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During the days of the Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle), the Communist underground in Nazi-occupied Europe in World War II, Leopold Trepper emerged as an extraordinary intelligence officer known for his ability to take the initiative without waiting for directives from The Centre in Moscow. He was known as the "Grand Chef," and his ability to escape the clutches of the Nazis, as well as his own Communist Party inquisitors, was nothing less than phenomenal. Trepper migrated from Poland to Palestine in 1926, working on a kibbutz, a communal farm, but this satisfied him less than Communist plotting and intrigues.
He worked against the British, then controlling Palestine, and was expelled after being identified as a Communist agent in 1928. Going to France, Trepper worked for Rabcors, an illegal political organization that was broken up by French intelligence in 1932. Trepper escaped to Moscow where he became a full-fledged NKVD spy, moving between Paris and Moscow for the next six years. Trepper survived the Stalinist purges of 1937 and 1938 by convincing The Centre of his loyalty to the Soviets. He went on to run Soviet Red Orchestra espionage networks in German occupied Europe, proving his ability on numerous occasions. However he was eventually compromised and arrested by the Abwehr. Trepper betrayed most of his contacts to save his life. The Germans intended him to continue in contact with Soviet intelligence, but Trepper guessed the NKVD would soon see through his "playback" information and when they demanded some specific top secret information, the Germans refused.
The NKVD finally realized that Trepper had been turned. By June 1943, Trepper was living under 'house-arrest' in a private dwelling in Paris. Eventually he managed to escape from his guards and went into hiding. Trepper emerged with the French resistance after the liberation of Paris in 1944. He flew to Moscow in Stalin's personal plane but instead of receiving a hero's welcome, he was thrown into a cell in the Lubyanka Prison. Trepper defended his position, even claiming that he had tricked the Germans and had remained loyal. He claimed to have contacted the Communist underground in Paris and informed them that he was a prisoner and that he was sending misinformation to The Centre at the direction of the Abwehr. Providing a number of signed statements he had tricked out of a number of French Communists that he had, indeed, made contact with them while a prisoner and had told them of his double agent's role he continued to keep himself away from the firing squad. However, Trepper was kept in prison until four years after Stalin's death, in 1957. He was released and returned to Poland where he rejoined his wife and three sons.
In 1967 a violent outbreak of anti-Semitism followed the Six Day War in the Middle East and Trepper decided to emigrate to Israel. The Polish government, at the instigation of the KGB in Moscow, refused permission. An international storm of protest then enveloped the Polish government, who finally relented and let Trepper and many other Jews leave for Israel. Leopold Trepper and his family settled in Jerusalem in 1974. He died there in 1982.
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