At 10:00 p.m., they saw the lights go on in Goldfus studio, and a man was observed moving in the room. Drawing on hundreds of newly declassified FBI documents as well as his own interviews with surviving artists who knew him as the courtly painter down the hall in Brooklyn Heights, Ward creates a shadowy double portrait of a man who fooled everyone except the lieutenant who betrayed him. Theyd talk late into the night, arguing about their shared aesthetic concerns and the politics of the era. Theres some ego involved as well. Using this passport, he sailed October 16, 1952 from Southhampton, England aboard the Queen Mary and arrived at New York City on October 21, 1952. Who painted the portrait of Tom Hanks? (I hope you are aware that I have been trying to arrange a meeting with no success.) Jokingly, Silverman responded, Oh, Emil and I were just listening in on Moscow., When Silverman hung up the phone, Goldfuss affable, easygoing demeanor had vanished completely, replaced by a cold, hard glarethe only one he had ever evinced in the three years they were friends. She disappeared for a moment, then returned with a purse in her hand. Its only in recollection, when you discover that your friend was a spy, that it stands out. They carefully wrapped the nickel and microphotograph for shipment to the FBI Laboratory. A cynic might say that it proves what a mastermind he really was; that by choosing to hide in a potentially dangerous place, he was engaging in a brilliant bit of misdirection. From Los Angeles came a peculiar-looking 1953 Lincoln penny. This man was followed down Fulton Street to a nearby subway station. This is a story about a man named Rudolf Ivanovich Abel. WebThe art works of Col. Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, the Russian spy suspect, were viewed yesterday. This was his life. Hollow Nickel/Rudolf Abel FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation Although Hayhanen assisted the FBI in solving the mystery of the hollow nickel, the information he furnished placed other critical challenges before the agents. Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, real name Vilyam Willie Genrikhovich Fisher, (July 11, 1903 November 15, 1971) was a Soviet intelligence officer. Imagine standing in the corridor of the federal courthouse at Cadman Plaza, waiting to be called. Under yet another false nameAndrew Kayotishe arrived in New Mexico in 1949. It was so easy to slip into self-censorship.. His parents were peasants. Hayhanen was born near Leningrad on May 14, 1920. Welcome to Americas Most Elite Girls Boarding School. did Rudolph Abel paint James Donovans portrait in real life and where is it now ???? WebArtists' Signatures offers FREE access to over 100,000+ artist directory listings in our database. He was an amateur painter, a fine guitar player and a charming older gentleman. It was both real and a lie. Not even in jest.. A lady answered the door. With Hayhanen, Goldfus set up three locations for dead drops in the city: One was in the Bronxliterally in a hole in the wall on Jerome Avenue near 165th Streetanother was on a bridge in Central Park near Tavern on the Green, and a third was in the balcony of Symphony Space, the performing arts center on the Upper West Side. Though the exact nature of his activities at this time remains unknown, biographies of Goldfus have stated that there are indications that he was there to assist with the process of transferring information relating to the Manhattan Project. I was also counseled by what I thought were wiser heads. Investigation in Detroit disclosed that several persons there considered Kayotis to be in poor physical condition at the time of his departure from the United States. Please read this section carefully. Art Submenu. IT IS TOO EARLY TO SEND YOU THE GAMMAS. Collection; Search the Collection; Exhibitions; Public Art; Nordic Art and Culture 00:00:49. FBI Laboratory experts examined this Finnish coin on May 17, 1957. agents, who directed the target of their early-morning interrogation to find a pair of undershorts and sit on the bed. For Silverman and the other artists, the story they read in the newspapers didnt make sense. Letters subsequently received from him indicated that he was in a Lithuanian hospital. Calling him Colonel, they peppered him with questions about his identity and matters relating to espionage, warning him that a refusal to cooperate would result in his immediate arrest. Its the kind of incident that, under normal circumstances, wouldnt be memorable. Mikhail, the Soviet with whom Hayhanen maintained contact from the fall of 1952 until early 1954, was yet to be identified. Buffalo AKG Art Museum Its impossible to say for sure what led Emil Goldfus to embed himself amongst ex-Communists and radicals. There were no meetings with seductive femme fatales or intricate, high-tech acts of subterfuge. It was possibly a foolish decision, but Silverman said that his reputation for honesty was beyond reproach and that hed never heard a negative thing said about him. In his virtuoso synthesis of history and ideas, notwithstanding a few negligible cliches, Spielberg sharpens it. Several weeks before he departed for America, Hayhanen was recalled to Moscow and introduced to a Soviet agent, Mikhail, who was to serve as his espionage superior in this country. It wasnt exploitative. There were not enough. WE WISH YOU SUCCESS. One of the coins seemed to have a peculiar ring. Youve had no contact with your friend since his arrest. When he picked it up, almost like magic, the coinsplit in half. The reverse side had been made from another nickelone minted sometime during the period of 1942 to 1945. The Soviet intelligence service had a new assignment for Hayhanenone which would require him to sever relations with his family, to study the English language, and to receive special training in photographing documents, as well as to encode and decode messages. He was practical, not an ideologue in any sense of the word. Despite his modest background, Hayhanen was an honor student and, in 1939, obtained the equivalent of a certificate to teach high school. The painter in question is Rudolf Abel (brilliantly played by Mark Rylance with wry, mournful soul), first seen serenely composing a self-portrait in his Brooklyn apartment in 1957, at the height of Cold War dread and paranoia. The Day My Therapist Dared Me to Have Sex With Her. If so, wasnt that the greatest betrayal of all; that their entire friendship had been part of a cover story? As he was leaving the stand, he caught Goldfuss eye. Every visitor can search and browse our listings when looking for an artist Artists' Signatures . Regardless of his motivations, for two and a half years, no matter what else he did in his spare time, the friendships he made, the work he did, and the life he led was real. This spy, Reino Hayhanen, stated that he had just been ordered to return to Moscow. He was also a frequent visitor to Silvermans studio, accruing a vast amount of knowledge just by spending time with him and watching him paint, saying nothing. The Lamb Clinic provides a comprehensive assessment and customized treatment plan for all new patients utilizing both interventional and non-interventional treatment methods. In reality, he never left New York City; he just needed time away from the Ovington Studios to reorganize his network. The certificate in the name of Collins was a forgery. (Interestingly, Donovan would later become president of Pratt.). EVERYTHING IS ALL RIGHT WITH THE FAMILY. Full information concerning Rhodes involvement in Russian espionage was disseminated to the Army; and following a court-martial, he was sentenced to serve five years at hard labor.). A smile seemed to curl around the edges of his mouth and he nodded. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. When journalists were granted access in 1957, the small studio contained some of Abels paintings, as well as his spying materials. The information contained on this site is the opinion of G. Blair Lamb MD, FCFP and should not be used as personal medical advice. This time, it was that hed be taking a trip to Arizona to seek out a cure for his persistent sinus issues. During this period, FBI agents discreetly tied together the loose ends of the investigation, matters which had to be resolved before this Russian intelligence officer could be taken into custody. Abel is spared the death penalty, and put to use as trade bait for U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, who is shot down by Soviet surface-to-air missiles while taking photographs of Soviet military installations from 70,000 feet. Fearing for his life, Hayhanen instead turned himself in at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, where he quickly gave up the goods on his boss. Your favorite Narratively stories, read aloud. In April 1957, Goldfus once again told his friends that hed be leaving for a while, again crafting a false story as cover. Narratively is Thrilled to Announce Our Inaugural Profile Prize! In reality, hed gone back to Moscow. The lights went out at 11:52 p.m., and a man who appeared to generally fit the description of Mark stepped into the darkness outside the building. It had been placed in the dead drop about two years previously, but, by a trick of fate, a repair crew had filled the hole in the stairs with cement, entombing the bolt and the message it contained. Theres no right answer. Its difficult to imagine it now, but even if it never changed what we said and how we said it, there was always the nagging thought in the back of our heads that someone was listening; that wed lose work or jobs, says Silverman. Though Silverman was the much younger man, he was the far more talented artist. What is undeniable is this: At seven a.m. on the morning of June 21, 1957, a naked, sleep-deprived and bedraggled Emil Goldfus, a fifty-ish man, answered a persistent rapping on the door of his shabby room in the Hotel Latham on East 28th Street. of 1 3. The phone rang in Silvermans studio. And, when Mikhail dropped from the scene in 1954, Hayhanen was turned over to another Russian spy, one known only as Mark. Hayhanen felt that Mark undoubtedly was still actively engaged in espionage within the United States! TRANSMIT INSERTIONS SEPARATELY. From the long list of possible suspects, the most logical candidate appeared to be Mikhail Nikolaevich Svirin. CONSULT WITH US PRIOR TO INVESTING IT IN ANY KIND OF BUSINESS, ADVISING THE CHARACTER OF THIS BUSINESS.3. Image by an unnamed photographer working for Wide World Photos. In the summer of 1954, going by the alias MARK, Goldfus had his first meeting with his new assistant, Reyno Hayhanen, code name VIK, living under the alias Eugene Nikolai Maki. They were petrified that they too were suspects. But I see now that this was not even involved. While his KGB training continued, Hayhanen worked as a mechanic in the City of Valga, Estonia. Links: der sowjetische Spion Rudolf Abel, 1957 verhaftet Silverman adds: You could tell that he wanted to be a part of something and that he was excited. Burt Silverman met Emil Goldfus in the winter of 1954, in the elevator at Ovington Studios, a building where he and many of his friends and professional colleagues rented space on Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn. Following World War II, he rose to the rank of senior operative authorized representative of the Segozerski district section of the NKGB and, with headquarters in the Village of Padani, set about the task of identifying dissident elements among the local citizens. Our show brought a bit of the old revolutionary fervor back, the idea that he was fighting the establishment. In the mid-1920s, Eugene Makis parents became deeply impressed by glowing reports of conditions in the new Russia. Ideological adversaries like Abel and Donovan who submit to the connection, he says, can be heroes of a sort, and are always needed. Emil Goldfus and Burton Silverman, 1957(Photo courtesy Silverman Studios Inc.). Evidently, the affable gentleman they met at the National Hotel happened to be a friend of an AP reporter. He described Mikhail as probably between 40 and 50 years old; medium build; long, thin nose; dark hair; and about five feet, nine inches tall. Two separate coins obviously had been used in making this trick 50 Markka piece. Thats how Emil Goldfus remained true to himself in the midst of a life that was defined by deception; in which he was constantly playing a role. The Amateur: The Cold War Life of Rudolf Abel, Artist & KGB Spy - Kindle edition by Ward, Nathan. They spent a year and a half researching the story, hoping to get permission from the Soviet Ministry of Culture to visit Moscow for an interview with Goldfus. Among the tenants was one Emil R. Goldfus, a photographer who had operated a studio on the fifth floor since January, 1954and who also had formerly rented a fifth-floor storage room there. Entitled A Realist View, they wanted to make a statement that was both political and aesthetic: that representational work was just as valid as abstract imagery. FOR ORGANIZATION OF COVER, WE GAVE INSTRUCTIONS TO TRANSMIT TO YOU THREE THOUSAND IN LOCAL (CURRENCY). His vocation is KGB covert intelligence officer, and he collects American secrets and passes them to his Soviet handlers in hollow nickels, painting en plein air as cover for dead drops. No questions about his political beliefs, no insinuations that hed somehow been involved with Goldfuss espionage, just a typewriter. Edgar nominee Nathan Ward (The Lost Detective) tells the story of Rudolf Abel, the Russian agent depicted in Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated film "Bridge of (Avoiding Spoilers) Overview a Soviet spy working undercover in 1957 Brooklyn. Crossing the street was an adventure, because they must have been at least fifty percent wider than Fifth or Madison Avenue. Somewhere beneath the infinite regression of all of these state-sanctioned masks lies Willie Fisher, also known as Martin Collins, and MARK, and Milton and Kayotis and Colonel Rudolf Abel of the KGB, but really just Emil Goldfusthe spy that was my fathers friend. From the latter part of August 1952 until April 1954, he had served as the first secretary to the Soviet United Nations Delegation in New York. Goldfus remained mostly silent, grunting one-word, often contradictory or false responses, and denying everything. He then sees that he may be defending an incongruously estimable man, and it triggers a new zealousness in his professional endeavor. With the end of this war in 1940, Hayhanen was assigned to check the loyalty and reliability of Soviet workers in Finland and to develop informants and sources of information in their midst. Donovan comes to see Abel, who refuses to talk to the CIA, as admirably loyal to his cause and country, and a brave man of duty. Suddenly, there are no random occurrences, no coincidences. Rudolf Abel was born William Fisher in England in 1903. In Washington, each effort to decipher the microphotograph met with failure. NUMBER 1, 3RD OF DECEMBER. 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