Igor Gouzenko defected 80 years in the past. His Chilly Struggle-era bravery hasn’t been forgotten

[ad_1] For 20 years, the grave of a former Soviet cipher clerk whose defection revealed a secret spy ring in Canada lay unmarked in a Mississauga, Ont., cemetery.

Left with out a gravestone amid lingering fears of retribution from Moscow, the gravesite of Igor Gouzenko and his spouse Svetlana has been recognized since 2002 by a big Muskoka rock bearing a plaque with their names and the phrase "We selected freedom for mankind."

A small gathering on the grave this weekend marked 80 years since Gouzenko defected from the Soviet Union, smuggling 109 secret paperwork in his shirt out of the Ottawa embassy and delivering them to the places of work of the Ottawa Journal newspaper in 1945.

Dubbed the Gouzenko Affair, the defection is taken into account by some historians as the start of the Chilly Struggle.

Talking practically a century later from the Springcreek Cemetery in Mississauga, Gouzenko's daughter Evy Wilson mentioned her dad and mom had acted "spontaneously" with a single aim in thoughts.

<img loading="lazy" alt="The grave of Igor Gouzenko." srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7627150.1757180430!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/gouzenko-grave.jpg?im=Resize%3D300 300w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7627150.1757180430!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/gouzenko-grave.jpg?im=Resize%3D460 460w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7627150.1757180430!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/gouzenko-grave.jpg?im=Resize%3D620 620w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7627150.1757180430!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/gouzenko-grave.jpg?im=Resize%3D780 780w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.7627150.1757180430!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/gouzenko-grave.jpg?im=Resize%3D1180 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 300px,(max-width: 460px) 460px,(max-width: 620px) 620px,(max-width: 780px) 780px,(max-width: 1180px) 1180px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.7627150.1757180430!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/gouzenko-grave.jpg?im=" style="aspect-ratio:1.486146095717884" data-cy="image-img"/> The grave of Igor and Svetlana Gouzenko on the Springcreek Cemetery in Mississauga, Ont., on Sept. 6, 2025. (Submitted by Evy Wilson) "They wished to warn the West," Wilson mentioned. "That is it. Full cease. That they had no different mission aside from warning the West that the Soviets had the nuclear weapon, had the atomic bomb."

Commemorating the defection, she mentioned, is especially vital within the current second, as tensions between Western democracies and Russia flare amid the Ukraine Struggle.

Secret paperwork revealed spy ring The identical yr as Gouzenko's defection, Hitler's fascist forces had been defeated within the Second World Struggle and atomic bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On Sept. 5, 1945, Gouzenko made off with paperwork revealing {that a} Soviet spy ring working in Canada had penetrated key authorities departments, the Canadian navy and a laboratory with entry to secrets and techniques of the bomb.

"That they had a novel window to the first mission, which was the event of the atomic bomb," mentioned Wilson, who was born in 1946 close to Oshawa, Ont., at Camp X, the primary purpose-built spy coaching facility in North America.

"That was one among their main missions at that individual embassy within the Soviet system. The Ottawa embassy was key to transmitting the information."

The extent of Soviet espionage revealed within the stolen paperwork sparked vital concern in halls of energy throughout Western democracies.

Gouzenko fearful about retaliation for the remainder of his life, dwelling anonymously in a suburb west of Toronto and carrying a bag over his head throughout appearances on tv.

<img loading="lazy" alt="Man wearing disguise being interviewed" srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/1.3269263.1711632491!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/igor-gouzenko.jpg?im=Resize%3D300 300w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.3269263.1711632491!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/igor-gouzenko.jpg?im=Resize%3D460 460w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.3269263.1711632491!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/igor-gouzenko.jpg?im=Resize%3D620 620w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.3269263.1711632491!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/igor-gouzenko.jpg?im=Resize%3D780 780w,https://i.cbc.ca/1.3269263.1711632491!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/igor-gouzenko.jpg?im=Resize%3D1180 1180w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 300px,(max-width: 460px) 460px,(max-width: 620px) 620px,(max-width: 780px) 780px,(max-width: 1180px) 1180px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/1.3269263.1711632491!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/igor-gouzenko.jpg?im=" style="aspect-ratio:1.2910284463894968" data-cy="image-img"/> Igor Gouzenko did not present his face throughout interviews after his defection in 1945 and lived in a suburb west of Toronto till his demise in 1982. (Related Press) A bronze plaque commemorating Gouzenko was erected in Ottawa's Dundonald Park in 2004, throughout the road from the brown brick house constructing on Somerset Road the place he lived along with his spouse and child forward of his defection.

Gouzenko died in 1982, however the gravestone bearing his identify was solely erected after his spouse was buried beside him in 2001.

Soviets 'not the allies' Canada thought Don Mahar attended the ceremony Saturday in Mississauga.

In 1976, Mahar moved from Saskatchewan to Ottawa to work with the RCMP Safety Service. One among his first duties was dealing with the Gouzenko file.

For Mahar, who went on to work in counterintelligence for the remainder of his profession, the anniversary carries the private significance of "closing the circle" from his time as a younger Mountie till as we speak.

However he mentioned the date is additionally a chance to acknowledge Gouzenko's position in illuminating the Soviet menace to the West within the Chilly Struggle period.

"The Soviets actually have been conducting espionage in opposition to all of us, they usually weren't the allies that we thought they have been," Mahar mentioned. "That has continued proper as much as today."

For Wilson, the anniversary could assist deliver that historical past to mild.

"As we speak, all people has nuclear weapons, and we're on the precipice of a World Struggle Three underneath essentially the most dire circumstances," Wilson mentioned.

"My dad and mom, till the day they died, they each believed that they made the precise alternative."

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