Branko Vukelić (1904 – January 1945) was a Yugoslav spy working for

Richard Sorge Richard Gustavovich Sorge (; 4 October 1895 – 7 November 1944) was a German-Russian journalist and GRU (Soviet Union), Soviet military intelligence officer who was active before and during World War II and worked undercover as a German journa ...

's spy ring in Japan.

Birth and early life

Vukelić was born in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

in 1904. His

Croatian Serb The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Хрватски Срби, Hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in ...

father Milivoj was a military officer in the Austrian army in

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...

(a region in today's

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

), and his mother Vilma was born to

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents from Osijek, Julius and Charlotta (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Weiss) Miskolczy. The Vukelić family moved to

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

(capital of today's Croatia) where he attended secondary school. He enrolled a college in Zagreb, but was forced to move to Paris because of his ties to Communism. Vukelić graduated

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...

with a degree in law. After graduation, and because of the great global depression, he re-established contact with Communists as a way to find employment during the economic crisis.

Days in Japan

In 1933. Vukelić was sent to Japan as a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

counter-intelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting ac ...

agent after being recruited by a

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

member by the name of Olga. He worked along with

in a Soviet-backed spy network (known as Sorge ring), along with Max Clausen, Ozaki Hotsumi, and another Comintern agent, Miyagi Yotoku. Vukelić was employed by the French newspaper ''

Havas Havas NV () is a French multinational corporation, multinational advertising agency, advertising and public relations company, with its registered office and head office in Puteaux, France. Havas operates in more than 100 countries. The group ...

'', and Serbian daily ''

Politika ( sr-Cyrl, Политика, lit=Politics) is a Serbian daily newspaper, published in Belgrade. Founded in 1904 by Vladislav F. Ribnikar, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in the Balkans. Publishing and ownership is publ ...

'' as a special correspondent. Vukelić arrived in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, Japan on February 11, 1933, and reported to Richard Sorge, the network leader reporting to the Soviet Intelligence. Although this was a Soviet operation, Vukelić was led to believe that he was serving the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

. Marriage between Branko, and his first wife, Edith dissolved in a series of affairs, and he married his Japanese language translator, Yoshiko Yamasaki. This marriage was considered a risk to the operation, and Sorge did not approve of it. Vukelić decided to get married without notifying Sorge. The ring leader sought advice from the Centre in Moscow, but the instructions were that Vukelić should stay in Japan and continue working for the network. Vukelić's main activities in the network were primarily of gathering information. He gathered information from Japanese newspapers and magazines, as well as various embassy and journalist contacts. He was also in charge of the network's photographic work. At one point, Vukelić was also tasked with influencing foreign journalists, mostly through Joseph Newman, ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...

'' journalist, in amplifying the perceived Japanese threat to the United States on Pacific, in an attempt to alleviate Japanese pressure on Soviet's East. Vukelić's success in his task resulted in a July 1, 1939 ''New York Herald Tribune'' article titled "Japan Believed Still Aiming at South Sea Area", written by Newman. Sorge's spy ring was eventually broken in 1941. Although Sorge tried his best to diminish Vukelić's and Miyagi's involvement, Vukelić was sentenced to life imprisonment along with Clausen. Branko was imprisoned in Sugamo, and was transferred to

Abashiri Prison is a prison in Abashiri, Hokkaido Prefecture that opened in 1890. The northernmost prison in Japan, it is located near the Abashiri River and east of Mount Tento. It holds inmates with sentences of less than ten years. Older parts of the pris ...

(

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

, Japan) in July 1944. Vukelić did not survive the cold winter, and Yoshiko was informed of his death on January 15, 1945. Their son Hiroshi Yamasaki Vukelić lives in Japan and Belgrade today and works on Japanese-Serbian relations.

Soviet recognition

Although the activities of Sorge ring members, including Branko Vukelić, were not recognized until the 1960s, Vukelić was posthumously awarded the

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...

(First Degree) on November 5, 1964 by decree of Praesidium of the Supreme Soviet.CIA
New Light on Old Spies: A Review of Recent Soviet Intelligence Revelations
September 18, 1995, Retrieved on January 7, 2010

References

External links

Whymant R., Sorge's Spy, on Google books

Gannon J., Stealing Secrets, Telling Lies: How Spies and Codebreakers Helped Shape the Twentieth Century, on Google Books

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vukelic, Branko 1904 births 1945 deaths People from Osijek Croatian people of Serbian descent Jews from Austria-Hungary Serbian Austro-Hungarians 20th-century Serbian people Serbian people of Croatian-Jewish descent Yugoslav people of World War II Yugoslav people imprisoned abroad Yugoslav people who died in prison custody Yugoslav prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment World War II spies for the Soviet Union Spies who died in prison custody Japan–Yugoslavia relations People convicted of spying for the Soviet Union Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Japan Prisoners who died in Japanese detention Foreign nationals imprisoned in Japan Croatian Jews