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Michal GolenevskyPolish spy defector and impostor
Date of Birth: 16.08.1922
Country:  Poland |
Content:
- Michał Goleniewski: Polish Defector and Pretender
- Collaboration with Polish and Soviet Intelligence
- Defection to the West
- Pretensions as Tsarevich Alexei
- Life in the United States
- Later Life and Death
Michał Goleniewski: Polish Defector and Pretender
Early Life and EducationMichał Goleniewski was born in 1922 in Nieśwież, Poland. He completed four years of grammar school and pursued self-education thereafter. In 1945, he joined the Polish Army and became a member of the Polish Workers' Party after the establishment of a communist regime in Poland. He retired from the military in 1955 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Collaboration with Polish and Soviet Intelligence
After retiring from military service, Goleniewski enrolled in the law faculty of Poznań University. He later transferred to Warsaw, where he earned a master's degree in political science in 1956. Around the same time, he began collaborating with Polish intelligence (7th Division of the Polish Ministry of Security) and received technical training from 1957 to 1960. He served as deputy chief of the intelligence department from 1955 to 1957 and also worked with the KGB.
Defection to the West
On April 1, 1958, Goleniewski sent a letter to the American ambassador in Geneva, offering his services to the CIA as a double agent. His letter was signed under the pseudonym "Hekenschütze" ("Marksman"). The CIA accepted his offer, and he subsequently transmitted thousands of microfilms of sensitive information to his American handlers.
Pretensions as Tsarevich Alexei
In 1960, Goleniewski and his companion, Ingrid Kampff, sought political asylum in the American embassy in West Berlin. He revealed his true identity and claimed to be Tsarevich Alexei Romanov, the son of the last tsar of Russia, who was executed in 1918. His claim was widely rejected, and he was considered to be mentally unstable.
Life in the United States
Goleniewski and Kampff arrived in the United States in 1961. He continued to collaborate with American intelligence until his retirement or dismissal from service in 1964. He married Kampff in 1964, and their daughter, Tatiana, was born shortly after. The couple later divorced.
Later Life and Death
Goleniewski spent the rest of his life in New York City. He remained critical of the USSR and the Orthodox Church, which refused to recognize his claim as the Tsarevich. He died in July 1993.
