History: 21 May 2004 releases

The Security Service released a further 280 records to The National Archives on 21 May 2004, as part of its ongoing transfer of historical files into the public domain.

The majority of files are from 1939-45 but there are a considerable number from the inter- and post- war periods, dealing with a range of groups and subjects. The National Archives website provides an overview of the most noteworthy files. Summaries of a small selection of the released files are also provided on the pages linked below.

• German intelligence activities
  Horst Kopkow; the "English Patient" files


• Soviet intelligence agents and British communists
  Douglas Springhall; Sylvia Pankhurst


• Miscellaneous personal and policy files
  Rudolf Peierls; pigeon policy