Cold War super spy exiled in Moscow turns 85
Published 11 November, 2007, 06:04
The legendary double agent George Blake is celebrating his 85th birthday. The former British spy was recruited by the KGB in the 1950s, and went on to play a key role in Soviet intelligence gathering during the Cold War.
In the course of his spying career, Blake revealed the names of more than 400 Western agents to his Soviet handlers. Many were executed.
Blake was born in Rotterdam as George Behar. His mother was Dutch while his Jewish father was Egyptian. Brought up comfortably, Blake was a teenager when the Second World War broke out.
He joined the Dutch Underground, before escaping to London disguised as a monk. Once there, he was recruited by the British Secret Intelligence Service, the SIS.
He advanced quickly, but a failed assignment changed the course of his career. Sent to Seoul just prior to the breakout of the Korean War, George Blake was captured by the Communist North.
During his three years in prison, the previously profoundly religious detainee underwent a conversion. He read the works of Marx and became a committed communist.
Driven by a sincere ideological motivation, he decided to aid the Soviets. As a double agent he was sent to Berlin. He warned the Soviets of the construction of the famous Berlin Tunnel. It was designed to enable the West to monitor Russian communications.
He also passed the names of hundreds of agents to the USSR. At least forty were captured as a result, and many were executed.
Blake says he regrets the deaths of those agents he compromised but not what he did.
“The impressions the war left on me were those of shame. When one saw those enormous American Flying Fortresses dropping bombs on small, completely defenceless Korean villages, one didn’t feel proud to be on the West’s side,” Blake said.
Eventually, his luck ran out. Betrayed by another double agent, he was sentenced by a British court in 1961 to 42 years – the longest prison term ever handed out.
Five years later, with the help of two cellmates and outside agents, Blake was able to escape using a rope thrown from the other side of the wall.
Months later, he surfaced in the USSR, where he's worked as a spy trainer ever since.
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