5th November 1973
The long fight for freedom of former Russian superspy Leopold Trepper ended on Friday (2-11-73) when he stepped from a plane at London’s Heathrow Airport. Trepper, who conducted Moscow’s famous "Red orchestra" spy network in Nazi occupied Europe, has been trying for years to get permission to cross the Iron Curtain to the West. But the Communist authorities in Poland where he has been living refused to let him go in case he revealed secrets about the Soviet spy system failures during the war. Now at last they have relented so that Trepper, a frail sixty-nine, can receive hospital treatment in Britain that could save his life. He has a serious blood disease. Trepper was one of the great spies of the war. He ran a huge Soviet espionage network which operated throughout Europe. From his HQ in Paris he sent Stalin warning of the German invasion of Russia – but the Russians ignored it. The Gestapo reported: "There is a Red orchestra of radio operators playing direct to Moscow." In 1943 Trepper escaped from the Nazis and finally flew to Moscow. But instead of a hero’s welcome, Stalin sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment because he suspected Trepper’s loyalty. After leaving his Russian jail, he was allowed to to Poland.
