Maurice Peper
Maurice Peper (born April 1906 in Amsterdam[a], died 28 July 1943 in Plötzensee Prison)[2] was a Dutch Jewish diamond cutter of émigré Polish Jewish parents.[3] He became a communist and then Soviet GRU military intelligence officer, known as a scout in Soviet intelligence parlance.[4] Peper was a specialist in wireless telegraphy and used the aliases Wassermann and Hollander to disguise his identity in messages.[4] Between late 1940 and July 1942, Peper worked first for Soviet agent Anatoly Gurevich and then in the same period, Soviet agent Konstantin Jeffremov as a courier who operated between Johann Wenzel in Brussels and Anton Winterink in Amsterdam.[1]
Career
[edit]Until 1940, Peper worked as a wireless telegraphy operator for a commercial steamship company and was a member of the Dutch Maritime Union.[4]
Espionage
[edit]In 1938, Peper was recruited by Dutch communist Hermann Isbutsky.
Arrest and betrayal
[edit]On 25 July 1942, Peper was arrested by Abwehr officer Henry Piepe in Brussels.[1] Peper was betrayed by Jeffremov, who had himself been arrested by the Gestapo agents of Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle on 22 July 1942 in Brussels. Jeffremov informed the Sonderkommando of a covert meeting, known as a treff that was to take place in a Brussels street by Peper and Belgian Hermann Isbutsky, where they were both arrested[5] While Isbutsky refused to cooperate with the Sonderkommando and paid the price by being heavily tortured at Fort Breendonk,[3] Peper agreed to work for the Sonderkommando and revealed that he was to meet Dutchman Anton Winterink a few days later in Amsterdam[6] who was subsequently arrested. Peper also betrayed Augustin Sésée, the reserve radio operator in the Jeffremov network,[7] who was arrested in August 1942.[8]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- 1 2 3 Kesaris 1979, p. 324.
- ↑ Bourgeois 2015, p. 187.
- 1 2 Tarrant 1995, p. 44.
- 1 2 3 Kesaris 1979, pp. 323–324.
- ↑ Kesaris 1979, p. 35.
- ↑ Kesaris 1979, p. 30.
- ↑ Bourgeois 2015, p. 155.
- ↑ Kesaris 1979, p. 355.
Bibliography
[edit]- Bourgeois, Guillaume (2015). La Véritable Histoire de l'Orchestre rouge. Le Grand Jeu. Nouveau Monde. ISBN 9782369420675. OCLC 922305775.
- Kesaris, Paul L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936–1945. Washington DC: University Publications of America. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2. OCLC 230982232.
- Tarrant, V. E. (1995). The Red Orchestra. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 1854092162. OCLC 60237703.