In America, he went by the name Jack Barsky, worked as a computer analyst and lived with a wife and daughter. But in his native East Germany, he was called Albrecht Dittrich, a chemist with a wife and son, who moonlighted as a KGB agent.
Barksy recently sat down with the Guardian to tell his story, which illustrates the extent of Russia’s zeal to undermine American interests during the Cold War.
Barsky was pursuing a chemistry degree at the university of Jena when he was recruited by the Stasi and given years of KGB spy training, including morse code, cryptography, evading surveillance, and comprehensive English lessons. Chosen to be part of the Soviet “illegals” program, he was assigned to live in the US and establish contacts with foreign policy think tanks — specifically President Carter’s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Additionally, he was told to profile anyone he met who could be open to suggestion from Soviet agents, paying special attention to subjects’ ideology, bad habits, financial troubles, and possible blackmail material.
But for all that, and despite his training, Barsky’s path to success as a spy was ill-defined. “It’s as if they had spent time looking at fish swimming in an aquarium, and now they are training you to be a fish,” Barsky said of his superiors. “But they don’t actually know what it’s like to be a fish.”
As a result, Barsky was lonely and socially adrift in America. He’d married his girlfriend back in Germany—they’d even had a son—but the time he spent away from them weighed on him. He met and married another woman and they had a daughter together, right around the time Barsky was threatened by other KGB agents and told to run.
The FBI had him under surveillance, and they made their move in 1997 after bugging his home and overhearing a tearful confession he made to his American wife (who later divorced him). When they apprehended him, he agreed to tell them everything without hesitation, and they helped him gain legitimate US citizenship as a result.
Now, Barsky lives a quiet, suburban life, with a new wife and child. He is still estranged from his German family and siblings, but he has found peace of mind.
—RealClearLife
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