Agent Garbo (39 page)

6 “My imagination would travel with them”: Ibid., p. 20.
the leftists’ idea of a joke: Carr, p. 60.
“One day a right-wing faction”: Pujol and West, p. 31.
“Every morning my father went”: Ibid., p. 19.

7 they settled into a magnificent home: Juárez, p. 44.
“a hefty fellow of fifteen”: Pujol and West, p. 28.
“endless and dull”: Ibid.
“I’ve always adored romanticism”: Juan Pujol, letter to Tamara Kreisler, May 25, 1988.

8 “I was destroyed”: Juan Pujol, letter to Tamara Kreisler, August 16, 1988.
he would awaken: Pujol and West, p. 23.
“I felt my stubbornness”: Ibid.
“prudent, very religious”: Ibid.
Pujol had learned to ride: Juárez, pp. 46–47.

9 “Everybody was crying and shouting”: Juan Pujol, letter to Tamara Kreisler, August 24, 1988.
“The flight of his soul”: Pujol and West, p. 29.

10 “He was a
terrible
businessman”: Author interview with Juan Kreisler.
“I don’t know”: Juan Pujol, letter to Tamara Kreisler, August 24, 1988.

2. The Training Ground

11 “in such a fratricidal fight”: Pujol and West, p. 37.
“I loved liberty”: Juan Pujol, letter to Tamara Kreisler, August 24, 1988.
“nothing great has ever been achieved without violence”: Carr, p. 13.

12 “Every shop and café had an inscription”: Orwell, p. 4.
“snatched from certain death”: Pujol and West, p. 37.
“a brutish appetite”: Ibid., p. 94.
“A horrible atmosphere of suspicion”: Orwell, p. 140.
“Trotskyist treachery”: Ibid, p. 173.

13 one of many young Spaniards: Thomas, p. 481.
“I was petrified”: Pujol and West, p. 38.
“I kept assuring [them]”: Ibid.

14 “I had ... become a criminal”: Ibid., p. 39.

16 “I began to look like a decrepit old man of forty”: Ibid., p. 40.
In order to plan an escape: The details of Pujol’s life after his confinement are found in Pujol and West, pp. 40–53.

20 The hotel had one other guest: Juárez, p. 78.
“Years of hiding and persecution”: Pujol and West, p. 43.

21 “I am only his shadow”: Juan Pujol, letter to Tamara Kreisler’s mother, October 29, 1987.

3. Araceli

22 her mother nicknamed her Antoñita la Fantástica: Author interview with Maria Kreisler.
“There is a part of the family”: Araceli Kreisler, letter to her grandchildren, undated.

23 “She was the most seductive woman”: Author interview with Tamara Kreisler.
“Lugo was the kind of place”: From the documentary
Hitler, Araceli y Garbo,
directed by José de Cora. A Lugopress/Cora Production for Galician television.
“It was the best way to leave us”: Araceli Kreisler, letter to her grandchildren, undated.
“We lived in a fantasy world”: Ibid.
She took with her an enormous wooden chest: Ibid.
“All my friends would say”: Ibid.
A friend and fellow nursing student: Interview with Cachita Nuñez, from
Hitler, Araceli y Garbo.

24 “I went to Burgos”: Quoted in
Hitler, Araceli y Garbo.
“Where he was weak, she was strong”: Author interview with Maria Kreisler, September 2011.
In Navarre, men in short-sleeve shirts: The details of life under Franco are from Carr, pp. 211–13.
Those suspected of speaking against the Führer: This and the anecdotes about Hans Lazar are from “Los espías nazis que salvó Franco,”
El País,
January 26, 2003.

25 what London could reasonably expect: Carr, p. 187.
“The countryside ... was pockmarked”: Bristow, p. 10.
“It didn’t even deserve one star”: Pujol and West, p. 54.

26 “Francoist Madrid was too small for him”: Author interview with Rafael Fraguas.
“a maniac, an inhuman brute”: Pujol and West, p. 26.
“My humanist convictions”: Ibid., p. 61.
“I would be tormented”: Ibid., p. 60.

27 “If a Pythian oracle”: Ibid., p. 57.
“Aryan race,” “superior being”: Ibid.
“I must do something, something practical”: Ibid., pp. 60–61.

28 “They considered such a drink essential”: Ibid., p. 55.
“We were just fighting for the right to survive”: Ibid., p. 61.
“Your services of
what?
” The phrase is from the author’s interview with Rafael Fraguas, who spoke to Pujol about the incident after his reemergence in 1984.
“I must confess that my plans were fairly confused”: Pujol and West, p. 62.

29 The future Il Duce: The details of Hoare’s caper are from “Recruited by MI5: The Name’s Mussolini. Benito Mussolini,”
Guardian,
October 13, 2009.

30 “Out of
amour-propre
”: Pujol and West, p. 62.
“In order to offer myself to the Nazis”: Ibid., p. 63.

31 “My contact with the Germans”: Ibid.
it employed 391 people: Macintyre, p. 156.
“All classes were represented”: Ibid.
Knappe-Ratey had grown up in luxury: Juárez, p. 114.
“slight but rather athletic”: KV 2/101.

32 a “hot Nazi”: Liddell, p. 23, referring to Richard Sorge.
“extraordinarily magnificent”: Pujol and West, p. 64.
“It dawned on me”: Ibid., p. 63.
“a thousand foolish things”: Ibid.
“It’s something you have to know”: Juan Pujol, interview with Josep Espinas,
Identities.

33 “dreaming up new rigamaroles”: Pujol and West, p. 64.
When Pujol showed up: For an account of the meeting, see Harris, pp. 44–47.

4. The White City

35 still maintained flights: Kahn, p. 79.
MI6 and American OSS officers: Pujol and West, p. 74.

36 whose bartender reportedly made: Lochery, pp. 125–26.
One American visitor: Ibid., p. 126.
Graham Greene, then working the Lisbon desk: The information about Greene, Fleming and Casino Estoril comes from Miller, p. 50, and James Milton, “Discovering Lisbon, the ‘Capital of Espionage,’”
Daily Mail,
March 24, 2010, www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1260276/Portugal-holidays-Discovering-Lisbon-capital-espionage.html.
Our Man in Havana,
which was inspired: Denis Smyth, “Our Man in Havana, Their Man in Madrid: Literary Invention in Espionage Fact and Fiction,” in Wesley Ward, ed.,
Spy Fiction, Spy Films and Real Intelligence
(London: Frank Cass, 1991).
“She ... would play three times”: Quoted in Kahn, p. 289.
“It was an expensive code”: Ibid.

37 “I was getting desperate”: Pujol and West, p. 69.
“I resolved to become better acquainted”: Ibid., p. 68.

39 “I was fully aware of the risks”: Ibid., p. 70.
the Zueleta brothers: Juárez, pp. 102–3.
“He was becoming increasingly interested”: Pujol and West, p. 72.

40 “He did not wish ... to be caught a second time”: Harris, p. 47.
“You must return urgently”: Ibid.

41 “Alarmed and furious”: Ibid., p. 48.
“Greatly impressed”: Ibid., p. 49.

42 “[He’d] swallowed the story”: Ibid., p. 73.
“In a few days I’ll depart”: Ibid., p. 49.
“No conquest conquered me”: Juan Pujol, letter to Tamara Kreisler, March 3, 1988.

5. The Game

43 “In what stage of construction”: KV 2/63, summary of letters and questionnaires.
“Why he had such blind faith”: Pujol and West, p. 73.

44 “With the British he was British”: Author interview with Xavier Vinader.
Federico was so taken with his new agent: The Calvo anecdote is recounted in Harris, p. 50.
“Oval face ... fleshy”: KV 2/102.

45 “my own bizarre form of espionage”: Pujol and West, p. 74.
“[He] had no idea”: Harris, p. 51.
“What follows may seem unbelievable”: Pujol and West, p. 74.

46 This would later amaze Pujol’s handlers: Ibid., p. 121.
“The method of communication is good”: KV 2/63, message of July 29, 1941.
“I had become a real German spy”: Pujol and West, p. 90.

47 “Why, I kept on asking myself”: Ibid., p. 74.

48 “verbal equivalent”: Holt, p. 211.
“I do not wish to end”: Quoted in Harris, p. 95.
“I tried hard to introduce new information gradually”: Pujol and West, p. 90.
“in detail how I had grappled”: Ibid.
His subagent William Gerbers: KV 2/63 and Harris, p. 41.

49 “Try to find out the details”: KV 2/63.
An advertisement in a Portuguese paper: KV 2/63, “Translation of notes to letters 1 through 39.”
“very secret apparatus”: KV 2/63, appendix 2, letter no. 20.

50 “R.A.F. Pilot School situated near Sandwitch”: KV 2/63.
Pujol went to a local detective agency: Harris, p. 60.
When Tommy Harris later revealed: Ibid., p. 58.
“You refer by number”: KV 2/63, incoming letter no. 15.
“I am surprised at your announcement”: KV 2/63.

51 “It is unnecessary for you to send us proof”: Ibid.
“It can be said that from this point onwards”: Harris, p. 86.
“There are men here”: KV 2/63.
“She became highly excited”: Harris, p. 55.

52 “Talk to me about the baby”: KV 2/63, message of October 7, 1941.
“[Pujol’s] existence was precarious”: Masterman, p. 116.
“The farce was coming to an end”: Pujol and West, p. 92.

53 “[She] mystified the American”: Liddell, p. 253.
She also demanded $200,000: Harris, p. 64.
“LeClerc Fils of Paris reports”: Ibid., p. 65.
“Agent 172 of Chicago”: Ibid., p. 64.

54 “Here you are”: Ibid., p. 65.
“She
never
stepped back”: Author interview with Maria Kreisler.
“There is no doubt”: Harris, p. 65.

6. The Snakepit

56 Desmond Bristow was a tough-minded young man: For the intelligence officer’s early life, see Bristow, pp. 1–8.
“I watched in horror”: Ibid., p. 13.
In late October 1941: The account of Subsection V (d) is drawn from Bristow, pp. 16–44, and from an author interview with Bill Bristow.

57 Tim Milne, a former copywriter: Timothy Milne’s obituary,
Sunday Times,
April 8, 2010.
“This sounds very odd”: Bristow, p. 19.

58 “the British were going crazy”: Pujol and West, p. 91.
saying that the Caernarvon convoy: Bristow, p. 21.
“We know there is no bloody convoy”: Ibid.
“The Abwehr’s trust”: Ibid., p. 25.

59 The Germans planned to ambush: Pujol and West, p. 104.
MI5 chimed in with a theory: Bristow, p. 22.
it was even believed: Delmer, p. 39.

60 a Spanish national named Juan Pujol: Bristow, p. 33.
“If it was within Pujol’s power”: Author interview with Nigel West.

61 “discreet interview”: Bristow, p. 35.
Gene Risso-Gill, a well-bred Portuguese: Pujol and West, p. 94.
On an unseasonably hot February evening: The rendezvous is described in Bristow, pp. 36–37.
“My legs were shaking”: Pujol and West, p. 94.
“a wad of sterling notes”: Ibid., p. 96.

62 “I was suddenly acutely aware”: Ibid., p. 97.
“It seemed a miracle”: Harris, p. 66.
“It was crazy”: Juan Pujol, interview with Josep Espinas,
Identities,
Catalan TV documentary, date unknown
.

7. A Fresh Riot of Ideas

65 On the morning of May 1, 1942: The details of Pujol’s debriefing are from Bristow, pp. 41–42.
66 “mischievous glint”: Ibid., p. 38.
whose nickname inside the agency: Ibid., p. 271.

67 “He is such a dreamer”: Ibid., p. 42.
One officer recalled a story: Recounted in Andrew,
Secret Service,
p. 443.

68 “in a gesture of resignation”: Ibid.
The sounds had actually been doors slamming: Ibid., p. 432.
“We are bred up”: Brown, p. 9.
“Don’t go near them”: Andrew, p. 217.

69 The cell—now office—doors: Ibid.
some of which were read: Holt, p. 170.
“newfangled business”: Wheatley, p. 39.
“a racket”: All the reactions are from Wheatley, pp. 39, 84.
“The very fact that the Allies”: Holt, p. 62.
Down the hall: Wheatley, p. 25.
Close to Wheatley’s office: The description is from the author’s visit to the war rooms.

70 “the lost section”: Wheatley, p. 54.
“smoked salmon or potted shrimps”: Ibid., p. 30.
“The day has brought forth nothing”: Ibid., p. 49.
Wheatley submitted a memo: The information on the Bote plot is from Wheatley, p. 50.
71 When they were desperately trying: The “burning sea” plot comes from Crowdy, p. 55.

72 In April 1942, the British secret service: Wheatley, p. 56.

73 “Obviously, [they] missed the whole point”: Ibid.
“reference books”: Crowdy, p. 75.
case officers sometimes hired prostitutes: Ibid., p. 71.
“appointed scribes”: Harris, p. 105.

74 “The running of double-cross agents”: Masterman, p. 70.
“to work out the crime”: Quoted in Macintyre, p. 62.
At more than 226 weekly meetings: Crowdy, p. 72.

75 Plan Machiavelli: Masterman, p. 83.
Plan Guy Fawkes: Ibid., p. 88.
In Plan Brock: Ibid., p. 126.
nearly causing the planners: Churchill, p. 293.
“How should we feel”: Masterman, p. 127.

76 At one point: Ibid., p. 102.
a dozen double agents: The relevant agents are listed in Holt, p. 150.
one branch, the Naval Intelligence Division: Andrew,
Secret Service,
p. 455.
“I can’t tell you what sort of job it would be”: Ibid., p. 472.
“playing casually with detonators”: Ibid., p. 473.
A Force, the Middle East deception unit: Delmer, p. 26.
“We were complete amateurs”: Levine, Kindle location 368.

77 When Winston Churchill toured: Andrew,
Secret Service,
p. 454.
“bubbled and frothed”: Philby, p. 68.

78 “whizzing up and down the corridors”: Ibid., p. 77.
“He smoked like a chimney”: Pujol and West, p. 224.
“a fresh riot of ideas”: Philby, p. 47.
“a casting director’s ideal choice”: Delmer, p. 76.
“There are many questions about him”: Bristow, p. 271.
“He’s like a runaway figure for me”: Author interview with Andreu Jaume.

79 they kept horses in stables:
Oxford
Mail,
December 1, 1954.
“During my occasional visits”: Philby, p. 73.
The house next door: Author interview with Bill Bristow.
the basement served as a bomb shelter: Author interview with José Antonio Buces, nephew of Tommy Harris.
“These paintings do have an intriguing, disturbing vibrancy”: Review in the
Scotsman,
December 4, 1954.

80 “Pujol’s genius was Latin”: Author interview with Rafael Fraguas.

8. The System

81 “our best batsmen”: Masterman, p. 90.
“production teams”: Holt, p. 541.