Agent Sonya, MI5 and the Kuczynski Network

Burke, David

The History Press Ltd（2025/07発売）

The History Press Ltd（2025/07発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781803999869
• DDC分類 327.12092

Full Description

In 1933, the celebrated German economist Robert Kuczynski and his wife Berta arrived in Britain as refugees from Nazism, followed shortly afterwards by their six children. Jürgen, known to be a leading Communist, was an object of considerable concern to MI5, while Ursula, codenamed Sonya, was a colonel in Russia's Red Army who had spied on the Japanese in Manchuria. MI5 also kept extensive files on their four sisters, Brigitte, Barbara, Sabine and Renate.

During the crucial early stages of the Cold War, members of the Kuczynski family proved to be prime Soviet assets as enablers and agents of influence. In Britain, Ursula controlled the spies Klaus Fuchs and Melita Norwood, without whom the Soviet atomic bomb would have been delayed for at least five years.

Drawing on newly released files, Agent Sonya, MI5 and the Kuczynski Network reveals the operations of a network at the heart of Soviet intelligence in Britain. Over seventy years of espionage activity the Kuczynskis and their associates gained access to high-ranking officials in the government, civil service and justice system. For the first time, acclaimed historian David Burke tells the whole story of one of the most accomplished spy rings in history.

Contents

Cover
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction
1 Class Against Class
2 Jürgen
3 Ursula
4 London and Spain
5 Ursula and Brigitte
6 Turning Hitler Eastwards
7 Spying on Fellow Exiles
8 The Indian Communist Party and the BBC
9 Barbara and Renate
10 Klaus Fuchs, Melita Norwood and Geoffrey Pyke
11 The Manhattan Project and Bletchley Park
12 Jürgen and Vansittartism
13 Bridget, Arthur Long and Paul Jacot-Descombes
14 William Skardon's Interrogation of Ursula
15 Ursula's Flight
16 Skardon on the Kuczynski Network
17 Jürgen's Fall
18 The Greek Civil War and the Haldane Society of Lawyers
19 Renate, Melita Norwood and the Rifkind Criteria
Conclusion
Appendix 1: The Evolution of the GRU and the KGB
Appendix 2: A Note on British Intelligence
Appendix 3: William Scanlon Murphy to David Burke, 7 July 2016
Appendix 4: William Scanlon Murphy to David Burke, 17 July 2016
Notes
Bibliography