There was a brief period during WWII when a great deal hinged on one woman's grief for her dog. The woman was Nathalie Sergueiew, a Russian whose family had fled to France in 1917 to escape the Revolution. In 1939 she began working for German intelligence - and very shortly thereafter became a double-agent for the Allies, codenamed "Treasure" by the British.
She had had to leave her dog Frisson behind in her Madrid posting, with a boyfriend's promise that Frisson would be smuggled into Britain. But the boyfriend failed, and Frisson died (I haven't found out how). In misplaced revenge, "Treasure" threatened to slip a code into her transmissions to Germany that would tell them she was being held against her wishes. If she had, more likely than not the Allies' entire double-cross system would have come crashing down.
Luckily, she didn't. She went back to France, and eventually wrote a tell-all memoir that was published in 1968. You can read more about "Treasure" here, and learn more of the spying details here - no mention of Frisson, but there is a photo of Sergueiew.
About Me
- curator
- Oregon, United States
- loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !
3 comments:
That second one is a is a wonderful link! I had to make myself stop following further and further links. I've definitely bookmarked the one on her (can't remember how to spell her name).
But the first one seems to lead to a book title. Is that right?
The first one leads to a page from a book, which can be read on Google Books (scroll down for the story) - let me know if it doesn't work!
Maybe I'm not doing the right thing, but to me it just seems to be an overview of the book.
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