The son of World War II master spy Leopold Trepper accused French authorities yesterday of having inspired an article in the newspaper Le Monde which described his father as an undesirable foreign agent who must be kept out of France. The Le Monde story said that an entry visa has been denied as well to Mrs. Elisabeth Trepper, not on personal grounds but because she is campaigning to get her husband an exit visa so he can leave Poland.
Trepper headed the Soviet espionage network in Western Europe during World War II known as the “Red Orchestra,” was imprisoned by Stalin after the war and has been living in Poland for the past ten years. Although he and his wife have applied for exit visas in order to go to Israel where a son lives, Polish authorities have refused on grounds that Trepper “knows too much.”
The Le Monde story said French authorities consider Trepper an undesirable foreign agent because his knowledge and experience of espionage could still be harmful to France, a country he knows well. Trepper, 68, reportedly suffered a mild heart attack last week.
PLOY TO PLACATE GIEREK
His son Michael Brojde told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency yesterday that the Le Monde story was “a dirty joke.” He said it was inspired by French authorities because of the forthcoming visit to Paris of Edward Gierek, leader of Poland’s Communist Party. French sources told the newspaper that Gierek’s visit had nothing to do with the dental of a visa to Trepper.
The Le Monde story said France was wary of Trepper because he allegedly collaborated with the Gestapo after falling into its hands in the early 1940s. Trepper was not harmed but after his capture many other agents were arrested in a Gestapo drive to destroy the “Red Orchestra.” Trepper subsequently obtained false papers which enabled him to escape from the Gestapo. Brojde told the JTA that the Le Monde article was an unfair “attack against an old man who cannot defend himself.”
Trepper’s three sons were allowed to leave Poland. Michael lives in Copenhagen, Pierre in Canada and Edgar in Israel. They have launched a world-wide campaign to arouse public opinion on behalf of their parents’ efforts to leave Poland. Mrs. Trepper was granted a temporary exit visa but postponed her departure following her husband’s heart attack. Michael said she planned to visit him in Copenhagen on April 8 or 10.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
