All language subtitles for Stalins.James.Bond.2017.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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(suspenseful music)

(machine beeping)

(typewriter tapping)

- [Richard] A secret agent
must be solitary and austere,

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no affections, no ties,
no sentimentalities.

- [Narrator] Said a
man who should know,

Richard Sorge, Stalin's
master spy in Tokyo.

Sorge himself didn't
follow those rules at all.

He was an eccentric,
loved women and alcohol,

and was known for his escapades.

Perhaps the most ingenious
of all disguises,

he is considered one of the
great masters of his trade.

(speaks in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] He
was opposed to war

and believed that he
could help to avoid it

by doing his work.

- [Interpreter] He really
was one of those people

who is highly motivated
by his ideology.

(speaks in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Sorge is
considered to be the master spy

of the 20th century, not
just by the Soviet Union,

but by the USA as well.

(speaks in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] He must've
been a fascinating person.

If I had been a
woman in his time,

I might have hopelessly
fallen for him too.

(speaks in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Richard
Sorge, Stalin's James Bond.

(typewriter keys tapping)

- [Narrator] "The
Betrayal of a Master Spy".

(speaking in foreign language)

(crowd cheering)

What would have happened if,

if Stauffenberg's
plot had succeeded,

if Pearl Harbor
hadn't taken place,

and if shortly before
that, Richard Sorge,

a spy with conviction,

hadn't fallen into the
clutches of the Japanese?

(dramatic music)
(vehicles rumbling)

At that point in time, Hitler
had conquered half of Europe,

the Japanese Empire
was undertaking

a similar march across Asia,

their incursions leaving
nothing but piles

of rubble in their wake.

Together, Nazi Germany and
Japan want to wipe out the enemy

of all humankind, communism.

So they join forces
against the Soviet Union.

(engines rattling)
(stately music)

The self-proclaimed
master race lines up

to stomp out communism
once and for all.

(troops marching)

Operating out of Tokyo,

the committed communist,
Sorge, completes his mission

and betrays the German
Reich to the Soviet Union,

one dictator to another.

(machine beeping)
(gentle music)

(typewriter keys tapping)

Shortly before his
spy ring gets busted,

Sorge sends a message
that proves decisive

for the further course of the
Russian military campaign.

The seemingly invincible
German armed forces

get their first scratches.

(explosion blasting)

By the time the tide turns
in favor of the Soviets,

Sorge's era had
already come to an end.

(speaking in foreign language)

(paper rustling)

(ominous music)

The man whose mission it
was to avoid war is charged

with violating the law
to protect the peace.

In a cynical double
cross of betrayal,

Sorge is the one who
is ultimately betrayed.

At the crucial moment, the
later hero of the Soviet Union

is disowned by both
friend and foe alike.

(gentle music)

The ultimate antihero,

he allows his life's
work to be documented

while in Japanese custody.

It is both bitter and tragic

that world history
is not the only thing

that could have
been very different.

(typewriter tapping)

- [Richard] If I had lived
under peaceful social
conditions

and been surrounded by peaceful
political developments,

I might've become a scientist.

In any case,
certainly not a spy.

- [Narrator] Richard Sorge,

the spy that didn't
want to be one,

was born in Baku in 1895.

(nostalgic music)

His mother was Russian,
his father, German,

two peoples that would
define Sorge's life.

Wilhelm Sorge works
as an engineer for
oil drilling machines

in Azerbaijan, part of the
Czar's empire at the time.

The family occupies a
villa on the Caspian Sea.

Richard Sorge is no
child of the proletariat.

At the age of three, his
family moves to Berlin.

In prison, he described
his childhood like this.

- [Richard] Until
the war broke out,

I enjoyed the relative
security commonly found

among the prosperous
German bourgeoisie.

(soft music)

- [Narrator] With the
outbreak of the war,

the 18-year-old Sorge
immediately registers himself

as a volunteer to fight
for his fatherland.

(artillery blasting)

The young man's
exuberance dissipates

when faced with the carnage on
the battlefields of Flanders.

(explosions blasting)

He is wounded multiple times.

In the end, his left leg
is shredded by shrapnel,

and he barely avoids
an amputation.

Sorge is left with
a lifelong limp,

an Iron Cross Second Class,

and the conviction
that such a slaughter

must never be repeated.

- [Richard] This wild, bloody
brawl shook me to my core.

How pointless are these
endlessly repeating wars?

(explosion blasting)

- [Narrator] Convinced
of the peacemaking power

of communism, the young
man devotes himself

to the ideas of Marx and Engels.

(gentle music)

Sorge takes part in the
Kiel Mutiny in 1918,

and is active as an
anticapitalist agitator

amongst the miners in Aachen.

(crowd cheering)

In 1919, he receives his
PhD in political science

and joins the German
Communist Party.

(gentle music)

The new decade turns Berlin

into the most sinful
metropolis in Europe.

(playful ragtime music)

The prudish imperial
age is over.

The roaring '20s usher
in passion and vice,

and a new era in
art and fashion.

No one has yet noticed that
the humiliation of the lost
war

is gnawing at the
foundations of the decade.

The spirit of optimism
hasn't captured everyone.

Inflation is eating
away at everything,

including trust in democracy.

The lines of social division

are becoming ever more apparent.

(hooves clopping)
(people chattering)

- [Richard] The World War

from 1914 to 1918 influenced
my life from the ground up.

Even if other considerations
had not played a role,

that war alone would
have made me a communist.

(train whistle shrilling)
(train clacking)

- [Narrator] While in Frankfurt,

Sorge comes into contact
with senior officials

of the Communist International.

They invited him to
collaborate with them

in their Moscow headquarters.

(gentle music)
(train chugging)

Sorge does his job well.

He is accepted into
the CPSU and dispatched

to other European countries.

He draws the attention

of the Soviet Military
Intelligence Services.

General Yan Berzin, leader
of the 4th Division,

recruits Sorge for his
network of agents in China.

Before Sorge begins his journey,

he meets the young acting
student, Katya Maximova.

It is one of many romances,

but for him the most
significant one.

(gentle music)

(traffic rushing)

In Berlin, Sorge
acquires two publishers

who offer to use their
status as legal employers

to disguise him as
a German journalist.

In China, Sorge's new area
of operation as an agent,

two civil war
parties are fighting

over control of the country.

The Russians and the Americans
provide their minions

with assistance in
an attempt to secure

their respective influence
in the Middle Kingdom.

(soft music)

On January 10th, 1930,
the German journalist,

Richard Sorge,
arrives in Shanghai.

The city is known as
the Paris of the East,

the New York of the West,

a metropolis with
cosmopolitan character,

a synonym for sin,
adventure, and wealth.

In 1930, Shanghai boasts the
highest skyscrapers in Asia.

They belong to merchants
and industrial companies.

It is no coincidence that
China's Communist Party

is taking root here,

and announcing its fight
against foreign imperialists.

(fireworks popping)

(people chattering)

Under the code name Ramsay,

Sorge begins to build a
network of communist agents.

In this city of over
a million people,

this jungle, flickering with
chaotic rumors and secrets,

anyone looking for a
conspiratorial place

in which people betray
top secret information

and are in constant fear of
being betrayed themselves,

would do well to turn
up at the Peace Hotel.

It was here that Richard Sorge
met the American journalist

and Comintern agent,
Agnes Smedley,

a well-known expert on China.

(suspenseful music)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] He
builds up his contacts,

on the one hand, through
Russian communists

who are already
residing in China,

on the other hand through
communists like Agnes Smedley,

who is closely linked to
the Chinese communists

at that time, and
who turns to Sorge,

and thus changes
employers, so to speak.

She no longer works
solely for the Chinese.

She now also works
for the Soviet Union.

- [Narrator] Agnes
Smedley introduces Sorge

to the Japanese
newspaper correspondent

and expert on Japanese
China policy, Ozaki Hotsumi.

(people chattering)

He is a convinced communist

and an opponent of Japanese
delusions of grandeur in Asia.

(explosions blasting)

On September 31st, Japan attacks

and annexes the enormous
Chinese province, Manchuria.

(explosions blasting)

The proclamation of the
satellite state Manchukuo

and a bloodbath among the
civilian population in
Shanghai

are only the earliest
signs of the Japanese

becoming drunk with power

and wanting to first subjugate
their historical enemy,

China, and then the
whole of the Far East.

- [Richard] I felt compelled
to dive into the problem

of Japan as a whole,

and I decided to prepare
myself generally,

as long as I was in China,

to thoroughly familiarize
myself with Japanese history

and Japan's diplomatic
traditions and practices.

(gentle music)

(hooves clopping)

- [Narrator] Sorge and Ozaki
regularly met on Nanjing Road,

one of the largest
shopping streets

in the world at the time.

Ozaki would unpack his knowledge

about Japanese
intentions in China.

Sorge informs
headquarters in Moscow.

They are impressed.

(soft music)

The effects of the global
economic crisis are less stark

in Asia than in the West.

The hardships of the
1930s paved the way

for national socialism.

(crowd shouting)

The NSDAP takes power in
the German Reich in 1933,

and the new Reich
Chancellor Adolf Hitler,

outlines the goals
of his policies,

to conquer new living
space in the East,

and to ruthlessly Germanize it.

(ominous music)

The next great
catastrophe looms.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Stalin
was very interested

in having spies in Japan,

because the Japanese
military made it very clear

that the Soviet Union
was enemy number one.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] People
are alarmed in Moscow.

After so easily
conquering Manchuria,

the Japanese military
might start craving more.

And at this critical
point in time,

Russian military
intelligence doesn't have

any spy network in Japan.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] In Japan,

there was an extremely
strong defense against spies.

They never let the workers
at the Soviet embassy

out of their sight.

The whole Russian colony was
under constant surveillance.

We needed information and
we needed it immediately.

The only way out was to
fall back on foreign agents

that one didn't have to train.

But Stalin did not
trust foreigners.

- [Narrator] Nevertheless,
the foreigner, Sorge,

received orders to build
a spy ring in Tokyo.

He is charged with scouting out

both Japan's military strength

and if they plan to
attack the Soviet Union.

(traffic rushing)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] At this time,

Japan is the main
source of information.

You have to know
what Japan wants,

because Japan is the
defining power in East Asia.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Before
his departure,

Sorge convinces his lover,
Katya Maximova, to marry him.

She would be better
off as the wife

of an officer of the Red Army.

It is a decision that
Katya will later regret.

(train rumbling)

In order to avoid the
strictly controlled route

to the Far East,
Richard Sorge travels

through the US on
his way to Asia.

He meets up with members

of the American
Comintern in New York.

Eight years later,
the connection to
Japanese communists

in the USA will,
almost by accident,

tip off the Japanese
secret police

to the existence
of the spy ring.

(soft music)

On September 6th, 1933,
Sorge arrives in Yokohama.

Japan has a long tradition of
imitating Western countries.

Law, army, industrial
goods, all copied,

especially from Germany,

and yet the transition
into modern times

has not yet fully materialized,

and Japanese society is divided,

even in the highest
centers of power.

The emperor, who himself
rejects militarism,

is threatening to
become a compliant tool

in the hands of a
confident military,

one that is vehemently
propagating war against Russia.

(ominous music)

Stalin needs spies who can
deliver reliable reports

about the course being
charted by Japan.

(train whistle shrilling)

The routes used
by his messengers,

bringing secret
files over Shanghai

or Hong Kong to
Moscow is threatened

by the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Radio transmissions are thus
becoming evermore important.

(machine beeping)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Things
became difficult in 1940-'41,

when the colleagues in the
Soviet embassy in Japan came

into direct contact with Sorge.

It was an
inconceivable violation

of the basic principles
of conspiracy,

because of course, they
were under observation.

(shouting in foreign language)

- [Narrator] Sorge
operates brazenly.

He builds a roughly 40
person spy ring directly

under the noses of the
Japanese secret police

and infiltrates not
only the inner circles

of Japanese politicians
and soldiers,

but also the German elite.

(swords thwacking)

- [Richard] I thought that
I would appear more reliable

in the eyes of the Japanese

if I won the trust
of the embassy,

and that the embassy
would serve as a bulwark

against any doubts
about my person.

(typewriter tapping)

Richard Sorge begins to
conquer the German embassy

and its surroundings.

Soon, he is a known figure
in the German colony,

one that readily enjoys
the back home flair

of the German establishment.

(gentle music)

Even today, the Imperial
Hotel is an ideal place

for more discreet meetings.

(suspenseful music)

- [Interpreter] It is the
bar of the Imperial Hotel,

in the immediate vicinity
of the Imperial Palace,

and it was the
central meeting place

for both the German
community and others.

In the end, the
information that Sorge

became so famous for
procuring certainly came

from German sources,
but especially from
government sources.

It is actually an
international meeting place.

The various media
representatives

from around the
globe meet there,

diplomats, business leaders,
business representatives.

It was the kind of place

where you could gather
relevant information,

engage in harmless conversation,

background talks.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Narrator] Comrade Branko
Vukelic is responsible

for transferring secret
materials onto microfilm.

(gentle music)

As it came to light,
after Sorge's unmasking,

that his network extended
to the very highest levels

of the government,
people began asking

how a European was
able to dive so deeply

into the seemingly
impermeable Japanese society.

(gentle music)

Sorge has made himself into
an expert on his host country,

and he counts on
Japanese accomplices.

(gentle music)

The artist, Miyagi Yotoku
is recruited in the US,

and Ozaki Hotsumi, whom
Sorge knows from Shanghai,

is immediately
ready to cooperate.

In the following years,

Sorge and Ozaki meet
at different locations,

seldom at Ozaki's
home, out of caution,

often in changing
places in Tokyo,

on street corners
or in restaurants,

the two exchange news and
discuss assignments together.

(footsteps tapping)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Sorge's
intellectual efforts

were adding to his prestige.

Ambassador Ott valued Sorge's
analysis of Japan very highly.

He had even commissioned
Sorge to write reports

that he was supposed to
have authored himself.

Intellectually, Sorge was
moving on a very high level,

Ozaki as well.

He came from a top university,
belonged to the elite,

spoke good Chinese, was an
expert in Chinese politics,

and could precisely
assess developments.

What set their spy
ring apart from others

was that they themselves

could submit political
suggestions to Stalin.

(speaking in foreign language)

(gentle music)
(typewriter keys tapping)

- [Narrator] Sorge's
political essays

establish his reputation in
Germany as an expert on Asia,

and a serious journalist.

His inclusion in the NSDAP
completes his perfect
disguise.

(microfilm whirring)

(suspenseful music)

He had laid the
foundation for his work.

The German officers and
officials in Tokyo trust
Sorge

and his expertise,
first and foremost,

the military attache and
later ambassador, Eugen Ott.

(typewriter keys tapping)

- [Richard] Without
this knowledge,

I mean my thorough research,

no one working at the embassy
would have been interested

in speaking with me about things

or asking my advice on
confidential matters.

(people chattering)

Richard Sorge is always
welcome at social events,

and gains a reputation
as an eccentric,

hard drinking ladies' man.

Erwin Wickert was a
broadcasting attache

in Tokyo at the time.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Sorge was
a very attractive man.

Once he was dancing
very intensively

with my mother at a ball,

so much so that my father
went over and said,

"Come on now, that's enough."

He always had the feeling
that Sorge was a person

who had a very difficult
time controlling himself.

(speaking in foreign language)

But sober, he must've
been a pleasant guest

who obviously had quite
an effect on women.

- [Richard] An eternal
stranger who condemns himself

to never finding true peace.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Sorge's own
words and an expression

of his deep loneliness.

Under the weight of secrets
that he can share with no one,

Sorge begins drinking,
often without restraint.

(people chattering)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter]
When he was drunk,

Richard Sorge would
curse incredibly

about the Nazis and Hitler.

And my father would rent
a room for Richard Sorge

in the hotel in which
my father also lived

so that he could sleep there

and didn't have to ride
home on his motorcycle.

(speaking in foreign language)

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] Again and again,
Sorge rides his motorcycle

in a drunken stupor, until
he ends up against a wall

with a broken skull.

When he is released
from the hospital,

the Otts take extra care of him.

The love affair between
Sorge and Ott's wife,

Helma, seems almost inevitable.

(somber music)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Sorge was a
university assistant in
Aachen.

His professor there was
married to a very young woman

who Sorge stole away from him.

She divorced her
husband, married Sorge,

and went with him to Moscow.

But even after Sorge married
the wife of his professor,

the two worked
together amicably.

Strange, right?

He even slept with
Ambassador Ott's wife.

It wasn't a nice story,
but it is astounding

that Ott also continued
working with Sorge.

(speaking in foreign language)

(people chattering)

- [Narrator] The
marriage to Katya

did not prevent
other adventures.

If the affair with
the ambassador's wife

really took place
remains disputed.

It could have cost
Sorge his own neck

and his best information
source, Eugen Ott, as well.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] The
relationship between Sorge

and Ott is difficult
to describe.

From the literature,
we can gather

that they were very
close acquaintances,

if not outright friends.

But nonetheless, not
without mistrust,

but the mistrust was
not so much related

to the personal
relationship between Sorge

and the ambassador's wife,

but rather regarding
the question of

if Sorge isn't a
bit too thoughtless

when he has had
too much to drink,

shares too much of the
personal information

that he has with Ott.

(gentle music)
(birds chirping)

- [Narrator] In May 1935,
Sorge is called back to
Moscow.

A number of his fellow
spies have disappeared,

including his mentor,
General Berzin.

His successors, Generals
Uritsky and Artuzov

also failed to survive
their appointments.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter]
Operations against spies

with a foreign
background began in 1936.

Poles, Latvians,
Lithuanians, Finns,

representatives
of practically all

of the Soviet member states
were either harassed,

ordered back, stuck
in camps, or shot.

You could say that Stalin
destroyed his secret service.

In fact, he annihilated it.

- [Narrator] No one
in Moscow feels safe

in the face of Stalin's whims,

especially not Richard Sorge,
with his German passport.

He will never see Moscow
again, nor his wife, Katya.

But Sorge remains true
to Stalin to the end.

Is he turning a blind eye?

(traffic rushing)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Sorge was more
of an ideological communist

than a party member,

and held the view that Stalin
was still a lesser evil,

compared to the Nazis.

Given world events,
he definitely thought

that the fall of Nazi Germany
was the most important thing,

and that as long as the Soviet
Union was standing together

with the US, France, and
England against the Nazis,

he could contribute to bringing

about the quickest
end to the war

by continuing to provide
information to the Soviet
Union.

- [Narrator] Sorge's
signalman, Max Clausen,

first achieved exactly that

at the beginning of 1936
through radio transmission.

But the work is dangerous.
(machine beeping)

The Japanese listening posts

can receive the illicit signals,

even if they can't
locate them precisely.

Soon they are certain that a
spy is operating out of Tokyo.

Risking their lives, agents
from around the world

are sending secrets to Moscow.

Only some of these actually
reach the apex of the Kremlin,

because whatever
seemed unimportant

would simply be thrown out.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] On top of that,

Stalin didn't want any
analysis,
just pure raw information.

He said, "Give me
the information

and I'll draw my
own conclusions."

(speaking in foreign language)

(typewriter tapping)

- [Narrator] Sorge's
article, "Revolt in Tokyo",

about the failed
military coup in 1936,

is one of the most
read internationally.

(suspenseful music)
(typewriter tapping)

His brilliant
analysis of the events

finally open all of the
doors of the embassy to him.

He even gets his
own office there.

Shortly after the coup,
the military attache, Ott,

asks Dr. Sorge for help.

- [Richard] I had to swear to
him that I would tell no one.

I did that, and helped him
to encrypt the telegram

in his apartment.

Ott had asked me for help, and
not a member of the embassy,

because the matter required
the utmost secrecy.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] My father
actually described Ott

as a rather reserved ambassador.

And even when he
knew Sorge very well,

my father always assumed

that he was obviously
not very affable.

(speaking in foreign language)

And also, he didn't
know where Sorge

was getting his information.

(bell ringing)

- [Narrator] Sorge not only
finds out the secret code

of the communication
traffic with Berlin,

but also the details

of top-secret
German-Japanese negotiations.

When the Anti-Comintern Pact

between Germany and Japan is
signed in November of '36,

Stalin is very well-informed.

The pact is aimed
against the Soviet Union.

(ominous music)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] From
the nearly 700 reports

that Sorge had sent, more than
half were actually presented

to the leadership,
including Stalin.

(speaking in foreign language)

These reports were assessed
as especially valuable.

That speaks to the fact that
Sorge was an exceptional spy.

I believe it is a unique case

in the history of
the secret services.

(speaking in foreign language)

(typewriter tapping)

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] The
Japanese continue

with their raid
in northern China,

but the Chinese fight back

and the Japanese continually ask

for more help from the
China expert, Ozaki Hotsumi.

The Japanese Prime
Minister Konoe,

takes on Ozaki as a
governmental advisor.

Sorge's spy ring has
penetrated the center

of Japanese power.

(car rushing)

(foreboding music)

It is a critical moment
for the Russians,

as their own man,
General Lyushkov,

defects to the Japanese
out of fear of Stalin.

(hooves clopping)

They're about to extend
the border of the state

of Manchukuo to the north.

Near Nomonhan, they face
off against the Red Army,

about which they now
hold valuable information

in their hands.

(camera clicking)
(gentle music)

Sorge receives the
urgent order from Moscow

to make copies of the documents

that the deserter
has handed over.

What does the enemy
know about the Red Army?

(suspenseful music)

Sorge's report
proves invaluable.

The Russians change
their troop formations

and gain the upper hand against
a confused Japanese force.

(hooves pounding)

Shocked by the loss of
more than 8,000 men,

the empire must
reconsider its goal

of expanding into
the Soviet Union.

(dramatic music)
(vehicles rattling)

From secret documents,

it emerges that Berlin
is trying to make use

of the rethinking process.

The German diplomats
in Tokyo are instructed

to prepare the way for a
military alliance with Japan.

(machine beeping)

(speaking in foreign language)

Hitler is planning a war
against England and France,

and wants to obligate Japan

to attack the British
colonies in the Far East.

But Japan is caught up
in its war against China,

and doesn't want
to become involved.

Germany responds with anger
and signs a non-aggression pact

with the Soviet Union.

For the Japanese, this
smells like betrayal.

(speaking in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Japan had
always hoped that Germany

would take Japan's side in a
war against the Soviet Union,

as a matter of principle.

But with the
non-aggression pact,

that was not possible.

In the end, the
Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936

had lost its meaning,

because the potential enemy
was no longer the Soviet
Union,

at least if international
agreements were

to be taken seriously.

Thus, it also represented
an opportunity

for Japan to sign
a neutrality pact

with the Soviet Union in 1941,

and the war took
a different course

than had originally
been planned,

at least by the strategists.

(seagulls squawking)

- [Narrator] In order to
stop Japan's advance in Asia,

the US cancels its trade
agreement with Japan,

thereby substantially
shutting off the oil tap

for the Japanese in the West.

War breaks out in Europe,

as the German armed
forces march into Poland

and begin an unprecedented
war of conquest.

(typewriter tapping)

It only stands to
reason that Japan

will now form an alliance
with the victorious Germans.

(dramatic music)

Ribbentrop sends Special
Envoy Stahmer to Tokyo

for talks with foreign
minister Matsuoka.

During the negotiations,

Sorge maintains close
relations with Stahmer.

He has recently become
the press attache.

appointed by Ambassador Ott,

seen here in a celebratory mood.

(men shouting in
foreign language)

(typewriter typing)

Long before the signing
of the Tripartite Pact,

Stalin learns that Japan has
joined the Rome-Berlin Axis.

(machine beeping)

The alliance intends to
direct itself against England

and to deter the Americans
from entering the war.

(dramatic music)

The nerve wracking work
of spying takes its toll.

Signalman Clausen
suffers a heart attack

and is no longer
fully in the game.

Important reports
are left unsent.

Sorge asks once again, after
11 years, to be called back.

(pen scratching)

- [Interpreter] There
are a lot of examples

where these people,
when they have worked

for the other side for
years, for example,

I'm thinking about the
members of the Cambridge Five,

who became severe alcoholics

because they simply couldn't
deal with the pressure.

The uncertainty and
the pressure, and
always having to think

about what you talk
about with whom,

and having to hide things,
even from those closest to
you.

Many people can't deal with
that pressure over time.

- [Narrator] Sorge's
requests comes at a bad time,

because the spy ring is
entering a decisive phase

at the end of 1940.

On December 18th, Hitler
signs the Commissar Order,

in preparation for
Operation Barbarossa,

the German invasion
of the Soviet Union.

(troops marching)

A mere 10 days later, Sorge
can radio a warning to Moscow.

(radio beeping)

- [Richard] Germans are
gathering at the eastern
border,

including Romania, 80 divisions.

"Germany is in a
position to occupy areas

of the USSR along
the lines of Kharkov,

Moscow, and Leningrad." Ramsay.

(microfilm whirring)
(ominous music)

- [Narrator]
Meanwhile, Ribbentrop

had changed his
strategic priorities.

He is no longer looking for
Japan's support against
England,

but rather to have the
Japanese take control

of the Soviet Union
in the Far East.

(microfilm whirring)

A directive from Moscow
arrives in Tokyo.

Agents are to deliver
a detailed report

on the positions of
the Japanese troops,

from the number and
position of the divisions,

down to the names
of the commanders.

No problem for Sorge's
Japanese spies.

(typewriter tapping)

On March 3rd, 1941, Foreign
Minister Matsuoka travels

to Berlin, Rome, and Moscow.

(airplane buzzing)

He surprises the Germans

by signing a neutrality
agreement with the Soviets.

Stalin evidently firmly
believes
in the pact with Hitler,

and that Japan will
ultimately
attack to the south.

At the beginning of May 1941,
Sorge elicits more information

for Moscow from a special envoy.

German generals are
making very low estimates

of the Red Army's
combat strength.

They believe they can
eliminate the Red Army

within a matter of weeks.
(radio beeping)

Stalin views Hitler's
word as beyond question.

His mistrust is directed far
more at his spies in Tokyo.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Precisely
because Sorge was sending

that kind of precarious and
important information to
Moscow,

Stalin began to suspect that
Sorge might be a double agent.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] From
the way that Sorge was,

I can hardly imagine that
he was a double agent.

I mean, when he was drunk,

he spoke belligerently
about Hitler and the Nazis.

He rejected them completely.

Given that, I can't imagine it.

But I don't know for certain.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Doubts
about Sorge's loyalty

are also springing up in Berlin,

vague references to his past

in the KPD raise
alarming questions.

Is Sorge a spy, a double
agent, or even a triple agent?

Colonel Meisinger is sent
to Tokyo as a police attache

to investigate.

(tense music)

Does Sorge sense the threat?

The newcomer feels very much
like a foreigner in Tokyo.

Sorge offers himself
as a drinking buddy.

Meisinger is thankful
and becomes dazzled

by Sorge's excellent
reputation at the embassy

and his personal charm.

The surveillance of
Sorge is withdrawn.

(footsteps tapping)
(typewriter tapping)

And in the embassy,

no one doubts his
absolute trustworthiness.

He freely comes and goes,

and has or manages
to gain access

to Hitler's biggest secrets.

(radio beeping)

"Berlin informs Ott that
the German attack will begin

in second half of June.

Attack will take
place along the front,

main thrust against Moscow
and Leningrad." Ramsay.

Moscow received Sorge's
dramatic warning on June 20th.

(radio beeping)

"The war is about to begin."

- [Interpreter] The
information was only as good

as it was useful, and the
Soviet intelligence agencies

were very, very
weak in this sense,

because they performed
almost no analysis.

Instead, the information
was simply reported,

directly to the top.

- [Narrator] Stalin receives
corroborating reports

from other spies, but
he does not believe

that Hitler will open
a war on two fronts

and disregards all
of the warnings.

(vehicles rattling)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Stalin
had written a comment

on a telegram with a green pen,

which was presented to Harnack

and Schulze-Boysen
on June 21st, 1941.

"The hell with that.

It's English disinformation."

(speaking in foreign language)

He believed that it was
targeted disinformation

from British intelligence,

aimed at propelling Germany
and the Soviet Union into war.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter]
Yes, in this case,

Stalin actually called
Sorge an asshole.

(explosions blasting)

- [Narrator] At the crack
of dawn on June 22nd, 1941,

over three million German
soldiers crossed the border

into the Soviet Union.
(explosion blasting)

Operation Barbarossa has begun.

The soldiers of the Red Army

are virtually thrown
out of their beds.

(guns booming)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] June 22nd
affected Sorge deeply.

According To all the stories,

prison records, and the
memories of agents Clausen

and Miyagi, Sorge ran
himself ragged on June 22nd.

He binge drank the entire day.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] His bitterness
over not being taken seriously

in Moscow is accompanied

by increasing
delusions of grandeur.

- [Richard] If
anyone annihilates
Hitler, then it's me,

Richard Sorge.

- [Narrator] He evidently
claimed, in a drunken state,

according to comments
later gathered

from a German girlfriend.

And yet, what
would have happened

if Stalin had believed his spy?

(tanks rattling)

The Soviet Union
now had to worry

that Japan would open a
second front in the Far East

in order to make use of the
German victory in the West.

(radio beeping)

"Sorge report on the behavior
of the Japanese government

regarding the German war
against the Soviet Union.

(ominous music)
(typewriter tapping)

Ott is attempting to
push Japan into war

against the Soviet Union.

According to military sources,

possible within
one or two months."

(typewriter tapping)

Stalin's appreciation for
Sorge
has grown since June 22nd,

but now Sorge feels
like he is failing.

Japan's true
intentions are unclear,

and an attack on Siberia
can neither be ruled out

nor predicted with certainty.

The German armed forces
are advancing into Russia,

bringing the Red
Army into distress.

They need reinforcements
from the Far East,

but that would turn Siberia
into a sitting duck.

(people chattering)

And then the master spy pulled
off perhaps his biggest coup.

After a secret meeting,

which the emperor also attended,

some salvific details
seep out through Ozaki,

and Sorge immediately
conveys them to Moscow.

(radio beeping)

"Japan will not attack the
Soviet Union in the East."

(branches cracking)
(tank rumbling)

Stalin immediately shifts
34 well rested divisions

from the Far East to the West,

and is able to stop
the German armed forces

as they rush ahead to Moscow.

Sorge considers his mission
in Japan to be over.

(men shouting in
foreign language)

He wants to leave the
country, but where will he go?

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter]
Sorge had thought

about returning to Moscow,

but a person as clever as him
could certainly not assume

that Moscow would
be safe for him.

(speaking in foreign language)

He had surely considered
the possibility

that he would be arrested
and killed in Moscow.

Even in Japan, he would
most likely be arrested.

He could have also
returned to Nazi Germany,

but there would have
been a high risk

of being arrested
by the Gestapo.

(speaking in foreign language)

Exile in the US would have
also been a possibility,

but as a communist,
immigrating to the US

would have meant having to
renounce his entire life.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] As
Ozaki provides Sorge

with further details
of secret talks

between the Japanese
and the Americans,

neither one knows that the edges

of their spy network
have begun to fray

and that they themselves are now

in the cross hairs
of Japanese shadows.

(ominous music)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter]
There was absolutely

no clearly worked out
plan for what to do

if Sorge were to be arrested.

That helps to explain
why the entire ring

was relatively
quickly discovered

and arrested in 1941.

(soft music)
(birds chirping)

- [Narrator] Ozaki views
the talks between Japan

and the US as destined to fail,

because Japan will hold on
to its policy of expansion.

Sorge composes a dispatch

in which he prophesies
the imminent war

between Japan and the US.

The message no longer
reaches Moscow.

(traffic rushing)

It was likely an
unimportant, low-level spy,

a Japanese communist that
had returned from the US

who revealed Miyagi's name in
order to save his own skin.

As a result, the
whole ring was busted.

On October 15th, 1941
Ozaki Hotsumi is arrested.

(traffic rushing)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Narrator] Clausen, Vukelic,

and Sorge meet on October 17th.

They are unable to reach Ozaki.

(microfilm whirring)

Richard Sorge has been plagued

by premonitions for
quite some time.

He felt abandoned by Moscow,

and knew that they were
all playing with fire

and could not remain
undiscovered forever.

(people chattering)

(footsteps tapping)

We don't know when he
came home that night,

but on the following morning,

he was arrested by
investigating
magistrate Yoshikawa.

(speaking in foreign language)

(paper rustling)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Shortly
before his arrest,

he believed he had accomplished
his mission in Tokyo.

He had reported the
most important things,

the German attack
on the Soviet Union,

and that the Japanese would
not attack the Soviet Union.

And he had asked to be recalled,

because the last decade,
in which he had been a spy,

was so stressful that he
simply needed peace and quiet.

(gentle music)
(typewriter tapping)

- [Narrator] This
dangerous document,

the request to be recalled
after fulfilling his mission,

remains laying on Sorge's desk.

Sorge is transferred to
the remand prison, Sugamo.

For Ambassador Ott, it is a
case of Japanese spy hysteria.

(machine tapping)

"Members of the embassy and
public authorities agree

that the suspicion lodged
against Sorge is farfetched.

There is suspicion that
it is actually a case

of political revenge
or intrigue." Ott.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] When Sorge
and Ozaki were arrested,

the German government protested

or rather the German
embassy in Japan,

asking how a trustworthy
national socialist

like Sorge could be arrested.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Narrator] Japan
could not afford

to insult its Axis partner,
especially not now,

when the conflict with the US
appeared to be unavoidable.

(ominous music)

"In spite of continuing efforts,

the foreign ministry has thus
far not presented any evidence

of guilt against Sorge
and Clausen." Ott.

One week after his arrest,

Richard Sorge admits to
being a communist spy.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter]
Meisinger and Ott

were coming under serious fire.

They believed until the end
that Sorge was their friend.

(tank crashing)

- [Narrator] On
December 5th, 1941,

the Red Army begins a counter
offensive near Moscow.

The tables are turning.

(hooves pounding)

(airplane buzzing)

As he sat in jail, Sorge
might've asked himself

what would have happened
if I had completed my task

of raising awareness about
the Japanese-American crisis?

Japan uses the oil embargo
as a reason to attack

the US, drawing
them into the war.

Sorge's prophecy came
true on December 7th.

(explosions blasting)

(machine tapping)

Ribbentrop requested
Sorge's extradition.

The Japanese refuse.

The war has turned,
and Sorge could serve

as a valuable bargaining chip
in negotiations with Moscow.

After five months
of interrogation,

the police officer, Ohashi,

presents his final report
to the state prosecutor.

Sorge addresses him with
personal remarks and thanks
him.

- [Richard] For the thorough
and extremely friendly review

of my case, I will never
forget
how friendly you were to me

in the most difficult
time of my eventful life.

- [Narrator] Ohashi's report
recommends the death penalty.

(somber music)

Richard Sorge is declared
guilty and sentenced to death.

He believes that Stalin
will arrange for his rescue.

If he had known about his
wife,
Katya's, life of suffering,

he would not have given
himself over to this
illusion.

Stalin's henchmen
had arrested her,

accused her of being a spy for
the German secret services,

sentenced her to banishment in
Siberia, where she soon died.

Her crime was being the
wife of Richard Sorge.

(airplanes buzzing)

When the Japanese
actually were ready

to engage in a spy swap,

Moscow claimed the name
Richard Sorge is unknown to us.

(drums beating)
(troops marching)

Sorge went from being the
betrayer to the betrayed.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] His
contribution was invaluable.

No other person had delivered
so much information to us

about Japan in this
intense period.

Sorge revealed Japan's
situation
and problems from A to Z.

Fundamental. He was our
most valuable worker.

(speaking in foreign language)

When he could no longer deliver,

he was treated like
a used up resource.

He wasn't interesting anymore.

Anyway, it was known
that he had talked openly

with the investigators.

That's why the Soviet
government didn't put any
effort

into saving Sorge.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] Ozaki is also
sentenced to death and
executed.

Max Clausen receives
life imprisonment.

He is freed in 1945.

Branko Vukelic receives
a life sentence

and dies in prison in 1944.

Miyagi dies in 1943,
during the trial.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] Sorge
made it clear in his notes

that he was as much against
Hitler as he was against
Stalin.

And that as a communist,
he assumed that the ideals

of socialism and communism,
not Stalin as a person,

would be fulfilled in the end.

After he had set these
thoughts down on paper,

he was, I think,
ready for death.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] It remains
unclear what the course

of the war would have been
without the Tokyo warnings.

It also remains unclear
if, and to what extent,

Sorge became a double agent
in the hope of gaining access

to even more meaningful
Nazi sources.

Because he had witnessed
hell in the trenches,

Sorge, a man who actually
never even wanted to be a spy,

became Stalin's James Bond.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Interpreter] One of
Stalin's greatest mistakes

was that he ignored
Sorge's information

about the German invasion

and was therefore not prepared.

Sorge was dangerous to
him for that reason.

He could have brought
this mistake to light.

Thus, for Stalin,

it would have been
extremely dangerous

to bring Sorge back to Moscow.

On the contrary,
it was advantageous

that the Japanese kept Sorge
prisoner and executed him.

That's why Stalin
didn't take an interest

in exchanging spies.

When Sorge was executed
on November 7th, 1944,

Stalin was perhaps more
pleased than anyone.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] On November 7th,
1944, disowned by everyone,

Sorge goes to his execution.

(footsteps tapping)

- Long live
International Communism.

Banzai.

- [Narrator] His last
words defiantly repeat

his unbroken faith.

(radio beeping)
(typewriter tapping)

November 5th, 1964,
Richard Sorge honored

as a hero of the Soviet Union.

(inspiring music)