A lucrative friendship developed with Eugen Ott, the senior military
attaché at the embassy who became the German ambassador in 1938.
Notwithstanding the elaborate security maintained by the Japanese
government, Sorge’s spy ring began to take shape. With the exception
of Clausen and Branko de Vukelic (who handled photography), all of
its nearly 40 members were Japanese, drawn mostly from the banned
communist party. Ozaki, because of his affable personality and rising
stature as an advisor to the Japanese prime minister, Prince Konoye,
was an especially valuable asset. Yet Sorge’s principal source was
Ott, who, despite knowledge of his wife’s adulterous affair with
Sorge, entrusted him on two occasions with the German cipher tables
used in communications with Berlin. At the same time, given his pen-
chant for writing and research, Sorge maintained an active career as a
newsman, notably with the prestigious Frankfurter Zeitung.
One of Sorge’s most notable accomplishments was obtaining a
copy of the Abwehr debriefing of G. S. Lyushkov, the Far Eastern
chief of the NKVD (Soviet People’s Commissariat of Internal Af-
fairs) who had defected to the Japanese in 1938. Knowing what the
Japanese had thereby ascertained aided in the subsequent victory of
the Red Army at Nomonhan, a township on the Mongolian-Manchu-
rian border. Sorge also submitted some of the earliest reports on Ger-
man preparations for war against the Soviet Union, although Joseph
Stalin dismissed his ominous warnings out of hand. In addition, there
was widespread suspicion that Sorge might be a double agent engag-
ing in disinformation. Further lessening the impact of his espionage
on Soviet decision-making was Clausen’s increasing disillusionment
and decision to edit many of his radio transmissions. To friends,
Sorge expressed his fear of returning to the Soviet Union and facing
possible execution.
During the interrogation of a suspected communist subversive, Jap-
anese authorities inadvertently learned of Sorge’s spy ring. Ozaki’s
arrest and confession led police to Sorge on 18 October 1941. After
a prolonged investigation and court trial, he and Ozaki were hanged
on 7 November 1944. The USSR flatly denied any connection to
Sorge until 1964, when he was posthumously proclaimed a “Hero of
the Soviet Union.” Thereafter his exploits became celebrated through
film, books, and commemorative stamps in both the USSR and the
German Democratic Republic.428 • SORGE, RICHARD