How the Cold War Started...in Ottawa

The story of a Russian cipher clerk with an explosive secret, who just wanted someone in Ottawa to listen to what he had to say. Three days after the end of WWII, Igor Gouzenko would be the bearer of bad news that shook the world: there were spies in the capital!

"The spark that ignited the Cold War": We just want to reiterate that Igor Gouzenko’s defection, and the fallout from it, is one of a few threads that led to the decades-long Cold War. A defining moment that is commonly referred to as being the first major event, post WWII. We hope that is made clear in the episode. Before the end of WWII, relations between the Soviets, the United States and Britain were rocky.

Stalin took particular umbrage at the U.S.’s extremely delayed entrance into war with Germany—by that point, millions of Russian soldiers and civilians had already died. The fact their ideologies didn’t line up, to say the least, meant they were basically doomed to be at odds. The introduction of nuclear weapons, and their use in the tragic loss of life at Hiroshima and Nagasaki—well, it poured gasoline on red hot embers. Less than a month after the catastrophe at Nagasaki, Gouzenko would bring the spy ring to light, creating the spark.

From that point onward, distrust between superpowers, who had once been allies, was the norm. To learn more about Gouzenko’s defection and his place in the start of the Cold War, here are a few great resources:

How The Cold War Began: The Igor Gouzenko Affair and the Hunt for Soviet Spies by Amy Knight

"Igor Gouzenko" article in Maclean's in 1946: https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1...

Canada's History Podcast interview with Andrew Kavchak — a former federal civil servant and amateur historian who is deeply immersed in the story: https://soundcloud.com/canadashistory...

The Fallout for Gouzenko: The ramifications for Igor and Svetlana were immense. First, here are some clips from CBC of Igor’s famous interviews:

1968 - on hiding his identity: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/144870...

1970 - follow-up interview: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/140281...

1987 - incredible interview with Svetlana: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/267232...

Svetlana and Igor lived in constant fear for their 8 children, as well as family in Russia. And it was more than justified. After the defection, Igor’s mother was killed during interrogation. Svetlana’s father was arrested and ‘disappeared.’ Two months later, her mother was as well. And then, Svetlana’s sister was arrested, leaving behind her 2-year-old son. In an interview, Svetlana remarks on such things as being normal in a country where 50 million people were killed by the government. The Gouzenkos never let their guard down, and were it not for the RCMP, they may not have survived. They were tried in absentia and sentenced to death, a bomb was placed in their mailbox, break-ins were common.

Gouzenko’s favourite song was Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, played by his wife Svetlana. The Iron Curtain movie: In one of the rare events that Canada plays itself in Hollywood, The Iron Curtain came out in 1948 and was partly filmed in Ottawa. Gouzenko was a consultant on the film. Originally we included clips from the film, until we found out that they would cost $10K per minute to use. Ironically, the production company behind the film was sued for using copyrighted music from Russia, and the entire film has been ripped and put up on YouTube in multiple places:

https://youtu.be/TDaJBpTnvoM Stephenson and Camp X: It's a matter of opinion as to who is the 'greatest of all spymasters.'

Maxwell Knight is another candidate (another possible inspiration for James Bond). We didn't fully cover Camp X, but late in the editing process we came across Lynn Philip Hodgson's website which is full of info: http://www.camp-x.com/camp-x.html Mackenzie King: One day we'll make an episode all about his affinity for the ‘spirit world.’ He sat on Gouzenko’s revelations for 5 months, only relaying them to the world after conversing with spirits in a séance.

Note: The Ottawa Journal was not in the building we filmed, but one very nearby that no longer exists. Apologies for some flickering, something about YouTube's compression has made it pronounced.

00:00 Intro - Shortlived Peace

02:03 WWII

03:33 Zabotin Spy Ring

04:28 The 'Fishing' Trip

05:02 Igor Gouzenko

06:25 The Escape

07:20 The Absurdity

09:29 The Climax

12:17 Camp X

13:52 The Fallout

16:11 Diefenbunkers

17:56 Bonus Story

#ottawa #canadianhistory #coldwar

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

September, 1945. The Second World War is over. As Japan signs the articles of surrender, celebrations break out in cities around the world. There are parades, parties, people dancing and kissing in the streets. After years of horror and bloodshed, peace has finally come. But for at least one person in Ottawa, it's not entirely good news. Meet a man who knew that the end of the war might mean the end of his life, who would now be hunted by assassins until the day he died.

Forced to wear a bag over his head to protect his identity every time he made a public appearance. All because he knew a secret that would shake the world to its foundations, and he was about to reveal it.

- Do you believe if your face was to be exposed now, on this program, that your

life would be in danger?

- Oh, yes, definitely.

- [Adam Bunch] This is Igor Gouzenko, the man who had launched the Cold War.

This is Canadiana.

- [President Reagan] Mr.

Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

- [Neil Armstrong] One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

- [Film Narrator] To release this energy laboratory machines generating millions of volts bombard the nucleus of the atom with particles driven at enormous speed.

- [Adam Bunch] It all started right here. This is the Russian Embassy in Ottawa. Igor Gouzenko used to work here, in an old mansion that used to stand on this spot; the Embassy of the Soviet Union. He was a military intelligence officer; a cypher clerk who scrambled and unscrambled top-secret messages. And that meant he knew a lot of secrets including the one that put his life in danger.

Igor Gouzenko knew that Ottawa was full of Soviet spies. This was a time when

Canada and the Soviet Union were supposed to be good friends. During the war, they were close allies in the fight against the Nazis. The Canadian government helped send aid and weapons to Russia. Ordinary Canadian citizens raised money to help Russian refugees. Canadian-Soviet friendship associations were formed. Even the Eaton's Department Store displayed images of Joseph Stalin in their windows and flew the Communist hammer

and sickle above their doors.

But when the U.S. and UK began working on the development of the atomic bomb, they didn't tell the Soviets. Even though they were all fighting on the same side, and Canada was playing a vital role in the research. The Soviets were determined to get the bomb for themselves, even if that meant spying on their allies, including Canada.

Quiet little Ottawa became a hotbed for espionage. This is Colonel Nikolai Zabotin, head of the city's big Soviet spy ring. He was a war hero who'd fought at the Battle of Stalingrad, and he charmed his way through the Canadian Capital. Zabotin and his men were very popular. They threw huge parties, told entertaining stories, and had a ton of booze. Zabotin was even rumoured to have seduced the wives of a couple of Canadian diplomats. And all this wining and dining helped the Russians turn some Canadians into informants and spies.

They recruited government officials, engineers, physicists, mathematicians: anyone who might be able to give them information about the bomb. And while some of those Canadians might have been hardcore Communists who knew they were betraying their country, others didn't think they were doing anything wrong; just sharing information with a vital ally. Some didn't even realise they were being used.

Like, say, the Canadian Army officer who took Colonel Zabotin on a fishing trip up the Ottawa River. Holding the canoe steady so the Soviet spy master could take photos of the scenery while the Chalk River nuclear facility was being built. Igor Gouzenko played an

important role turning the information they collected into ciphered messages to be sent on to Moscow.

So he knew all about the spy ring. He was appalled by it. And the more secrets he knew,

the more afraid he grew.

He'd known for a long time that some of his bosses didn't completely trust him. He'd seen freedoms and luxuries in Canada they didn't have back home: Democratic elections, supermarkets filled with food, the right to criticise your government without fearing for your life.

He and his wife even had their own apartment in Ottawa, far from the prying eyes of his superiors. Some of those superiors suspected Gouzenko's experiences in Canada might be tempting him to turn against Communism.

In Stalinist Russia, that suspicion could be deadly. Millions had been murdered by the government, including some of Stalin's closest advisors. Some intelligence

officers had been executed or sent off to labour camps.

And now that the war was over Gouzenko knew he was about to be sent back to Russia. What he didn't know was whether he'd be returning home, or to a gulag, or to the grave.

So while the rest of the world celebrated, Igor Gouzenko feared for his life. But, he had a plan.

Before the Russians could send him home, he would defect, turn himself in to the Canadian authorities, and tell them all about the spy ring: a secret so big it would change the world. On a hot September evening, just three days after the end of the war, Gouzenko left the Embassy for the last time. With him, he carried top secret documents; evidence of the scandalous spy ring.

He'd been sneaking them out of the Embassy for weeks. And now, all he had to do was hand them over to the Canadians in exchange for his freedom. But that was easier said than done. Gouzenko had to find someone to turn himself in to.

He knew the government and the police force might be filled with Soviet spies. So, his first thought was to give his story to the press.

He came downtown to the offices of the Ottawa Journal. But when he tried to give the Journal his story, the editor didn't take him seriously. The newspaper turned him and his explosive front-page story away. It was the beginning of an absurd scramble, knowing it was only a matter of time before the Soviets noticed he was missing.

Late into the night and well into the next day Gouzenko raced around Ottawa, desperately trying to find someone who would accept his defection. He tried the media, the police, one government department after another. But no one seemed to believe him.

In the morning, Gouzenko ended up here at the Justice Building on the edge of Parliament Hill, right next door to the Supreme Court. It was home to the Department of Justice and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Such a vital hub for national security in espionage that it was even used as a setting in a James Bond book.

With Gouzenko were his very young son and his very pregnant wife, Svetlana. Hidden away inside her purse were 250 pages of top secret documents, chock full of information about the spy ring. They asked to see the Justice Minister but were told to wait.

They sat there for two hours, growing more worried with every passing moment. What they didn't realise is that the Canadian government didn't want to believe them. The Prime Minister himself, Mackenzie King, was a leading patron for the National Council for Canadian Soviet Friendship.

He was deeply invested in the fragile new alliance with the Russians. And Gouzenko's secret didn't just risk blowing it all apart. It could even start a third world war. The Justice Minister refused to see them. Some people say Gouzenko was so desperate, he pulled out a gun. He threatened to kill himself right there in the office. But it was all in vain. He was turned back out onto the street.

The Gouzenkos were quickly running out of options.

This is where it all finally came to a climax. The Gouzenkos's apartment building in Downtown Ottawa. They had tried and tried but they still hadn't managed to turn themselves in. No one was listening. So they returned home discouraged, and in real danger.

The Soviets had noticed their cypher clerk was missing. It wasn't long before a driver from the Embassy appeared. He started banging on their door while they hid inside doing everything they could not to make a sound.

When he left, the Gouzenkos's knew they had to act fast, so they turned to their neighbours for help.

While one raced off on his bicycle to alert the police, another took the family into her apartment across the hall. The Soviets returned and started ransacking their apartment, looking for the secret documents.

The Gouzenkos were trapped. Outside, a pair of RCMP officers, who'd been secretly trailing them, had gone home for the night.

And the Ottawa police had, too. They'd promised to keep an eye out: told the Gouzenkos that if there was any trouble to just flick their lights on and off and the officers would rush to their assistance.

But when the couple desperately signalled for help, no one came. As their neighbour telephoned the police, there was nothing they could do but wait for help to arrive, not knowing whether it ever would.

When the police finally did show up, the officers burst into the Gouzenkos's apartment and confronted the Soviet agents, demanding they leave. It was a tense moment. A standoff between the two countries. Each testing the other's resolve, threatening to shatter their alliance.

And in the end, it was the Soviets who backed down. The agents left.

Igor Gouzenko had been saved, after two harrowing days. He was finally taken into Canadian custody. But that still didn't mean his ordeal was over. He was now a bigger target for the Soviets than ever before. And the Canadian government had a lot of questions for him.

They would keep the Gouzenkos in custody for the next two years. Igor would be thoroughly interrogated, and most of that questioning would be carried out at a top secret spy base.

Canada was no stranger to spy craft. Many Canadians had served as secret agents during the war. In fact, the greatest of all spy masters was a man from Winnipeg, William Stevenson.

He was in charge of British counter-espionage for the entire Western Hemisphere. His team broke codes, forged documents, and uncovered Nazi spies. Here, on the shores of Lake Ontario, just outside Toronto, Stevenson opened a spy school: a place where secret agents were trained in everything from sabotage, to the art of disguise, to how to kill a target using nothing but their elbows.

Today, the old buildings are all gone. This place has been turned into a public park named Intrepid Park, in honour of Stevenson's code name. But back then it was known as Camp X. Canadians. Americans, and British agents were all trained here, including some pretty unexpected names, like the future children's author, Roald Dahl. Some sources even say that Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, was a student at Camp X, and that he based his famous character on William Stevenson himself.

With the war over, Camp X wasn't being used as a spy school anymore, but it was the perfect place to hide the Gouzenkos, somewhere the Soviets would never find them. Here they were interrogated by everyone from the RCMP to the FBI, to MI-5 and MI-6. The information Gouzenko provided triggered investigations across Canada, Britain, and the United States.

It led to dozens of arrests, even some executions. After two years of living at Camp X, the Gouzenkos were finally released and given new identities. They spent the rest of their lives pretending to be Czech immigrants. An ordinary middle class family living in Mississauga.

Not even their children knew who they really were. Igor would go on to write about his defection, and even give televised interviews. But every time he did, he wore a bag over his head. He knew perfectly well there were still Soviet assassins trying to hunt him down.

- You still think that the Soviet espionage apparatus would like to kill you?

- Well, I have no shred of doubt about it.

- [Adam Bunch] But they never did get him. He evaded their clutches

for decades. But in the end it wasn't a shadowy foreign agent that ended his life. It was a heart attack at the age of 63.

When the story of the Ottawa spy ring went public, the world was shocked. The alliance between the Soviet Union and the West was shattered. And while there were countless moments that contributed to the sudden chilling of relations, the Gouzenko Affair has been called the spark that ignited the Cold War.

Within a few years, the Soviet Union had successfully developed their own atomic bomb, and now they were enemies with the West. The threat of nuclear war between the world's superpowers hung over the planet for decades to come.

- [Film Narrator] If there is a warning, you will hear it before the bomb explodes. But sometimes the bomb might explode without any warn . . .

-[Adam Bunch} The U.S. and the USSR built vast stockpiles of ever-more powerful atomic weapons. The Cuban Missile Crisis threatened to trigger a nuclear holocaust. The Berlin Wall split one of Europe's great cities in two. Hate and paranoia flourished on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and the end of the world suddenly felt like a very real possibility.

In Ottawa, you can still find evidence of just how real that fear was. Worried that World War III might break out at any moment, The Canadian government built a series of fallout shelters during the 1950s and '60s, including one here on the outskirts of the Capital.

They called them Diefenbunkers, nicknamed after the new Prime Minister. This one was built more than 20 metres beneath the surface of Ottawa. Thousands of tons of concrete and steel, designed to hold up even if the city was destroyed by a Soviet bomb. It was staffed by more than a hundred people, 24 hours a day, and stocked with enough food to feed hundreds more for a month. For 32 years, it stood ready, primed to go into lockdown at a moment's notice and keep Canada's leaders safe. It even had a CBC studio to ensure that any Canadians who survived the nuclear apocalypse would be kept well informed.

Today, you can visit the bunker yourself. It's open to the public as a museum. It's a haunting place, a monument to those anxious decades when the world held its breath, when death hung over every living thing. A reminder of the terror that was set upon the world by the

events that took place in Ottawa in those first few pivotal days after the end of the Second World War, and of the man whose explosive secret unleashed it all.

On the afternoon of New Year's Day, 1956, smoke was spotted billowing out of one of the windows of the Soviet Embassy. Inside, officials were battling a fire with nothing but small, handheld fire extinguishers and a little hose, and they were losing that battle. The whole third floor was soon engulfed in flames, and the Ottawa Fire Department was nowhere to be seen.

The reason the firefighters hadn't shown up, and the story of what happened next are both deeply absurd, and I'll tell you about them in just a second.

But first, I want to thank you all so much for watching, and let you know that we do need your help in order to be able to keep telling stories like this. So, if you're able, you can head over to our Patreon page and support us with just a few dollars a month, or even just help spread the word about this series. You can follow us on social media @THISISCANADIANA.

Now, back to that fire. The Soviet embassy was, of course, filled with secret documents. Igor Gouzenko had told the Canadian authorities what some of them were. Lists of spies operating in the West, secret instructions from Moscow. And the Soviets didn't want any Canadian firefighters accidentally stumbling across any of those secrets.

So they dragged their feet on calling them in as long as they possibly could, and even then they wouldn't let them into the building, forcing them to try to battle the blaze from a distance. Meanwhile, Soviet officials were rushing to get all the secret documents out of the building, filling cars with filing cabinets, and wireless equipment, and boxes of paper,

and then speeding away, driving over the fire hoses and nearly bursting them in the process.

In the end, the mayor had to come down, and Federal Government officials, too, to convince the Soviets to let them in. Some say one Soviet official even punched the fire chief of Ottawa during the disagreements.

The fire raged for eight hours before it was finally put out around midnight. It took a hundred firefighters. And by then a crowd of more than 3,000 spectators had gathered to gawk. It was way too late to save the building. So, the old mansion was demolished and a new Soviet-style Embassy was built in its place; an Embassy with its own secrets. Some people would say that the RCMP with the help of MI-5, had bugged the building, placing listening devices in the windows and choosing exactly where to put them, with advice from Igor Gouzenko.

Thanks so much again for watching.

I'm Adam Bunch, and this is Canadiana.