Igor Gouzenko

The mysterious man who ignited the Cold War. (To view the posts from oldest to newest visit igorgouzenko.tumblr.com/tagged/igorgouzenko/chrono)

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Gouzenko was not a true lover of liberty. He was a thoroughly ignorant Russian peasant who had no connection with the Russian Intelligence Service except as a cipher clerk. I have known him for some time and feel he is an unsavory character.

Quote #6: This quote was said by one of the guards that supervised Gouzenko while he was in protective custody and it represents Gouzenko’s conflicting nature in relationships, which could’ve been a key factor in why he decided to defect. Since Gouzenko did not have a close connection with the Russian Intelligence Service he was essentially an outsider, which was something that he did not appreciate and this gave him another reason to spill their secrets without feeling guilty.

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A Royal Commission of Inquiry concluded that Canada was in Gouzenko’s debt. Canada was in his debt, but on Somerset Street there was no marker, no plaque, nothing.

Quote #7: In general, the Gouzenko affair was a very unique and rare case in history as even though it was heavily publicized not much information about the defection was known until many years later. This was because not only was Gouzenko not Canadian but the Soviet Union was also hunting him so his identity had to be hidden with the utmost secrecy, which meant specific details of his defection could not be revealed to the public.

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Journal Entry #2: The Life-Changing Secret

I know that it is dangerous to write this, but I have nothing to lose: I am a KGB intelligence officer for the Russian government. Right now I am terrified because I have just discovered a secret that threatens my life. While working on deciphering documents at the Soviet embassy, a military attaché asked me to decode one of his messages. When I decoded it I was shocked; there were instruction for me to be sent back to the Soviet Union because I wasn’t trusted! I acted like nothing was wrong, but after work I immediately rushed home and told my wife. There was no way that we would go back to the oppression of the Soviet regime because only god knows what they will do to me since they think I am a traitor. Wait, what if I actually become a traitor? I know what I have to do: I am going to go into work as normal and slowly steal the secret KGB documents and turn them over to the Canadians. I know that this plan sounds crazy and dangerous but what else can I do, I have no choice, I must do this to save my family.

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Journal Entry #1: I Never Want to Go Back

Oh how I remember the first day I had arrived in this beautiful and glorious country of Canada. It was just 8 months ago when my wife, Svetlana, and I had our true first taste of freedom. We were completely surprised by the freedom of the individual which exists in Canada but does not exist in Russia. Russia had propagated that these democratic countries had horrible lifestyles, but while in Canada I have seen what Canadian people are accomplishing under conditions of complete freedom that the Russian people cannot accomplish under the Soviet regime of violence and suppression. I was most surprised at the concept of free elections as in the Soviet Union only one candidate is put forward so there is no possibility of having any choice in the election. In general, the brutal suppression of the freedom of speech and the mockery of the real religious feelings of the people, are things that only exist in cruel Russia. This is why even though I am stationed at the Russian embassy in Ottawa, where as a cipher clerk I have to encipher and decipher messages for the GRU, I don’t want to return back to homeland Russia anytime soon.

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I thought we should be extremely careful in becoming a party to any course of action which would link the government of Canada up with this matter in a manner which might cause Russia to feel that we had performed an unfriendly act. That to seek to gather information in any underhand way would make clear that we did not trust the Embassy... My own feeling is that the individual has incurred the displeasure of the Embassy and is really seeking to shield himself.

Quote #5: When we look at the negative view of Prime Minister Mackenzie King during the Gouzenko affair, we can see that he thought that Gouzenko’s defection was an inconvenience to the “perfect” relationship between the Soviets and the Western countries. He did not want to ruin this relationship and so at the beginning he stuck to his opinion that Gouzenko was drunk or was crazy when he suggested Soviet espionage and even said that Gouzenko was trying to fabricate evidence for his own selfish motives. 

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When you go out with your wife you go and see a movie then go home. When Svetlana and I go out, we go to a supermarket and look at food.

Quote #8: The above quote was personally said by Igor Gouzenko during one of his countless interviews, and actually surprised many people. Although he is known for his stern personality, seeing this humorous side of Gouzenko gives his character shape and allows us to understand that there is more depth to him and his actions than it seems from the outside.

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Journal Entry #4: What Now?

Three years; three years my family and I have stayed hidden away from the rest of the world. I know that this was my decision and it was the right decision, but I can’t say that it hasn’t been difficult to live in extreme secrecy. I had no idea that my small action was going to set off a major post-war crisis but now I am known as the one who started the Cold War. This is why it is dangerous for anyone to know that I am Igor Gouzenko, so I have now have been given another identity by the Canadian government, George Brown. My wife and I have settled into a middle-class existence in the Toronto suburb of Clarkson where we are raising eight children. Although it has been hard, I am starting to get used to life as George Brown. I have started to paint and I even wrote a memoir called, “This was My Choice” that was published last month. Anyways, although I loved to write in this journal I think this will be my last entry as II am going to burn this journal so that no one ever finds out about my true identity.

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Picture #1: This is a picture of Igor Gouzenko as a young cipher clerk in the Soviet Union before he was sent to experience the kind atmosphere of Canada. It is clear to see that he was a bold and serious man who was sculpted by the oppression and violence of the Soviet Union from the mere age of 16 at which age he was forced to become a member of the “Young Communist League”. Although he wanted to pursue literature and architecture, Gouzenko had no choice but to train to become a cipher clerk for the Soviet Union where he had to decode and encode messages right at the start of World War 2, when he was only 22.

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Picture #2: The Soviet Union symbol overshadowing an outline of the map of Canada represents what exactly had been going on while Igor Gouzenko was a KGB spy disguised as a cipher clerk in the Soviet Embassy. The Soviet Union had been collected vital Canadian intelligence by stationing a ring of spies in Canada, which Igor Gouzenko was not in favour of after he realized how much the Canadian government was helping the Soviets. The information that Gouzenko knew about the spy-ring hung around his head like a noose, until Igor Gouzenko broke under the pressure and decided to defect.

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Picture #3: After arriving in Canada Igor Gouzenko and his wife, Svetlana (who he lovingly called Anna), started to enjoy the freedom of an individual in Canada. The drastic change of Igor Gouzenko’s demeanour from the first picture represents how the contrasting lifestyle that he experienced while living in Canada caused him to start having doubts about the Soviet Union’s oppression and instead start to feel strongly for the Canadian identity. 

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Picture #4: Igor Gouzenko’s Somerset street apartment #4 is where his family and he used to live while he worked as a cipher clerk in the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa. When Igor Gouzenko hid from the Soviet officials in his neighbour’s apartment, a quartet of Soviet Embassy officials literally broke down the door to his apartment. Luckily someone called the Canadian police, and when they found that the Soviet Embassy officials had tried to attack Gouzenko, the government of Canada started to believe his story.

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Based on the real documents of Igor Gouzenko’s statement on October 10, 1945, I have re-enacted what this statement would have looked like during that time. I attempted to convey Gouzenko’s determination to defect and at the same time, I also tried to convey his bravery but nervousness in the statement (through the utilization of the occasional stutter). In addition, I wanted to express insight into how Gouzenko felt towards the Soviets during the time of his defection through the emotion in his voice. I made sure to wear the “white hood” that Gouzenko is symbolically known for and I also attempted to speak using a Russian accent.

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Picture #5: This is a picture of the front page of The Globe and Mail in February 1946, when the world is finally told about Gouzenko’s defection and the fact that a spy ring has been operating in Canada for the past couple of years. The fact that this was made into a headline shows how big of a news story it truly was, and how the information that Gouzenko shared terrorized and changed the opinion of many Canadians. Although the Soviet Union attempted to mask its deceitfulness through manipulating false news, after Igor Gouzenko defected them, Canadians finally realized how cruel the Soviet Union truly was. 

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Picture #6: While hiding out in Camp X with his family in 1946, Igor Gouzenko painted this painting which he called “Forbidden Beach”. As someone who had loved to paint from a young age, Gouzenko finally got a chance to make a painting after he was out of the clasp of the Soviet Regime. In fact, it is interesting to note the significance of this title as it reflects the point at which Igor Gouzenko believe his family and his life had changed for the better after his defection. 

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Picture #7: This picture taken in late 1947 depicts Igor and Svetlana Gouzenko and their young family during their first year of freedom, when the birth of their third child also occurs. Following the defection Igor and Svetlana took their time to return back to normal, but this picture is proof that their first true year of freedom was in 1947. This is evident in the fact that this was the time that the Gouzenko family decided to have another baby, proving that they felt a stronger sense of security.

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There were almost a hundred documents, some of them small scraps of paper and others covering several large sheets of stationary... The documents felt like they weighed a ton and I imagined that they were bulging out from under my shirt.

Quote #3: This quote is of extreme important because it allows us to gain significant insight into what Gouzenko was feeling when he defected the Soviets. Although history usually paints Igor Gouzenko as just a brave spy who did what was right and exposed the Soviets, this quote shows that he has more layers to his character, as when he carried the documents he was truly afraid and frightened of what the consequences may be.

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Picture #8: After living for three years in secrecy under a new identity, George Brown, Igor Gouzenko finally decided to tell his side of the defection story by writing this book. The book, ‘This Was My Choice’, gained a lot of publicity in Canada in 1948 as it allowed everyone to see history from the perspective of a key figure which allowed them to gain insight into why exactly Gouzenko committed the act of defection.