Rudolf Ivanovich Abel (Russian: ), real name William August Fisher (11 July 1903 - 15 November 1971), was a Soviet intelligence officer. Abell Auction has been a family-run, serviced-oriented business since 1916.Originally a furniture store in Los Angeles, founder A.N. The initial scene of Mark Rylance's character, Rudolf Abel, painting his self portrait using a mirror would produce a mirror image portrait with the subject facing to the left. But for Spielberg decency always trumps ideology. After the FBI catches him, the Justice Department assigns as Abels defense lawyer the reputable Brooklyn litigator and former Nuremburg prosecutor James Donovan (Tom Hanks in James Stewart mode, never better). Back in the Soviet Union, he lectured on his experiences. NUMBER 1, 3RD OF DECEMBER.. In 1955, Fisher returned to the USSR for a while to bid a final farewell to Rudolf Abel, who had suddenly died of a heart attack. From July 1949 to October 1952, Hayhanen resided in Finland and established his identity as the American-born Eugene Maki. [2] The prosecution failed to find any other alleged members of Fisher's spy network, if there were any. 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 agents immediately suspected that they had found a coded espionage message. To use content beyond the scope of this license, permission is required. Since he was posing as an artist and photographer, nobody questioned his irregular working hours and frequent disappearances. Award-winning blogazine, primarily about painting. 8 reviews of Hernandez Painting "I saw Hernandez Painters painting a house in my neighborhood, so I pulled over and asked if they could come by and give me a quote on exterior paint. To an embassy official, the Russian espionage agent explained, Im an officer in the Soviet intelligence service. He died in 1971 at the age of 68. In examining the nickel, agents of the FBIs New York Office noted that the microphotograph appeared to portray nothing more then ten columns of typewritten numbers. Genrich Fischer (or Fisher), Abels father and a friend of Lenins, emigrated to Britain around 1901, where he spent 20 years attempting to organize and indoctrinate his fellow factory workers before returning to Russia. Following his arrival in New York on May 10, 1957, Hayhanen was given a thorough physical examination, suitable quarters were found for him, and arrangements were made for him to be interviewed by FBI agents. (2001). He also rented a fifth-floor studio at the Ovington Studios Building on Fulton Street. From the outset, it was obvious that they had found no Utopia on the border of the Soviet Union. CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers had taken off from a military airbase in Peshawar, Pakistan on a mission to secretly photograph Russian military sites deep within Soviet airspace. Much like Hanks' character in the film, the real James Donovan did believe that everyone deserves a defense. Shortly afterwards Fisher was ordered to reactivate the "Volunteer" network to smuggle atomic secrets to Russia. His primary objective was to identify anti-Soviet elements among the intelligentsia. In keeping with instructions contained in a message he received from Soviet officials, Hayhanen was met by Mark at a movie theater in Flushing, Long Island, during the late summer of 1954. Entering the GRU, Fisher promised: I would better meet death than betray the interests of my Motherland, - meaning the USSR. Business trips to Europe were an almost yearly occurrence. EVERYTHING IS ALL RIGHT WITH THE FAMILY. Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance portray Donovan and Abel in the movie bottom. Bridge of Spies Newsreels & Related Videos, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Watch a newsreel that features James Donovan speaking about defending Rudolf Abel, Watch a newsreel highlighting the U-2 controversy. -Strangers on a Bridge As depicted in the movie, during Rudolf Abel's trial, Donovan had also argued that the government had violated Abel's Fourth Amendment rights by searching his home and seizing both Abel and all his property without a public search warrant or a criminal warrant of arrest. Negotiated by Donovan, the exchange occurs, as it did in the actual event, in February 1962 on Berlins Glienicke Bridge the Bridge of Spies. This man was followed down Fulton Street to a nearby subway station. In 1949, Hyhnen freely obtained Maki's birth certificate. Abel complained to Moscow and Hyhnen was asked to return. He also created a radio network for a proper connection of local resident agents with the Soviet center. The newsboy handed the nickel to a New York detective, who in turn forwarded it to the FBI. Kitty Harris, a former pupil of Fisher's, had spent a year in Santa Fe during the war, where she passed secrets from physicists to couriers. The first showed that he was Emil R. Goldfus, born August 2, 1902 in New York City. Why was abel painting a portrait of himself? Fisher said nothing to the FBI and, after spending twenty-three minutes staring at Fisher, the FBI agents called in the waiting Immigration and Naturalization Service officers who arrested Fisher and detained him under section 242 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. 1. When journalists were granted access in 1957, the small studio contained some of Abels paintings, as well as his spying materials. In his virtuoso synthesis of history and ideas, notwithstanding a few negligible cliches, Spielberg sharpens it. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. [15][16] Though Fisher qualified for university, the costs prohibited him from attending. Although the FBI was convinced that it had finally identified the Soviet espionage apparatus which was responsible for the hollow Jefferson nickel, only one half of the mystery posed by this coin since its discovery in June 1953 had been solved. Yes. He tried to busy himself with painting, learning silk-screening, playing chess, and writing logarithmic tables for the sheer enjoyment of it. Accordingly, passage was secured for Hayhanen on an airliner, and he was permitted to return to the United States. But despite his covert ways, Rudolf is eventually captured by the FBI. The character Rudolf Abel was an amazing artist in real life and enjoyed painting. There he found a hollowed-out nickel. He refused to cooperate at all. Another was the base of a lamp post in Fort Tryon Park. 600350 Bridge Of Spies Vs. This page was last edited on 15 January 2023, at 06:26. After their introduction at this theater, Hayhanen and Mark held frequent meetings in Prospect Park, on crowded streets, and in other inconspicuous places in the area of Greater New York. While it is not known for certain where Fisher went or what he did, it is believed he travelled to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the collection point for stolen diagrams from the Manhattan Project. [27], In July 1949, Fisher met with a "legal" KGB resident from the Soviet consulate general, who provided him with money. Abel returned to Moscow, where he was forced into retirement by the KGB, who feared that during his five years of captivity U.S. authorities had convinced him to become a double agent. As the search for the source of the hollow nickel expanded across the United States, hollow subway tokens, trick coins, and similar objects were submitted to the FBI Laboratory by agents in various parts of the country. No, but in his book Strangers on a Bridge, James B. Donovan does refer to such incidents, where escaping East Germans were shot by VOPOs (East German police) at the Berlin Wall. In his first letter to his wife, sent from the prison in 1958, he wrote he had been sentenced to 30 years, but was feeling fine practicing mathematics and painting. He served just over four years of his sentence before he was exchanged for captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers. An image of Abels actual apartment at 252 Fulton Street in DUMBO. Alternate titles: Emil R. Goldfus, Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, William August Fisher, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rudolf-Abel, Federal Bureau of Investigation - Biography of Rudolph Ivanovich Abel, Rudolf Abel - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). He receives setbacks but continues to fight on. WE WISH YOU SUCCESS. Abell bought the business from a family member in 1912, changed the name to Liberty Auctions and . Fisher was subsequently indicted to stand trial as a Russian spy. [] R. I. Abel resolutely expressed his firm reluctance to associate his name with such a hero "(V. G. Pavlov, Operation Snow, Moscow: BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, FBI: Rudolph Ivanovich Abel (Hollow Nickel Case), "Mark Rylance wins Best Supporting Actor in the most high profile British win of Oscars 2016", "BAFTA Film Award Nominations and Winners 2016", A memorial plaque to the legendary Soviet intelligence officer William Fisher was put up in Samara, A True Story of the Cold War: Bridge of Spies, Universal News reporting Capture Of Soviet Spy Col. Rudolph Abel (1957), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rudolf_Abel&oldid=1133726683. He returned to the Soviet Union in 1936, as head of a school that trained radio operators destined for duty in illegal residences. [37], In 1955, Fisher, exhausted by the constant pressure, returned to Moscow for six months of rest and recuperation, leaving Hyhnen in charge. The radio game was conducted by Fisher, whose careful work never let the enemies discover the truth. -The Milwaukee Journal. It read: 1. On June 15, a photograph of Goldfus which the FBI took with a hidden camera was shown to Hayhanen. This also was the case with the hollow nickel. One of these dead drops was an iron picket fence at the end of 7th Avenue near Macombs bridge. His real identity and country of birth were only revealed after his death. Find an Event; Learn & Create Submenu. The Nazi sent them spies for help. He sent her a cable from London telling her he was heading to Scotland. Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, real name William August Fisher, was a Soviet intelligence officer. He was, however, able to tell the FBI about Fisher's studio and its location. His children were subjected to comments from fellow classmates. [45], When Hyhnen announced himself at the embassy on 4 May, he appeared drunk. Image via Awesome Stories]. They contained shortwave radios, cipher pads, cameras and film for producing microdots, a hollow shaving brush, cuff links, and numerous other trick containers. [46] On 11 May, the CIA returned him to the United States and handed him over to the FBI. Rudolf Abel was born William Fisher in England in 1903. Sokolov remembered he was very careful getting ready for his first meeting with Fisher - he understood Mark was a great agent and did everything he could not to compromise him. His U-2 spy plane could reach altitudes in excess of 70,000 feet, which was thought to be too high for Soviet surface-to-air missiles or fighter planes. Two Coats of Paint is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. [5] Trained as a radio operator, he served in a Red Army radio battalion in 1925 and 1926. President John F. Kennedy commuted Abels sentence, and, on February 10, 1962, in a ceremony on a bridge between West Berlin and East Germany (Potsdam), Abel was exchanged for Powers and Frederic L. Pryor, an American student who had been held without charge in East Germany since August 1961. Please call 323.724.8102 to speak with one of our estate . Like in the movie, the Federal Court put the decision of who would defend Rudolf Abel in the hands of the Brooklyn Bar Association, who in turn selected Brooklyn insurance lawyer James Donovan. [2][50], On 15 June 1957, Hyhnen was shown a photograph of Fisher taken by the FBI with a hidden camera. The Soviet Union had originally sentenced Powers to ten years (three years confined to a prison followed by seven years of hard labor). Soviet spy Rudolf Abel has been working in the United States for several years. He had then spent three years in Finland taking over Maki's identity. [56][57] Also discovered were photographs of the Cohens and recognition phrases to establish contact between agents who had never met before. He had come to the United States in 1948 or 1949, entering by illegally crossing the Canadian border. Who painted the portrait of Tom Hanks? [17], Fluent in English, Russian, German, Polish and Yiddish,[18] Fisher worked for the Comintern as a translator following his family's return to the Soviet Union. He also did not start with a cold in part due to not having his overcoat. Donovan is widely known for negotiating the 1960-1962 exchange of captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers and American student Frederic Pryor for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, and for negotiating the 1962 release and return of 9,703 prisoners held by Cuba after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. 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. [27] Fisher, as Kayotis, then travelled aboard the RMSScythia from Le Havre, France, to North America, disembarking at Quebec. So Abel has left no doubt that Donovan will have the painting regardless of what happens on the bridge. In the modest home of Hayhanen and his wife on Dorislee Drive in Peekskill, New York, FBI agents found such items as a 50 Markka coin from Finland. Corrections? [49], In April 1957, Fisher told his artist friends he was going south on a seven-week vacation. If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material. However, on 21 October 1952, as instructed by Moscow, Reino Hyhnen left a thumbtack on a signpost in New York's Central Park. However, during his defense of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, Donovan and his family did receive vindictive letters and threatening phone calls, to the point that he had to have the phone line switched to an unlisted number until the trial was over. Inside was a tiny photographapparently a picture of a series of numbers. Then, in the summer of 1949, he entered Finland as Eugene Nicolai Maki, an American-born laborer. 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. In Warsaw, he discarded his Soviet passport and using a U.S. passport travelled via Czechoslovakia and Switzerland to Paris. Pingback: Why was abel painting a portrait of himself? Its not suitable for a magic trick, one novelty salesman commented. As the years passed, memories of the Maki family gradually began to fade, and all but possibly two or three old time residents of Enaville, Idaho, forgot that there has ever been a Maki family in that area. Fisher knew that the FBI's use of his rank could have only come from Hyhnen. THE PACKAGE WAS DELIVERED TO YOUR WIFE PERSONALLY. The court sentenced Abel to 30 years imprisonment. In 1927, the family migrated to Estonia. 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