Here is the recently declassified archive of the legendary Soviet illegal intelligence officer William Fischer, better known as Colonel Abel.In 1957, as a result of treachery, a prominent Soviet illegal intelligence officer, William Genrikhovich Fischer, was captured by American counterintelligence and sentenced to a long prison term. At the time of his arrest, he did not give out the true data, giving the name of his friend, a veteran of the special services, Rudolf Abel, who was no longer alive at that time. In 1962, the whole world learned about Colonel Abel when he was exchanged for the pilot Harry Powers, who was shot down over the USSR, and two other spies. Soon this story formed the basis of the film "Dead Season", and in 2015, director Steven Spielberg adapted the plot, releasing the film "Bridge of Spies", which won the Academy Award.For many years, the letters of Colonel Abel (W. G. Fischer) to his family from an American prison remained classified. The book, in addition to these letters, includes the memoirs of his colleagues.