AN MIA MYSTERY AND SOVIET INTELLIGENCE METHODSDudchenko’s alter ego, the “novel’s” hero Aleksandr Polishchuk—a military inter-
preter who has the author’s proficiency in both Hebrew and Arabic—is called in to
verify the prisoner’s identity. He quickly dismisses “Katz’s” pretense, as the pilot
refuses to talk and knows only two words in Russian (“vodka” and “Dostoevsky”).
But this alerts the Soviets to the capture of a US-trained Israeli squadron leader who
can provide privileged information on the advanced systems of his plane, which itself
is recovered almost intact. The ranking Soviet officers in Cairo exercise every diplo-
matic effort, and soon
instead of horrible torture in an Eg yptian prison [Katz] found himself in an uncomfortable
seat on board a Soviet air force transport, which brought him to Kubinka near Moscow.
Sha’ul Katz understood well that his illegal deportation to Moscow was related to his
Phantom, and he was tormented by thoughts about what faced him [which the “novel”
does not go on to relate].^22Dudchenko has admitted that some real figures served as “prototypes” for his
“imaginary” characters.^23 Most of his story might have been embroidered around
Yaremenko’s original account or (given Dudchenko’s command of Hebrew) our own
publication in 2001. But his narrative features some accurate particulars about Hetz
that were not previously published and could hardly have been invented. This appears
to confirm some first-hand knowledge of the case.
Finally, it bears mention that one of the last feature films produced in the USSR
describes a case that mirrors Yaremenko’s account of Hetz’s: a Soviet pilot stationed
in Eg ypt is shot down, survives, and is captured. The film goes on to depict his
recruitment, and eventual dispatch on mission back to Moscow (where he is long
since “buried”) as a CIA agent.^24 The factual inspiration, if any, for this plot can only
be speculated about.
For us, then, the Hetz case remains unresolved. The Russian publication in itself
cannot be taken as incontrovertible, but neither has the Israeli military or anyone else
produced proof that can refute it. The best—but most improbable—scenario was
hinted at by Yaremenko: that Hetz not only survived and was brought to the USSR
but still lives there today after pledging to renounce his former citizenship, accept
restrictions on his movement, and refrain from any foreign contacts. Several such
cases have been discovered in the former USSR, dating back to the Second World
War. These ex-POWs were even allowed to start new families, sometimes under their
original names.^25 But in the remotely possible eventuality that the same happened
with Hetz—not only the IDF, the Russian authorities, and Hetz’s Israeli family would
have no interest in his being found; the pilot himself, now approaching eighty, would
hardly desire it. A former IAF subordinate described him as “a champion at human
relations, politics; a man who could ingratiate himself with anyone”—another “per-
fect storm” for suppressing the facts.^26