Manevich, Lev Yefimovich
MANEVICH, LEV YEFIMOVICH
MANEVICH, LEV YEFIMOVICH (Izrailovich : pseud. Eten (Etienne , 1898–1945), Soviet intelligence agent. Between 1910 and 1917 Manevich lived and studied in Geneva. In 1918 he volunteered for service in the Red Army and joined the Communist Party. From 1918 to 1920 he was the commissar of an armored train, the commander of a special unit. He graduated from the Higher School for Staff Service of the Command Staff (1921) and the Military Academy (1924). He served in the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army (gru – Glavnoye Razvedovatelnoye Upravlenie) from 1935 with the rank of colonel. From the mid-1920s until 1936 he carried out intelligence activities, mainly in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Spain. In 1936 he was arrested by Italian counterintelligence and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. However, even in prison he continued to collect and transmit valuable information. In 1943 he was handed over to the Nazis and imprisoned in the concentration camps of Mauthausen and Melk and Ebenze. Although severely ill, he exhibited great willpower and courage by participating in the anti-fascist underground. In May 1945 he was liberated by the American army but died later that year. In 1965 he was posthumously awarded the honor of Hero of the Soviet Union.
[The Shorter Jewish Encyclopaedia in Russian (2nd ed.)]