Robert Maxwell

Robert Maxwell (10 June 1923 - 5 November 1991) was British publisher and newspaper proprietor.

Early Life

Maxwell was born as Jan Ludvik Hoch into a an orthodox Jewish family in Slatinske Doly in Czechoslovakia in 1923.

Maxwell lost his family in the holocaust. He escaped to Britain in 1940.

Intelligence Work

In November 1945, Maxwell was employed as an interrogation officer at the Bad Salzuflen HQ of the Intelligence Corps in the British Zone in Germany, where he was involved in interrogating German scientists. Maxwell's work sometimes took him into the Russian sector, a fact which, according to Robin Ramsay and Stephen Dorril, exposed him to rumours about his loyalty.

Maxwell later moved to the Press and Publicity Branch of the British Information Service in Berlin, where he met former SOE officer Hugh Quennell, and also during 1946 with Dr Ferdinand Springer, owner of Springer Verlag, Europe's leading pre-war scientific publisher.

Seumas Milne cites two former Soviet intelligence officers as stating that Maxwell signed a document in Berlin during the early Cold War promising to assist the KGB.

Pergamon Press

In April 1949, Maxwell was appointed Managing Director of Butterworth-Springer a joint venture between Springer Verlag and Butterworth Scientific Publications In May 1951, following negotiations led by Count Frederick Vanden Heuvel, Butterworth agreed to sell its stake in what became Pergamon Press to Maxwell for £13,000. Maxwell obtained the money after a meeting with Sir Charles Hambro. The cash had in fact been arranged by MI6, according to Stephen Dorril, who interviewed Desmond Bristow one of the officers involved.

Dorril goes on to state that Maxwell was being run at the time as an agent by George Kennedy Young, who apparently used him to maintain contact with Czech sources while based in Vienna.

In early 1952, was MI6 officer John Whitlock introduced Maxwell to Dr Kurt Waller, an East-West trader who seems to have felt that Maxwell's patronage would square his activities with the intelligence world.

Political Career and MI5 troubles

In 1954, MI5 asked Maxwell's secretary Anne Dove, a former SOE employee, to vouch for his loyalty, which she did.

Shortly after this, Maxwell was approached by Dickie Franks, then head of MI6's DP4 section, in charge of recruiting visitors to the Eastern Bloc. Maxwell agreed to brief Franks on his visits.

During the 1959 general election, Maxwell was the target of a whispering campaign directed at his Jewish origins and his trips to Eastern Europe. This was repeated in 1964. David Leigh describes Maxwell as one of a number of prominent Jewish Labour supporters who were vilified by the intelligence services.

MI5 officer Peter Wright wrote of Maxwell:

Other people who were associating with Harold Wilson right from before he became PM in 1964 were Sternberg and his East European friends and Maxwell of Pergamon. We were very suspicious about these people and warned Wilson repeatedly about the risks.

Maxwell was elected a Labour MP in 1964 and held his seat until 1970.

Later Business career

In 1969, Maxwell was the subject of a DTI enquiry, after a takeover of Pergamon by the US group Leasco fell through. The DTI report said:

"We regret having to conclude that, notwithstanding Mr Maxwell's acknowledged abilities and energy, he is not in our opinion a person who can be relied on to exercise proper stewardship of a publicly quoted company."

In 1980, Maxwell took over British Printing Corporation, renaming it Maxwell Communications Corporation.

In 1984, Maxwell bought Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) from Reed International.

In 1991, in attempt to cover hidden debts of over £2 billion. Maxwell floated MGN as a public company.

Mordechai Vanunu story

On 28 September 1986, the Sunday Mirror published a story debunking the Israeli nuclear scientist Mordechai Vanunu. According to Seymour Hersh, Maxwell personally co-ordinated the paper's approach with Nicholas Davies and Israeli agent Ari Ben-Menashe:

At one point, Ben Menashe said, Davies set up a meeting for Maxwell with Ben-Menashe at his ninth-floor office. Maxwell made it clear at the brief session, Ben-Menashe recalled, that he understood what was to be done about the Vanunu story. "I know what has to happen," Maxwell told Ben-Menashe. "I have already spoken to your bosses."

Sunday Mirror editor Michael Molloy told Hersh that photographs supplied to the paper by Vanunu's agent Oscar E. Guerrero were handed over to the Israeli Embassy on Maxwell's instructions.

Operation Cyclops

At the TUC conference in September 1989, Mirror journalist Terry Pattinson briefed Maxwell on the findings of 'Operation Cyclops', the paper's investigation of miners' leader Arthur Scargill. After asking if Pattinson was sure of the facts, Maxwell told him to run with it. However, editor Richard Stott held the story for further investigation.

In the week of 4-10 March 1990, Scargill presided over what he described as "the scoop of the decade" - a series of stories attacking NUM leader Arthur Scargill in the Sunday Mirror and the Daily Mirror.

Death

Maxwell died in mysterious circumstances in November 1991. His body was found in the sea off the Canary Islands, after he had been reported missing from his private yacht.

Affiliations

• Pergamon Press - publisher 1949-1991
• Maxwell Communications Corporation - chairman and chief executive 1981-1991
• Mirror Group Newspapers - chairman 1984-1991
• Macmillan - chairman and chief executive 1988-1991
• Maariv - Former owner
• Scitex Corporation - Former owner

External Resources

• NameBase MAXWELL ROBERT (PUBLISHER)