Sarah Helm Read online

  Acclaim for

  A LIFE IN SECRETS

  “Vividly told.… Ms. Helm has been a British journalist for years, yet she writes in near novelistic style and is adept at exploring the emotional issues that are an important part of her story. … In sum: new material, well written, a highly readable account.”

  —The Washington Times

  “Helm skillfully shows what went so terribly wrong, and why reliable accounts of the SOE's work have been so hard to come by.”

  —Bloomberg News

  “Every bit as fascinating and shot through with ambiguity as a spy novel.… The final image that emerges from Helm's superb biog raphy is of a woman compelled by history, prejudice, and circum stances into a position in which compromise was the only option. It was surely enough to turn anyone into a sphinx.”

  —Salon

  “An absolutely spellbinding story.”

  —Library Journal

  “A story of betrayal, deceit, and unusual bravery. … It has taken meticulous investigative reporting to reveal the horrific realities of war.”

  —Christiane Amanpour, CNN

  “A memorable portrait of a woman who knowingly sent other women to their deaths and a searing history of female courage and suffering during WWII.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  SARAH HELM

  A LIFE IN SECRETS

  Sarah Helm has been a journalist for more than twenty years. She was a reporter and feature writer on The Sunday Times before becoming a founding member of The Independent in 1986. She was The Independent's diplomatic editor and later became the Middle East and then European correspondent for the same paper. Sarah Helm is the recipient of the British Press Award of Specialist Writer of the Year and the Laurence Stern Fellowship by The Washington Post. She lives in London, England.

  TO MY PARENTS

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgements

  List of Characters

  Prologue

  PART I: ENGLAND

  1 Nora

  2 Disaster

  3 Thanks from the Gestapo

  4 Traces

  5 “Need to Know”

  6 “Buchenwald Boys”

  7 Euston Station

  8 “Gestapo Boys”

  PART II: ROMANIA

  9 Confidantes

  10 The Danube Delta

  11 Crasna

  12 A Mountain Picnic

  13 Spy Gents

  PART III: GERMANY

  14 A Woman in Blue

  15 Following Tracks

  16 Into the Wilderness

  17 The Villa Degler

  18 Natzweiler

  19 “Freely on Foot”

  20 Dr. Goetz

  21 Ravensbrück

  22 “A Very Fine Manner”

  23 Kieffer

  PART IV: ENGLAND

  24 Conspiracies

  25 Belgian Ladies

  26 Heroine

  27 Secrets That Don't Die

  Epilogue

  Sources

  Bibliography

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  My meeting with Vera Atkins at Winchelsea in 1998 was the inspiration for this book. The power of her personality, impressed upon me on that occasion, remained with me throughout my research and writing.

  Vera, however, would not have allowed her life story to be written while she was alive. My greatest debt of gratitude therefore is to Phoebe Atkins, Vera's sister-in-law, and also to Zenna Atkins, Vera's niece, who in 2001 authorised me to write her biography. Phoebe and Zenna opened Vera's archive, encouraged others to assist me, and offered constant advice and encouragement. I must also thank Phoebe and Zenna for their trust. They believed that Vera's life was a story that should be told, but they didn't know which way my research would lead.

  Other members of the Atkins and Rosenberg families have generously given their time, hospitality, and assistance. Ronald Atkins talked engagingly about his aunt and his father, Ralph Atkins. Without Karina and Peter Rosenberg, Hillel Avidan, and Iris Hilke much of Vera's wider family history would have remained hidden.

  The first idea for a book was taken up by my agent Natasha Fairweather, whose support, advice, and patient encouragement saw the project to fruition.

  I drew regularly on the advice of experts. Foremost among them were Duncan Stuart, the SOE adviser; Michael Foot, the official historian of SOE in France; Mark Seaman, at that time historian at the Imperial War Museum; and Dennis Deletant, professor of Romanian Studies at UCL. Jean Overton Fuller generously spared the time to talk about her ground-breaking investigations into SOE in the 1950s and her many encounters with Vera.

  There were certain individuals from different sections of her life whom I returned to again and again for guidance about her character and motivation: among them were Annie Samuelli, Barbara “Dicker” Worcester, Nancy Roberts, George Millar, John da Cunha, and Sacha Smith.

  At Little, Brown, I was indebted to Alan Samson, who first backed the project; to Ursula Mackenzie, who took it up with enthusiasm and gave greatly valued advice; and to Stephen Guise for his astute editorial suggestions.

  In the United States, at Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, I would like to thank Nan Talese and Lorna Owen for fresh ideas that shaped the book for U.S. readers.

  For his support and guidance I am deeply grateful to my partner, Jonathan Powell, who read drafts and often cared for our daughters, Jessica and Rosamund, while I worked. I am also indebted to Katrina Bar-nicoat, Richard Tomlinson, Teresa Poole, and Tony Rennell, who all read the first completed manuscript.

  I am grateful for the assistance of researchers, archivists, and librarians in several countries, particularly in London at the National Archives, the Imperial War Museum, and the London Library. I am indebted to David List, specialist researcher at the National Archives, who followed leads through countless SOE and war crimes files; to Mihai Alin Pavel, who guided me through equally labyrinthine Romanian family trees; and to Dr. Helmut Koch of the Stadtarchiv in Karlsruhe.

  Countless people—too numerous to mention by name—who knew Vera or knew her world have willingly given time to talk to me or offer practical help, in places as far apart as Galatz and Karlsruhe to the Special Forces Club and Winchelsea.

  The family of Hans Kieffer, near Stuttgart, considered carefully whether to talk to me about their father, and their decision to do so was greatly appreciated. Dr. Michael Stolle of Karlsruhe University gave invaluable advice on the Gestapo and on war crimes.

  I wish to thank most profoundly each one of Vera's SOE colleagues and their families, as well as those who worked with her on war crimes investigation. Tim Buckmaster readily advised on his father's work and friendship with Vera. Judith Hiller made invaluable contributions. I have been acutely conscious throughout my research that many of my inquiries led to the reexamination of the most personal and painful events. Yvonne Baseden, Robert Sheppard, and Jean-Bernard Badaire survived the concentration camps, and I am deeply grateful to them for sharing memories. Lisa Graf's vivid recollection of her imprisonment in Karlsruhe, and of the agents there, was an inspiration.

  I should like to thank Vilayat Inayat Khan for his readiness, despite failing health, to talk so movingly about Nora and about the search for her, and I am also grateful to Claire and Hidayat Inayat Khan for their help. Anthony and Francis Suttill talked about their father and generously shared information on numerous occasions. Diana Farmiloe and Helen Oliver, whose sisters, Yolande Beekman and Lilian Rolfe, died in concentration camps, kindly recollected events and passed on papers and photographs. Without the help of these survivors and relatives I could not have begun to understand the suffering and the courage of the dead, whose memory I have soug
ht to preserve. Without the help of all these people I could not have followed Vera's trail.

  LIST OF CHARACTERS

  SOE LONDON

  Vera Atkins(FV, later F Int, later F)

  Nicholas Bodington(FN, senior staff officer)

  Major R. A. Bourne-Paterson(F Plans, Planning Officer)

  Maurice Buckmaster(F, head of the French Section [F Section])

  Nancy Fraser-Campbell(later Roberts) (secretary, later staff captain)

  Colin Gubbins(M, later executive director of SOE [CD])

  Leslie Humphreys(first head of F Section)

  Gerry Morel(F Ops, Operations Officer)

  John Senter(head of SOE security directorate)

  Penelope Torr(F Recs, Records Officer)

  SOE AGENTS (WOMEN)

  Yvonne Baseden(W/T operator for SOE circuit)

  Yolande Beekman(alias Yvonne, W/T operator for SOE circuit)

  Oenise Bloch(W/T operator for SOE circuit)

  Andrée Borrel(alias Denise, courier for Prosper)

  Madeleine Oamerment(alias Martine Dussautoy, courier for France

  Antelme, Prosper subcircuit)

  Noor (Nora) Inayat Khan(alias Madeleine, call sign Nurse, W/T operator for Prosper subcircuit)

  Cicely Lefort(courier for SOE circuit)

  Vera Leigh(alias Simone, courier for Prosper subcircuit)

  Eileen Nearne(wireless operator for SOE circuit)

  Stmia Olschanesky(courier for Prosper subcircuit)

  Eliane Plewman(courier for SOE circuit)

  Lilian Rolfe(W/T operator for SOE circuit)

  Diana Rowden(courier for SOE circuit)

  Yvonne Rudellat(alias Jacqueline Gauthier, courier for Prosper subcircuit)

  Odette Sansom(later Churchill, later Hallowes, courier for SOE circuit)

  Violette Szabo(courier for SOE circuit)

  Pearl Witherington(alias Pauline, courier for Wrestler circuit, later organiser)

  SOE AGENTS (MEN)

  Jack Agazarian(W/T operator for Prosper subcircuit)

  France Antelme(alias Antoine, Prosper subcircuit)

  Francis Cammaerts(organiser of Jockey circuit)

  Henri Déricourt(alias Claude, alias Gilbert, air movements officer)

  Henri Frager(alias Paul, alias Louba, organiser of SOE circuit)

  Fmile Garry(alias Cinema, alias Phono, organiser of Prosper subcircuit)

  John Macalister(alias Valentine, W/T operator for Archdeacon circuit)

  Bob Maloubier(alias Paco, sabotage instructor, SOE circuit)

  Gilbert Norman(alias Archambaud, call sign Butcher, W/T operator for Prosper subcircuit)

  Harry Peulevé(alias Jean, W/T operator for SOE circuit)

  Frank Pickersgill(alias Bertrand, organiser of Archdeacon circuit)

  Marcel Rousset(alias Leopold, W/T operator for SOE circuit)

  Robert Sheppard(alias Patrice, sabotage instructor, SOE circuit)

  Maurice Southgate(alias Hector, organiser Wrestler circuit)

  John Starr(alias Bob [and known as Bob Starr], organiser for SOE circuit)

  Brian Stonehouse(alias Celestine, W/T operator for SOE circuit)

  Francis Suttill(alias Prosper, organiser of Physician circuit, known as Prosper circuit)

  GERMAN PERSONNEL

  Theresia Becker(chief wardress, Karlsruhe prison)

  Franz Berg(crematorium stoker, Natzweiler concentration camp)

  Hugo Bleicher(alias Colonel Heinrich, Abwehr intelligence officer)

  Josef Goetz(radio expert, Avenue Foch)

  Hans Josef Kieffer(counterintelligence chief, Avenue Foch)

  Horst Kopkow(senior counterintelligence officer, Berlin)

  Christian Ott(Karlsruhe Gestapo officer)

  Johann Schwarzhuber(camp overseer, Ravensbrück concentration camp)

  Peter Straub(executioner, Natzweiler concentration camp)

  Fritz Suhren(commandant, Ravensbrück concentration camp)

  Max Wassmer(Karlsruhe Gestapo officer)

  SELECTED FAMILY MEMBERS

  Phoebe Atkins(wife of Guy), sister-in-law

  Ronald Atkins(son of Ralph and Hedy), nephew

  Zenna Atkins(daughter of Guy and Phoebe), niece

  Arthur Rosenberg, uncle

  Fritz Rosenberg(son of Arthur and Nina), cousin

  George Rosenberg(son of Arthur and Nina, twin of Hans), cousin

  Hans Rosenberg(son of Arthur and Nina, twin of George), cousin

  Hilda Rosenberg(formerly and later Atkins), mother

  Karen Rosenberg(née Gehlsen), wife of Fritz

  Max Rosenberg, father

  Ralph Rosenberg(later Atkins), brother

  Siegfried Rosenberg, uncle

  Wilfred Rosenberg(later Guy Atkins), brother

  Prologue

  I met Vera Atkins just once.

  In May 1998, a few weeks before her ninetieth birthday, I visited her at her home in Winchelsea, on the East Sussex coast. A collection of immaculate white-boarded houses on top of a hill, Winchelsea has a post office, a shop, a pub, and a tearoom, all set around a large church and a green. At the bottom of the hill is the Winchelsea railway station and a collection of more modest houses. Vera lived at the top of the hill in a house called Chapel Platt.

  I pressed a buzzer on what looked like a sophisticated intercom and found myself staring at a little smiley face on a sticker. GIVE ME TIME TO LOOK AT YOU, it read. A few moments later a woman appeared at the door. She looked at me carefully. Perhaps I was not quite what the video intercom had led her to expect. Now ushering me inside, she stooped somewhat and leant heavily on a stick. As she turned to lead the way, I found myself staring at a perfect roll of white-grey hair, tucked under at the nape of her long neck.

  Vera Atkins was a woman who had preserved her good looks remarkably well, and at nearly ninety she was still almost pretty. Tall despite the stoop and poised despite the wobble, she led the way into the large entrance hall, where a portrait of her hung on the wall. It showed Vera in old age, with the fingers of both hands brought together under her chin, to produce a thoughtful pose. “Brian Stonehouse painted that one,” she said. “He was one of our agents. He survived four concentration camps.”

  She told me to go on up to the living room on the first floor, as she would come up in “the contraption.” I saw that she was referring to a disabled lift that seemed to have been installed in an old dumbwaiter shaft. Vera sat in it, and it was like a box with its top sliced off so that when I turned at the half landing, I saw her disembodied head emerging through the floor just above me.

  It was such a distracting sight that I failed to notice the sea, which was visible from the window on the landing. At night, Vera told me, she could see the glow of the Dungeness Lighthouse as it flicked around. As we sat, I noticed that her face was brushed with powder, her lips were touched with colour, and a floral scarf was folded on her shoulders. Vera Atkins was an immaculate composition, disturbed only by clusters of very large diamonds on three rings that flashed each time she plucked a cigarette from a silver cigarette box—which was often.

  I have never seen anybody smoke quite like Vera. Her selection of a cigarette was very slow and very deliberate; the neck of the cigarette was handled for quite a few moments, then placed deep in the V of first and second fingers, before it was carefully inserted into the lips, which seemed to descend to take it in. The smoke was never inhaled but was taken into the mouth and then immediately exhaled so that she seemed to be permanently in a cloud of smoke. After a while—when she had made her judgement of me—she ceased to look at me at all and gazed straight in front, or over my head, through the window behind me and over the rooftops of Winchelsea.

  I hadn't come to interview Vera about her own life but found myself doing so from the beginning. She didn't tell me much. She never told anybody much. She said before the war she had been living with her mother in Chelsea, when, in February 1941, an “anodyne little letter” had arrived out of the blue asking her for an interview
at the War Office. This was how she came to join the London staff of Britain's newest secret service: the Special Operations Executive, or SOE.

  SOE was created amid the panic of July 1940, when Hitler's advance through Europe seemed unstoppable. In April the Germans had invaded Denmark and Norway, and by May German troops had surged through the Low Countries and penetrated France, forcing British, French, and Belgian forces to retreat at Dunkirk. It was impossible to say how much time it would now take before Britain and its allies could amass a force with the strength to retake Europe. In the meantime, inspired by Churchill's own enthusiasm for guerrilla warfare, SOE was created to start an immediate fight-back. SOE was to develop a secret war: building up, organising, and arming a resistance army from the peoples of the Nazi-occupied countries.

  SOE was opposed from the outset by many in government, who doubted that guerrilla tactics could achieve much against the mighty Nazi machine. Among rival intelligence services, particularly MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, there was rancour and jealousy about the creation of a new secret body, to be staffed by amateurs, over which they, the established professionals, would have no control.

  With little support, no time, and only a handful of experienced staff, SOE set about recruiting, looking to the City and international business for its headquarters staff, who then organised SOE into country sections, covering Europe, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Yugoslavia. In turn the headquarters staff looked for agents—anyone who was, first, able to speak the language of the country where they would operate and, second, brave enough to follow Churchill's famous edict to “set Europe ablaze.”

  When Vera was called for her interview in February 1941, SOE was still struggling to get properly started. It was nearly a year since the fall of France and nine months since SOE had been set up, yet its attempts to launch a secret war on French soil seemed to have stalled. Not a single British agent had yet been successfully infiltrated into France, from which Britain still seemed entirely cut off. There was not even any reliable information about the size or strength of any indigenous French resistance. General de Gaulle had set up his government-in-exile in London, and his Free French were now also largely isolated from their homeland.