Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins & the Missing Agents of WWII by Sarah Helm Page B
Authors: Sarah Helm
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trouble for her.” While Buckmaster's dependency on Vera was by now quite evident, however, few could have been aware just how dependent she was on him, particularly at the turn of the year. In January and February 1944 small notices appeared in the personal columns of the Kensington News and West London Times, and Buckmaster was probably the only one of Vera's colleagues to be aware of them. “Notice is Hereby GIVEN that Vera May Atkins (otherwise Rosenberg) of 725 Nell Gwynne House, Sloane Avenue, SW3 in the County of London, Spinster, is applying to the Home Secretary for Naturalisation,” read the announcement.
Vera's first application for naturalisation as a British citizen had been made in February 1942 and was rejected. No reason was given, although, as Buckmaster was well aware, senior figures in SOE's security directorate were suspicious of her Romanian and Jewish origins. So to ensure that her application was not blocked again, Buckmaster himself was this time backing Vera's request for naturalisation.
A former SOE staff officer told me he recalled “a stink” and “a smell” in the office when Vera first joined SOE. The same person recalled a further “stink” when Vera first applied for naturalisation in 1942. When I askedhim the reason for the “stink,” the man said: “Something in her background.” He then thought for a moment and added: “I am not anti-Semitic but I am not very keen on Jews. They are always touching and pawing one, and the fleshy nose and all this flesh at the back of the neck,” and he then reached for the back of his neck.
Another officer, Anghais Fyffe, employed in SOE's security directorate, gave an even more graphic account of the prejudice Vera faced from anti-Semitic officers at the most senior levels of SOE. One day in December 1942 Major General John Lakin, then head of the security directorate, came to him and said: “Morning, Fyffe.” Fyffe replied: “Morning, sir.” Lakin then asked: “Have you heard of a woman called Rosenberg?” and the conversation continued until he said: “That damn fair-haired Romanian Jewess has applied to be naturalised. I've put a stop to it.”
In February 1944 Vera's renewed application for naturalisation came up for decision by the Home Office, and she hoped that a long letter from Maurice Buckmaster backing her claim would bring success this time. Buckmaster, whose second wife was part Jewish, did not tolerate anti-Semitism in his section and openly criticised anti-Jewish prejudice in other sections when he encountered it. Many of F Section's most motivated agents were themselves Jewish exiles.
Furthermore, Vera's lack of British nationality had been inconvenient to Buckmaster in the office, not least because her origins had to be kept strictly secret in case SOE's detractors got to hear. MI6, always ready to do SOE down, might well have made much of the fact that F Section's intelligence officer was an enemy alien, as might de Gaulle's fractious Free French. It was an SOE rule that, for reasons of security, only British subjects by birth should be employed in HQ.
By February 1944 Vera's nationality had become more than inconvenient: it was now standing in the way of Buckmaster's D-Day plans. As he told the Home Office in his letter supporting her application, Vera had been chosen to run a forward station in France to coordinate post-D-Day operations. “If Miss Atkins goes overseas as a Roumanian subject wefear that she will be both obtrusive and much restricted in her movements.”
Buckmaster's letter explained: “In as large a city as London we hope that the true nationality of Miss Atkins might not be known, but in any move overseas where papers will have to be shown such a fact could not be concealed. This consideration is one of great delicacy, but one of tremendous importance if enemy penetration is to be successfully resisted.”
On February 25 Vera was interviewed at the Home Office, where she said: “It is
Vera's first application for naturalisation as a British citizen had been made in February 1942 and was rejected. No reason was given, although, as Buckmaster was well aware, senior figures in SOE's security directorate were suspicious of her Romanian and Jewish origins. So to ensure that her application was not blocked again, Buckmaster himself was this time backing Vera's request for naturalisation.
A former SOE staff officer told me he recalled “a stink” and “a smell” in the office when Vera first joined SOE. The same person recalled a further “stink” when Vera first applied for naturalisation in 1942. When I askedhim the reason for the “stink,” the man said: “Something in her background.” He then thought for a moment and added: “I am not anti-Semitic but I am not very keen on Jews. They are always touching and pawing one, and the fleshy nose and all this flesh at the back of the neck,” and he then reached for the back of his neck.
Another officer, Anghais Fyffe, employed in SOE's security directorate, gave an even more graphic account of the prejudice Vera faced from anti-Semitic officers at the most senior levels of SOE. One day in December 1942 Major General John Lakin, then head of the security directorate, came to him and said: “Morning, Fyffe.” Fyffe replied: “Morning, sir.” Lakin then asked: “Have you heard of a woman called Rosenberg?” and the conversation continued until he said: “That damn fair-haired Romanian Jewess has applied to be naturalised. I've put a stop to it.”
In February 1944 Vera's renewed application for naturalisation came up for decision by the Home Office, and she hoped that a long letter from Maurice Buckmaster backing her claim would bring success this time. Buckmaster, whose second wife was part Jewish, did not tolerate anti-Semitism in his section and openly criticised anti-Jewish prejudice in other sections when he encountered it. Many of F Section's most motivated agents were themselves Jewish exiles.
Furthermore, Vera's lack of British nationality had been inconvenient to Buckmaster in the office, not least because her origins had to be kept strictly secret in case SOE's detractors got to hear. MI6, always ready to do SOE down, might well have made much of the fact that F Section's intelligence officer was an enemy alien, as might de Gaulle's fractious Free French. It was an SOE rule that, for reasons of security, only British subjects by birth should be employed in HQ.
By February 1944 Vera's nationality had become more than inconvenient: it was now standing in the way of Buckmaster's D-Day plans. As he told the Home Office in his letter supporting her application, Vera had been chosen to run a forward station in France to coordinate post-D-Day operations. “If Miss Atkins goes overseas as a Roumanian subject wefear that she will be both obtrusive and much restricted in her movements.”
Buckmaster's letter explained: “In as large a city as London we hope that the true nationality of Miss Atkins might not be known, but in any move overseas where papers will have to be shown such a fact could not be concealed. This consideration is one of great delicacy, but one of tremendous importance if enemy penetration is to be successfully resisted.”
On February 25 Vera was interviewed at the Home Office, where she said: “It is
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