The daily grind may be boring, but it does elevate the mundane. The proprietors of novelty stores and related business establishments in the New York vicinity were contacted. An investigation which had started with a newsboys hollow nickel ultimately resulted in the smashing of a Soviet spy ring. Edgar nominee Nathan Ward (The Lost Detective) tells the story of Rudolf Abel, the Russian agent depicted in Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated film "Bridge of On February 10, 1962, Rudolf Invanovich Abel was exchanged for the American U-2 pilot, Francis Gary Powers, who was a prisoner of the Soviet Union. Soon after, the F.B.I. This description was matched against the descriptions of Soviet representatives who had been in the United States between 1952 and 1954. Among the government witnesses to testify against him was his former trusted espionage assistant, Lieutenant Colonel Reino Hayhanen. Svirin was beyond reach of American justice. One of the nations most fascinatingand ultimately significantspy cases began in the summer of 1953, when a Brooklyn newspaper boy dropped a nickel he had just earned. In his virtuoso synthesis of history and ideas, notwithstanding a few negligible cliches, Spielberg sharpens it. Okay, so he did have a trench coator at least a bulky raincoat. Neither of these pennies, nor the assortment of other coins which the Laboratory examined, was found to have tool markings or other distinguishing features to identify it with the newsboys 1948 Jefferson nickel. On May 28, 1957, agents observed a man resembling Mark on a bench in a park directly opposite the entrance to 252 Fulton Street. It was as if a hole in the fabric of his universe had suddenly opened up under his feet. Heres a translation of microdotted messages that were left for Hayhanen by Goldfus, according to the F.B.I.s file on the case. Svirin had been in and out of the United States on several occasions between 1939 and 1956. FBI Laboratory experts examined this Finnish coin on May 17, 1957. The microdotted messages would be left at dead drops. (Concealed spots for messages where the aforementioned items could be surreptitiously left behind, until such time as another agent could receive them.) And spies werent supposed to form attachments, to make the kind of friends wholl worry when youre gone. Zach Wortonmakes comics, including The Klondike for Drawn and Quarterly and Blood Visions for Oily Comics, and his forthcoming graphic novel, The Disappearance of Charley Butters, was just completed. 3. Three years later, in 1965, Silverman met a writer named Louise Bernikow who wanted to write a book about the alleged master spy. I was just out of the Army at the conclusion of the Korean War, Silverman says. Should he be inside or outside? A cynic might say that it proves what a mastermind he really was; that by choosing to hide in a potentially dangerous place, he was engaging in a brilliant bit of misdirection. During this time period, using the name Milton and affecting an English accent, he made contact with Lona and Morris Cohen, both of whom associated with Helen and Morton Sobell, later co-defendants along with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Can you break this dollar bill for me?. Regardless of his motivations, for two and a half years, no matter what else he did in his spare time, the friendships he made, the work he did, and the life he led was real. As I said before, however, Im sometimes pretty stubborn. Hayhanen described Mark as about 50 years old or possibly older; approximately five feet ten inches tall; thin gray hair; and medium build. Now I need your help.. I think when he started painting he was rediscovering a life he never could have because he was a mole. When Kayotis friends in Michigan heard no more from him, they assumed that he had passed away. The agents long hours of patience were rewarded on the night of June 13, 1957. So yes, a spy. In the summer of 1954, going by the alias MARK, Goldfus had his first meeting with his new assistant, Reyno Hayhanen, code name VIK, living under the alias Eugene Nikolai Maki. It contained the following typewritten message: Nobody came to meeting either 8 or 9thas I was advised he should. But for Spielberg decency always trumps ideology. The phrase was enough to send a chill down Silvermans spine. Two Coats of Paint is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Among the items he had been supplied by the Soviets were hollow pens, pencils, screws, batteries, and coinsin some instances magnetized so they would adhere to metal objects. Silverman describes Moscow as such: The center of the city seemed vast. [Image at top: An image of Abels actual apartment at 252 Fulton Street in DUMBO. Mark also sent Hayhanen on trips alone. Why? I have a sinus condition.. Goldfus disappeared about April 26, 1957. After his return from Moscow, Goldfuss engagement with the group increased. Click to read about one of the pieces of espionage equipment found in Abels apartment. The reality of the Soviet Union destroyed whatever idealism he may have had, but this made it real again, even if it was a cover. Emil Goldfus in the studio, 1957. It fell apart! Arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service on an alien warrant based upon his illegal entry into the United States and failure to register as an alien, Mark displayed a defiant attitude. At 6:50 p.m., this man departed on footthe agents, certain their presence had not been detected, chose to wait rather than take a chance of trailing the wrong man. There was a brief exchange of mumbled hellos and, even though they exited on the same floor, nothing else was said. It read: 1. He was also a frequent visitor to Silvermans studio, accruing a vast amount of knowledge just by spending time with him and watching him paint, saying nothing. The reverse side had been made from another nickelone minted sometime during the period of 1942 to 1945. For my father, it was a moment of extreme unreality. His entry into the US illegally came in 1949. Hayhanen obtained the impression that Mikhail was a Soviet diplomatic officialpossibly attached to the embassy or the United Nations. Links: der sowjetische Spion Rudolf Abel, 1957 verhaftet - 2 Paintings, Fiction: Bernard Talks to Sydney [Laurie Fendrich], Multiple angles: Odili Donald Oditas political inquiries, Multi-dimensional: Eozen Agopians string paintings, Conrad Vogel, April 17, 1951 June 19, 2022. The Soviet intelligence service had a new assignment for Hayhanenone which would require him to sever relations with his family, to study the English language, and to receive special training in photographing documents, as well as to encode and decode messages. We were stonewalled, dead in the water, no hope, says Silverman. On June 15, a photograph of Goldfus which the FBI took with a hidden camera was shown to Hayhanen. Full information concerning Rhodes involvement in Russian espionage was disseminated to the Army; and following a court-martial, he was sentenced to serve five years at hard labor.). The moment his eyes fell upon a picture of Mikhail Nikolaevich Svirin, Hayhanen straightened up in his chair and announced, Thats the one. This man occasionally walked about the park; he appeared to be nervous; and he created the impression that he was looking for someonepossibly attempting to determine any unusual activity in the neighborhood. The odd clicks on your phone are a tap. strike - troubled blood tv release date; certificate of good standing colorado search. 122 pm EST Photographs of the hollow coin were shown to them. It felt lighter than an ordinary nickel. Despite that, they plunged into the heart of the Soviet colossus, Silverman toting drawing supplies and Bernikow notepads and pencils, trying to find Goldfus, to ask him well, everything. In the film, Abels art is the emblem of his humanity. WE ARE ABOUT TO HEAR FIVE PERSPECTIVES ON THE COLD WAR TRIAL OF RUDOLF ABEL THAT RIVETED BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, THE The man is Colonel Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), and we see three versions of him in one frame: Abel himself, holding a brush; his reflected image; and a self-portrait Its almost ten years to the day since your trial started back in Brooklyn. Its certainly possible that his true sensibilities were kept under wraps so as not to arouse suspicion amongst the group. The Ovington artists were planning a group show that was intended to be a rebuke to the prevailing tastes of the art world. When Goldfus returned a year later, he found the system hed set in place was in complete disarray. Donovan takes his job as an advocate far more seriously and does it far better than the CIA and most other Americans, some of whom threaten and harass him, hoped he would. I thought it was very good. In October 1957, Silverman was subpoenaed by the prosecution to testify in the trial of Emil Goldfus. In marched three F.B.I. Hollow coins, though rarely seen by the ordinary citizen, are occasionally used in magic acts and come to the attention of federal law enforcement agencies from time to time. Hiding in plain sight, as it were. In 1972, a Western journalist visited his grave, and saw the name Willie Fisher had been added to the tombstonethe first time anyone outside of the Kremlin learned that Abel was an alias as well. He was frozen in his tracks, transfixed by the image, unable to reconcile the contradiction of the man he knew (or thought he knew) with the words in print staring back at him. Although the FBI was convinced that it had finally identified the Soviet espionage apparatus which was responsible for the hollow Jefferson nickel, only one half of the mystery posed by this coin since its discovery in June 1953 had been solved. His vocation is KGB covert intelligence officer, and he collects American secrets and passes them to his Soviet handlers in hollow nickels, painting en plein air as cover for dead drops. Its only in recollection, when you discover that your friend was a spy, that it stands out. In examining the nickel, agents of the FBIs New York Office noted that the microphotograph appeared to portray nothing more then ten columns of typewritten numbers. One story that might lend credence to that idea occurred when Silverman and Goldfus were once again in the studio late at night. There was a strange, rolling r sound when he said my nameBurrrrrtas if he had a Scottish burr, though he explained it with a story about an aunt from Scotland that had raised him.. 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