Igor Sergeievich Gouzenko was a Soviet intelligence officer and cipher clerk stationed at the Soviet Union’s Ottawa embassy during the Second World War.
Just weeks after the end of the war, Gouzenko left the Soviet embassy with documents that proved his country had been spying on its wartime allies Canada, Britain and the US, prompting what has come to be known as the Gouzenko Affair.
Gouzenko sought asylum for himself and his family in Canada. His defection caused a potentially dangerous international crisis that many historians consider the beginning of the Cold War.
On September 5, 1945, Gouzenko made the first of many attempts to warn the Canadian Government and media about Soviet plans. This week we will mark the occasion by sharing important steps along his journey of defection.
On the evening of September 5, 1945, Russian cipher clerk, Igor Gouzenko leaves the Soviet embassy for the last time, with secret soviet documents concealed on his person.
On the night of September 5, 1945, Gouzenko arrives at the Ottawa Journal newspaper with secret documents, telling journalists: “It’s war! It’s war! It’s Russia!“
The news editor thinks he’s either delusional or drunk, or both. He sends Gouzenko away.
Late on the night of September 5, 1945, Gouzenko goes to the Ministry of Justice. The commissionaire on duty tells him, ”everybody’s gone home, offices are closed. Come back in the morning.”
September 6, 1945, early morning: Gouzenko arrives with wife Svetlana and child Andrei, at the Justice Building and insists on seeing Minister Louis St. Laurent. He is told to return to the Russian Embassy with the stolen documents.
September 6, 1945, early morning: Gouzenko goes back to the Ottawa Journal with his pregnant wife and little boy. He has difficulty communicating in English: “It is [death] if you can’t help us.”
They still think he is delusional.
The Ottawa Journal City editor suggests they go to the RCMP but someone in the press office tells Gouzenko to go to the Crown Attorney’s Office.
September 6, 1945, afternoon: The Gouzenkos go to Crown Attorney’s Office. The secretary to the Crown Attorney, Fernande Coulson, believes Gouzenko but she is unsure what to do.
Fernande Coulson talks to a reporter from the Journal. The reporter agrees that Gouzenko is telling the truth, but he is concerned: “I can’t touch it.”
September, 6. 1945, late afternoon: Fernande Coulson phones the Prime Minister’s private Secretary, Sam Gobeil, who says he will get back to her.
He calls back: “Get rid of him.”
September 6, 1945: Finally, at 5:00 pm, an RCMP inspector agrees to meet Gouzenko at 9:30 am the next morning.
The Gouzenkos return home to their apartment.
September 6, 1945, late night: Gouzenko and his family hide at their neighbour’s apartment while four men from the Soviet Embassy break into and start searching their home.
September 6, 1945, close to midnight: The neighbour notifies the police, who arrive to confront the Soviet Embassy people. The intruders leave without Gouzenko or the missing documents they came to recover.
September 7, 1945, morning: RCMP bring Gouzenko and his family into protective custody, and begin the initial debrief.
In the course of the next few days Canada informs American and British allies of
Gouzenko’s defection and revelations.
The RCMP open the Gouzenko file.
Later, he is given the codename CORBY, presumably after an empty Corby Distillers box in which Canadian Undersecretary Norman Robertson kept his Gouzenko files.
After hiding in a series of vacation cottages on Otter Lake, Ontario, the Gouzenko family moves to Camp X under RCMP guard, where Gouzenko continues to be questioned by American and British Intelligence, along with the RCMP.
In 1947, the Gouzenko’s start life in their new home in Credit, Ontario as Czech immigrants, Stanley and Anna Krysac.
Unkown to the Gouzenkos at the time, the name “Krysac”, assigned to them by government officials, means “rat” or “snitch” in Czech.
Over the years, Igor Gouzenko went on to raise eight children with his wife, Svetlana.
He wrote several books, both fiction and non-fiction. His best known novel, “The Fall of a Titan”, won the Governor General’s Award.
Gouzenko made several public appearances to talk about his experience, always wearing a hood and mask to protect his new identity.
Igor Gouzenko died in 1982 of a heart attack. He was 63 years old.
He never received his Citizenship under his protected name Krysac.
His wife, Svetlana, died in September 2001.
#OTD in 1945, Igor Gouzenko, former Soviet cypher clerk, released the following statement detailing his motivation for defecting to Canada. #CanadianHistory
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