Henri Pieck
 Henri Pieck     (architect, painter, spook) | |
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| Born | 19 April 1895 Den Helder, Netherlands |
| Died | 12 January 1972 (Age 76) The Hague, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
Henri Christiaan Pieck was a Dutch architect, painter and graphic artist who also was a spy for the Soviet Union.
Family
Pieck married twice. On 12 July 1922, he married Geziena van Gelder, with whom he had one son. This union was dissolved on 14 May 1928. His second wife, Bernharda Hugona Johanna van Lier, whom he married on 25 May 1928 in St. Giles, England, bore him two daughters. Pieck was the twin brother of Anton Franciscus Pieck, another Dutch painter and graphic artist.
Political activity
During the 1930s, Pieck operated as an agent for Soviet intelligence under Ignace Reiss.[1] During this time he cultivated friendship with several British Foreign Office clerks, including Captain John H King, who handed over to Pieck many telegrams, code books and other Foreign Office correspondence [2]
Peter Wright, a senior figure in MI5, explained in his book, Spycatcher (1987) that Pieck was one of a group of "great illegals" that included Ignaz Reiss, Walter Krivitsky, Theodore Maly, Arnold Deutsch, Richard Sorge, Leopold Trepper, Hans Brusse and Alexander Radó. "They were often not Russians at all, although they held Russian citizenship. They were Trotskyist Communists who believed in international Communism and the Comintern. They worked undercover, often at great personal risk, and traveled throughout the world in search of potential recruits. They were the best recruiters and controllers the Russian Intelligence Service ever had."[3]
After being arrested on 9 June 1941 for resistance activities, Pieck spent the rest of World War II in German custody, first in the "Oranjehotel" (a detention center used at the beginning of the war by the Dutch as a POW camp that was later taken over by the Germans), after which he was deported to Buchenwald via the Nazi transit camp in Amersfoort.
Pieck was spared being killed because of SS officials' desire to have him produce paintings that they could sell to their acquaintances for high prices.[4]
References
- ↑ Poretsky, Elisabeth K. (1969). Our Own People: A Memoir of "Ignace Reiss" and His Friends. London: Oxford University Press. p. 77. LCCN 70449412.
- ↑ Andrew & Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West (London, 1999) p. 64-65
- ↑ https://spartacus-educational.com/Henri_Pieck.htm
- ↑ https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2087377
