Anna Wolkoff
From Metapedia
Anna Wolkoff (1902 – August 2, 1973), sometimes known as Anna de Wolkoff, was a Russian fascist who, early in World War II, was an accomplice of Tyler Kent, a cipher clerk at the U.S. Embassy in London, in his espionage activities. She was charged by the British with violating the Official Secrets Act, specifically by aiding Kent in obtaining "documents which might be useful to an enemy" and copying them "with intent to assist an enemy". She was also charged with trying to send a coded letter to William Joyce, also known as "Lord Haw-Haw", who broadcast anti-Allied propaganda for the Germans from Berlin.
Anna Wolkoff was the eldest child of Admiral Nikolai Wolkoff (1870–1954), who was the last Imperial Russian naval attaché in London. Her family had decided to stay in Britain in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution and they became naturalized British subjects on September 10, 1935. Her family operated the Russian Tea Room in South Kensington near the Natural History Museum in London, a rendezvous for White Russians.
Anna and her father held extreme right-wing views and were sympathizers of the Germans. She visited that country several times in the 1930s, having met Hans Frank and Rudolf Hess. Her visits caused MI5 to have an interest in her activities and she was placed under surveillance as a possible German spy, beginning in 1935. She was also alleged to be associated with Wallis Simpson, who was also under suspicion as a spy for the Germans.
In Great Britain, Wolkoff belonged to the pro-fascist anti-Semitic Right Club, founded by Archibald Maule Ramsay, which included such members as William Joyce, A. K. Chesterton, Francis Yeats-Brown, the best-selling author of Bengal Lancer, and the Duke of Wellington. They often held their meetings in the Russian Tea Room.
When Britain went to war against Germany in September, 1939, the Right Club supposedly disbanded, but it merely went underground and planned ways to aid Germany. Wolkoff, using an intermediary (known as a "cutout" in espionage terms) from the Italian Embassy (later determined to be Col. Francesco Marigliano, the Duke del Monte, who was the assistant military attaché), sent information to Berlin, including suggestions for Joyce's propaganda broadcasts.
However, unknown to Wolkoff, the Right Club was infiltrated early on by MI5, most notably by Joan Miller, a young undercover agent who once worked as an office girl for Elizabeth Arden. It is through her as well as two others that MI5 was kept fully informed of the activities of the group.
In February 1940 Wolkoff met Tyler Kent, a cipher clerk from the U.S. Embassy, who held similar views and he became a regular visitor to the Right Club. Kent later revealed to Wolkoff and Ramsay in his flat some of the documents that he had stolen from the embassy, most notably sensitive communications between Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt. On April 13, 1940, Wolkoff went to Kent's flat to copy the documents and she sent them to Berlin through her Italian embassy cutout.
Her espionage work took a turn when she approached Joan Miller and asked her if she could pass a coded letter to William Joyce through her Italian embassy contacts. Miller agreed, but showed the letter to Maxwell Knight, the head of counter-subversion in MI5.
Anna Wolkoff and Tyler Kent were arrested and charged with violating the Official Secrets Act on May 20. As she was put in the police car, her arrest was witnessed by an 11-year old boy named Len Deighton, who grew up to become an author of spy novels, and made an impression on him.
She was tried in camera at the Old Bailey, with Sir William Jowitt as prosecutor. On November 7, 1940 Wolkoff was sentenced to ten years for attempting to assist the enemy, while Kent, an American citizen, was sentenced to seven years.
After her conviction the Certificates of Naturalization (Revocation) Committee was contacted and reported on August 17, 1943 that she should have her naturalisation revoked.
She was released in 1947, and was killed in a road accident in Spain with Enid Riddell (1903–1973), another fascist sympathizer and a member of the Right Club.
