Stalin’s Romeo Spy Emil Draitser (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2010)
评论者：约翰-埃尔曼
撰写间谍传记一定是一件令人沮丧的工作。 要使传记有趣，传主必须参与过小说中那些大胆的行动。 但是，如果没有完整的记录或对他人的采访，几乎不可能将真实与夸张或彻头彻尾的虚假区分开来。 其结果可能是一本书很有趣，甚至有些地方很吸引人，但可靠性却不确定。
埃米尔-德雷泽尔（Emil Draitser）的苏联伟大间谍德米特里-拜斯特罗约托夫（Dmitri Bystrolyotov）的传记《斯大林的罗密欧间谍》就是如此。
这本书引人入胜，虽然存在缺陷，但值得一读。 尽管拜斯特罗约托夫是活跃在第一次和第二次世界大战之间的最重要的苏联非法间谍之一，但很少有人听说过他。 拜斯特罗约托夫于 1901 年非婚生，母亲叛逆不羁，他在俄国革命和内战的混乱时期以及一战后东欧和中欧的动荡时期长大成人。 他所受的教育并不全面，但拜斯特罗约托夫却拥有得天独厚的语言学习能力和独立思考能力。 在经历了一系列社会边缘的冒险之后，拜斯特罗约托夫成为了一名共产党员，并于 20 世纪 20 年代中期来到布拉格，开始为苏联情报部门工作。 虽然从未接受过正式培训或任命，但拜斯特罗约托夫成为了莫斯科最重要的非法特工之一。
他纵横欧洲，经常假扮东欧贵族，招募和管理法国、英国、德国和意大利间谍。 拜斯特罗约托夫擅长从西欧使馆获取密码，从而使莫斯科能够接触到外交交通。 向他出售伦敦外交密码的英国密码职员欧内斯特-奥尔德姆就是他的资产之一。
拜斯特罗约托夫还经常利用自己出众的外表和魅力勾引使馆秘书和孤独的女官员，这些人可以帮助他获得密码和其他信息。 在欧洲疯狂工作十多年后，拜斯特罗约托夫被召回莫斯科。 不久后，1938 年，他被卷入斯大林的恐怖活动。 拜斯特罗约托夫以莫须有的罪名被捕，遭到残酷殴打，直到他承认从事间谍、恐怖主义和各种反革命活动，才被送进古拉格集中营。 直到 1954 年，在多年的野蛮环境和待遇毁坏了他的健康之后，他才被释放出来。 他在余生中一直从事翻译工作，争取克格勃承认他的功劳，并撰写了他在国外和集中营岁月的回忆录。 1975 年他去世后，克格勃（后来的苏联苏维埃社会主义共和国联盟）将他作为自己的英雄之一进行了纪念，但只公布了他被粉饰的一生。
斯大林的罗密欧间谍》是一本关于间谍活动和斯大林情报部门工作生活的好书。 作为一名记者、学者和大量虚构和非虚构作品的作者，德雷泽讲述了一个精彩的故事，知道如何让人物和情节栩栩如生，并且故事进展迅速，足以让读者感兴趣。 与许多其他间谍传记不同的是，书中几乎没有铺垫。 德雷塞尔假定读者熟悉战时欧洲和苏联的政治和历史，因此没有对事件进行冗长的解释。 他还避免为拜斯特罗约托夫的不道德行为开脱，德雷塞尔正确地指出，拜斯特罗约托夫的行为有时甚至是反社会的。 德雷泽具有写这本传记的独特资格。 德雷塞尔出生在苏联，在那里他遇到了年迈的拜斯特罗约托夫，并在那里采访了他，获得了他的文件。 1974 年移民美国后，德雷泽获得了加州大学洛杉矶分校斯拉夫语言文学博士学位。 在美国的这些年里，他出版了大量令人印象深刻的小说和非小说作品。 他现在纽约市亨特学院任教。 德雷塞尔在这本传记上的工作，以及他出版的资料集，都显示出他是一位认真负责的学者和研究者。 为了写这本书，他似乎对现有的资料--包括解密的克格勃档案--进行了彻底的挖掘。 但是，正如德雷塞尔所承认的，俄罗斯档案并不完整，他常常不得不依靠与拜斯特罗约托夫的访谈或这位退役间谍的回忆录来讲述他的故事。 因此，作为历史和情报学术研究的典范，《斯大林的罗密欧间谍》需要以审慎、批判的眼光来阅读。 首先，拜斯特罗约托夫对事件的描述是否可靠并不清楚。 我们不禁要问，这个老色鬼是否迷惑了德雷塞尔，让他相信了一些不可能的故事。 例如，拜斯特罗约托夫讲述了他在古拉格集中营担任军医的经历，他声称自己曾在苏黎世医学院学习，并获得了这一职位。 在 Draitser 用 150 页的篇幅讲述拜斯特罗约托夫在欧洲的生活时，他没有在任何地方提到过这种学校教育。 此外，还有一个问题是，像拜斯特罗约托夫这样忙碌的间谍怎么会有时间上医学院。 在另一个例子中，德雷塞尔描述了拜斯特罗约托夫如何在营地的临时实验室里进行复杂的医学研究--这个故事难以置信，却没有任何资料支持。 德雷塞尔还有一个令人遗憾的倾向，那就是将所有内容都归结为心理猜测。 可以肯定的是，拜斯特罗约托夫是一个很好的研究对象--他的母亲对他疏于管教，他对父亲的身份充满幻想，而且他似乎对自己在间谍工作中如何对待与他上床的女人没有什么顾虑。 拜斯特罗约托夫的个人感情生活也很离奇。 在欧洲，拜斯特罗约托夫说他爱上了一个女人，结果发现她是个女同性恋，最终娶了她的情人，后来可能又谋杀了他的初恋情人，然后，为了达到目的，他让自己的妻子成为了一个法国情报官员的情人，这样他就可以接触到这个法国人的文件。 但是，德雷塞尔对拜斯特罗约托夫构成的解释听起来很勉强，比如他将这名间谍的行为归因于 "压抑在心底的敌意......[以及]缺乏一个始终如一的价值传递者的结果"，这导致他发展出了 "反社会人格中没有负罪感的元素"（24-25）。 德雷塞尔似乎觉得有必要解释拜斯特罗约托夫的人格，但就是无法完全掌握这个人。 对一个时间和距离都如此遥远的对象进行心理分析，即使对专业分析师来说也是很困难的，更何况是对这一领域一无所知的人。
这种分析令人倍感遗憾，因为在寻找拜斯特罗约托夫的独特之处时，德雷塞尔错过了将他与其他非法移民进行比较并找出他们共同点的机会。 事实上，非法移民似乎有某种特质导致他们做出不寻常的行为。 也许，一个愿意并能够长期以一个完全虚假的身份生活的人，会认为自己的行为没有任何限制；或者，也许，非法移民认为，拥有一个可抛弃的身份可以让他们放纵自己的行为，而这些行为本来是被禁止的。 在这种情况下，值得注意的是，拜斯特罗约托夫的性逸事在非法移民中似乎并不太罕见。 20 世纪 60 年代活跃在埃及的以色列非法移民沃尔夫冈-卢茨（Wolfgang Lutz）在他的回忆录中讲述了这样一个迷人的故事：他在欧洲的火车上邂逅了一名女子，在经历了旋风式的恋爱之后，他娶了她并把她带到开罗，让她成为他的间谍伙伴；然而，他没有告诉她，他已经有妻子和儿子住在巴黎。 十年后，在美国，科切尔夫妇--一对捷克非法移民--也在工作中经历了许多性冒险。 最近，2010 年 6 月在美国被捕的 10 名俄罗斯非法移民之一安娜-查普曼（Anna Chapman）显然也是如此。 德雷塞尔还忽略了拜斯特罗约托夫与他那个时代的许多其他间谍相似的另一个方面。 与维特克-钱伯斯（Whittaker Chambers）一样，他的个人背景也很糟糕，为了应对一战后的不确定性，他转而投身共产主义和间谍活动。 招募金-菲尔比的特奥多尔-马利（Teodor Maly）也是一名忠诚的共产主义者，他接受了返回莫斯科的传票，满心以为会被处死。 事实上，虽然拜斯特罗约托夫的经历逐渐让他对苏联体制产生了怀疑，但他从未完全与之决裂。 德雷塞尔没有大胆追问为什么这样一个聪明、受过良好教育的人仍然忠于利用他并对他施以酷刑的制度，这或许说明了拜斯特罗约托夫有能力对事件做出自己的解释。 尽管存在不足之处，《斯大林的罗密欧间谍》值得任何对苏联情报部门历史或一般情报史感兴趣的人阅读。 德雷塞尔的叙述提醒我们，当苏联情报部门抛开一切顾忌时，他们能够完成的间谍壮举。 鉴于人性是不会改变的，世界上仍然存在冷酷无情的政权--更不用说我们现在已经确凿地知道莫斯科仍在利用非法移民来对付我们--这本书提醒我们需要警惕什么。
Stalin’s Romeo Spy Emil Draitser (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2010), 420 pp., end notes, bibliography, index. Reviewed by John Ehrman Writing the biography of a spy must be frustrating work. To be interesting, the subject needs to have been involved in the types of daring operations that are the stuff of fiction. But separating truth from exaggeration, or outright falsehood, without complete records or interviews with others is almost impossible. The result can be a book that is interesting, even fascinating in places, but of uncertain reliability. So it is with Emil Draitser’s biography of the great Soviet spy Dmitri Bystrolyotov, Stalin’s Romeo Spy. It is a book that is captivating and, although flawed, worthwhile. Few have heard of Bystrolyotov, even though he was one of the most important Soviet illegals active between the First and Second World Wars. Born out of wedlock in 1901 to a socially rebellious mother, Bystrolyotov came of age during the chaos of the Russian Revolution and civil war, as well as the post-WW I upheavals in Eastern and Central Europe. His education was spotty, but Bystrolyotov was blessed with the ability to learn languages and to think on his feet. After a series of adventures on the margins of society, Bystrolyotov became a communist and, winding up in Prague in the mid-1920s, began working for Soviet intelligence. Although he was never formally trained or appointed, Bystrolyotov became one of Moscow’s premier illegals. He crisscrossed Europe, often posing as an East European aristocrat, recruiting and running French, British, German, and Italian spies. Bystrolyotov specialized in obtaining codes from West European embassies, thus giving Moscow access to diplomatic traffic. One of his assets was Ernest Oldham, the British cipher clerk who sold him London’s diplomatic codes. Bystrolyotov also often used his extraordinary good looks and charm to seduce embassy secretaries and lonely female officials who could help him gain access to codes and other information. After more than a decade of frenetic work in Europe, Bystrolyotov was recalled to Moscow. Soon after, in 1938, he was swept up in Stalin’s Terror. Arrested on trumped-up charges and brutally beaten until he confessed to espionage, terrorism, and various counterrevolutionary activities, Bystrolyotov was sent to the Gulag. He did not emerge until 1954, after years of barbaric conditions and treatment had ruined his health. He spent the remainder of his l ife working as a translator, seeking recognition of his service from the KGB, and writing memoirs of his years abroad and in the camps. After his death in 1975, the KGB (subsequently the SVR) memorialized him as one of its heroes, although it publicized only a whitewashed version of his life.
Stalin’s Romeo Spy is a good book about espionage and life at the working level in Stalin’s intelligence services. A journalist as well as an academic and the writer of a large number of fiction and nonfiction works, Draitser tells a good story, knows how to bring characters and situations to life, and moves the tale along quickly enough to keep readers interested. Unlike in many other biographies of spies, there is little padding. Draitser assumes his readers are familiar with the politics and history of interwar Europe and the Soviet Union and does not go into long explanations of events. He also avoids excusing Bystrolyotov’s amoral behavior, which at times, Draitser rightly says, descended into the sociopathic. Draitser is uniquely qualified to write this biography. Draitser was born in the USSR, where he met Bystrolyotov as an old man and where he interviewed him and was given access to his papers. After immigrating to the United States in 1974, Draitser earned a PhD from UCLA in Slavic Languages and Literatures. In his years in the United States, he has produced an impressive collection of published works, fiction and non-fiction. He now teaches at Hunter College in New York City. Draitser’s work on this biography—and indeed his collection of published material—reveal him to be a conscientious scholar and researcher. For this book, he seems to have mined the available sources—including declassified KGB files—thoroughly. But, as Draitser acknowledges, the Russian files are incomplete, and he often has to rely on either his interviews with Bystrolyotov or the retired spy’s memoirs to tell his story. As an example of historical and intelligence scholarship, therefore, Stalin’s Romeo Spy needs to be read with a careful, critical eye. First, it is not clear that Bystrolyotov’s versions of events are reliable. One wonders if the old illegal charmed Draitser into believing some improbable stories. For example, Bystrolyotov told of his work in the Gulag as a camp medic, a position he claimed to have obtained he had attended medical school in Zurich. Nowhere in the 150 pages Draitser devoted to Bystrolyotov’s time in Europe does he mention such schooling. Moreover, there is the question of how a spy as busy as Bystrolyotov would have had the time to go to medical school. In another instance, Draitser describes how Bystrolyotov carried out sophisticated medical research in a makeshift camp laboratory—an implausible story told without supporting source notes. Draitser also has an unfortunate tendency to f all into psychological speculation. Bystrolyotov, to be sure, is a good subject for this—his mother was neglectful, he spun fantasies about his father’s identity, and he seems to have had few qualms about how he treated the women he bedded in his espionage work. Bystrolyotov’s personal love life also was bizarre. In Europe, Bystrolyotov said he fell in love with a woman who turned out to be a lesbian, eventually married her lover, may have later murdered his original love and then, to top it all off, sent his wife to become the lover of a French intelligence officer so he could gain access to the Frenchman’s papers. But Draitser’s explanations of Bystrolyotov’s makeup sound forced, such as when he attributes the spy’s actions to “bottled-up, suppressed hostility...[and the] result of the absence of a consistent value-conveying figure” that led him to develop the “elements of a sociopathic personality free of guilt” (24–25). It is as if Draitser felt a need to explain Bystrolyotov’s personality but just could not quite get a grip on the man. Psychological analysis of a subject so far removed in time and distance is chancy, even for a professional analyst, let alone someone unschooled in the f ield, and Draitser might have done better to avoid the attempt.
The analysis is doubly unfortunate because, in looking for what made Bystrolyotov unique, Draitser missed the opportunity to compare him to other illegals and draw out their commonalities. It would seem, in fact, that there is something about illegals that leads them to unusual behavior. Perhaps a personality that is willing and able to live for long periods under a completely false identity is one that will conclude there are no bounds on their behavior; or, perhaps, illegals conclude that having a disposable identity permits them to indulge i n otherwise forbidden behaviors. In this context, it is worth noting, Bystrolyotov’s sexual escapades seem not be too unusual among illegals. Wolfgang Lutz, the Israeli illegal active in Egypt in the 1960s, related in his memoirs the charming story of how he met a woman on a train in Europe and, after a whirlwind romance, married her and brought her to Cairo to be his partner in espionage; however, he neglected to tell her that he already had a wife and son living in Paris. A decade later in the United States, the Koechers—a husband-and-wife pair of Czech illegals—also had many sexual adventures in the course of their work. More recently, apparently, so did Anna Chapman, one of the 10 Russian illegals arrested in the United States in June 2010. Draitser also overlooks another way in which Bystrolyotov was similar to many other spies of his era. Like Whittaker Chambers, he emerged from a troubled personal background and then reacted to the uncertainties of the post-WW I era by turning to communism and espionage. Teodor Maly, who recruited Kim Philby, also remained a loyal communist, to the point that he accepted a summons back to Moscow, fully expecting to be executed. Indeed, while Bystrolyotov’s experiences gradually made him doubt the Soviet system, he never quite broke with it. It may be indicative of Bystrolyotov’s ability to project his version of events that Draitser did not venture to ask why such a clever and educated man remained loyal to the system that used and then tortured him. Despite its weaknesses, Stalin’s Romeo Spy deserves the attention of anyone interested in the history of the Soviet intelligence services or the history of intelligence in general. Draitser’s account reminds us of the feats of espionage the Soviet services were able to accomplish when they set aside all scruples. Given that human nature is changeless and that ruthless regimes still remain in the world—not to mention that we now know conclusively that Moscow continues to use illegals against us—the book is a reminder of what we need to watch for.
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