Last week, we met Ukrainian Alexandre Soulgikoff, who fled the Russian revolution in Quebec. Serving the provincial police, he participated in the surveillance of the “red” networks before being assassinated in 1934. In this second episode of a series of three texts, we discover Joseph Volodarsky, who came from the same lands, but whose profile is the absolute opposite of that of Soulgikoff.
Joseph Volodarsky may concentrate on the road, but his thoughts keep bringing him back to the peril of his situation. A few more switchbacks and his car will cross the border between the United States and Canada on this beautiful summer day in 1936. Strange idea to have chosen Niagara Falls to cross the invisible line. The crashing of the water is not reassuring when you are about to enter Ontario illegally under a false identity. A quick glance at the pale face of the passenger seated to his right accentuates the tension.
It is not the fear of customs officers or the police that thrills the professional spy from Ukraine. After all, he had already experienced an arrest when he was working in England in 1932. No, what Joseph Volodarsky feared above all was to miss his mission. A failure would lead him to return to the USSR to receive a sanction that was certainly fatal. Terror reigns since Stalin took over the country. Forced labor or capital punishment are all perils that punctuate the life of spies.
As the mist from the falls clears, Joseph Volodarsky comes to his senses. He tirelessly repeats to his partner the story they have invented. He describes to him the mores of the inhabitants of North America, because he perfectly masters their cultures and their languages. Once they arrive in Montreal, it will indeed be necessary to convince several interlocutors to provide them with a series of papers that will give them a precious sesame: a Canadian passport. Since Western countries discovered that Russian agents of the NKVD (ancestor of the KGB) were circulating on their territory in search of their secrets, these identity documents have become essential for traveling and building a credible identity.
The puppeteer
The two men did not choose this mission, and for good reason: it was dictated to them by an NKVD leader hidden in New York, nicknamed “the puppeteer”. This master of espionage wants to collect strategic information to develop Russian industry and help the Red Army acquire new technologies. Britain has long been identified as an enemy, whose innovations are of strong strategic interest. To enter this territory without risk at the border, the Canadian passport is an essential tool that one can try to obtain illegally in Quebec.
“The puppeteer” has rightly designated Mikhail Borovoy, the man sitting in the place of death, to go soon to the British capital. A communist network has succeeded in deeply infiltrating a royal arsenal. This group of spies is ready to deliver British weapons manufacturing plans. Borovoy must recover them to transmit them to the USSR. Care will have to be taken, as a previous Russian espionage operation uncovered by the British in 1927 (the Arcos affair) led to the two countries breaking off diplomatic relations. Borovoy must therefore arrive in Europe with a Canadian passport and the cover of a businessman specializing in cosmetics.
After crossing Ontario, Volodarsky must now travel through Quebec to accompany Borovoy to Montreal and meet his secret contacts in the Administration. This long, monotonous journey shakes Joseph Volodarsky’s motivation. Only the memories of his native Ukraine allow him to hold on.
The pogroms in the head
Born in kyiv in 1903 into a Jewish family, he has not forgotten the violence that his community suffered at the beginning of the 20th century.e century. The word “pogrom”, of Russian origin, was also chosen to designate the massacres and looting of which the Jews were victims. In Ukraine, these operations multiplied, resulting in the death of at least 100,000 people between 1918 and 1921. Massacres marked the regions plagued by anarchy where the white and red armies clashed. Equating the Jews with the Bolsheviks, certain counter-revolutionaries did not hesitate to kill them in their path. Officially, the Communists led by Lenin condemned anti-Semitism.
This is a good reason for Volodarsky to bury his hesitations. In his eyes, communism is an attractive ideology and the only way to protect the Jewish Diaspora around the world. So you might as well risk your life to spread the Revolution on the planet. The Ukrainian spy shares this conviction with part of his religious community. It is on the latter, well established in Montreal, that the spy is counting on to obtain Borovoy’s passport.
A solidly established network
First there is Fred Rose, communist militant by day, spy by night. After passing through the Lenin school in Moscow, this Canadian of Polish origin did not hesitate to put his network at the service of the NKVD. Thanks to him, Volodarsky comes into contact with Aaron Marcovitch, a strategic man in the device. This insurance agent got involved in Liberal MP Ernest Bertrand’s campaign to assure him of the Jewish vote in the federal riding of Laurier. Since his election in 1935, the politician has given him unlimited confidence in return.
Finally arriving in Montreal, Volodarsky introduced Borovoy to Ernest Bertrand by passing him off as a Hebrew teacher named Willy Brandes, who was said to have grown up in the city. Manipulated by Marcovitch, the deputy ratifies the decree of naturalization with his eyes closed, attesting to the Quebec youth of the false Brandes.
To firmly anchor the new personality of his spy colleague, Volodarsky even offers himself the luxury of organizing his wedding. Borovoy’s wife joins them and a rabbi unites them at the Shaare Tefillah Synagogue on Milton Street on September 9, 1936. Volodarsky’s plan goes off without a hitch and the passport is issued in October of the same year, a few weeks after their arrived in Montreal. Mikhail Borovoy, alias Willy Brandes, is now ready to go to London, where the communist moles are impatiently waiting for him.
Scientific espionage
Volodarsky is not content with this success, however. He knows that laboratories are at work in Montreal to unearth new ways of communicating. This kind of technology can be very useful for the Red Army, which must protect the largest country in the world. He therefore took advantage of his presence in Quebec to meet Henry James Barrington Nevitt. The man specialized in avant-garde telecommunications collects information for the NKVD. This windfall is a godsend for Volodarsky, who can take advantage of this contact with a ruthless hierarchy that always demands more results.
This pressure, Volodarsky feels it even in the streets of Montreal. On the one hand, the eyes of Moscow drag everywhere and on the other, the anti-communist feeling is palpable in the province. Yesterday’s enemies, the White Russians, are well established here. Some are waging a real battle to flush out the activists and agents of the USSR. Volodarsky’s destiny will soon change, but he is far from suspecting the trigger that will seize up the pretty mechanism.
The last episode of the series will be released next Saturday.