The Spy

Hamburg, Germany: The night of September 2^nd 1940 is foggy and cold. A group of German top spies are holding a farewell party in the Hotel Jacob. In a dark corner of the famous restaurant two men sit accompanied by a woman: Vera Schalburg, top secret agent, the most beautiful spy in German intelligence. They are about to embark upon the most dangerous mission of their careers: “Operation Lena”.

The order to launch this mission has come straight from Hitler’s headquarters: using undercover identities, the agents are to observe military bases and airfields in England. The information is urgently needed to prepare for the invasion of the British Isles.

Vera Schalburg, alias Vera Erikson, alias Vera de Cottany-Chalbur is the most dazzling agent of Nazi Germany. Born in 1912 in Riga as the daughter of a tsarist admiral who was later killed by communists, Vera’s career advanced rapidly under the guidance of Wilhelm Canaris, legendary head of the German intelligence service.

However, Schalburg’s most important mission ends in a fiasco.

September 30, 1940: the German naval base in Stavanger, Norway. At 2:30 a.m., Vera Schalburg and the two other secret agents, Karl Druecke and Robert Petter, take off in a Heinkel 115 flying boat, bound for Scotland.

On only the second day of “Operation Lena” the cover of the three agents is blown; they are arrested at the train station in Port Gordon, Scotland.

In their luggage British police find 19 magazines of ammunition, bundles of cash and a list of Royal Air Force bases. Karl Druecke and Robert Petter are found guilty of espionage and executed.

The last trace of Vera Schalburg leads to a Scottish interrogation room. As questioning begins, she simply hands a note to the inspector. Only one thing is written on this piece of paper: the telephone number of MI5 – the British secret service.

What happened to Vera Schalburg? Was the beautiful spy a double agent? Is there any truth to the theory she was recruited by MI5 as far back as the 1930s? And what about the incredible claim the legendary spy adopted the name Vera de Witte, married a British officer and gave birth to a child who still lives in London today?