Georges Kopp

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Georges Kopp (* 1902 in Saint Petersburg , Russian Empire ; † July 15, 1951 in France ) was a Belgian engineer who fought as a volunteer on the side of the republic in the Spanish Civil War.

In the course of the war he rose from a simple soldier to commander of the 3rd regiment of the Lenin Division, which belonged to the armed units of the POUM and fought on the Aragon front. After the POUM was banned, it became part of the Spanish Republic's regular army as the 29th division. Kopp later became a captain in the command staff of the 45th Army Brigade.

George Orwell mentions him several times in his book My Catalonia . There he also describes Georges Kopp's courageous behavior during the May events in Barcelona. After the POUM was banned, Kopp was arrested and only released after 18 months in prison. In 1939 he managed to return to England, where he was cared for by Orwell's brother-in-law, the brother of Orwell's first wife Eileen O'Shaugnessy, and his wife.

After his release, Kopp stayed in England for some time, but went to France in September 1939, where, after the outbreak of war, he became a soldier of the French Foreign Legion and fought in the Battle of France in 1940 . He was injured and captured, but was able to escape and went to the Algerian headquarters of the Foreign Legion. For health reasons he left the Legion and worked from then on as an engineer in Marseille. Here he operated a spy ring on behalf of the British secret service. When this was exposed, the British flown out of France.

Previously married to Germaine Warnotte, he now married Doreen Hunton, Gwen O'Shaughnessy's sister. There is an exchange of letters between Orwell and Kopp, which was not interrupted even at the time of the battle for France. In later years, the relationship between the two men cooled significantly, Orwell saw a thirst for adventure as well as material problems and less political reasons as the main motive for Kopp's participation in the Spanish Civil War. Kopp left a wife and five children in Belgium when he set out for Spain in 1936. Georges Kopp died in 1951 of the long-term effects of his war injuries.

According to Orwell, Kopp made up much of his past, but Orwell's statement is controversial. An Orwell biographer, Jeffrey Meyers, sees Kopp as Orwell's role model for his character O'Brien in 1984 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Salas Larrazábal, Ramón. Historia del Ejército popular de la República , Madrid, Editora Nacional, 1973, page 3440
  2. ↑ Orwell, G. Homage to Catalonia (Penguin)
  3. ↑ Orwell, Sonia and Angus, Ian (eds.) Orwell: The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Volume 1 - An Age Like This , p.297 (Penguin)
  4. ↑ National Archives Kew, HS9 / 858/8, Kopp's personal SOE-file
personal data
SURNAME Kopp, Georges
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian engineer who fought as a volunteer on the side of the Republic in the Spanish Civil War
DATE OF BIRTH 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Saint Petersburg , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1951
Place of death France