Robert Gordon Switz

Robert Gordon Switz (born 1904) was a "wealthy American who converted to communism" and served as spy for Soviet Military Intelligence ("GRU").

Background

Robert Gordon Switz was born in 1904 in East Orange, New Jersey, the son of Theodore Switz, a naturalized Russian, and Genevieve Switz. He attended Mercersburg Academy but did not go to college. Instead, in 1922, he shipped out as seaman to Germany, which he toured. ).

In October 1933, Finnish-American Arvid Jacobson was arrested in Finland, whose government declared that Jacobson and Switz belonged to the same Soviet network between United States, Canada, France, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, and Latvia.

On September 27–28, 1948, and again on February 27 and March 1, 1950, Switz testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Brother Theodore Switz was a chemical economist at Lehman Corporation .

In 1933, Switz married Marjorie Tilley, daughter of Bertha Tilley and graduate of Vassar College.

Legacy

The Switz case ran concurrently with a scandal in France over Ukrainian born embezzler Alexandre Stavisky.

"L'affaire Switz" offset any Soviet gains in intelligence into the French military with embarrassment for the USSR as well as the French Communist Party ("PCF").