(1907-2000)
Secret agent of the Soviet intelligence service. Ursula Kuczynski was born on May 15, 1907, in Germany. In the mid-1920s Kuczynski joined the German communist party and was recruited by the Soviet intelligence service. Her code name was Ruth (or Sonja) Werner. After initial espionage training Kuczynski was sent to China where she became acquainted with Dr. Richard Sorge, who later became one of Stalin’s top spies during World War II. From the mid-1930s she served as an intelligence officer in several European countries including Britain and Switzerland. She was supported by her father, brother, and husband, who were all engaged in Soviet intelligence work. During World War II Kuczynski helped the Soviet war effort by providing military intelligence. She was part of the worldwide Soviet spy network that helped Stalin obtain the scientific information needed for development of the Soviet atomic bomb. It seems that Kuczynski lost contact with her Soviet handlers after the end of the war, but she turned up in the newly established communist (East) German Democratic Republic in 1950, where she took a position within the state-run propaganda apparatus. By the mid-1950s she was engaged in a new career as a freelance author. Kuczynski not only wrote about her professional experience as a spy and intelligence handler but also published several children’s books. She may not have been active within the East German intelligence service, but she was looked upon as a role model for young communist intelligence officers. When East Germany collapsed in 1989-1990, she was already well into her eighties but was still engaged in party work within the reformed communist party. She died on July 7, 2000.
Ursula Kuczynski was remarkable for her own career in intelligence and politics, but that was true for other members of her family as well, especially for her brother Jurgen Kuczynski (1904-1997). Jurgen worked for the Soviet intelligence service within Western intelligence agencies during World War II. He later became one of the most important German historians of economic history. The secret careers of the Kuczynski family still need to be addressed in more detail by historical research because current information relies heavily on communist propaganda publications.
