Iosif Grigulevich country of citizenship Lithuania
Early life
Grigulevich was born in Vilnius, Russian Empire (present day Lithuania), to a family of Crimean Karaites. His parents emigrated to Argentina when he was young. His father did well for himself and later sent Iosif to Europe to study. However, some sources claim that only his father moved to La Clarita, Argentina and he and his mother remained in Trakai, Lithuania, where he joined the Polish Communist Party and became acquainted with Edward Gierek, not travelling to Argentina until 1934. In any case, in 1933, he studied briefly at the Sorbonne. He was recruited by the NKVD and showed a gift for languages, soon picking up English, Spanish, French and Russian.
citizenship country place of citizenship country of origin citizenship nation country of citizenship status