sent to Berlin and both were arrested by Willy Lehmann's colleagues' from the Gestapo. One of them held on to the last and died under torture; the other one started collaborating with the Nazis. A radio game started. Later on, the arrested Soviet agent insisted that he had given a coded sign that he was working under control which, allegedly, had not been noticed by the radio operators of the Centre. On 4^th December, 1941 a password and terms of contact with Breitenbach were sent to the receiver controlled by the Gestapo…

In December, after the 11^th, the telephone rang in Lehmann's apartment. Late at night. There was nothing special in it for an agent. It might have been an urgent call. In his many years of service, it had happened many times… A service Horch was already waiting for him. He opened the door, dived into the car, and immediately handcuffs clicked on his wrists… There was no warrant for his arrest. He was to be delivered, and that is it… No one knew of Lehmann's case except for the head of Gestapo, Mueller and a few more people. Lehmann was doomed. He was denied even a mockery of a trial from the very beginning, even with a predetermined death penalty… And there was nothing but a short message in the internal Nazi 'Bulletin on 29^th January, 1943 which said that 'Willy Lehmann gave his life for the Fiihrer and the Reich. The only truth in this message must have been the month of his death – December 1942.'[137]

In a very quiet, peaceful, family-like manner. He gave his life for the Fiihrer and the Reich. Well, why trouble the public? Why cause puzzlement and anxiety? Nothing happened to Lehmann's wife. Could it have been different if her husband had lost his life for the sake of Germany? 'Margaret Lehmann was not subjected to any sanctions or oppressions. Not out of humanism, of course, but purely to keep the secret. In the beginning she was told that Willy died during a 'secret' mission.[138]

It is very, very seldom that truth does come to the surface. Secret services sacredly keep their secrets.