Rudolf Abel
Soviet intelligence officer (1903-1971) · United Kingdom · On the map · Died at 68
A Soviet spy who ran a New York operation under a borrowed name, caught when a hollow nickel split open on a Brooklyn sidewalk, then traded back to Moscow for a downed U-2 pilot in the Cold War's most famous prisoner exchange.
Rudolf Abel is read about 774 times a day, in 41 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 1 November 2026
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Photos 8
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The Soviet Union 1990 CPA 6265 stamp (Soviet Intelligence Agents. Rudolf Abel)
Evelina-Fischer
Hollow Nickel Message
Hollow Nickel
Hollowed out bolt open
Hollowed out bolt
Indicted as Spy--Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, above, was indicted today in New York, charged with conspiring to commit espionage for a Soviet Union spy ring Trim
Indicted as Spy--Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, above, was indicted today in New York, charged with conspiring to commit espionage for a Soviet Union spy ringAwards
About this person
William August Fisher was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1903 to Russian émigré parents, moved to Russia in the 1920s, and became a radio operator in Soviet intelligence before fighting the Germans in World War II. After the war, the KGB sent him to the United States to work in a New York City spy ring under the alias Rudolf Ivanovich Abel - a name he adopted to signal his handlers when the FBI arrested him in 1957. Convicted in federal court on three counts of conspiracy in what became known as the Hollow Nickel Case, he was sentenced to 30 years at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. He served just over four years before being exchanged in 1962 for captured U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers and Yale doctoral student Frederic Pryor. He returned to the Soviet Union, lectured on his experiences, and died in 1971 - his true identity and English birthplace revealed only after his death.