Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (83 page)

"Don [Alexander Koral]. He was recruited for work under Davis [Markin].
Don in turn was recommended to Davis through circles that were apparently
connected with the neighbors' [GRU's] station. Under Davis, Don had been
used not only as the tenant of the clandestine apartment, but also as a photographer. All materials and cash funds were kept at Don's apartment. I
photographed materials myself at Don's apartment.... Don's wife, Carmen
[Helen Koral], is used by the station as a courier to Europe. In the future, we
intend to use Don himself for this purpose as well. In terms of politics, Don
and Carmen are completely loyal to us.... Before the connection with Davis,
Don and Carmen participated in party work. When he agreed with them
about their cooperation with us, Davis unconditionally ordered them to sever
all ties with the party circles. They carry out all instructions irreproachably.
Don and Carmen understand full well that they are working for our agency.
His name is Alexander Koral; Carmen's name is Helen Koral."

In a 1937 communication to Moscow Center, Akhmerov noted that the
illegal station was then using Helen to ferry material to the legal KGB
station operating out of the Soviet consulate in New York.23

Moscow Center briefly expressed concern in 1937 that the Korals had
been recommended by Ludwig Lore (see chapter 3), once an important
agent handler but by then regarded as a "renegade" and Trotskyist.
Akhmerov, however, told Moscow that he didn't think that Lore knew the Korals, and the matter was not pursued. While Moscow didn't raise
the matter with New York in 1937, the KGB file on the Korals also contained a 1947 report on what had happened to Philip Rosenbliett, the
GRU agent who had introduced the Korals to the KGB in 1932.24

In the 192os Rosenbliett assisted the Comintern in channeling secret
subsidies to the American Communist movement. By the early 198os he
ran an extensive apparatus for GRU, and Whittaker Chambers had dealings with him at the time. Tired of his clandestine work and anxious to live
in the Communist society he had served covertly for more than a decade,
Rosenbliett immigrated to Moscow in 1936 and opened a dental clinic.
His fate after that has been unclear. One of his sisters was married to
James Cannon, one of the founders of the American Communist Party.
But Cannon in 1928 sided with Leon Trotsky against Stalin, was expelled
from the CPUSA, and went on to become the leading Trotskyist in the
United States, and a relationship by marriage to a leading Trotskyist was
a position fraught with peril for anyone who came within the Soviet orbit
in the 1930s. Chambers thought Rosenbliett had faced difficulties but
had survived the Terror. Others supposed he had been either secretly executed or sent to the Gulag. A nephew who had grown up in his household in New York, however, recently wrote that family correspondence
with Rosenbliett's wife in the USSR indicated that while possibly he was
arrested or investigated, he was not sent to the Gulag, and his shift of residence to Siberia resulted from the evacuation of Moscow in 1941 under
the German invasion threat. The 1947 KGB report gives the first clear account of his fate up to 1945:

Rosenbliett P-p Sam-ch [Philip Samoilovich], YOB 1888, native of the city of
Mogilev, a Jew, former American citizen, a dentist. When lie was in the USA,
Rosenbliett worked for the RU RKKA [Intelligence Directorate of the Workers and Peasants Red Army-that is, GRU] USSR starting in 1925 on the
technological line, but in 1935, supposedly, in connection with the threat of
failure [exposure], lie was deactivated, and that same year, lie was sent to the
USSR. According to the reports of the RU RKKA, Rosenbliett had proven
himself at his job. He was connected by blood to a well-known American Trotskyite but was never a Trotskyite himself. In 1936, on assignment from the RU
RKKA, Ros. [Rosenbliett] went to NY, returning to Moscow that same year.

In 1937, the 7th department of the GUGB [Chief Administration of State
Security] NKVD USSR began an active investigation of Ros., suspecting him
of Trotskyite activities. 01 131-12-37, P. S. Ros. was arrested by the NKVD
USSR in the city of Moscow for espionage on behalf of Germany and involvement in a counterrevolutionary organization. At the preliminary hearing, Ros. pleaded guilty and testified to his intelligence activities on behalf of Germany
and his Trotskyite activities. He had been recruited for this work in 1925 in NY
by a regular officer of the RU RKKA-a Trotskyite and German spy-Wolf.
With the help of the former director of the RU RKKA, the Trotskyite Berzin,
Ros. and his wife were given Soviet citizenship. At the trial, however, Ros. retracted the testimony he had given at the preliminary hearing, and his case
was returned to the NKVD USSR. On the basis of testimonies by the Trotskyites and German spies, former regular officers of the RU RKKA Murzin,
Ikal .... and Herman, Ros. was convicted and sentenced on 17.9.39 to 8 years
in a corrective labor camp by the Special Board of the NKVD USSR. On
15.11.45, Ros. still committed to Karlag.

Karlag, Rosenbliett's prison in 1945, was one of the Gulag's largest and
most infamous camps, in northern Kazakhstan. General Yan Berzin
headed the GRU, while Felix Wolf, Dick Murzin, and Arnold Ikal were
GRU officers who operated in the United States in the late 192os and
19305 (Herman is unknown). Soviet authorities executed Berzin and Wolf
during Stalin's purge of GRU in the late 193os and sent Ikal to the Gulag,
where he died. Murzin's fate is unclear.25

With Moscow reassured in 1937 that the Korals were not connected
to Lore and no sign that their ties to Rosenbliett had stained them, they
went on to undertake a number of sensitive courier assignments for several of the KGB's most valuable agents. The New York station planned to
put Laurence Duggan "in touch with Art [Helen Koral] and will thus create, as it were, a reserve line of communication with Albert [Akhmerov]"
in November 1944. The Korals also provided a telephone and mail drop
for communications with Michael Straight. Alexander served as the
courier between the KGB technical intelligence officers operating out of
the Soviet Consulate in New York and Byron Darling, a Detroit-based
physicist trying to recruit atomic spies. In addition, in 1950 a KGB memo
noted that Alexander had known Weisband in the 1930s, when Weisband
also worked as a KGB courier. Helen also served as a courier between
Gregory Silvermaster and the KGB.26

Helen Koral was also in contact with losif Grigulevich, one of the
KGB's most important illegal officers operating in Latin America. The
KGB grew concerned in 1944 when it learned that American and British
counterintelligence had intercepted and deciphered some of Grigule-
vich's correspondence and identified some of his contacts and feared
Helen might come under surveillance. Akhmerov, however, reassured
Moscow that she had gone to Florida for several months with her
younger son, who suffered from tuberculosis. The Center approved a $50o expenditure for his treatment, in addition to the regular monthly
stipend it had been paying the couple for many years ($i5o a month in
1937, upped to $zoo by 1945). Nor were these regular payments the
only remuneration the Korals received. Akhmerov explained in a message to Moscow in late 1944 that years before, on his advice and with
money he lent them, they had bought a small, isolated farm in Connecticut, seventy-five miles from New York, which they used for several
weeks every summer. Since it was "`an ideal place to meet with someone, where one can spend the weekend in a peaceful environment and
discuss everything in absolute safety,"' he now proposed to see if it could
be upgraded for use during winter for meetings with Silvermaster,
"`where we can discuss matters under normal and pleasant conditions."'
Moscow threw cold water on his proposal, responding that it was "expedient to meet with Robert [Silvermaster] in A and B's ["Art"/Helen
and "Berg"/Alexander Koral's] apartment, if possible. At the dacha it
could arouse suspicion, especially during the winter when no one lives
there."27

Akhmerov also decided to recruit Richard, the Korals' older son,
whom he had known back in the early 1930s, when he had used their
apartment to photograph documents. Richard, he told Moscow in November 1945,

"served some time in the army a year and a half ago but was demobilized
because of some minor physical defect. Until last fall, he attended the City
College of NY, majoring in sociology. In college, Richard participated quite
actively in the youth movement and belonged to the fellowcountryman [Communist] society. About 6 months ago, he decided to go to the University of
North Carolina, where, in his opinion, he could become better acquainted
with the life of the American south. When he was already attending the City
College here, I told `Berg' [Alexander Koral] that Richard should not participate too actively in political and public activities. For a long time, I have intended to use him for our work in the future. Before he left for North Carolina last fall, I advised Berg to have a serious talk with Richard and force him
to leave off political activities associated with the fraternal [Communist
Party].

About 2 months ago, `Sergey' [Vladimir Pravdin] told me that he had instructions from you to select talented young men who could be useful for our
work in the future. `Sergey' said that it would be great if we could arrange with
Richard for his future cooperation with us. Pursuant to your approval of my
meeting and speaking with Richard, we invited him to come to NY for a few
days at the end of the academic semester. I hadn't seen him since 1939. 1 knew him and his younger brother Gilbert very well when they were children. Two
weeks ago, I met with Richard and had a lengthy conversation with him. Before I met with Richard, Art [Helen Koral] and Berg spoke with him about our
intention to invite him to take part in our work. At the meeting, I explained
to him the social and political importance and necessity of helping our cause.
I also explained to him how crucial it would be for him to distance himself
from fellowcountryman activities if he decided to accept our invitation. I told
Richard about our decision to provide him with material assistance until he
finishes his education. He said that he believes in open political activity and
that it is a part of his life and the joy of it; that he belongs to this country
[USA] and has always intended to struggle for its future; that he was very displeased by the fact that Berg and Art didn't take part in public and political activities.

Richard also wanted to know why we decided to go to him specifically
with a request to help in our work, how he could be of use, and whether we
couldn't find a better man for the job. At the same time, he acknowledged the
importance of our work, its political significance.

After our detailed conversation, he expressed a desire to accept our offer. I
explained to him that he would have far more opportunities in his future career if he switched from the department of economics to law. Richard agreed
with this. I advised him to focus all of his attention on his studies and promised to send him to Harvard University for his last year to complete his education. A degree from the law school of Harvard University would undoubtedly
help him a great deal in the future in his career. We'll see if he gets into Harvard (they have a very strict quota for Jewish students, for whom it isn't very
easy to get in).

If he is not accepted to Harvard University, I think it would be a very
good idea to let him join the law school of Columbia University for his last
year or year-and-a-half. Columbia University also has a lot of prestige. It will
take a couple of years for him to finish his college education. As for his expenses, in accordance with the law, he can study for 8 more months at the
government's expense. During this time, I will send him only 5o dollars a
month and will give certain sums to `Art' for the purchase of his clothes. After
8 months, we will pay all of his expenses, which will amount to roughly z,ooo
dollars a year. Richard is a tall, attractive young man, very intelligent, well-developed politically, devoted to the fraternal cause, sincere, and all in all a very
likable fellow. I hope that in the future, he will become a very useful member
of our family."

Akhmerov's high hopes, however, came to nothing. By the time Richard
Koral went to Chapel Hill, Bentley had defected. There are no indications that Richard was ever again contacted.28

Iskhak Akhmerov noted that while Helen Koral was "more cautious
and thoughtful," Alexander sometimes failed to observe the rules of "konspiratsia," the term for espionage tradecraft. In mid-1945 Akhmerov met
with him in Washington to transfer materials he had picked up from Silvermaster. Alexander, in turn, would hand them over to O. V. Shimmel,
a legal KGB officer who worked in the Soviet Consulate in New York.
But just after Akhmerov made the handover, they ran across several Soviet sailors on the street. Akhmerov reported, "`Berg [Alexander Koral]
with Robert's [Silvermaster's] materials bundled under his arm and, holding out his hand,"' congratulated the Soviet captain on the victory over
Germany. But his exuberance was not what cost Koral his anonymity. It
was a New York station blunder.29

The KGB was normally quite cautious about its couriers. Late in
1944, for example, Moscow Center instructed Shimmel not to meet with
either of the Korals more than three times a month and that the Korals
and Helen Lowly should take turns making trips to Washington to pick
up Silvermaster's material. After Bentley's defection a note in the files indicated that on 23 November the KGB New York station decided to deactivate the Korals, and Shimmel met with Helen Koral two days later to
give her $1,200 (their allowance through April 1946) and $300 more to
subsidize their son's education and to provide details for a clandestine
meeting place and password for the future.30

The KGB, however, assigned Alexander Koral one more mission, and
it proved his undoing. The New York station asked him to return to Washington and visit the Silvermasters one final time. But by the time he went
to Washington on i December 1945, the FBI had the Silvermasters
under surveillance. Agents observed a man meeting with Gregory and
Helen Silvermaster for several hours. Followed on his trip back to New
York, he "executed a number of diversionary maneuvers which appeared
to the surveilling Agents to be calculated to ascertain the presence of a
surveillance." The FBI identified the man as Alexander Koral. When the
Bureau checked its files, it discovered that its agents had observed Koral
meeting Gayk Ovakimyan, the KGB station chief in New York, in 1939.
A later check on the Korals' address indicated that during the 1941 investigation of Ovakimyan FBI agents had tracked an unidentified woman
who appeared to be a courier, wearing a leopard skin coat, to the Korals'
apartment house. Helen Koral owned a leopard skin coat. (At the time
the FBI did not follow up these leads, however. )31