Leon Großvogel

Grossvogel ran a small Brussels business called Le Roi du Caoutchouc or The Raincoat King on behalf of its owners. His sister Sarah Kapolowitz was married to one of the directors, his brother-in-law Louis Kapolowitz. He had been employed by the firm as an employee since 1929 and became the manager of its foreign subsidiary The Excellent Raincoat Company in 1935. In 1937, his job position changed when he became the travelling inspector for the company. Although Grossvogel was related to one of the owners by marriage and who recognised him as a good worker, he had become unpopular with his employees due to his communist sympathies and his errant behaviour during a strike at their Brussels plant in 1938.

On the 30 November 1942, Grossvogel was arrested, while waiting for a rendezvous with the forger and criminal, Abraham Rajchmann, at the Café de la Paix in Paris, He was betrayed by Trepper. He was imprisoned in Fresnes Prison and tortured by the Gestapo, as they had been told by captured Soviet agent, Anatoly Gurevich, that he knew the code that was used to encrypt communications between the espionage group and Soviet intelligence. However, he refused to divulge the secret.

It is unknown whether Grossvogel was executed as other members of the Red Orchestra were, or that he survived the war (sources vary). It was likely he was still alive during the allied invasion however it is equally likely he was secretly tried and convicted by a Luftwaffe court and then executed, either in Fresnes prison, or more likely taken to Germany in 1944 or 1945. His wife, Jeanne Grossvogel, was arrested by the Gestapo in Brussels on 25 November 1942 and executed in Plötzensee prison on 6 July 1943.