Top Soviet Spy
Taken Into Custody

Identified as Moscow’s most valued spy, Gerhart Eisler (1897 – 1968) – was arrested in October of 1947 and charged with espionage. Standing before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Eisler refused to take the oath before reading a statement:

Refusing to hear that statement, the committee asked the Justice Department to charge Eisler with

• Contempt

• Perjury

• Conspiracy to overthrow the government

• Evasion of income

• Falsification of passport

As if his own defiance was not enough to darken his future, Eisler’s guilt became even more evident by the testimony of Ruth Fischer and Wiliam Nowell; Nowell was an African-American communist and Moscow-trained labor agitator and Fischer, a reformed communist, was Eisler’s sister.

Having lost his final appeal in 1949, Eisler evaded his date with the hangman and made his way to East Germany where he received a hero’s welcome.

Additional magazine and newspaper articles about Cold War spies can be read on this page.

From Amazon: Gerhart Eisler, Petitioner, v. the United States of America. U.S. Supreme Court Transcript of Record with Supporting Pleadings