Richard Sorge

The road to Tokyo

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesAccording to Encyclopaedia Britannica he was born in Baku on 4 October 1895. He took a doctorate in political science at the University of Hamburg and in 1919 joined the Communist Party of Germany. On the Comintern’s instructions he went to Japan as a German press correspondent; as cover, in 1933 he joined the Nazi Party.¹

Olivia Halebian, in a review published by the CIA, observed that his intelligence targets were obvious: the German embassy in Tokyo and Japan itself, Germany’s ally.³

The ‘Ramsay’ network

The Russian Japanologists Alexander Kulanov and Anna Sharova, analysing new archival publications from 2017–2022, describe the network as an illegal residency. Sorge’s closest associate was the Japanese journalist and political scientist Ozaki Hotsumi, and his radio operator was Max Clausen; the Serb Branko Vukelić was also part of the network.²

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesBritannica states that Sorge became political adviser to the German ambassador, Major General Eugen Ott. He warned Moscow that 170 German divisions would attack along the Soviet frontier on 20 June 1941 – the attack came on 22 June. In August 1941 he reported that the Japanese Army planned to move south against Pacific targets rather than north against the USSR.¹

Arrest and execution

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesOn 18 October 1941 he was arrested by the Japanese. He was executed together with Ozaki Hotsumi.¹

Kulanov and Sharova give 7 November 1944 as the date of the execution.²

A propaganda hero

According to the CIA review, Sorge was brought back into the Soviet public eye only through a series of newspaper articles and popular books. His glorification began in late 1964 with an article in ‘Pravda’, and by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of 5 November 1964 he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union; he was later also honoured with a postage stamp.³

Halebian wrote that Soviet publications presented Sorge as a paragon of virtue, ignoring his weakness for alcohol and women, and that the authorities wanted to make him a popular hero without any intention of publishing an accurate history of his network.³

Kulanov and Sharova show that Russian archival publications after 2017 revealed new details, including successive drafts of the 1964 award citation.²