The Round Tablette November 12, 2009 duties. Born to a German father and a Volume 18 Number 4 Russian mother in what is today Published by WW II History Azerbaijan, Richard Sorge became one Roundtable of the most successful spies in history. Edited by Connie Harris Sorge’s father was a German petroleum www.mn-ww2roundtable.org engineer working for the Caucasian Oil Company and when young Richard was Welcome to the November edition of eleven the family moved back to the Harold C. Deutsch World War II Germany. Roundtable. Tonight is the annual Dr. Sorge fought for the German army in Harold Deutsch lecture and features Dr. World War I and was wounded twice in Donald Goldstein from the University of battle first on the Western front and Pittsburgh and one of the author’s of then even more severely against the Target Tokyo: The Story of the Sorge Spy Russian army on the Eastern front. Ring which he will be speaking on this While recovering from his wounds he evening. was introduced to communist ideas and The Dr. Harold C. Deutsch Lecture shortly after the war joined the German For those of you who are unfamiliar communist party. Taking various posts with this annual event, a word of throughout Germany to enhance the explanation. It was the custom of Dr. communist party’s position, Sorge came Deutsch to speak on a topic of his into contact with a Soviet delegation choosing at the November meeting. visiting Frankfurt and was invited to These lectures were always well move to Moscow to become develop and attended due to the reputation of Dr. expand the Comintern’s Intelligence Deutsch. His knowledge on virtually any Division. As part of the intelligence World War II topic was second to none. division Sorge traveled to Scandinavia, Many of his former students from the Germany, and England to assist the University of Minnesota came to this local organizations and gather lecture. With his death, it was decided to intelligence. Bored with the political remember him through, not only this aspects of his position Sorge asked to Roundtable, but also a lecture series focus on intelligence work, and cut his named after him. This is an academic ties entirely from the Comintern and the lecture for the most part without a panel party cells and became part of the of veterans. Secret Department of the Soviet Communist Party Central Executive Much like the fictional British spy, Committee and put in touch with the James Bond, Richard Sorge was a Red Army’s Fourth Department which womanizer, drinker, and fearless in his focused on intelligence. WWII History Round Table on DVD!!! Programs $10 + tax & shipping Order online at: www.barros.us/online-store.cfm or contact Rob at (763) 639-3399 The Round Tablette May 2009 2 Given the choice to stay in Europe or information that the Japanese Army Asia, Sorge chose the latter, and after was not going to attack the Soviet Union establishing German press credentials from the east which freed up divisions in sailed for Shanghai. China, at the time, the war against Germany. Of interest to was in torment between the ruling Americans, Sorge supposedly predicted Nationalist government and the growing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Communist movement. While in China, but this has been open to interpretation Sorge would recruit and work with for years. people who became part of his spy ring All spies only have a certain amount of in Japan, especially Hotzumi Ozaki a luck and Sorge’s ran out in October of Japanese journalist. When fighting 1941, when he was arrested by Japanese broke out between Japanese marines officials. He and his Japanese cohort and Chinese army forces in Shanghai in Hotzumi Ozaki were executed on January 1932, Ozaki was recalled to November 7, 1941. As with most spy Japan, but Sorge remained until stories even Sorge’s demise is somewhat December and then was recalled to mysterious, since some believe he was Moscow. really secretly returned to the Soviet Sorge’s handlers decided that they Union for a Japanese spy, but there is a wanted him to establish a spy ring in headstone with Sorge’s name on in Tokyo and he was sent to Berlin where Tokyo. he became a member of the Nazi party More Readings on Tonight’s Topic: and a reporter for several German newspapers. With several letters of Gordon W. Prange, Donald M. Goldstein, & introductions in his pocket, Sorge was Katherine Dillon Target Tokyo: The Story of the able to become a fixture at the German Sorge Spy Ring (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1985). Embassy in Tokyo gained access to high level information. Very quickly in 1933, Chalmers Johnson, An Instance of Treason: Sorge established his spy ring with his Ozaki Hotsumi and the Sorge Spy Ring previous friends from China and those (Stanford University Press, 1990). sent from the Soviet Union, and he Charles Willoughby, Shanghai Conspiracy, the estimated that sixty percent of his Sorge Spy Ring. (Western Islands, 1965). information came from the German embassy. Sorge’s spy ring warned Robert Whynant, Stalin’s Spy: Richard Sorge and the Tokyo Espionage Ring (London: I.B. the Soviet Red Army of the Anti- Taurua, 2007). Comintern Pact between Germany and Japan in 1936. Throughout May of F.W. Deakin & G.R Storry The case of Richard 1941, Sorge warned his Moscow Sorge. London: Chatto & Windus 1966). Next two Roundtables: handlers of the impending German nd attack on the Soviet Union with 10 December 09 82 AB Div. in Battle of the Bulge Operation Barbarossa, which were 14 January 10 Russian Military ignored. But in September 1941 he sent Leadership WWII History Round Table on DVD!!! Programs $10 + tax & shipping Order online at: www.barros.us/online-store.cfm or contact Rob at (763) 639-3399 .