SGAG Logo

ELYESA BAZNA

1904 - 1970

Writing as: Elyesa Bazna


According to Wikipedia: "Elyesa Bazna was a secret agent for Nazi Germany during World War II, operating under the code name Cicero.

Born in Pristina, Bazna attended a military academy, and joined a French military unit at age 16. He was caught stealing cars and weapons, for which he served three years in a penal labor camp in France. Bazna held a number of manual jobs in Turkish and French cities before obtaining work for foreign diplomats and consulates as a doorman, driver, and guard. He spoke several languages fluently, including French, which was the predominant diplomatic language at the time.

In 1943, Bazna was hired as a valet by Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, the British ambassador in Ankara, Turkey. He photographed British documents in Knatchbull-Hugessen's possession, and sold them to the Germans through their attaché Ludwig Carl Moyzisch in what became known as the Cicero affair."



Series Books
 
Five Fingers I Was Cicero (1962)