Aleksandr Yakovelich Galpern (russian: Александр Яковлевич Гальперн; 1879—28 June 1956), also known as Alexander Halpern, was a Russian

Menshevik The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The factions eme ...

politician and attorney, who played a significant part in the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

. He was a member of the Grand Orient of the Peoples of Russia and sat in

Alexander Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, ; original spelling: ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months from late July to early Novembe ...

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government ( rus, Временное правительство России, Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii) was a provisional government of the Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediatel ...

. Following the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

, he fled abroad to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Halpern worked in British service as an

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intellige ...

agent in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, as part of

British Security Co-ordination British Security Co-ordination (BSC) was a covert organisation set up in New York City by the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in May 1940 upon the authorisation of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Its purpose was to investigate ...

Biography

Background

Halpern was born into a family of

Russian Jews The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. His father, Yakov Markovich Halpern (1840-1914) was a prominent official of the

Ministry of Justice of the Russian Empire The Ministry of Justice was one of the Russian Empire's central public institutions and was established on 8 September 1802. The ministry was headed by the Minister of Justice (who was at the same time the Senate Procurator General). Structure * ...

and a lawyer. Halpern graduated from the Faculty of Law of

St. Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the ...

and became an attorney at St. Petersburg. Politically, Halpern was aligned with the

-wing of the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a socialist po ...

. He worked as a legal adviser to the British Embassy in St. Petersburg, working with a number of British and American firms.

Menshevism and Masonry

He joined an irregular

freemasonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

lodge; the Grand Orient of the Russian Peoples; upon the recommendation of

and Bruno Germanovič Lopatin-Bart. He sat as a member of the Supreme Council of the Grand Orient from 1912 to 1917 and was the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of the Grand Orient from 1916 to 1917. In February 1917 he replaced

Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov (russian: Влади́мир Дми́триевич Набо́ков; 21 July Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 8 July1870 – 28 March 1922) was a Russian ...

as manager of the affairs of the

and held this post until the overthrow of the Provisional Government in October 1917 during the

. He was associated with the failed Committee for Salvation of Motherland and Revolution. Until the end of 1918, he lived covertly in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, before fleeing first to Paris and then to London.

Exile and in British intelligence service

In 1928 he gave an interview about Freemasonry to

Boris Nikolayevsky Boris Ivanovich Nicolaevsky (russian: Бори́с Ива́нович Никола́евский) (20 October 1887 – 22 February 1966) was a Russian Marxist activist, archivist, and historian. Nicolaevsky is best remembered as one of the leading ...

, later published in the book ''"Russian Masons and Revolution."'' He married

Salomea Andronikova Salome Andronikashvili (russian: Саломея Николаевна Андроникова) (also known as Salomea Ivanovna Andronikova), born Salome Andronikashvili ( ka, სალომე ანდრონიკაშვილი) (October 1888 ...

; for a long time the couple lived separately, Halpern in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and his wife in Paris. The two reunited in the United Kingdom only in the 1940s. During the

, Halpern lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

in the

, working for British Intelligence (

). The project was set up in 1940 by the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intellige ...

(MI6) under the approval of Winston Churchill. The primary objective of the operation was to change the American public mood from one of isolationism to intervention in the war. While there he maintained contact with old Mensheviks such as

Boris Nicolaevsky Boris Ivanovich Nicolaevsky (russian: Бори́с Ива́нович Никола́евский) (20 October 1887 – 22 February 1966) was a Russian Marxist activist, archivist, and historian. Nicolaevsky is best remembered as one of the leading ...

Irakli Tsereteli Irakli Tsereteli, ' russian: link=no, Ира́клий Гео́ргиевич Церете́ли, ' ( – 20 May 1959) was a Georgian politician and a leading spokesman of the Social Democratic Party of Georgia and later Russian Social Democrati ...

Raphael Abramovitch Raphael Abramovitch Rein (1880–1963), best known as Raphael Abramovitch, was a Russian socialist, a member of the General Jewish Workers' Union in Lithuania, Poland and Russia (Bund), and a leader of the Menshevik wing of the Russian Social-De ...

and others, who collaborated in ''The Socialist Herald''. After the war he returned to England, where he lived with his wife in a house at 39 Chelsea Park Gardens in the affluent area of

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

. One of the rooms in the Halpern house was handed over to Anna Kallin (1896-1984), a mistress of

Oskar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright, and teacher best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the Viennese Exp ...

who worked for the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

as a producer. While in London, Halpern was well acquainted with personalities such as

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talk ...

Moura Budberg Maria Ignatievna von Budberg-Bönninghausen (russian: Мария (Мура) Игнатьевна Закревская-Бенкендорф-Будберг, ''Maria (Moura) Ignatievna Zakrevskaya-Benckendorff-Budberg'', née Zakrevskaya; February ...

Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy. Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, dire ...

and

Zinovy Peshkov Zinovy Alekseyevich Peshkov (russian: Зиновий Алексеевич Пешков, french: Zinovi Pechkoff or ''Pechkov'', 16 October 1884 – 27 November 1966) was a Russian-born French general and diplomat. Early life Born as Zalman ...

. Halpern was for a long time the chairman of the ORT UK. He died in 1956.

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

Alexander Halpern, Ort Leader, Dies; Was Member of British Mission to U.S.
at

Jewish Telegraphic Agency The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is an international news agency and wire service, founded in 1917, serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world as well as non-Jewish press, with about 70 syndication clients listed on its web ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halpern, Alexander 1879 births 1956 deaths Politicians from Saint Petersburg Russian Jews Mensheviks People of the Russian Revolution Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Members of the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples Secret Intelligence Service personnel Special Operations Executive personnel Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom World War II spies for the United Kingdom Russia–United Kingdom relations United Kingdom–United States relations