Arnold Deutsch

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Dr. Arnold Deutsch, variously described as Austrian, Czech or Hungarian, was the NKVD operative who recruited Kim Philby in Regent's Park on 1 July 1934[1]. Using the code name Otto, Deutsch was the controller for the Cambridge Five from 1933 to 1937, when he was replaced by Theodore Maly.

During his time in the UK, Deutsch was given the task of evaluating an American recruit, Michael Straight, who did not impress him[2]. Deutsch's evaluation of Straight was to be borne out almost thirty years later, in 1963, when Straight decided to voluntarily inform Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., a family friend, about his communist connections at Cambridge, a confession which led directly to the exposure of Anthony Blunt as the recruiter of the Cambridge Five spy ring.

In September 1937, in the wake of Stalin's purges, Deutsch was recalled to Moscow[3]. Back in Moscow, Deutsch escaped execution and was employed as an expert on forgery and handwriting. He was not allowed to go abroad again until 1942.

His final fate is uncertain. He is variously said to have been captured and shot by the Nazis after parachuting into Austria or as having drowned when his ship was sunk by a U-boat while en route to New York, where he was supposed to work with NKVD recruits[4]. Philby's last wife, Rufina, cites the drowning story but says that the Russian sources are divided on where Deutsch was headed when his ship, the Donbass, was sunk on its way to the United States[5]. She says that Volume 3 of the KGB History says that Deutsch's eventual destination was Latin America but then says that Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vasilliev, citing KGB files, write, in Haunted Wood[6], that Deutsch was headed to the New York residency to expand its operations.

Deutsch is sometimes described as an ex-priest and sometimes as a lapsed Orthodox Jew[7]. He is also sometimes said to have been a sexologist who had been a follower of Wilhelm Reich. He is also said to have been an assistant of Adam Purpis (see here).

What seems to be beyond dispute is that Deutsch travelled to Britain under his real name so that his university credentials (he had a PhD from the University of Vienna, which he is said to have received at the age of 24 -- see here) would be valid[8].

When Litzi Friedmann and Kim Philby arrived in London from Vienna in 1934, Edith Suschitzky (who had known Deutsch since meeting him in Vienna in 1926 and who worked with him in the OMS, the International Liaison Department of the Comintern) suggested to Deutsch that the NKVD should recruit Friedmann and Philby as agents[9][10][11].

In the 2003 four-part BBC television drama about the Cambridge Spies, Deutsch was portrayed in the first two episodes by Marcel Iures.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Kim Philby and the Age of Paranoia", New York Times, 1994-07-10. 
  2. ^ Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vasilliev (2000). The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America--The Stalin Era. ISBN 0375755365. 
  3. ^ Shulamith Behr and Oleg Gordievsky (2005). Arts in Exile in Britain 1933-1945: Politics and Cultural Identity. ISBN 9042017864. 
  4. ^ Miranda Carter (2002). Anthony Blunt: His Lives. ISBN 0374105316. 
  5. ^ Rufina Philby (2003). The Private Life of Kim Philby: The Moscow Years. ISBN 0953615162. 
  6. ^ Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vasilliev (2000). The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America--The Stalin Era. ISBN 0375755365. 
  7. ^ Christopher M. Andrew and Marian Malet (1993). Comrade Kryuchkov's Instructions: Top Secret Files on KGB Foreign Operations 1975-1985. ISBN 0804722285. 
  8. ^ William E. Duff (1999). A Time for Spies: Theodore Stephanovich Mally and the Era of the Great Illegals. ISBN 0826513522. 
  9. ^ Genrikh Borovik (1994). The Philby Files - The Secret Life of Master Spy Kim Philby. ISBN 0316102849. 
  10. ^ William E. Duff (1999). A Time for Spies: Theodore Stephanovich Mally and the Era of the Great Illegals. ISBN 0826513522. 
  11. ^ Nigel West (2005). Mask: Mi5's Penetration Of The Communist Party Of Great Britain. ISBN 0415351456.