Dora Report

Summary

The supplied material consists of the author biography, preface, and closing passages of Sándor Radó’s memoir, Dora Reports. The Chinese edition appeared in 1980 as an abridged translation of the fourth Hungarian edition of 1978. The biography states that Radó led a Soviet intelligence organization in Switzerland from 1936 to 1944, gathering German military intelligence. After the war, he spent ten years imprisoned in the Soviet Union following a wrongful conviction; after rehabilitation, he returned to Hungary in 1955 to work in geography and cartography. In the preface, Radó criticizes accounts that attribute Soviet victory chiefly to the Swiss intelligence group, as well as explanations of Germany’s defeat based on the betrayal of military plans from within. He emphasizes the principal burden borne by the Soviet people and armed forces and describes cooperation across political affiliations and nationalities through shared opposition to fascism. The closing passages recount the deaths, torture, disappearances, and release of intelligence personnel and their helpers, retaining hearsay and uncertainty about some individuals’ fates and the sources behind “Lucy.” Anna Müller survived a death sentence and was liberated by Soviet forces in 1945. Radó also condemns what he considers Walter Schellenberg’s inadequate punishment, records the later circumstances of Masson and the Nazi “Red Orchestra” operational group, and concludes with his scientific work after returning home and Lena’s death in 1958.