The Spy Who Loved The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville

1. The Spy Who LovedThe Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville written by Clare Mulley presented by Kayla Allen

2. Early Life • born Krystyna Skarbek • lived 1908 – 1952 • spent her childhood “basking in her father’s attention, and supported…by her mother’s love and money”

3. Young Adulthood • grew disillusioned with her family; spent lots of time skiing and partying in Zakopane • married and subsequently divorced German businessman Gustav Gettlich • looked down upon for being poor, Jewish, undomesticated, and divorced • married Polish diplomat Jerzy Gizycki

4. War Begins • Christine and Jerzy were working for the Polish Foreign Office in Africa when Hitler invaded Poland • Britain and France were the first nations to declare war on Germany • Christine and Jerzy sailed immediately to London to try to find intelligence work

5. “Lost – a pair of lady’s pink panties. Lost – Warsaw.”

6. Poland & Hungary

7. Intelligence Networks • SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) • Section D • SOE (Special Operations Executive) • led by Lieutenant Colonel Colin Gubbins • ZWZ (Union of Armed Struggle) • The Musketeers • led by Stefan Witkowski

8. AndrzejKowerski • Chistine’s childhood friend • had a false leg • Lieutenant in the Black Brigade • the “Scarlet Pimpernel of Poland”

9. First Mission • official objectives: • “to counter the anti-British propaganda of the Germans by spreading British propaganda” • “to collect and transmit intelligence” • Christine believed that accepting propaganda was “the first step toward accepting occupation”

10. entered Budapest disguised as a French journalist skied into Zakopane, guided by a member of the Polish Olympic Ski Team took a train to Warsaw

11. Smuggling • Christine and Andrzejused their networks to smuggle money, arms, and weapons into Poland and intelligence and people out • Andrzej was responsible for the exfiltration of 5,000 Polish and Czechoslovakian officers in 1940 • Christine crossed the Polish border six times and Slovakian border eight times while helping him

12. Escape • arrested by the Gestapo in Budapest and interrogated for twenty-four hours straight • Christine faked tuberculosis to get them released • got false passports and visas from their friends at the British Legation • first appearance of the name “Christine Granville” • Andrzej snuck over the border into Yugoslavia with Christine in the trunk of his car

13. Egypt

14. Intrigue • Christine and Andrzej traveled from Yugoslavia to Istanbul to Cairo • Christine delivered some of the first information about Hitler’s plan to attack Russia • however, they were no longer trusted by British or Polish intelligence • after months, they were sent to collect intelligence in Jerusalem and then in Syria

15. Christine and Andrzej in Syria, 1942 Christine in Palestine, 1942

16. Training • Andrzej was sent to Italy • Christine underwent training for France • agents in France had a life expectancy of six weeks

17. Training • Morse code and wireless signaling • parachuting • firearms • silent killing • spy tradecraft • airdrop organization

19. France

20. Francis Cammaerts • socialist and pacifist • motivated to enlist by the birth of his first daughter in 1942 • head of the Jockey circuit • intelligence and resistance

21. SOE Circuits • organized around three key roles • leader: Francis Cammaerts, codename Roger • wireless operator: AugusteDeschamps, codename Albert • courier: Christine Granville, codename Pauline • had networks of spies, saboteurs, and resistance fighters

22. The Courier’s Work • Christine organized air drops of weapons and explosives, warm clothes, radio batteries, cash, and treats such as chocolate and cigarettes • also conveyed messages between branches of Francis’s network and the Maquis, a French resistance group

24. Battle of Vercors • French Forces (FFI) absorbed the Jockey Circuit • engaged German forces in southern France • Germans responded with enormous strength, winning the battle • Francis, Christine, and Albert worked to secure much-needed air drops from the Allies, but barely anything came • the French and the Jockeys dispersed into the Alps

25. Heroism • Francis, Christine, and company gathered intelligence about German forces while in the Alps • Christine convinced 63 conscripted Poles in a German garrison to join the FFI • the Gestapo arrested Francis and two other officers • Christine rescued them by revealing herself as a spyand then bribing and threatening the officer that held them

26. End of the War • after the liberation of France, Christine trained to become a courier in Poland • the war ended before she could parachute in • dismissed from the SOE with a month’s salary and left to her own devices in Cairo • she couldn’t return to Poland during Soviet occupation

27. After the War

28. “Perhaps the real tragedy was that she was denied the chance to discover what she might have been in a post-war world.”

29. Dismissal • “the qualities still so highly recognized in male agents were no longer recognized in [Christine]” • London didn’t give her the extra pay she deserved and wouldn’t help her gain British citizenship • they did, however, send her notes that said, “Hope you are being a good girl!’ and one officer told her about her “feminine absence of understanding for such matters”

30. Looking for Work • spent time traveling in Africa and the Middle East • finally settled in London and worked small jobs: telephone operator, a waitress, a hat-check clerk • tried to open a car dealership with Andrzej and some contacts from the war • accepted work as a stewardess for the New Zealand Shipping Company

31. Dennis Muldowney • wife had divorced him, “citing cruelty and the excessive ‘sexual demands’ he made upon her • only steward that was friendly to Christine • fell in love with her, and became angry when Christine did not return his affections • stabbed her to death in the lobby of her hotel • final words: “to kill is the final possession”

33. Who Was Christine? Femme Fatale? Maternal Figure?

34. “Christine loved passionately. She loved men and sex, adrenalin and adventure, her family and her country; she loved life, and the freedom to live it to the full. When that freedom was…threatened by invasion, occupation, and terrorism, she fought back with a passion, patriotism, determination and courage unsurpassed by any other special agent in the Second World War.”