1 March 2005 releases: German intelligence agents and suspected agents

On 1 March 2005, the Security Service released a number of files to The National Archives concerning known and suspected German intelligence agents.

It was not always easy to determine whether an individual was working for the Germans, as the case of Friedelinde Wagner illustrates.

Friedelinde Wagner

File ref KV 2/1914

The granddaughter of composer Richard Wagner, Friedlinde was often known by her nickname "Mausie". Her family were well known to Hitler and other leading Nazis, and two of her brothers were Hitler's personal assistants during the War. Friedlinde, however, is supposed to have fallen out with Hitler after criticising his policies in front of him, and he asked her mother to ensure that she left Germany.

She first came to Security Service attention in 1939 when she wrote from Switzerland trying to arrange her own entry into the UK. The Service found out about her plans after intercepting correspondence sent to people whose mail was being monitored.

Opinion about Friedelinde Wagner was divided. Many who knew her and her family denounced her as a Nazi to the British authorities, while others, aware of her arguments with Hitler, promoted her as an anti-Nazi propagandist of great potential use. These included MP Beverley Baxter, who supported her attempts to reach Britain. The competing views about her are recorded in detail on the file. In April 1940 the Service was undecided: "on the evidence at present available it is difficult to judge where her loyalties really lie."

Wagner was allowed to enter Britain after the start of the war. The file states that she is the only non-refugee German who had been granted this privilege. She began writing anti-Nazi columns for the Daily Sketch newspaper. These prompted more denunciations from members of the public who knew of her past association with Hitler.

In late 1940 she applied for an exit permit to take up employment in Buenos Aires, which the Service opposed but which was eventually granted after Baxter had taken up her case in Parliament. She left for Brazil in February 1941 and adopted American citizenship after the war. The file closes with her returning to Europe and attempting to find property she might have lost during the war.