Samuel Simon Krafsur (January 10, 1913 – June 1983) was a

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

-born

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

who worked for the

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 ...

news agency

TASS The Russian News Agency TASS, or simply TASS, is a Russian state-owned news agency founded in 1904. It is the largest Russian news agency and one of the largest news agencies worldwide. TASS is registered as a Federal State Unitary Enterpri ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was also known as Bill Krafsur.

Biography

Krafsur was mentioned in the

Venona The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program initiated during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service and later absorbed by the National Security Agency (NSA), that ran from February 1, 1943, u ...

intercepts under the codename IDE. He was used by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

during the war as a source of information and for recruiting journalists as informants and agents, and is referred to in the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

archives as a "KGB agent

In the 1930s Krafsur joined the

Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

. He attended

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

for a year. He lived at 68 Phillips Street in Boston before going to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

to fight with the

Abraham Lincoln Brigade The XV International Brigade was one of the International Brigades formed to fight for the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. History The XVth Brigade mustered at Albacete in January 1937. It consisted of English-speaking volunte ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, where he was wounded in 1937. In 1938 Krafsur was a member of the editorial staff of "The Volunteers for Liberty" a newspaper which was an, "organ of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade" organization out of 125 West 45 Street in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In April 1938 he was in charge of finding veterans to tell their war stories to be made into radio plays written by

Irwin Shaw Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: '' The Young Lions'' (1 ...

. He began working for TASS in 1941 after being recruited by the Soviet agent

Vladimir Pravdin Vladimir Sergeevich Pravdin, or Roland Jacques Claude Abbiate, codename LETCHIK Pilot" (July 1, 1905 – 1970) was a senior NKVD officer and assassin working in Europe during the Great Terror. He later became a senior Soviet intelligence off ...

. He became the assistant to the manager Laurence Todd at the Washington sub-bureau.The Two Faces of TASS, Theodore Eduard Kruglak, page 99. Krafsur was considered an important asset to the NKVD because of the many contacts he had with other newsmen. He was the deputy TASS bureau chief in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

spent a lot of time and effort trying to identify who he was under his codename IDE. In May 1944, he was described in a NKVD cable from New York to Moscow as, "absolutely devoted to the

USSR 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 ...

." He provided at least twenty leads of people for possible recruitment including Joseph Berger, a personal aide to the chairman of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

, and

I. F. Stone Isidor Feinstein Stone (December 24, 1907 – June 18, 1989) was an American investigative journalist, writer, and author. Known for his politically progressive views, Stone is best remembered for ''I. F. Stone's Weekly'' (1953–1971), a ...

. In 1949, Laurence Todd was relieved of his managing duties and instead given the title of senior correspondent. In this same year Krafsur left TASS and was later called before the

House Committee on Un-American Activities The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty an ...

where he chose not to cooperate. Later he worked in a toy store. In the early 1960s he married the ex-wife of the secretary-treasurer of the Mine, Mill, and Smelters Union. He died, at the age of seventy, in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the List of municipalities in Florida, fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the sta ...

in 1983 under the name "Samuel Krafsur".

Note

* National Security Agency Archive

National Cryptological Museum

Custodian of documents for the Army Signals Intelligence Corp

Sources

* * * Social Security Death Index, USA.

External links

Spying on America
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krafsur, Samuel 1913 births American male journalists 20th-century American journalists Northeastern University alumni Espionage in the United States Journalists from Boston Writers from St. Petersburg, Florida Abraham Lincoln Brigade members 1983 deaths American spies for the Soviet Union American people in the Venona papers 20th-century American writers Members of the Communist Party USA