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Klaus Fuchs, Atom Spy
This intriguing full-length portrait of Klaus Fuchs & his case, based in part on newly available American & British archives on the subject, is an exciting find for general readers in the history of science, espionage, WWII & the Cold War.
277 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 15, 2017
The confessions of Klaus Fuchs led to the convictions of Greenglass, Gold and the Rosenburgs. These statements and one by Gold appear as appendices. Otherwise this is a life of Dr. Fuchs focused on his activities as a nuclear physicist on behalf of the allies during WWII (UK, USA & USSR) and his prosecution and imprisonment after the breakup of the alliance following the defeat of the Axis powers. This all leads to a broader review of the great debate between the proponents of secrecy and those of relative openness in the sciences, a debate described but not adjudicated by the author.
What I found most intriguing about this book was the connection between Christian, specifically Quaker, beliefs and Marxism, most tellingly evidenced by Fuchs' father, a pastor who ended up as a theology professor in East Germany. While I'd known an East German theologian while I was in seminary, I really hadn't given much thought to the real connections between Christianity and Communism in the countries of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War.
What I found most intriguing about this book was the connection between Christian, specifically Quaker, beliefs and Marxism, most tellingly evidenced by Fuchs' father, a pastor who ended up as a theology professor in East Germany. While I'd known an East German theologian while I was in seminary, I really hadn't given much thought to the real connections between Christianity and Communism in the countries of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War.
May 21, 2015
I did not finish this book because I became suspicious of its accuracy and because of a growing feeling that "this just doesn't make sense".
It started with the very first pages, where we read that Klaus Fuchs himself approaches the safety officer of the laboratory where he works (around 1950). Why? Because Klaus' father is moving from West to East Germany and he (Klaus) thinks this may force him (Klaus) to resign from his sensitive post. This safety officer alerts another, and before you know it, this second accuses Klaus Fuchs of espionage, and all of a sudden there is a signed confession. Wait a second- how did we get from Klaus informing a security officer about his father's move to Klaus confessing to nearly a decade of espionage?
Before this mystery is cleared up, we need to wade through pages and pages of background on the Fuchs family's political and religious background. This is the type of stuff that is relatively easy for a writer to find out - much easier than the classified materials relating to espionage - and so these sections had a distinct flavor of "filler". I really raised an eyebrow when I noticed that on one page, the date of the death of Klaus' sister was given as 1938 and barely 2 pages further down, it was given as 1939.
I also found unexplained contradictions about the chronology of the life of Ursula Hamburger (Klaus Fuchs' control). Her husband is arrested in 1935, but then a bit later they are reunited again (without any explanation of how he was released). There is a blunt statement that Ursula married a second husband without having been divorced from Hamburger. I am sure that bigamy happens, and it must undoubtedly be easier for spies with multiple names/passports -but surely, a statement like this deserves some explanation.
This was the point where I stopped reading - I simply did not feel that this book made sense.
It started with the very first pages, where we read that Klaus Fuchs himself approaches the safety officer of the laboratory where he works (around 1950). Why? Because Klaus' father is moving from West to East Germany and he (Klaus) thinks this may force him (Klaus) to resign from his sensitive post. This safety officer alerts another, and before you know it, this second accuses Klaus Fuchs of espionage, and all of a sudden there is a signed confession. Wait a second- how did we get from Klaus informing a security officer about his father's move to Klaus confessing to nearly a decade of espionage?
Before this mystery is cleared up, we need to wade through pages and pages of background on the Fuchs family's political and religious background. This is the type of stuff that is relatively easy for a writer to find out - much easier than the classified materials relating to espionage - and so these sections had a distinct flavor of "filler". I really raised an eyebrow when I noticed that on one page, the date of the death of Klaus' sister was given as 1938 and barely 2 pages further down, it was given as 1939.
I also found unexplained contradictions about the chronology of the life of Ursula Hamburger (Klaus Fuchs' control). Her husband is arrested in 1935, but then a bit later they are reunited again (without any explanation of how he was released). There is a blunt statement that Ursula married a second husband without having been divorced from Hamburger. I am sure that bigamy happens, and it must undoubtedly be easier for spies with multiple names/passports -but surely, a statement like this deserves some explanation.
This was the point where I stopped reading - I simply did not feel that this book made sense.
July 19, 2015
Pretty much everything here (except his father's background) can also be found in books like Dark Sun.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews