died in prison
The Russian singer received huge fees, was friends with Chaliapin, and the army of her fans was led by Nicholas II himself. After the revolution, Nadezhda and her husband ended up in exile, but her popularity did not fade away: foreign newspapers wrote about a real “spitting mania”! True, the couple did not live by songs alone: in 1930, the artist and her husband were recruited by the Soviet secret services.
Since then, the singer’s husband has been collecting information about emigrant circles, and Plevitskaya wrote intelligence reports to the Lubyanka. In 1937, the couple was exposed: Nikolai went on the run and died, and Nadezhda was sent to prison, where she died just three years later.
Mata Hari
She was sentenced to death for espionage
Of course, the most famous female spy of all time is the Dutch Margaret Gertrude Celle, aka Mata Hari. Her fate was not easy: at the age of 18, the girl got married, but her husband turned out to be an alcoholic who beat her and accused her of all sins. Eight years later, the couple divorced, both children born in an unhappy marriage died, and Margarita, finding herself in poverty and loneliness, moved to Paris. It was there that she received her legendary pseudonym and became famous thanks to her explicit dancing, which was somewhat similar to a modern striptease.
Mata Hari was a double agent during the First World War: she worked simultaneously for the Germans and the French. The exact circumstances of her recruitment by the German side are still unknown, but something else has been established: as soon as the woman found out that the French had exposed her, she came to the local intelligence services with an offer of cooperation. In 1917, Mata Hari was arrested in Paris on charges of espionage and sentenced to death.
Christine Keeler
became the “Mata Hari” of the 60s, but with one caveat: she remained alive
Already at the age of 16, the British woman, escaping boredom, moved from the outback to London, where she became a topless dancer and call girl. Subsequently, she earned herself the title “Mata Hari of the 60s”: Christine’s lovers included British Secretary of War John Profumo and the naval attache of the Soviet Union, Yevgeny Ivanov. The police found out that the beauty was selling the Briton’s secrets to the latter. A loud scandal broke out, called the Profumo Affair.
John had to resign and become a dishwasher, Stephen Ward, who brought Keeler together with her lovers, was convicted and then committed suicide, Evgeniy was recalled to Moscow, where he was deprived of all prospects for the failure of the operation. His wife left him, and then Ivanov simply drank himself to death. But the fatal Christine, having become notorious, sold her story to journalists for a lot of money. Keeler is now 74 years old and lives in Britain with her cat.
Nancy Wake
became an intelligence officer and almost built a political career
Nancy Wake is a real James Bond in a skirt. Her life story is amazing, and her autobiography “White Mouse”, released in the 80s, became a bestseller! After the Germans occupied France in 1940, a woman living in Marseille began working in the Resistance.
Nancy knew her job so well that the Gestapo gave her the code name “White Mouse” because of her elusiveness. 5 million francs were promised for her head! After the network was discovered, the spy left, leaving her husband in the city. After the war, I learned that the Gestapo executed him for refusing to give up Nancy’s location. After the war, Wake received numerous awards, worked as an Air Force intelligence officer, and even tried to launch a political career in Australia. She lived 40 years of marriage with her new husband and died at the age of 98.
Violetta Jabot
died in captivity
When Violetta's husband, Frenchman Etienne Jabot, died in World War II, she decided to join British intelligence. The woman spoke excellent French and, having undergone combat training, in 1944 went on her first mission to occupied France: to carry out demolition work and transmit information about the location of enemy defense factories. I did it.
Unfortunately, the second task ended tragically for Violetta: Jabot was captured, where she was tortured and later shot. The spy did not live to see victory for only a few months.
Josephine Baker
transmitted messages to fellow intelligence officers using sheet music
Having suffered because of her skin color in the United States, Josephine moved to France, where she gained fame as a singer and cabaret dancer. The Second World War began - and Baker immediately joined the Resistance. Baker's fame and charm helped her stay above suspicion when she was extracting secret information from the enemy.
The singer left intelligence messages on musical notes using invisible ink. After the war, Josephine devoted herself to raising children: she adopted 12 orphans from different countries with different skin colors. The spy died on April 12, 1975, just 4 days after presenting her anniversary show Joséphine.
January 16, 2013, 20:07Mata Hari (1876-1917) Perhaps one of the most famous spies of all time is Mata Hari, whose real name is Margarita Gertrude Celle. The girl received a good education and lived for 7 years in Java with her husband, who drank and cheated on her. When they returned to Europe, Mata Hari left her husband and began a career as a circus rider and then an oriental dancer to support her livelihood. Soon Mata Hari became a real star in Paris. Even before the war, she was recruited by the Germans, and already during the war, Mata Hari began to collaborate with the French. She needed money to cover her gambling debts. In 1917, the French military captured her and sentenced her to death. On October 15, Mata Hari was executed. Presumably, the spy was eliminated due to the fact that she communicated too much with various French politicians, which could affect their reputation, and her role as a secret agent in history was greatly exaggerated. Bell Boyd (1844-1900) Belle Boyd is also known by the nickname La Belle Rebelle (“The Beautiful Rebel.” During the American Civil War, she spied for the South, and passed on the information she received to General Stonewall Jackson. On May 23, 1862, in Virginia, it was Boyd who crossed the front line in front of the northerners , to report that an attack was being prepared. She was fired from rifles and cannons, but Boyd, dressed in a blue dress and cap, did not show any fear. When she was first captured, the woman was only 18 years old. Thanks to a prisoner exchange, Boyd was freed A year later, Boyd was arrested again and this time sent into exile. In her diaries, Belle Boyd wrote that she was guided by the motto “Serve my country until my last breath.” Pauline Cushman (1833-1893) The northern states also had their own spy. Pauline Cushman, an American actress, during the war between the North and the South, just like Bell Boyd, could not remain indifferent. She was eventually caught and sentenced to death, but was later pardoned. When the war ended, Pauline Cushman went to travel around the country and talk about her work and exploits. Yoshiko Kawashima (1907-1948)
Yoshiko Kawashima was a hereditary princess from the royal family of Japan. She became so accustomed to the role of another person that she dressed in men's clothing and even had a mistress. As a member of the imperial family, she had direct contact with the representative of the royal Chinese dynasty, Pu Yi. In the 1930s, Pu Yi was to become the ruler of the province of Manchuria, a new state under Japanese control. In fact, Pu Yi in this case would become a puppet in the hands of the cunning Kawashima. But at the last moment he refused this post. Kawashima still acted more cunningly: she placed poisonous snakes and bombs in the monarch’s bed to convince him of the danger. Pu Yi eventually succumbed to Yoshiko's persuasion and in 1934 became Emperor of Manchuria. Yoshiko was executed at Peiping Prison in China. She feared a public execution, but after her death her body was laid out for public display and desecration until her family claimed her remains. Amy Elizabeth Thorpe (1910-1963) Englishwoman Amy Elizabeth Thorpe was engaged in diplomatic activities in Washington, but not only that. Her intelligence career began when she married the second secretary of the American embassy. The intelligence officer's career began with her marriage to the second secretary of the American embassy. The husband was also an agent of British intelligence, and Amy had numerous love affairs that helped obtain information. She is also known in history as Agent Cynthia. With the help of love affairs, she obtained information about the French and Italians. She once opened the French ambassador's safe and copied the naval code to help Allied troops land in North Africa in 1942. Gabriela Gast (1943 -) Gabriela Gast was recruited by the GDR intelligence services in 1968. The fact is that she fell in love with a handsome blond Schneider, who turned out to be a Stasi agent. In 1973, Gabriela received a position in the German Federal Intelligence Service in Pullach. However, in reality, she spied for the GDR, transmitting classified information about West Germany for 20 years. All this time she had a relationship with Schneider. Her underground nickname is Leinfelder. During her service, Gabriele managed to climb the career ladder to the post of senior government official. The revelation of the superspy in a skirt only happened in 1990. A year later she was sentenced to 6 years and 9 months in prison, and when she was released in 1998, Gast began working in an ordinary engineering office in Munich. Ruth Werner (1907-2000)
German communist Ursula Kuczynski took an active part in political activities from a young age. But after she married an architect, she had to move to Shanghai in 1930. It was then that Ruth Werner was recruited by the Soviet intelligence services, giving her the pseudonym Sonya. In China, Ruth collected information for the USSR, working closely with Richard Sorge. Her husband had no idea what Ruth was really doing. In 1933, Agent Sonya underwent special training at an intelligence school in Moscow, after which she returned to China, where she continued to collect valuable data. After that she worked in Poland, Switzerland, England, etc. Sonya had informants even in the USA and Europe. By the way, it was Ruth Werner who helped obtain information that the United States had created an atomic bomb directly from the project participants. Since 1950, Werner lived in the GDR, where she wrote several books, including the memoirs “Sonya Reports.” Interestingly, twice in her career Ruth went on a mission with agents who were listed as her husbands only according to documents, but over time became such out of love. Violetta Jabot (1921-1945) Frenchwoman Violette Jabot was widowed at the age of 23, and then she decided to join the ranks of British intelligence. In 1944, Violetta was sent to occupied France on a secret mission. The landing was carried out by parachute. Violetta was not only involved in transmitting data to headquarters about the number and location of enemy forces, but also carrying out sabotage. After completing her assignments, Violetta returned to London, where her little daughter was waiting for her. In June, Jabot found herself in France again, but this time her mission ended in failure: her car was detained, and she ran out of ammunition for the shootout. Violetta was captured and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, known for its brutal torture and medical experiments on prisoners. After torture and torture, Violetta was executed in February 1945. She did not live to see victory for only a few months. She became the second woman in history to be posthumously awarded the George Cross in 1946. Josephine Baker (1906-1975) The real name of this American dancer and part-time secret agent is Frida Josephine MacDonald. She was born into the family of a Jewish musician and a black washerwoman. Because of her origins, Josephine suffered a lot from childhood: at the age of 11 she witnessed a pogrom in the ghetto. In America, Baker was disliked because of the color of her skin, but in Europe she gained fame during the Revue Negre tour in Paris in 1925. An unusual woman walked around Paris with a panther on a leash. She was nicknamed "Black Venus". Josephine married an Italian adventurer, which helped her obtain the title of Countess. Baker's main performance venue was the Moulin Rouge. She also starred in erotic films. In 1937, Baker easily renounced her American identity, becoming a French citizen, but two years later World War II began. Josephine began to actively spy for the French resistance. She often visited the front and even learned to fly an airplane, receiving the rank of lieutenant. In addition, she helped the underground financially. After the end of the war, she continued to dance and sing, and also act in television films. Baker devoted the last 30 years of her life to raising children whom she adopted in different countries of the world. A whole rainbow family lived in her French castle. It was a kind of protest against racism in the United States. For her services to France, Baker was awarded the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre. Nancy Wake (Grace Augusta Wake) (1912 -) Nancy was born in New Zealand. Having unexpectedly received a large inheritance, she moved first to New York and then to Europe. In the 1930s, she worked as a correspondent in Paris and denounced the spread of Nazism. When the Germans invaded German France, Nancy joined the Resistance with her husband. Nancy had several nicknames and pseudonyms: “White Mouse”, “Witch”, “Madame Andre”. Together with her husband, they helped evacuate Jewish refugees and Allied soldiers. To avoid being caught, Nancy left France in 1943 for London, where she was trained as a professional intelligence officer. She returned to France again in April 1944, where she organized arms supplies and recruited new members of the Resistance in the Auveragne region. After some time, Nancy learned that her husband had been shot by the Nazis. They demanded that he tell them the location of his wife. The Gestapo offered a reward of 5 million francs for her head. Nancy had to return to London. Post-war she was awarded the Order of Australia and the George Medal. In 1985, Nancy Wake released her autobiography, White Mouse. Christine Keeler (1943 -) Former British model Christine Keeler, by the will of fate, turned out to be a “call girl”. In the 1960s, she became the cause of a political scandal in England, which is known in history as the Profumo Affair. Christine herself began to be called the Mata Hari of the 1960s. She worked in a topless cabaret and simultaneously entered into a relationship with the British Minister of War John Profumo and the USSR naval attache Yevgeny Ivanov. But one of the beauty’s ardent fans pursued her so persistently that he attracted the attention of the police and later the press. It turned out that Christine learned secrets from the minister and then sold them to her other lover. During the scandal, Profumo himself resigned, then the Prime Minister, after which the Conservatives lost the elections. The minister, left without work, was forced to get a job washing dishes in one of the catering establishments, and Christine earned even more money as she gained popularity among photographers and journalists. Anna Chapman (Kushchenko) (1982 -) Russians know and remember the story of Anna Chapman, since it happened quite recently. Anna moved to England in 2003, and since 2006 she has headed her own real estate search company in the USA. On June 27, 2010, the FBI arrested Anna Chapman, and on July 8, the girl admitted that she was engaged in reconnaissance, trying to obtain information about US nuclear weapons, politics in the Middle East and influential persons. The beauty with the appearance of a fashion model naturally attracted the attention of the press. During the espionage scandal, it turned out that Anna carried out reconnaissance back in London. There she was in touch with a peer from the House of Lords and even approached the princes. Her luxurious life was provided by income from business, which, however, was sponsored by no one knows who. As a result, Anna was deported to Russia, where she became a TV star. Ekaterina Zatuliveter (1985 -) Former KGB colonel and British intelligence agent6 Oleg Gordievsky called the Russian woman Ekaterina Zatuliveter “the most successful Russian spy in the last 30 years.” At the same time, the girl herself continues to claim that she has never worked and will never work for the Russian special services. Zatuliveter allegedly used her connection with Member of Parliament Michael Hancock, whose assistant she worked, to convey secret information to the Kremlin. Ekaterina Zatuliveter was detained at Gatwick Airport in August 2010 and placed under arrest in December on allegations that she was involved in espionage. All this time, the girl continues to deny this, so it is not known for certain how thorough the accusations of the British authorities were.
There are many women's names in the history of intelligence activities. Famous female spies included gifted writers, excellent translators, wonderful actresses, and businesswomen. Not all of them were natural beauties, but in love, marriage, diplomacy, intelligence, creativity and much more, they were head and shoulders above other representatives of the fair sex. They lived at different times, they had different destinies, and the results of their activities were sometimes ambiguous. The only thing that unites them is love for the Fatherland.
It’s easy for us to imagine this woman. According to contemporaries, the princess served as the prototype for Countess Helen Bezukhova from the novel War and Peace. Skavronskaya-Bagration wore her blond hair around her head in the shape of the handles of a Greek amphora, had a thin figure, alabaster-white shoulders, and was slightly myopic. Until old age, she remained a coquette and, already confined to a wheelchair, wore open gauze dresses.
The famous French historian Albert Vandal directly pointed out that Ekaterina Pavlovna was engaged in diplomatic espionage in favor of Russia. The archives are mostly silent on this matter. However, there is indirect evidence. The first private holiday that Alexander I attended in Vienna, occupied by Russian troops, was a ball given by the countess in honor of the Emperor...
The wife of Major General Bagration, betrothed to him by Emperor Paul I himself, inherited beauty and coquetry from her mother, and eccentricity and a penchant for extravagance from her father. The Skavronskys descended from the Latvian serf Karl Samuilovich, who received the title of count thanks to his sister Martha, who became Empress Catherine I. Although for a representative of the ancient Bagration family, marriage with the great-granddaughter of a serf was a misalliance, by that time the Skavronskys were already firmly part of the Russian elite.
It was difficult for the hospitable prince to support his motley wife on his salary alone, however, they did not live together for long - the war began. Shortly before the Battle of Austerlitz, Ekaterina Pavlovna moved to Vienna, where she moved in a circle of learned men and in a whirlwind of great society. The Parisian newspaper Moniteur wrote in those days. that the princess's house became the center of a better society.
The salon of the princess, who loved to talk about politics, was visited by sovereigns and crowned heads, including the Prince de Ligne, as well as the great poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe. At the same time, those around knew about the hostess’s anti-Napoleonic views.
In Vienna she became the mistress of the Austrian statesman Clemens Metternich. In 1803, they had a daughter, whom the diplomat recognized as his own. In 1806, the Prussian Prince Ludwig became seriously interested in the princess, who broke off relations with Princess Solms because of his Russian passion. True, the prince soon died in battle, and Bagration’s wife returned to Vienna again. Modern historians are baffled by evidence that the princess, together with General Bagration, opposed Metternich. What is this - patriotism or jealousy? Or maybe a mystery from the history of espionage?
By the way, while living in Paris, the princess remarried Lord Gowden, from whom she soon separated, demanding that during the divorce she retain the surname of her first husband. It is known that until his death on the Borodino field, the general not only did not hold a grudge against his wife, but also... did not consider her divorced from him! Despite the vicissitudes of family life, Prince Bagration was offended that his wife did not receive the Order of St. Catherine at the same time that he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle. It’s interesting to know: for what merit?
In the West, the double agent of the GPU and the British Intelligence Service was called the Russian Milady. Countess Zakrevskaya, Countess Benckendorff, Baroness Budberg are one woman, and her last names are not underground nicknames or spy pseudonyms.
Born Maria Ignatievna Zakrevskaya, she was the daughter of a Senate official, but she wanted more: to become a Russian aristocrat. However, Mura's first husband, to her disappointment, made a mistake. The Baltic nobleman Ivan Benckendorf never had the title of count and was distantly related to the chief of the gendarmes. And only her second marriage turned the adventuress into a real Baroness Budberg. She will complete her life’s journey under this surname, but she will separate from her husband almost on the second day after the wedding.
Benckendorf was shot by security officers in 1918, and Mura was allegedly sent to prison for spying for Great Britain. After all, her lover, the head of the English mission, Bruce Lockhart, was involved in the case of the so-called ambassadorial conspiracy directed against the Bolshevik government. However, a week after her arrest, aristocrat Mura entered Lockhart’s cell arm in arm with one of the founders of the Cheka. So, together with Yakov Peters, she finds herself on the pages of the history of Soviet intelligence.
It was argued that the “iron woman” (as Zakrevskaya was called by Gorky, who dedicated his epic novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” to her) was saved by the intercession of the “petrel of the revolution.” And she, in turn, saved the life of her lover Lockhart and... found herself in the arms of the science fiction writer H.G. Wells. But this is only the external side of the life of this extraordinary woman, in the creation of myths about which both she herself and her biographers had a hand. Meanwhile, very few people knew about her “official affairs.”
It should not be surprising that Mura became a double agent working for enemy intelligence. On the one hand, she studied at Cambridge, was in love with Lockhart and Wells, and she considered Russia, Britain’s ally in the Entente, and not the newly formed USSR, her homeland. On the other hand, she remained a Russian patriot.
In the German-occupied Baltic port city of Libau (now Liepaja), military sailors loved to look into the pastry shop where Klara Izelgof ran. British historian Hector Bywater called her Katrina Izelman, and Valentin Pikul in his novel Moonsund called her Anna Revelskaya. Under this name she entered the history of intelligence. The woman came from a Russian family that owned lands in the Baltic states.
When talking about this Russian patriot, they usually mention three feats she accomplished. In November 1916, a squadron of the Kaiser's fleet lost in one night an eighth of all the destroyers lost in the First World War. On October 12, 1917, the German squadron, having irretrievably lost ten destroyers and six minesweepers near the Moonsund archipelago, left the waters of the Gulf of Riga, failing to capture Petrograd. And on June 17, 1941, information received from Anna helped save the Soviet navy from destruction.
In the first case, Anna Revelskaya took advantage of her attractive appearance and deftly tricked the commander of the Tethys cruiser, Lieutenant von Kempke, who was in love with her. Skillfully playing on her lover’s jealousy, she slipped him misinformation about the location of minefields in the Gulf of Finland, allegedly installed there by Russian sailors. As a result, eight of the 11 pennants that were the pride of the 10th German mine cruiser flotilla were sunk. The loss of brand new ships, just launched from the shipyards, turned out to be irreparable. The threat from the sea for Russia has been postponed indefinitely.
Less than a year later, the intelligence officer provided valuable information that helped save Petrograd, but not to the tsarist secret service, but to the representative of the Provisional Government. And on the eve of Hitler's aggression against the USSR, Anna contacted the Soviet embassy in Berlin in order to inform the exact date of the border crossing by enemy armies.
Information about Hitler's impending offensive, as is now known, flowed into the Kremlin from various sources, but Stalin refrained from active action. The Red Army soldiers were strictly forbidden to respond to the “provocations” of the fascists.
Because of this order, most of the Soviet aviation was destroyed right at the airfields, infantry units were badly damaged, and the tank and artillery fleet was thinned out. However, the navy of the Country of the Soviets had practically no combat losses in the first days of the war. But not because the naval bases turned out to be inaccessible to the Luftwaffe aces. The fact is that the naval attache spoke with Anna at the Berlin embassy and information about the insidious strike landed on the desk of the People's Commissar of the Navy Nikolai Kuznetsov.
Admiral Kuznetsov believed Anna Revelskaya's intelligence and took additional precautions. Two or three days before the start of Operation Barbarossa, the Baltic, Northern and Black Sea fleets were put on high alert.
Much more is known about this woman’s appearance than about her life. She starred in 145 films and performed on stages in many European countries. Her aunt was Anton Chekhov's wife, the famous actress Olga Knipper-Chekhova, and her husband was the nephew of the great writer Mikhail Chekhov, who later became famous as a Hollywood director and teacher.
After the divorce, in 1920, Olga moved to Germany, allegedly to continue her education. Intelligence General Pavel Sudoplatov in his memoirs confirms the fact that Chekhova was recruited by Soviet intelligence services several years before her departure. On a voluntary and unpaid basis. At first, in a foreign land, she was forced to sell chess pieces she carved with her own hands. Soon one of the Russian princes noticed her and helped her get a job at a Berlin film studio. In 1928, Olga received German citizenship.
At this time, Chekhova began actively studying English. But it was not the laurels of European actresses who achieved success in the “dream factory”, nor the crazy American fees of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich that attracted the rising cinema star. Her goal was to enter high society, to attend social events swarming with foreigners. Mostly English speaking.
After Hitler came to power, Olga Chekhova was invited to a informal reception hosted by Propaganda Minister Goebbels. The Fuhrer was delighted with the beautiful and witty woman. He gave her his photograph with a dedicatory inscription. Since Hitler and Goebbels were obsessed with cinema, the doors to the Imperial Chancellery opened before Frau Chekhova.
The Fuhrer often compared Olga Chekhova with his favorite Swedish actress Zara Leander, who, by the way, also collaborated with Soviet intelligence. Under the pseudonym RoseMarie, she met with her contact Zoya Rybkina in Stockholm to convey secret information. And only in 1953 Beria instructed Rybkina to become Olga Chekhova’s liaison. There is a version that she transmitted valuable information to Moscow through her personal driver.
In 1945, Himmler, who suspected something, planned the arrest of Frau Chekhova. But the Gestapo men who came to her apartment saw the Fuhrer sitting at the table, and the arrest failed.
During the battles for Berlin, Olga was arrested by Smersh counterintelligence fighters. After the interrogation, Chekhov was taken to Moscow on a special flight. According to unreliable information, Stalin personally presented Olga Chekhova with the Order of Lenin. Three months later, she again flew to Berlin, where, by order of Beria, she was settled in a luxurious villa in the eastern part of the city. The security of the country house was provided by three soldiers of the 17th separate rifle battalion. At Chekhova's request, the house was repaired, as well as two cars that belonged to her.
In post-war Germany, Olga Chekhova continued to act in East German films. In 1955, she founded the successful Olga Chekhova Cosmetics company in Munich. Intelligence historian Anatoly Sudoplatov suggested that the cosmetics company was created almost entirely with Moscow's money for contacts with the wives of NATO officers. Thus, Stalin’s prediction that “actress Olga Chekhova will be useful after the war” came true.
In general, many mysteries are associated with her name. For example, there were rumors that the actress, with the support of Walter Schellenberg, tried to save Yakov Dzhugashvili from a concentration camp. And Russian President Boris Yeltsin stated that traces of the missing Amber Room lead specifically to Olga Chekhova.
Secret diplomacy and intelligence are initially aimed at creating an aura of secrecy around their activities. Spies are not public people until they are caught. It’s a different matter when it comes to lovely ladies and especially those who hang around in the highest circle for a long time. They did not remain incognito, but their true identity was hidden by a veil of secrecy.
Famous female spies from the Old Testament
The first known female spy in European intelligence history worked for selfish reasons. The Philistine Delilah (Delilah), who is described in the biblical Book of Judges, not only learned the secret of the irresistible power of the hero Samson, but also helped to capture him. Having received the necessary information and the appropriate reward, the heroine of the Old Testament cut the hair of the big man, thereby turning him into a miserable slave.
White and fluffy, but with a bloody bearded head in her hands, another spy is depicted in world art. The beautiful Judith infiltrated the camp of the commander Holofernes to behead the enemy of her people. True, the old warrior did not find words of love for the girl and therefore he stupidly drank himself into insensibility, trying to seduce her.
Women also played their role in the history of industrial espionage. Chinese emperors treasured the secret of silk production like the apple of their eye. Women's hair put an end to the Great Silk Road. In their intricate hairstyles, beauties carried silkworm eggs from the Middle Kingdom to neighboring countries. Even the most vigilant customs officer would not have dared to delve into the works of art that adorned the lovely heads.
There were women who headed the secret services. Theodora, who earned money by selling her own body, an actress by profession and vocation, became the Byzantine empress in 527. From the palace in Constantinople, she sent instructions to her secret agents throughout the empire. She personally supervised the actions of the scouts. According to modern historians, her husband Justinian the Great did not do anything without consulting his clever wife.
In March 1862, the trial of the famous intelligence officer Rose O'Neill Greenhow took place. She was accused (deservedly) of passing information during the American Civil War in favor of the Confederacy: it informed the southerners about the deployment of northern troops. But there was no evidence against Rose O'Neill. Before her arrest, she ate all the documents incriminating her. After the trial, she went to Richmond, where Southern President Davis Jefferson awarded her a $2,500 bonus.
Two years later, Rose O'Neill drowned. They said about her that she was an amazing spy, because she knew the plans of her enemies better than President Lincoln. What would the allies do if not for her natural charm and modest feminine beauty?
Success is in many ways easier for the fair sex - and all thanks to their appearance. In this selection you will find the most beautiful spies in the world, who have also achieved a lot in their field.
1. (1942-2017). "Mata Hari of the 60s." The former British model also worked as a prostitute, but she brought more benefit to intelligence. While working in a topless cabaret, she had an affair with the British Minister of War John Profumo and the USSR naval attache Yevgeny Ivanov.
But Christine did not need lovers for personal purposes: she extracted secrets from the minister, then selling them to her other lover. During the ensuing scandal, Profumo himself resigned, soon after the Prime Minister, and then the Conservatives lost the elections.
After the scandal, Christine became even richer than before: the beautiful spy was incredibly popular with journalists and photographers.
2. Cohen Leontine Teresa (Kroger Helen)(1913-1993). She was a member of the US Communist Party and a labor activist. In New York, at an anti-fascist rally in 1939, she met Morris Cohen, who later became her husband. Cohen collaborated with Soviet foreign intelligence.
It was on his tip that she was recruited. At the same time, Leontina guessed about her husband’s connections with the USSR. Without hesitation, she agreed to help state security agencies in the fight against the Nazi threat.
During the war, she was a liaison agent for the foreign intelligence station in New York. Until the last days of her life, she continued to work in the illegal intelligence department. She was buried at the Novo-Kuntsevo cemetery.
3. Irina (Bibiiran) Alimova(1920-2011). A veterinarian by profession, Alimova became an actress because of her beautiful appearance. After the role of Umbar's lover in the film of the same name, the girl became famous. She continued to study acting.
With the beginning of the war, Bibiiran wanted to go to the front and fell into military censorship. After the war, she received an offer to work in local counterintelligence. In 1952, under the pseudonym Bir, she went to Japan to work illegally in the Soviet station, which was being revived after the death of Richard Sorge.
Its chief was our intelligence officer, Colonel Shamil Abdullazyanovich Khamzin (pseudonym - Khalef). They entered into a fictitious marriage, Alimova became Mrs. Khatycha Sadyk. But after a few years, their relationship moved from the category of legends to real romantic love.
4. Nadezhda Troyan(1921-2011). During the war, finding herself in the occupied territory of Belarus, Nadezhda Troyan joined the ranks of the anti-fascist underground. She was a messenger, scout and nurse in partisan detachments. Participated in operations to blow up bridges and attack enemy convoys.
Her most significant feat was the destruction, together with Elena Mazanik and Maria Osipova, of the fascist Gauleiter of Belarus, Wilhelm von Kube. The women placed a mine under his bed.
5. Anna Morozova(1921-1944). In the 1930s, the largest military airfield was built in Seshche, where Morozova grew up. Anna Morozova worked there as an accountant. When the airfield was captured by Hitler, she left with the Soviet troops, and then returned, supposedly to her mother. She remained to work for the Nazis as a laundress.
Thanks to the data she transmitted, two German ammunition depots, 20 aircraft and 6 railway trains were blown up.
In 1944, the girl was seriously wounded, and in order to avoid being captured, she blew herself up with a grenade along with several Germans.
She was recruited by German intelligence before the war, and during it Mata Hari began collaborating with the French. She used the money she received to cover her gambling debts.
The girl had many connections with high-ranking French politicians who were afraid of a damaged reputation. Some historians believe that Mata Hari did not prove herself very strong as a spy.
In 1917, she was declassified by the French military and sentenced to death. On October 15, the sentence was carried out. Perhaps this was not even done because of her work as a scout.
7. Violetta Jabot(1921-1945). At 23, she became a widow and joined the ranks of British intelligence. In 1944, she went to occupied France on a secret mission to transmit data on the strength and location of enemy forces to headquarters, as well as to carry out a number of sabotage actions.
After completing the assignments, she returned to London to her little daughter. After some time, she flew to France again, but now the mission ended in failure - her car was detained, she fired back for a long time, but the enemy turned out to be stronger.
She was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, famous for its brutal torture and medical experiments on prisoners. The tortured Jabot was executed in February 1945. She became the second woman in history to be posthumously awarded the St. George Cross. Later, the intelligence officer was awarded the Military Cross and the Medal “For Resistance”.
8. Amy Elizabeth Thorpe(1910-1963). Her intelligence career began when she married the second secretary of the US Embassy. The man was 20 years older than Amy, and she cheated on him left and right. The husband did not mind: he was an agent of British intelligence, and Amy’s lovers helped to obtain information.
But her husband died, and agent Cynthia went to Washington, where she continued her activities as an intelligence officer: through her bed she obtained information from French and Italian employees and officers.
Her most famous spy trick was opening the French ambassador's safe. Through skillful actions, she was able to do this and copy the naval code, which later helped the Allied troops to land in North Africa in 1942.
9. Nancy Wake (Grace Augusta Wake)(1912-2011). A girl born in New Zealand suddenly received a rich inheritance and moved to New York and then to Europe. In the 1930s she worked as a correspondent in Paris, criticizing Nazism.
Together with her husband, she joined the ranks of the Resistance when the Germans broke into France. During its activities, the White Mouse helped Jewish refugees and military personnel cross the country.
Afterwards she was involved in organizing arms supplies and recruiting new members of the Resistance. Soon Nancy learned that her husband was shot by the Nazis because he did not tell about Nancy’s whereabouts. The Gestapo promised 5 million francs for her head.
10. Anna Chapman (Kushchenko)(b. 1982). She moved to England in 2003, and since 2006 has headed her own real estate search company in the USA.
While married to artist Alex Chapman, she tried to obtain information about US nuclear weapons, politics in the East, and influential people. On June 27, 2010, she was arrested by the FBI, and on July 8, she admitted to espionage activities.
Moreover, as it turned out, Chapman was in a relationship with a certain peer from the House of Lords and even saw some princes. Funds for her luxurious life came from a business sponsored by some unknown person. As a result, Anna was deported to Russia under the spy exchange program.
11. Josephine Baker (Frida Josephine MacDonald)(1906-1975). The daughter of a Jewish musician and a black washerwoman. Became popular during the Revue Negre tour in Paris in 1925. Baker walked around Paris with a panther on a leash, for which she was nicknamed Black Venus.
She married an Italian adventurer and became a countess. She worked at the Moulin Rouge, but also starred in erotic films. In 1937, she renounced her US citizenship in favor of France, and then a war began, in which Black Venus actively became involved, becoming a spy.
Baker trained to be a pilot and received the rank of lieutenant. Transferred money to members of the underground. After the end of the war, she continued to dance and sing, and also acted in television series. For her services to France, she was awarded the Legion of Honor and the Military Cross.
At different times
World history women were engaged in espionage. It is worth remembering the 6 most famous female spies in history.
Mata Hari (1876-1917)
The real name of the most famous female spy is Margarita Gertrude Celle. She was born in 1876. She grew up in a wealthy family and received a good education. Margarita at a young age is unsuccessful got married, her husband cheated on her and drank a lot. She lived for seven years on the island of Java, and then, returning to Europe, worked as a rider in a circus. Later, Margarita Gertrude Celle began performing as a dancer under the pseudonym Mata Hari. She soon became famous in Paris. The woman was famous for her relaxedness; she posed and danced almost naked. Soon German intelligence recruited Mata. During the war, the spy began collaborating with the French. She was a courtesan and had relationships with many politicians and military men, and perhaps this played a fatal role in her life. The French military arrested the spy and sentenced her to death. On October 15, 1917, the most famous female spy, Mata Hari, was shot.
Christine Keeler (born 1942)
A young model from Britain, Christine Keeler, who works part-time as a call girl, has earned herself the nickname - the new Mata Hari. She danced half-naked in bars and met with the Minister of War Affairs, John Profumo, as well as with the naval attache of the Soviet Union, Sergei Ivanov. Scotland Yard became interested in the girl. Soon the police established that Keeler was engaged in espionage. She passed on all the information about John Profumo to one of her lovers. In the sixties, this caused a huge scandal, which was called the Profumo Affair. The Minister of Military Affairs had to resign. Later, in order to support himself, John had to work as a dishwasher. Christine Keeler herself earned much money and scandalous reputation, her photographs often appeared in newspapers and magazines.
Nancy Wake (1912)
Nancy Wake was born and raised in an ordinary, not rich family in New Zealand. Absolutely unexpectedly she received a huge inheritance and moved to the USA, and later to Paris. Nancy worked as a correspondent and wrote articles against Nazism. During the German invasion of France, the woman and her husband enlisted in the Resistance and provided assistance to the Allies, as well as Jewish refugees. She had many nicknames, one of the famous ones being “Witch”. In 1943, having fled to London, Nancy Wake completed a special program, after which she became an intelligence officer. The Gestapo promised 5 million to anyone who would tell her where she was. The intelligence officer was involved in recruiting new people into the Resistance, as well as supplying weapons. The Nazis captured her husband, he did not tell about the whereabouts of his missus, for which he was shot. Nancy Wake managed to escape. In the mid-eighties she wrote an autobiography.
Violetta Jabot (1921-1945)
At 23, Violetta Jabot, after the death of her husband, was left alone with her daughter. Soon the Frenchwoman became a British intelligence officer. She was sent to France to collect and transmit information about the enemy's strength. After a secret mission, Violetta returned to her daughter in London. The next mission with a trip to her homeland turned out to be a failure, the intelligence officer was caught. Jabot was sent to a concentration camp, tortured for months and executed. This girl did not live a long life, but she left her mark on the path to Victory. In 1946, Violetta Jabot was awarded the St. George Cross posthumously.
Ruth Werner (1907-2000)
Ruth Werner lived with her husband in Germany. In her youth she was interested in politics. The woman was recruited by the USSR intelligence services and she and her husband had to move to Shanghai to collect information in China. Werner collaborated with Richard Sorge, which her husband did not know about. In 1933, a woman took special courses at an intelligence school in Moscow. Ruth Werner was never arrested, although she spied not only in China, but also in the USA, England, Switzerland and Poland. The USSR learned about the atomic bomb created in the USA only thanks to information collected by a spy. In 1950 she moved to the GDR. According to documents, Werner had two husbands who were her intelligence colleagues; later they were actually her husbands.
