{"id":4511,"date":"2026-09-15T20:20:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/?post_type=_characters&p=4511"},"modified":"2026-10-16T19:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T19:04:00","slug":"karla","status":"publish","type":"_characters","link":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/_characters\/karla\/","title":{"rendered":"Karla"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4511","_characters","type-_characters","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"isdb_character_id":"C0000005","character_display_name":"Karla","character_last_name":"","character_gender":false,"character_aliases":"Gerstmann, his workname in California and in Delhi. The Sandman, General Vladimir\u2019s name for him in Smiley\u2019s People.","character_role":"Head of the Thirteenth Directorate of Moscow Centre, le Carr\u00e9's fictional version of the KGB.","character_portrait":3704,"character_short_profile":"Karla is a recurring character in the works of John le Carr\u00e9. A Soviet Intelligence officer, he is the head of the Thirteenth Directorate of Moscow Centre, le Carr\u00e9's fictional version of the KGB, Karla is described as a small, spare man in middle age with an extraordinary composure and ascetic habits. Smiley describes him as modest and avuncular, Mediterranean in appearance, and resembling a priest or schoolmaster. His most identifiable characteristic is his habit of chain smoking Camels.","character_full_profile":"Soviet spymaster and head of the Thirteenth Directorate of Moscow Centre in John le Carr\u00e9\u2019s George Smiley novels. Also known as Gerstmann and the Sandman<\/em>\r\n\r\nKarla is the Soviet spymaster who opposes George Smiley in John le Carr\u00e9\u2019s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy<\/em> (1974), The Honourable Schoolboy<\/em> (1977) and Smiley\u2019s People<\/em> (1979). He heads the Thirteenth Directorate of Moscow Centre, le Carr\u00e9\u2019s name for Soviet intelligence, and he recruited the mole Bill Haydon, who rose to the top level of the British service. Le Carr\u00e9 never gives his real name. Karla was the codename of the first network he built, and the name passed to the man.\r\n\r\nHe is almost never on the page. Smiley, Connie Sachs, Bill Haydon and a Soviet diplomat named Grigoriev each describe him, and he appears in person once, at the end of Smiley\u2019s People<\/em>, when he crosses into West Berlin to defect. General Vladimir, an \u00e9migr\u00e9 agent, calls him the Sandman. In the 1982 BBC serial Smiley gives the reason: Karla puts to sleep anyone who gets too close to him. Patrick Stewart played Karla in the BBC serials of 1979 and 1982 and did not speak a word in either.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Nationality<\/strong><\/td>\r\nSoviet. He is Russian, and le Carr\u00e9 gives no birthplace.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Languages<\/strong><\/td>\r\nRussian. English and German are near certain from his postings, though le Carr\u00e9 never lists his languages.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Appearance<\/strong><\/td>\r\nSmall and wiry, with silvery hair, bright brown eyes and a deeply lined face<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Habits<\/strong><\/td>\r\nChain-smokes American Camel cigarettes. Lives and works in bare rooms. For about twenty years he keeps the gold lighter he took from Smiley.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Family<\/strong><\/td>\r\nA father said to have served the Tsar\u2019s Okhrana and then the Cheka. A wife, a student from Leningrad, who killed herself after his arrest in 1948. A daughter, Tatiana, by a wartime mistress.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Chief agents<\/strong><\/td>\r\nBill Haydon, codename Gerald, in British intelligence. Nelson Ko in the People\u2019s Republic of China.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>","character_type":"Antagonist","character_status":"Unknown","character_books":[3626,3620,3622,3628],"character_series":[3083],"character_creators":[3085],"character_agencies":[4541],"character_organizations":"","character_record_status":"Published","character_verification_status":"Verified","character_editorial_notes":"","character_sources":null,"character_relationships":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_characters\/4511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_characters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/_characters"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_characters\/4511\/revisions"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_agencies\/4541"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_author\/3085"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_series\/3083"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/3628"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/3622"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/3620"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/3626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spyscribe.com\/isdb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}