Branko Vukelić (spy)

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Branko Vukelić (1904 – January 1945) was a member of Richard Sorge’s spy network in Japan, working for the Soviet military intelligence agency (GRU) from 1933 to 1941.

He was born in Osijek, in what is now Croatia. His father was an army officer, and his mother was of Jewish origin. The family moved around, eventually living in Zagreb and then Paris, where Branko and his brother joined the communist movement. They were recruited by the Comintern to help with Soviet intelligence.

In 1933, Branko traveled to Japan with the code name Gigolo. He worked as a journalist for the French agency Havas and the Serbian paper Politika while secretly gathering information for the Soviet network led by Sorge. He reported to Sorge and helped with intelligence gathering and the network’s photography. He also tried to influence foreign journalists to frame Japan as a growing threat to the United States, aiming to ease pressure on the Soviet Union.

Branko married Yoshiko Yamasaki, Branko’s Japanese translator, after a prior marriage to Edith ended in affairs. Sorge did not approve of the second marriage, but Branko continued his work.

A notable outcome of his influence work was a July 1, 1939 article in the New York Herald Tribune by Joseph Newman about Japan’s plans in the South Seas.

The Sorge ring was uncovered in 1941. Branko and Max Clausen were sentenced to life in prison. He was held at Sugamo Prison and was transferred to Abashiri Prison in Hokkaido in July 1944. He died in January 1945 during the harsh winter.

Their son, Hiroshi Yamasaki Vukelić, lives in Japan and Belgrade today and works on Japanese-Serbian relations.

In 1964, Branko Vukelić was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War (First Degree) by the Soviet authorities.