Cold Open

It’s April 1917 near the Russian city of Minsk.

21-year-old German Corporal Richard Sorge huddles in a trench as Russian artillery fire shakes the earth around him. Gripping a pencil tightly in his hands, he presses his back against the wall of the trench and tries to focus his attention on the letter he’s writing to his family back home.

It’s two and a half years since the outbreak of World War One. When fighting began, Richard volunteered for the German Army almost immediately. He saw action on the Western Front before being transferred to the East. And right now, Richard’s battalion is part of a vast offensive against the Russians, who are putting up fierce resistance to the German advance.

Richard looks up from his letter as the tell-tale sound of a falling shell whistles through the sky above. He has just enough time to throw his arms in front of his face… The blast blows Richard out of the trench. As mud and soil rain down on him, he tries to lift his head - and instantly wishes he hadn’t. Pain floods through his body. His uniform is ripped to shreds, and his legs are covered in blood. Richard’s vision begins to blur. And the last thing he sees before he blacks out is a stretcher-bearer rushing to his aid.

Richard Sorge will lose three fingers in this explosion, and the shrapnel damage to his legs will leave him with a permanent limp. But his wounds will change his life in more ways than one. Richard will be sent to a field hospital in Germany, where he’ll come under the care of a doctor who’s also an ardent Communist. And while Richard recovers, he’ll be converted to the socialist cause. And over the next two decades, he’ll go on to become one of the most successful Soviet spies in history, before his career as a secret agent comes to an end when he is captured and put to death on November 7th, 1944.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is November 7th, 1944: The Execution of Soviet Spy Richard Sorge.

Act One

It’s April 1924 in Frankfurt, Germany, six years after the end of World War One.

28-year-old Richard Sorge sits in a packed conference hall, scribbling down notes in shorthand. He glances up occasionally to look at the speaker addressing his enthusiastic audience. The man raises his voice as his speech comes to an end, and the audience members around Richard rise to cheer as the speaker proclaims “Long live the Communist Party!”

After Richard was medically discharged from the German Army, he studied philosophy and economics at Berlin University. He approached his studies from the left-wing perspective that had been instilled in him by the doctor who converted him to the socialist cause. After graduating, Richard then embarked on a career as a freelance reporter. And it’s in that capacity that he’s here at the Communist Party of Germany’s annual convention—although as a member of the party himself, Richard is by no means a neutral observer.

After he’s finished his last few notes on the speech, Richard jumps to his feet and joins the applause. Then, he returns to his hotel room and begins writing up what he’s heard. When they’re printed, Richard’s favorable reports soon catch the attention of some important guests at the conference.

Seven years ago, radical socialists took power in Russia in the Bolshevik Revolution. They replaced the old autocratic empire of the Tsars with the Soviet Union. And now they’re looking to expand the socialist movement outside the borders of the USSR—and they’re seeking out allies like Richard to help them do it.

Soon after the convention concludes, the Soviet delegates reach out to Richard with a proposal. They want him to move to Moscow and work for the Soviet Union’s intelligence services, translating reports and analyzing the communist struggle in the German-speaking world. Richard agrees, and for the next four years, he diligently applies himself to the work. Eventually, however, his superiors realize that Richard’s skills and passion for the socialist cause are wasted behind a desk in Moscow.

So, in 1929, Richard is entrusted with more difficult and dangerous work. He’s first sent to London to report on the communist movement there, but the British secret service quickly identifies him as a Soviet agent and deports him. Despite this failure, Richard’s experience in London whets his appetite for further adventures, and he requests another foreign assignment. He soon gets it—and his new mission is much closer to home. The Soviets are worried about a growing right-wing movement in Germany that’s openly hostile to communists. They want Richard to infiltrate this Nazi Party and discover all he can about its leader, Adolf Hitler.

But Richard’s experience in Britain has taught him that he needs better cover if he’s going to succeed in espionage. So, when he returns to his home country, Richard resigns his membership of the Communist Party of Germany, and he breaks off all contact with his socialist friends. He pretends that his years in the Soviet Union have opened his eyes to the flaws of communism and that he’s abandoned his old beliefs.

Only when he thinks he’s put a convincing distance between him and his Communist past, does Richard begin his infiltration of the Nazi Party.

He starts attending their meetings and rallies before signing up as a party member. And to all appearances, Richard is now just another ardent young Nazi in a country increasingly full of them. He joins the movement at a critical time. In September 1929, the Stock Market Crash on Wall Street sparks a worldwide economic depression—and no country is more vulnerable to upheaval than Germany. As millions are driven into poverty, the Nazis find a willing audience for their promises of national renewal and their scapegoating of Jews and communists for the country’s problems.

Richard faithfully reports all the disturbing things he sees and hears back to Moscow. But he doesn’t remain in Germany to see Adolf Hitler seize power. In 1930, his Soviet handlers decide that Richard will be even more useful elsewhere. A civil war is raging in China between the Nationalist government and Communist insurgents. So, Richard is ordered to use his cover as a journalist to spy on the Nationalists and report intelligence about its military strategy to the Soviets.

By 1933, Richard will have proved himself to be an expert spy. But his next mission will be his most dangerous yet. He will be sent to spy on the country that Soviet Premier Josef Stalin is most worried about. It’s not America, or Britain, or even Nazi Germany, but Imperial Japan.

Act Two

It’s May 1938 in Tokyo, Japan, nine years after Richard Sorge began spying for the Soviet Union.

Now 43 years old, Richard twists the throttle on his motorbike and speeds through an intersection, narrowly missing a pedestrian. His bike weaves down the street as Richard grips a briefcase to his chest with one hand and steers the bike with the other. But it’s not just the awkward cargo he’s carrying that’s making the drive difficult. Richard is also drunk.

Over the last few years, Richard has firmly established himself in Japan. He’s been helped by his membership of the German Nazi Party. Since Adolf Hitler seized power in 1933, many of the diplomats at the German Embassy in Tokyo have been replaced with Nazi appointees, and Richard has worked hard at winning their trust. Over drinks and dinners, he’s charmed his way into the confidence of the embassy staff - but all the while, he’s been using his new friends to learn more about the military secrets of Japan and Germany, and the deepening cooperation between the two nations. To make sure nothing is kept from him, Richard has seduced the wife of a military attaché, and he’s also recruited several other reporters with communist sympathies to help him gather intelligence. But the pressure of running a spy ring is testing Richard’s nerves. He’s started drinking heavily to cope with the stress, and tonight, during a meeting with one of his contacts, he’s had far too much.

As Richard turns a corner, the rear wheel of his motorbike slips. And before Richard can do anything to stop it, he crashes the bike into a wall at the side of the road and he’s knocked unconscious.

A short while later, Richard comes to, in a hospital bed. Richard looks around groggily. Then, he spots his clothes laid out neatly on a nearby chair—he then instantly snaps alert. His briefcase isn’t anywhere to be seen. Richard’s heart races. That briefcase contained secret documents about the Japanese military. If the police get their hands on them, it won’t take them long to realize that Richard is a spy.

Trying to remain calm, Richard calls a nurse and asks where the briefcase is. She tells him it was collected by a colleague only a few minutes ago. Fearfully, Richard asks for the man’s name - but when the nurse tells him, Richard breathes a sigh of relief. The colleague is a fellow Soviet agent and part of the spy network. The briefcase is safe.

Richard’s undercover work means he’s in constant danger of being unmasked by both the Japanese and the Germans. But he’s not safe from his own side either. Soviet Premier Josef Stalin is a paranoid man. He’s convinced that political opponents are seeking to undermine him, and, while Richard is still recovering from his injuries, Stalin begins a purge of anyone he thinks could threaten his position as leader of the USSR. He is especially suspicious of the Soviet intelligence agency, and soon, Richard, like many other international agents, receives orders to return to Moscow. Richard knows he’ll be placed under arrest as soon as he arrives, so he claims he’s not yet healthy enough to travel. And it’s a good decision. Many spies are imprisoned or executed during Stalin’s purge, but Richard survives.

And his work is about to become more important than ever. Just over a year after Richard’s accident, World War Two breaks out. Drawing on intelligence from German and Japanese sources, Richard reports back to Moscow that the Soviet Union’s eastern frontier is safe from Japanese attack. But he does predict that, instead, Germany has plans to invade the USSR from the West. Stalin, though, refuses to believe the warnings. So, when Adolf Hitler orders his troops into the Soviet Union in June 1941, Stalin’s armies are unprepared.

Richard is frustrated that his intelligence was ignored. But he keeps working and, a few months later in October 1941, he hears a new rumor that he believes could alter the course of the war. Richard gets his hands on confidential communications between the Japanese government and the German ambassador in Tokyo. These messages reveal that the Japanese are going to launch a pre-emptive strike against the United States and Britain in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Richard reports what he’s learned to Moscow, emphasizing the reliability of his sources. But again, Stalin doesn’t trust the intelligence, and he decides not to pass on the warnings to America or Britain.

But while Richard’s urgent communications may be ignored in Moscow, they do catch the attention of the Japanese counterintelligence service. Although they can’t read the coded messages, the intercepted transmissions are a clear sign that foreign spies are active in Tokyo. The Japanese set to work flushing them out. Several agents in the Soviet spy ring are arrested, and, soon, suspicion falls on the one figure who connects them all: Richard Sorge.

The Japanese will put Richard under immediate surveillance, and a few days later, on October 18th 1941, he will be arrested in a morning raid on his home. Richard always knew the likely price he would pay should his espionage be discovered. But he will have to endure more than three years of torture and interrogation before he will face his final punishment.

Act Three

It’s 10:20 AM, on November 7th, 1944, at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, three years after Richard Sorge was arrested for espionage.

A Japanese prison guard steps forward and ties 49-year-old Richard’s wrists. Next, the guard bends down and lashes Richard’s ankles. Then, the guard places a black hood over Richard’s head and tightens a noose around his neck.

After Richard was arrested, his Japanese interrogators initially suspected he was a double agent working on behalf of their allies, the Germans. But when they questioned Richard under torture, he broke down and confessed. He told them that he was a Soviet spy and that he’d been passing intelligence to Moscow for more than a decade. Under duress, Richard struck a deal. He told his torturers everything, but only after they promised to spare the wives of the agents in his spy ring. When his case finally came to trial, Richard was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death by hanging.

But since Japan was still not officially at war with the USSR, Richard’s conviction presented the Japanese government with a dilemma. Executing Richard and his fellow spies might provoke the Soviets to declare war first. So, rather than execute them, the Imperial Government offered to swap the spies for Japanese captives currently held in Soviet prisons. But Josef Stalin ordered his diplomats to deny all knowledge of Richard and his spy ring and to claim that Richard’s confession was a fantasy made up by a madman. That rejection by the man Richard had served so loyally sealed the spy’s fate.

After the prison guard checks that the bindings holding Richard are secure, he steps to the back out of the room. In the seconds that follow, Richard fills the silence by loudly declaring his allegiance to the Red Army and the Communist Party. But the guard ignores Richard. And instead, he watches the steely face of the prison governor, waiting for a signal. When the governor gives a small nod, prison guard pulls a lever that opens a trapdoor beneath Richard’s feet.

Twenty years after Richard Sorge’s death, the Soviet Union will finally admit that he did work for them as an undercover agent. He’ll be named the Hero of the Soviet Union and lauded as one of most effective spies in history - even if Stalin failed to act on the valuable intelligence that Richard provided. Had he done so, the invasion of the USSR and the Japanese attacks in the Pacific may have had very different outcomes. Instead, the war ground on, Stalin abandoned his best spy to the hangman’s noose, and Richard Sorge was executed for espionage on November 7th, 1944.

Outro

Next on History Daily. November 8th, 1923. A young demagogue attempts to overthrow the German Government in what will become known as the Beer Hall Putsch.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Scott Reeves.

Edited by Dorian Merina.

Managing producer, Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.