Hitler's Lost Spy (7 page)

Then … something for everyone:

Our appearance and our dress constitute our letters of credit
⁵
 to the world, and we shall find it well worth our while to give them the best backing we can. This applies to the young girl if she wishes to start out in life with every possible chance of success, to the young mother who wishes to retain her husband's love and quiet approval: and equally to the middle-aged woman if she wishes to grow old gracefully and with dignity – to transform young attractiveness to mature beauty.

And the summing up:

Any woman who has a dress or figure problem or who would like to find out the colour, style and design of dress best suited to her particular type of figure and colouring, who has a bad point that she would wish to dissimulate or a good point she would wish to enhance – in short, what to wear to make the most of herself – can write or call in to see Renee Laval at 2GB, Savoy House, Bligh Street, any time and any day. Her advice will be given free.

Those unable to call during the day will be received on Wednesday and Friday evenings from 6 to 9 
o'clock.

The content of the above paragraphs reveal Annette's self-promotion skills. She knows how to advertise herself. The language is not reserved, distant or defensive 
– this is an article about a motivated lady who is on the front foot in achieving an objective. She is appealing to a broad audience. Here is a positive message for almost everyone, and in 1939 as Australia struggled to put some distance in from the worst years of the Depression, many a lady would have noted with interest that fashion affordability may not inhibit achieving
the gospel of
distinctive dress.

For the buyers at the upper-end fashion market, the article would also have some appeal. Yes, money may not be the total arbiter of fashion, but it has always offered to those who had it a greater market choice. For these buyers,
learning
of fashion trends, which Annette would do for them, was a fashion in itself.

The article was strong, positive and offered a very personal flavour. But apart from the contents and personality traits we may attempt to gauge about Annette, the summing up offered more. It provided for any female, of any age, personal access to her (i.e. for legitimised meetings with total strangers) – a point not lost on the security services. In her file is a reference to how such an arrangement could provide an ideal opportunity for the conveyance of information – and not all of this ‘information' may have been limited to clothing styles and colours.

The
Australian Women's Weekly
article was located on page 27, adjacent to a list of movies currently being screened in Sydney. Had Annette surveyed the listing, she would have probably passed over
Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs,
but she may have smiled at the titles
Swiss
Miss, Vivacious Lady
and
There's Always a Woman.
We may only guess how she would have reacted to others on the list –
Strange Boarders (… thrills of stolen political documents),
Reckless Living
and
Sweet
Devil
. Had her sense of humour (probably very limited) failed to trigger any response to the titles, Annette may have shown a greater interest in the serialised novel on page 6 –
The Spymaster
.

Annette's fashion commentaries were not restricted to radio 2GB. A newspaper article issued on 26 April 1939 was titled:

DIRECT FROM PARIS – CABLED FASHION 
SERVICE ON 2CH.

The article commenced:

A cabled fashion service sourced direct from the
fashion centres of Paris is now brought to 2CH each
Wednesday at 11:40 am by Renee Laval, well known
as an authority on world fashions.

Three months after commencing her new program with 2GB, Renee Laval appears to have consolidated her status as a fashion consultant. While her background – 
that we know of – does not suggest a basis for this, it is reasonable to say that we are looking at a very sharp lady with a penchant for creativeness, and it may be primarily these reasons that accounted for her rapid rise to being 
‘an authority on world fashions'. But Annette was not entirely bluffing. While she was clearly not a professional fashion authority, it is evident from comments in her file that she presented well and possessed a tasteful dress sense.

Had the ‘cabled fashion service' been authentic (it wasn't), Annette would have had undoubtedly commented on the new creations from the design house of Coco Chanel. Unknown to Annette, one parallel interest of the two ladies would shortly venture beyond the fashion world. During the war Chanel was a Nazi spy 
– Abwehr agent number 7124 with the code name 
‘Westminster' – and worked closely with the head of the SS intelligence branch, Walter Schellenberg. When he died penniless in 1952, she paid for his funeral expenses and later paid his widow a substantial sum to refrain from revealing details of their wartime relationship
⁶
.

Clearly, Annette was building on a successful radio career. In fact, in the history of radio how many broadcasters have hosted programs on different stations under two names? It is possible that Annette Wagner and

Renee Laval established a unique record in Australian radio, and possibly beyond.

Annette Goes National

Although having successfully launched herself into commercial radio, Annette was continuing to work on casual arrangements – and she had the advantage of obtaining additional radio work using her
real
name. 
Shortly after joining 2GB she obtained an opportunity at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's two radio stations in Sydney – 2FC and 2BL. Annette scripted and produced a weekly fifteen minute segment in which she presented a variety of travelogues and other topics of general interest. The 2FC presentation also introduced a new listening audience – across Australia. Her programs went national and this presented more opportunities than simply gaining a larger audience. Should she wish to transmit a message to a listener say, in Adelaide, how easy would that be if she prepared the dialogue for her own program? The answer is,
very
easy. This fact did not go unnoticed by authorities.

Suddenly, Annette's blossoming radio career ceased. 
Hitler invaded Poland, Australia was at war, and under security regulations radio presenters who were not Australian citizens were removed from behind the microphone. Annette was furious and undertook proceedings to be reinstated (see Chapter 9).

The Radio Personality – Opening Doors

Added to Annette's broadcasting role was the benefit of self-promotion by way of public recognition. Without competition from television, radio ‘stars' of the era normally enjoyed public respect and admiration as the celebrities of the day. Although Annette's programs were limited in number, she could, at appropriate times, legitimately state that she was a radio broadcaster. 
Immediately, her opportunities for access to people and places would increase relative to others. In an era when trust meant exactly that, a radio announcer who retained the trust of a radio station would also enjoy a high level of community confidence.

Fame, however modest, will open doors and Annette was a specialist in using what she had. It is not difficult to imagine, therefore, Annette obtaining favourable access to, or information from, places or organisations of special interest to her. This is ingrained in the development formula of a near-perfect spy, and the distance Annette needed to travel to complete this process was very short indeed.

FOOTNOTES

5
 Annette's resourcefulness featured in her undertakings. Here she effectively uses banking terminology she probably acquired while working in the London bank.

6
 Unlike Annette, who committed suicide, Chanel's money bought silence from those who could expose her links to the Nazis. She obtained protection from prosecution through the influence of 
‘friends in high places', possibly including Winston Churchill
.

The Female Spy

The 30 September 2012 edition of
Forbes Magazine
included an article titled:

ONE OF THE CIA'S BEST-KEPT SECRETS

In the article, an ex-CIA female agent listed reasons why her gender may function in the spy world with several advantages over male counterparts:

People Skills: Being able to make friends easily, to read people – determine their motivations and vulnerabilities … When we received training about how to ‘spot and assess' potential sources, it came naturally to the women.

Street Smart vs Physical Strength: Contrary to popular belief that you need to be physically fit to outmanoeuvre the enemy, it's actually the ability to read the danger potential of a person or situation … 
Women are already attuned to the security of their environment. We are always on the lookout for suspicious characters, people who might be following us, dangerous situations. We've compensated for being the physically ‘weaker sex' by developing these street smarts.

Women have the ‘nurturing instinct': … Very often you're dealing with not the most reliable, stable or trustworthy individuals – just like kids – and you must safeguard them against any number of threats.

Women are better listeners: Many of the men in my training class had to be instructed on how to listen or on how to elicit information. It came naturally to us women.

To compare the above features to those of the pre-World War II female agent, they need to be translated from the twenty-first century back to the late 1930s. 
However, it is likely that the intrinsic qualities of the modern spy have changed little from pre-World War II. 
Technological, training and operational routines have transformed dramatically, but the key principle of what motivates the modern-day espionage operative remains essentially unchanged.

One shortcoming experienced by the World War II female spy was in the vital area of communications. 
Transporting heavy radio and processing equipment was obviously more suited to a man, but this was probably a small offset against other and often more appropriate qualities a woman could offer.

A female spy will normally project a greater mystique than a male. When characteristics such as honesty and trustworthiness are applied to men and women, the latter usually score more highly. Unfairly or otherwise, when a female politician lies to the people, it usually carries a greater public criticism than may have been expected if the politician were a male. From this, and other individual traits, popular culture has ensured a disproportional degree of intrigue is attached to the female spy. It is commonly perceived to be more difficult for women to play the dishonest role.

Ultimate Credentials

What are the desired qualities of an ideal spy? It's a straightforward question so we just need to look at the basics. Let's ignore Hollywood's definitions and images gleaned from James Bond and John Le Carre and focus on the central factors. These are:

1. Security
   within the operating environment
   . A good spy's primary responsibility is not to be caught. This may sound elementary, but to an espionage service, an active spy in its employ is both an investment
   and
   a potential risk. It is imperative that sufficient work and resources are injected into the program of ensuring that the planned 
   ‘work' area is secure. This means suitable training for the spy and his or her contacts. Remaining above suspicion is paramount, and the ability of a spy to read the danger of exposure is more than simply having an advantage – it could be life saving.
   
2. Information collection
   . A good spy obtains facts and data deemed useful by the agency for which the spy operates. Working tirelessly in a target territory and doing so above suspicion is of little value if useful information cannot be obtained. 
   Not forwarding evidence of activity may raise suspicions from the agency that the spy in the field is either slack or has, voluntarily or involuntarily, committed the ultimate betrayal by changing sides.
   
3. Information transmission
   . The gathering of significant material is worthless while it remains with the spy. It needs to be delivered to the right people. But meetings may be monitored, telephones tapped, radio transmissions traced, codes broken and letters intercepted. Therefore, complete safety in transmission will require strict rules.
   
4. A spy's expertise in neutralising sudden adversity
   . 
   Events likely to create suspicion of a spy need to be addressed with speed and conviction. 
   Mistakes may occur, or coincidental incidents could place the spy in a compromising setting. 
   The ability to confidently and hastily defuse a problematic situation may never be necessary, but if needed, it could be the best protection obtainable.
   
5. Motivation
   . Why does an individual agree to risk the hazards inherent to the murky world of espionage? One reason is money, or the receipt of some tangible benefit. Personal revenge, coercion and threats, or the general dislike for the target country may be other reasons. But in the 1930s the most reliable force was a simple desire to serve one's country, or a powerful conviction favouring support of someone else's country. 
   The gauging of motivation is critical in a spy assessment process. Where an applicant's enthusiasm is misjudged, the danger of an agent 
   ‘rolling over' to the enemy may become a lethal reality.