Yan Chernyak

Yan Chernyak (6 April 1909 – 19 February 1995) was a World War II era spy who led a network of several dozen people in Germany working for the Soviet Union's military intelligence, the GRU. He was nicknamed "man without a shadow" for his ability to move around undetected.

He was made a Hero of the Russian Federation (List of Heroes of the Russian Federation (C)) in December 1994, two months before he died on 19 February 1995.

Chernyak (alternative Latin-character spelling Czerniak), was born in 1909, in North Bukovina, Austro-Hungarian Empire. The region was occupied by the Red Army of the Soviet Union in 1940 and henceforth was part of Ukraine.

Chernyak is said to have been half-Jewish (father), half-Hungarian (mother), both parents dying during the First World War. He grew up in an orphanage and apparently spoke six languages (German, Yiddish, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech and Slovak) by the time he was sixteen; by the time that he graduated from the Prague Higher Technical School, he also spoke English and French. However, some accounts have him studying at the polytechnic in Berlin.

He is considered to have been one of the greatest of the Soviet "master spies" (more accurately put, a spy-handler or intelligence officer in charge of intelligence agents).

Chernyak, who was awarded the star (medal) of Hero of the Soviet Union, was an officer of the GRU[Glavniy Razvedivatelnoye Upravlenniye or Main Intelligence Directorate], i.e. Soviet Military Intelligence, otherwise known simply as the "Razvedka" [lit. "scouting" or "reconnaissance"]. His agents were able to supply the "Stavka" [the Soviet General Staff, which oversaw the G.R.U.] with intelligence on German plans for invasion of the Soviet Union [known to history as Operation Barbarossa] and, later, on other Germany military secrets and on Western nuclear armament creations and developments.

Among the many agents run by Chernyak are said to have been the famous actresses of the Third Reich, Marika Rokk and Olga Chekhova.

Chernyak is credited with "obtaining information used to devise the first Soviet radar, which formed part of Moscow's air defenses during Nazi raids in 1941, according to a statement from the Russian army's general staff. Chernyak also was ``instrumental'' in developing the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons program, the statement said. Details of his spy activities remain secret. After World War II, and until retiring in 1969, Chernyak was a translator for the official Soviet news agency, Tass. Earlier this month, he received the Hero of Russia award, the nation's highest honor." ''

Chernyak became a Soviet citizen in 1946.