The Spy Who LovedThe Secrets and Lives of Christine

Granville

written by Clare Mulleypresented by Kayla Allen

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”

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

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

“Lost – a pair of lady’s

pink panties.Lost – Warsaw.”

Poland & Hungary

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

Andrzej Kowerski

Chistine’s childhood friend

had a false leg

Lieutenant in the Black Brigade

the “Scarlet Pimpernel of Poland”

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”

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

Smuggling Christine and Andrzej used 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

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

Egypt

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

Christine in Palestine,1942

Christine and Andrzej in Syria,1942

Training

Andrzej was sent to Italy

Christine underwent training for France

agents in France had a life expectancy of six weeks

Training

Morse code and wireless signaling

parachuting

firearms

silent killing

spy tradecraft

airdrop organization

France

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

SOE Circuits organized around three key roles

leader: Francis Cammaerts, codename Roger

wireless operator: Auguste Deschamps, codename Albert

courier: Christine Granville, codename Pauline

had networks of spies, saboteurs, and resistance fighters

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

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

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 spy and then bribing and threatening the officer that held them

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

After the War

“Perhaps the real tragedy was that

she was denied the chance to discover

what she might have been in a post-

war world.”

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”

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

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”

Who Was Christine?

Femme Fatale?

Maternal Figure?

“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.”