Catalogue description Paul HARDT, aliases Theodore MALY, PETERS, PETERSEN, MANN (OGPU codename), "der lange"...

Paul HARDT, aliases Theodore MALY, PETERS, PETERSEN, MANN (OGPU codename), "der lange" (nickname): Hungarian. HARDT was identified by General KRIVITSKY, a friend as well as a colleague, as an OGPU "illegal" who operated in the UK from January 1936 to June 1937. Nicknamed "der lange" because of his unusual height, he trained originally as a priest. He was captured by the Russians while serving with an Austrian regiment during the First World War. He became a communist and took an active part in the Revolution. Using the name HARDT and posing as an Austrian, he is first recorded as visiting London in June 1935. According to various sources he was working predominantly in Paris until Jan/Feb 1936 when he established a base in London. HARDT, who was accompanied by his wife, also posing as an Austrian, was variously described as an engineer, of no occupation, and latterly as the representative of a Dutch textile firm, GADA, established by the OGPU for cover purposes for a predecessor, Dmitri BYSTROLETOV. HARDT was responsible for the activities of the Dutch "illegal", PIECK , from whom (as PETERSEN) he took over the running of the KING case, and (as PETERS) for the Woolwich Arsenal spy ring organised by GLADING . As the senior officer of the OGPU "illegal", Arnold DEUTSCH, he was also closely associated with the recruitment of the "Ring of Five" Cambridge spies. KRIVITSKY gave him credit for obtaining some of the MACLEAN material and for PHILBY's posting to Spain during the Civil War, although neither spy was identified at the time. HARDT was recalled from the UK in June 1937. After a spell in Paris he returned to Moscow where he was executed by the OGPU during Stalin's purges