Jack Soble
| Jack Soble | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance | Soviet Union |
| Codename(s) | ABRAM |
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| Birth name | Abromas Sobolevicius |
| Born |
15 May 1903 Vilkaviskis, Lithuania |
| Nationality | Lithuanian |
| Spouse | |
Jack Soble (May 15, 1903 – 1967) was a Lithuanian who, together with his brother Robert Soblen, penetrated Leon Trotsky's entourage for Soviet intelligence in the 1920s. Later, in the United States, he was jailed together with his wife Myra on espionage charges. He was born in Vilkaviskis, Lithuania as Abromas Sobolevicius and sometimes used the name Abraham Sobolevicius or Adolph Senin.
Soble was born in 1903, Abromas Sobolevicius, in then-Russian controlled Lithuania to a wealthy Jewish family. Soble travelled to Leipzig, Germany in 1921, to attend college, and where he joined the German Communist Party. In 1927, travelled to the Soviet Union, where he married and then returned to Germany. Soble studied briefly at the University of Berlin where he became a Trotskyist which led to his expulsion from the Communist Party and the university. Decades later, Soble would claim that he was coerced by Soviet agents to become a spy in 1931 after his wife returned to the USSR to visit her sick mother and threats to her safety were made if he did not cooperate. These claims are considered suspect as there is evidence that Soble had earlier contact with Stalin's agents.
Soble, who now adopted the name Abraham Senin, became publicly known as a prominent member of the German Trotskyist circle, visiting Leon Trotsky himself on at least two occasions. But suspicions were aroused about his activities and Trotsky booted Senin and his brother from the party. Soble returned to the USSR, and began work for Profintern. In 1940, Soviet spymaster Lavrenty Beria dispatched the entire Soble family to the United States, by way of Japan and Canada. Soble later testified that Beria had told him that if he undertook the mission to spy on the United States, Beria would allow Soble's entire family to leave the Soviet Union.
Soble arrived in 1941, and took over supervision of an NKVD spy ring known as the "Mocase", replacing Vasily Zarubin who under the pseudonym "Vasili Zubilin" became the head of the NKVD in the United States.
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Wikipedia