Helen Lowry

Elza Akhmerova, also Elsa Akhmerova was an American citizen, born Helen Lowry. She is a niece of Earl Browder, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). She died of leukemia.

From 1936 to 1939, Lowry was an equal partner in espionage with her husband Iskhak Akhmerov, a Soviet NKVD intelligence agent. Iskhak Akhmerov operated an espionage network in the United States, and both of the Akhmerovs are referenced in VENONA decryptions of Soviet cable traffic: Lowry is listed under the Soviet code name "ADA" (later changed to ELZA (ELSA)). As a native-born American and English speaker, Akhmerova was able to freely operate on behalf of Soviet intelligence. She was a full partner in her husband's espionage activity, and is referenced in several Venona project decryptions. In 1939, she married Akhmerov.[1] In 1945, Lowry was named by Soviet intelligence agent Elizabeth Bentley as one of her contacts.[2]

According to Pavel Sudoplatov, her husband ran one of five spy rings targeting the United States for atomic bomb secrets.[3] The Akhmerov led ring targeted United States Communist Party members for the Kremlin's needs.[3][lower-alpha 1]

See also

Notes
  1. According to Sudaplatov, another spy ring was based in Amtorg in New York City, another in the Soviet Embassy in the United States at Washington, D.C., another based in the Soviet Consulate General in San Francisco, and the fourth was based out of Mexico City and ran by Vasilevsky.[3]

References
  1. Essays on the History of Russian Foreign Intelligence, vol. 3.
  2. Haynes, John Earl; Klehr, Harvey (2000). Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 99 (Bentley), 99–100 (Price), 118 (Perlo, Bentley, Golos), 121 (Perlo, Bentley), 122 (Silvermaster), 130 (wife, Silvermaster), 134–135 (Silvermaster), 146 (Silvermaster), 153–156 (Straight), 154–155 (bio), 155 (wife as partner), 203 (Duggan), 221 (Zubilin), 226 (Silvermaster), 391 (major Soviet source). ISBN 0300077718. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  3. Sudoplatov, Pavel (1 April 1994). Special Tasks. Little, Brown and Company. p. 217. ISBN 978-0316773522.


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