Elyesa Bazna
Elyesa Bazna, Albanian Iliaz Bazna, code name Cicero, ( born July 28, 1904 in Pristina, † December 23, 1970 in Munich ) was from 1943 to 1944 as an agent for the Office for Foreign Affairs / Defence as valet of the British ambassador Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull - Hugessen in Ankara, Turkey was still neutral act.
Life
Elyesa Bazna, employed as a servant in the British Embassy since 1942, offered in October 1943 the German ambassador to Turkey, Franz von Papen, 56 British secret military documents and had intended to have 20,000 pounds. As a motive he stated hatred of the British and fundraising. Since the quality of the documents was very good, it was believed in the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) more of a deception operation of the British secret service. He was given the code name Cicero. Elyesa Bazna made the Germans in the course of his espionage activities until his discovery of hundreds of documents accessible. This includes information on the UK 's Middle East policy and the attempt to drag Turkey into the Allied camp, the Tehran conference and via a second front in Europe ( Operation Overlord ). About the Normandy landings him only inaccurate information, however, were accessible. Due to the mistrust in the source and the non-professional management of an agent on the findings of this operation have not recovered enough. Elyesa Bazna was paid with counterfeit British pounds, which came from the Operation Bernhard. Overall, he is said to have received £ 300,000, of which a large part was fake. In March 1944, he fled from his post as valet, because he feared his impending disclosure to law. The British secret service MI6 was already informed by an employee in the German Embassy in Ankara by the leak in the message. Today, however, assumes that Bazna from the beginning worked as a double agent with the knowledge and under the leadership of MI6.
After the Second World War Bazna Germany tried to sue because the bills were fake, but failed.
He has published in 1962 in the book I was Cicero story of his life.
His life was made into a film by Joseph L. Mankiewicz in 1951 under the title Five Fingers (Eng. The case of Cicero). The main role was played by James Mason.
Elyesa Bazna was buried under his real name Bazna Elyos in the cemetery Perlacher forest.