According to Ontario, Canada's Camp X Historical Society's web site, Igor Sergeievich Gouzenko, born 13 January 1919 at Rogachov, Russia, became a member of Komsomol (Youth Communist League) at the age of sixteen. He attended the Moscow Engineering Academy and the Moscow Architectural Institute. In 1941 he was sent to the Red Army military intelligence school in Moscow after which he was posted to the Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravlenie (GRU). The GRU, the intelligence arm of the Red Army, was primarily responsible for the collection of foreign military and scientific intelligence. Gouzenko soon entered the war where he fought against the Nazis, earning a commission in the Red Army. Upon his return from the war, he received specialized training in coding and cypher work, and in June 1943 he was posted to Ottawa as part of the Soviet Embassy. Gouzenko’s wife Svetlana, pregnant with their first child, arrived soon after.
At the Soviet Embassy, Gouzenko worked under the supervision of Colonel Nikolai Zabotin. Zabotin’s office was fully equipped with state-of-the-art photographic equipment installed for the purpose of copying sensitive documents for forwarding directly to Moscow. Zabotin had an establishment of 14 GRU officers involved in espionage operations under his command. The main task of this unit was to find out as much as possible about Canadian research on the atomic bomb.
The Gouzenkos came to enjoy their life in the West. However, in September 1944, a telegram was received by Colonel Zabotin ordering the Gouzenkos back to Moscow. Zabotin was able to intervene on Gouzenko’s behalf, but in August 1945 a second telegram arrived from Moscow instructing Gouzenko and his family to return to Russia immediately. Gouzenko struggled with the notion of remaining in the West rather than returning to Russia.
From the Loyal Edmonton Regiment Military Museum comes more of the story.
On the evening of 5 September 1945, Igor Gouzenko, walked out of the Soviet embassy in Ottawa. Under his coat, he carried several documents relating to Soviet espionage activities in Canada and the United States. With these and more he had already stashed at home, he strode into the offices of the Ottawa Journal newspaper, but the senior editor politely turned him away. Gouzenko then went to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and asked to see the Minister of Justice. He was told to return next morning, which he did, only to be informed that the Minister was unavailable.
Igor Gouzenko then went to the Crown Attorney's office, then another newspaper. Finally, he approached his neighbor, a Royal Canadian Air Force sergeant, and told him about the more than 100 documents. The neighbor convinced the Ottawa police to investigate, and, later that night, four Soviet agents were arrested as they broke into Gouzenko's apartment. This convinced the RCMP that Igor Gouzenko was telling the truth, and they placed him and his wife into protective custody.
The Gouzenko documents revealed that Soviet agents had infiltrated the Canadian military, the National Research Council, the External Affairs Department, the Munitions Department, the British High Commission, and the Atomic Energy Research Program. These documents also contained a considerable amount of information regarding Soviet espionage in the United States.
Gouzenko's information clearly revealed that, as early as 1942, the Soviet government had regarded the Western allies as potential enemies. The documents also indicated that Soviets had infiltrated the Manhattan Project (the atomic bomb research and development program) as early as 1942 and that the Soviet Union was developing its own atomic weapons. The Gouzenko affair has been heralded as the beginning of the "Cold War."
According to former article in the CBC Digital Archives,
Igor Gouzenko lived the remainder of his life with his family in their home near Toronto, living under new identities. He and his wife Svetlana said they were profoundly moved by the quality of life they enjoyed in Canada. However, Svetlana Gouzenko said her family always lived in fear. She believed her relatives in Russia ended up either in the Gulag or in front of a firing squad, and claimed that there were several attempts on Igor Gouzenko's life in Canada.
Igor Gouzenko was diabetic, and went blind five years before he died of a heart attack in June 1982. He was 63. Gouzenko was buried quickly in an unmarked grave north of Toronto. Apart from his wife and children, only the family lawyer and a journalist were present. His eight children continued living under assumed names. Svetlana Gouzenko died in September 2001. A year after her death, the family erected a headstone that made their history public.
Here is Gouzenko's statement which was issued on 10 October 1945. The claim that his revelations reverberated throughout the world and helped to ignite the Cold War is easily justified by what he had to say.
Having arrived in Canada two years ago, I was surprised during the first days by the complete freedom of the individual which exists in Canada but does not exists in Russia. The false representations about the democratic countries which are increasingly propagated in Russia were dissipated daily, as no lying propaganda can stand up against facts.
During two years of life in Canada, I saw the evidence of what a free people can do. What the Canadian people have accomplished and are accomplishing here under conditions of complete freedom - the Russian people, under the conditions of the Soviet regime of violence and suppression of all freedom, cannot accomplish even at the cost of tremendous sacrifices, blood and tears.
The last elections which took place recently in Canada especially surprised me. In comparison with them the system of elections in Russian appear as a mockery of the conception of free elections. For example, the fact that in elections in the Soviet Union one candidate is put forward, so that the possibilities of choice are eliminated, speaks for itself.
While creating a false picture of the conditions of life in these countries, the Soviet Government at the same time is taking all measures to prevent the peoples of democratic countries from knowing about the conditions of life in Russia. The facts about the brutal suppression of the freedom of speech, the mockery of the real religious feelings of the people, cannot penetrate into the democratic countries.
Having imposed its communist regime on the people, the Government of the Soviet Union asserts that the Russian people have, as it were, their own particular understanding of freedom and democracy, different from that which prevails among the peoples of the western democracies. This is a lie. The Russian people have the same understanding of freedom as all the peoples of the world. However, the Russian people cannot realize their dream of freedom and a democratic government on account of cruel terror and persecution.
Holding forth at international conferences with voluble statements about peace and security, the Soviet Government is simultaneously preparing secretly for the third world war. To meet this war, the Soviet Government is creating in democratic countries, including Canada, a fifth column, in the organization of which even diplomatic representatives of the Soviet Government take part.
The announcement of the dissolution of the Comintern was, probably, the greatest farce of the Communists in recent years. Only the name was liquidated, with the object of reassuring public opinion in the democratic countries. Actually, the Comintern exists and continues its work, because the Soviet leaders have never relinquished the idea of establishing a Communist dictatorship throughout the world. Taking account least of all that this adventurous idea will cost millions of Russian lives, the Communists are engendering hatred in Russian people towards everything foreign.
To many Soviet people here abroad, it is clear that the Communist Party in democratic countries have changed long ago from a political party into an agency net of the Soviet Government, into a fifth column in these countries to meet a war, into an instrument in the hands of the Soviet Government for creating artificial unrest, provocation, etc., etc.
Through numerous party agitators the Soviet Government stirs up the Russian people in every possible way against the peoples of the democratic countries, preparing the ground for the third world war.
During my residence in Canada I have seen how the Canadian people and their Government, sincerely wishing to help the Soviet people, sent supplies to the Soviet Union, collected money for the welfare of the Russian people, sacrificing the lives of their sons in the delivery of supplies across the ocean - and instead of gratitude for the help rendered, the Soviet Government is developing espionage activity in Canada, preparing to deliver a stab in the back of Canada - all this without the knowledge of the Russian people.
Convinced that such double-faced politics of the Soviet Government towards the democratic countries do not conform with the interests of the Russian people and endanger the security of civilization, I decided to break award from the Soviet regime and to announce my decision openly. I am glad that I found the strength within myself to take this step and to warn Canada and the other democratic countries of the danger which hangs over them.
