Theodore Maly

Theodor Maly (1894-20 September 1938) was an undercover Soviet intelligence officer who recruited and controlled spies in the 1930’s. He lived illegally in the countries where he worked and was one of Russia’s most effective illegal recruiters and controllers. Like many other illegals he was not Russian but had Russian citizenship.

Early life

He was born in Hungary in 1894 at Timişoara (now Romania) into a bourgeois family. His father was an official of the Ministry of Finance. He entered a monastic order and studied theology and philosophy. At the outbreak of World War I he enlisted in the Austro-Hungarian army. He attended the Military Academy and graduated in December 1915. Maly later related his experiences to a friend.

"During the war I was a chaplain,I had just been ordained as a priest. I was taken prisoner in the Carpathians. I saw all the horrors, young men with frozen limbs dying in the trenches. I was moved from one camp to another and starved along with other prisoners. We were all covered with vermin and many were dying of typhus. I lost my faith in God and when the revolution broke out I joined the Bolsheviks. I broke with my past completely. I was no longer a Hungarian, a priest, a Christian, even anyone's son. I became a Communist and have always remained one."

Illegal Identities

The Russians recognized that his passionate pride, intellect and charm were an asset and in 1932 he assumed the identity of Paul Hardt a mid-European intellectual and travelled to England to control two British Foreign Office spies; John Herbert King and Ernest Holloway Oldham. Another identity that he used in England was Mr Peters; an Austrian who had spent time in a monastery before becoming a captain in the Russian cavalry.

Espionage Activities

He was the controller of Kim Philby, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess. There is evidence that he recruited and controlled Anthony Blunt although Blunt always denied it. These four and John Cairncross were all well-placed British spies and were the Ring of Five that contributed to Russian success in World War II. In 1937 he left England on a false passport to escape arrest for his involvement in the Woolwich Arsenal spy case. It is assumed that he was tipped off before MI5 could arrange for his arrest.

Final Days

In June 1937 Maly received permission from the Center to return to Moscow. He went first to Paris where he had pro-Trotskyite conversations with Ignace Reiss, Elsa Poretsky and Walter Krivitsky, in which they agreed that the death of Stalin was the only solution. A report from Paris in March 1938, probably from Mark Zborowski, implicates Maly in this treason. Elsa Poretsky attempted to dissuade Maly from returning to Moscow, but he told her, "They will kill me there and they will kill me here. Better to die there."

Maly returned to Moscow and worked at the Lubyanka. Any hope of returning to Europe was dashed with the defections of Ignace Reiss in July 1937 and Walter Krivitsky in October 1937. Alexander Orlov reports in the "Secret History" that Maly disappeared from his post in November 1937. This is contradicted in West's "Crown Jewels" where a document is cited that indicates that Maly was still at work on May 23, 1938. Although the exact date of Maly's arrest is unknown, it was probably after May 1938 and before Orlov's defection in July 1938.

Under interrogation, Maly confessed to being a German agent. On September 20, 1938 a tribunal sentenced Maly to death under Article 58 (6) of the Criminal Code. The Soviet government rehabilitated Maly on April 14, 1956.

Other Illegals

Other important illegals were Arnold Deutsch, Richard Sorge, Alexander Rado, Leopold Trepper, Mr and Mrs Henri Pieck, Ludwik and Elisabeth Poretsky, and Walter Krivitsky.

Sources

*John Costello, "Mask of Treachery", Warner Books,1990.
*Peter Wright, "Spy Catcher", Viking Adult, 1987.
*Hede Massing ,"This Deception", Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1951.
*Alexander Orlov, "The Secret HIstory of Stalin's Crimes," Random House, 1953.
*Elisabeth Poretsky, "Our Own People: A Memoir of Ignace Reiss and Friends", University of Michigan Press, 1969.
*Nigel West and Oleg Tsarev, "The Crown Jewels: The British Secrets at the Heart of the KGB Archives," Yale University Press, 1998.