Hey guys, I'm reading this book about the Second World War called The Secret War by Francis Russell. It's part of a series from the war published by Time-Life. This book talks about espionage from the war and gives details about a lot of interesting spies like Juan Pujol Garcia (Garbo) and Elyesa Bazna (Cicero).
One of the most intriguing people in the book is known only as Max, a Russian who spied for the Germans and provided info that suggested he had access to the Kremlin's top levels. Now I can find info about Cicero and Garbo from the net, but there's nothing about this guy Max. The book mentions that some Germans became suspicious of him after a while and even investigated his handler, guy called Fritz Kauders. But there's scant info on either Max or Kauders online. I have seen some tidbits suggesting that Fritz Kauders was not the handler's real name and that he was a Jew. So I have some questions about all this:
Was Max real? If not, where was the information coming from?
Who was Fritz Kauders really? And was he working for or against the Germans?
If Max was in fact a real person, do we have any idea who he was or have we come any closer to knowing (the books i'm reading are a bit old)?
Lastly, a bit of a side question. Are these Time-Life books any credible on the war, for those who know about them.
Thank you all in advance
As a follow up, during the second world war, the Gestapo in France were on the lookout for someone they called Max, who was the de facto head of the 'unified' resistance (I'm leaving unified in quotes because of the hundreds of splinter movements). They eventually arrested Jean Moulin.
Was this the same Max, or was Max a standard nom de guerre in intelligence circles in WW2?