Rudolf Abel

Rudolf Abel
Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel on a 1990 USSR commemorative stamp
Born	William August Fisher (1903-07-11)11 July 1903 Benwell, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Died	15 November 1971(1971-11-15) (aged 68) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Burial place	Donskoye Cemetery
Nationality	British Soviet
Spouse	Elena Stepanovna Lebedeva ​ ​ (m. 1927)​ [3]
Children	1
Awards	Order of the Red Banner
Espionage activity
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Rank	Colonel
Codename	Andrew Yurgesovich Kayotis
Codename	Emil Robert Goldfus
Codename	Mark Collins[1]
Codename	MARK[2]
Codename	ALEC[2]
Operations	World War II (1944–1945) Soviet Cold War spy (1948–1957)

Rudolf Ivanovich Abel (Russian: Рудольф Иванович Абель), real name William August Fisher (11 July 1903 – 15 November 1971), was a Soviet intelligence officer. He adopted his alias when arrested on charges of conspiracy by the FBI in 1957.

Fisher was born and grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England in the United Kingdom to Russian émigré parents. He moved to Russia in the 1920s, and served in the Soviet military before undertaking foreign service as a radio operator in Soviet intelligence in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He later served in an instructional role before taking part in intelligence operations against the Germans during World War II. After the war, he began working for the KGB, which sent him to the United States where he worked as part of a spy ring based in New York City.

In 1957, Fisher was convicted in US federal court on three counts of conspiracy as a Soviet spy for his involvement in what became known as the Hollow Nickel Case and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Georgia.^[4] He served just over four years of his sentence before he was exchanged for captured American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers. Back in the Soviet Union, he lectured on his experiences. He died in 1971 at the age of 68. His real identity and country of birth were only revealed after his death.