Catalogue description Henri Christian PIECK: Dutch. PIECK, was a Russian Intelligence Service (RIS) 'illegal'...

Henri Christian PIECK: Dutch. PIECK, was a Russian Intelligence Service (RIS) 'illegal' agent in Holland and the UK during the 1930's. His chief British notoriety stems from his recruitment of the Foreign Office cypher clerk John Herbert KING, but the file also gives information on Russian 'illegals' at a period when they played a significant part in espionage. An architect and artist by training, PIECK said he joined the Dutch Communist Party in 1923. Visits to Russia in 1929 and 1930 drew him to the attention of the OGPU, and he was recruited in 1932 by Ignace PORETSKY alias REISS. Sent by his Russian controllers to Geneva to try to recruit among British staff at the League of Nations Conference, PIECK recruited KING, who returned to London in early 1935. PIECK ran the case by regular visits to London. In 1936 suspected British interest in PIECK's activities caused the RIS to transfer the case to Theodor MALY alias Paul HARDT. The murder by the Russians in 1937 of his mentor REISS caused PIECK to cease active intelligence work. He retained his communist associations during the war to the extent that he was interned by the Germans in Buchenwald. Postwar he had become disillusioned and was interviewed by the Security Service in 1950