Zeev Avni

Zeev Avni was born in 1921 in Riga

Avni was born Wolf Goldstein in Riga, Latvia, in 1921, to a devoted communist father. He grew up a committed communist who rejected his Jewish identity. His uncle was close to Lenin.

In 1942 he finished military service in Switzerland and returned to Zurich. There Karl Wiebrel, a colonel in Red Army intelligence, trained him as an agent under the code name Tony. He married Edith, and through her met members of Kibbutz HaZorea, who persuaded him to move to Israel.

The couple came to Israel in 1948 and settled at the kibbutz, where their daughter was born. After voicing communist views he was told to leave, and in 1950 he left. He joined the foreign service, took the name Zeev Avni, and was posted to Belgium in 1952.

In Brussels a Soviet officer contacted him, and he passed on details of arms purchases, secret codes and German agents working for Israel in Egypt. He continued spying as economic attaché in Yugoslavia. In 1956 Mossad head Isser Harel accused him of spying, and he confessed and was arrested.

During questioning he learned of Khrushchev's secret speech and abandoned communism. He studied psychology in prison. After a pardon he treated Israeli soldiers suffering from combat stress.