Maurice Peper

Maurice Peper (born April 1906 in Amsterdam, died 28 July 1943 in Plötzensee Prison) was a Dutch Jewish diamond cutter of émigré Polish Jewish parents. He became a communist and then Soviet GRU military intelligence officer, known as a scout in Soviet intelligence parlance. Peper was a specialist in wireless telegraphy and used the aliases Wassermann and Hollander to disguise his identity in messages. Between late 1940 and July 1942, Peper worked first for Soviet agent Anatoly Gurevich and then in the same period, Soviet agent Konstantin Jeffremov as a courier who operated between Johann Wenzel in Brussels and Anton Winterink in Amsterdam.

Career Until 1940, Peper worked as a wireless telegraphy operator for a commercial steamship company and was a member of the Dutch Maritime Union.

Espionage In 1938, Peper was recruited by Dutch communist Hermann Isbutsky.

Arrest and betrayal On 25 July 1942, Peper was arrested by Abwehr officer Henry Piepe in Brussels. Peper was betrayed by Jeffremov, who had himself been arrested by the Gestapo agents of Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle on 22 July 1942 in Brussels. Jeffremov informed the Sonderkommando of a covert meeting, known as a treff that was to take place in a Brussels street by Peper and Belgian Hermann Isbutsky, where they were both arrested While Isbutsky refused to cooperate with the Sonderkommando and paid the price by being heavily tortured at Fort Breendonk, Peper agreed to work for the Sonderkommando and revealed that he was to meet Dutchman Anton Winterink a few days later in Amsterdam who was subsequently arrested. Peper also betrayed Augustin Sésée, the reserve radio operator in the Jeffremov network, who was arrested in August 1942.