Yevno Azef

Yevno Azef (1869-1918, also transliterated as Evno Azef), was a Russian socialist revolutionary who was also a double agent working for both as an organizer of assassinations for the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and a police spy for Okhrana.

Related Topics:
1869 - 1918 - Russia - Socialist - Revolutionary - Double agent - Assassin - Socialist-Revolutionary Party - Police spy - Okhrana

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Evno Fishelevich Azef was born in Lyskovo in 1869 to a poor Jewish family. After basic schooling, he worked as a journalist and then a traveling salesman. He also became a revolutionary. In 1892, when he was about to be arrested, he embezzled 800 rubles and fled to Germany, first to Karlsruhe and then Darmstadt. There he studied to become an electrical engineer. In those years Colonel Sergei Zubatov of Ochrana also recruited him as a police informer.

Related Topics:
Lyskovo - Jew - Embezzled - Ruble - Germany - Karlsruhe - Darmstadt - Colonel Sergei Zubatov

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Germany he also joined a group of exiled members of the Russian Social Democratic Party and traveled all over Europe to meet other revolutionaries. In 1899 he returned to Russia and joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party. He rose in status to become a member of the party's central committee and in 1903 succeeded Gregory Gershuni, head of the party's Fighting Organization, its terrorist branch. In that position he organized assassinations, including those of Vyacheslav Plehve in 1904 and Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich in 1905.

Related Topics:
Gregory Gershuni - Vyacheslav Plehve - Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By 1908 Azef was playing a double role of a revolutionary assassin and police spy who received 1000 rubles a month from the police. Sympathizers in the ranks of the police leaked information to the party who refused to believe it, taking it as malicious propaganda.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eventually a defector from the police convinced revolutionary Vladimir Burtsev, who began a long investigation. Eventually Burtsev spoke to Lopuhin, a former director of the police department, who verified the Azef had been working for them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Burtsev exposed Azef in February 1909. Azef escaped retaliation, again to Germany. His wife, Ljuba Mankin, who had been unaware of his double-dealing, divorced him and moved to USA.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Germany, Azef lived with a singer and worked as a corset salesman and stock speculator. During the First World War he was interned as an enemy alien but released in December 1917.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yevno Azef died in Berlin in April 24 1918. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Wilmersdorf cemetery.

Related Topics:
April 24 - 1918 - Wilmersdorf

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~