Richard Sorge, the king of spies

He collected intelligence for the Soviet Union successively in European countries, China and Japan, and accomplished numerous outstanding tasks. The intelligence that "Japan will declare war on the United States" he obtained in Japan played a crucial role in saving the Soviet Union and even reversing the situation of World War II.

The fall of a spy king

On November 7, 1944, in the Nest Duck Prison in Tokyo, Japan -- a special prison for political prisoners during World War II, a man named Sorge calmly walked to the gallow and ended his mysterious and brilliant life.

Curiously, Sorge remained calm and composed until his death, even saying "thank you" to his executioner as he walked to the gallows. But his death caused a huge stir in Japan and Germany. Why?

Sorge, it turns out, is no ordinary political prisoner. His identity is very special and complex. He was sentenced to death by the Japanese government because he was a Soviet spy who had been lurking in Japan for a long time and had collected and provided a large amount of information about Japanese politics and the military. But Sorge's public status in Japan is as a special correspondent for the Frankfurter Zeitung in Tokyo, and he has close contacts with officials at the German Embassy in Tokyo. By doing so, Sorge also has contacts with many officials in Tokyo. The guest of such a high-ranking German and Japanese official was a Soviet spy.

In early October 1940, when the Japanese high school accidentally learned the true identity of Sorge and captured him, both the German and Japanese governments felt embarrassed and angry. But during his interrogation, Sorge surprised the Japanese.

According to the transcripts of the interrogation that have been made public, Sorge was very cooperative, recounting his life's experiences in a very tame manner, and making a statement that would have made Japanese superior officers and even all spies admire: "My work follows one principle: I never break into safes, but documents will come to my door voluntarily; I don't break into the chamber with a gun, but the door will open automatically for me." So Sorge is the king of spies.

In addition, Sorge has been adhering to the communist belief in prison, in the face of Japanese temptation and coercion, never wavers, which makes the Japanese for his character is also very admired. But it is puzzling that the Soviets did not attempt to rescue Sorge after his capture.

After Sorge's capture, Japan offered to trade him for several captured Japanese spies, but the Soviet government publicly denied that Sorge was a spy. Why the Soviets abandoned Sorge remains a mystery.

By 1944, the Red Army had regained all its territory and was advancing into Germany; When the United States also launched a counterattack against Japan in the Pacific, the hysterical Japanese finally executed Sorge.

It was not until 20 years later, in 1964, that the Soviet authorities officially recognized Sorge as a Soviet agent and, on the anniversary of his death, recognized him posthumously as the supreme hero of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the Soviet press celebrated his contribution to World War II, and the Soviet government named a Moscow street and an oil tanker after Sorge.

Thus, the spirit of Sorge was finally comforted, and more importantly, the declassified archives revealed a fuller picture of Sorge's legendary life.

The birth of the King of Spies

Sorge was born in 1895 in a small town in the Transcaucasian region of Tsarist Russia to a German father and a Russian mother. When he was 3, the family moved back to Germany and settled in Berlin.

The Sorge family was an odd one -- his great-uncle Friedrich Sorge was Marx's secretary and a good friend of Engels, but his father was an ardent nationalist and admirer of Otto von Bismarck, the iron-fisted German prime minister.

During Sorge's childhood, his father, an engineer, worked well for a Swedish oil company; The youngest of nine children, Sorge had a happy childhood because his mother and older siblings doted on him. But as a child he was sensitive and timid, even sleeping with the light on.

In high school, Sorge was already a well-built young man with a keen interest in literature and history. When World War I broke out in 1914, Sorge volunteered to join the army. Later scholars of Sorge believe that Sorge was probably influenced by his father. After joining the army, Sorge was assigned to the Student Brigade of the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment and fought against the French on the western front before being transferred to the eastern front to fight against the Russians.

In action, Sorge was wounded in the right leg. He was sent home for treatment and returned to the front. Soon after, he has wounded again and sent back to the rear. This time, while recuperating in the hospital, Sorge took his high school graduation examination and aced it. It was not long before Sorg went to war again, but he has wounded again, this time so badly that he nearly lost his left leg, and was eventually crippled for life.

For bravery, Sorge was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. But Sorge's thinking changed dramatically during this period. Because over the years, sorge witnessed the cruelty of war - at home waiting for his mother and his wife after the lost child, husband grieving, especially his treatment in the hospital, seeing a young soldier and his dead or constantly struggling in pain, the heart had a great doubt: war is for the sake of what?

After recovering from his third injury, Sorge did not return to the battlefield. Instead, he enrolled at the University of Berlin, where he began to think more about war and society. Soon after, the October Revolution broke out in Russia, which gave Sorge a great shock and he became interested in communism.

In 1918, after graduating from University, Sorge entered Kiel University to study for a doctorate in sociology, where he met a man who would influence his life -- Professor Colt Gracchi. Gracchi is a well-known economist with strong left-wing ideas. Sorge's life changed forever.

Sorge gladly accepted the special appointment and, under the pseudonym, Ramsay began his journey as an ace spy to change the course of world history.