The Forgotten Spy (24 page)
Authors: Nick Barratt
To reach a compromise with France at all costs about all points of contention even at the price of sacrifice on the side of Germany.
Other useful pieces of information were obtained:
On the day of von Papen’s return from Lausanne, during the cabinet meeting before signing the treaty, a secret session took place during which General Schleicher insisted on the necessity to come to an agreement with France on the question of armament, stating firmly that Germany cannot exist any longer with an army of 100,000 serving a 12-year stint.
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Bystrolyotov provided unsubstantiated intelligence back to his masters within OGPU, including various informal conversations between the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, von Papen and the French Prime Minister, Édouard Herriot – with von Papen taking the negotiating position that military concessions were required to enable him to halt the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialists. The official British papers from Lausanne are housed at the National Archives and provide ample corroboration for Bystrolyotov’s access to the most secret conversations in Europe. For example, the MacDonald–von Papen–Herriot summit took place at midday on 28 June and the following notes were sent back to London:
Herr von Papen said that the task of his government was to prevent a social revolution inspired by the nationalists. How could he do
that? These people were moved by the discrimination which they thought was directed against Germany. They felt that she was being treated as a nation of second rank. If reparations could not be wiped out and if Germany could not feel that she was a nation having equal rights with the others, it would be impossible to restore confidence. All this could be covered up in a general plan for the restoration of Europe.
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This was not an idle threat; Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist (Nazi) party had been defeated in the presidential elections in April, despite polling nearly 13.5 million votes in the final run-off, but the party’s popularity had been growing rapidly in the years since the Wall Street Crash had exacerbated German economic crises.
Herriot’s response was also recorded:
The second means of disposing of the reparation question was to make it an occasion of reconciliation between France and Germany. The Franco-German dispute had poisoned history and was poisoning Europe. The French delegation clearly understood that if the end of reparations could be made the occasion of Franco-German reconciliation the disappearance of the solde [payments] would have little importance… He understood that if they could bring back from Lausanne a Franco-German reconciliation that would be more important than any solde.
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All official communications were ciphered and sent back to London, usually by the secretary to the British delegation, Victor Perowne, who was on secondment from the Foreign Office. In a series of accompanying letters, Perowne revealed the level of work undertaken by the secretariat to preserve security. On 27 June he wrote:
This has been a frightful day but there is very little to report that pertains to our own muttons. The cipher officers were working
from 3.00 am to about midday; I was up at 6.15 am to start typing out their decipherages as the PM insisted on knowing what was in the telegrams by 7.00 am if possible. It is a sad business this running reparations, European reconstruction etc, disarmament and Ireland all from Lausanne!
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On 29 June he noted that meetings with ministers from the French and German delegations had taken place the previous day, and that transcripts had been made, ‘but the confidences exchanged on these occasions are regarded as too secret for copies of these records to have reached me.’
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Yet he was eventually made privy to some of the behind the scenes deal-making; on 4 July he wrote back that:
I have now secured a copy of the record of the mysterious conversation which took place between the prime minister and von Papen on 27 June and I enclose four copies herewith. One copy has, on the PM’s instructions, been sent to Herr von Papen.
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In this meeting, MacDonald revealed information on the French and British negotiating position to von Papen ‘in great confidence’ to help the Germans understand what was needed to reach a crucial consensus and ensure the conference was a success.
Clearly, Oldham gained access to a large proportion of this secret, coded correspondence, as well as the despatches sent back to London in the official bags. This level of insight into the diplomatic position of three major powers was invaluable to the Soviets, who were excluded from the negotiations. The information assisted them in developing their own diplomatic responses. As it transpired, only an informal agreement to remove German war debt and suspend reparations was announced, contingent upon agreement from the USA. The proposal was rejected by Hoover’s administration in December. After the Conference, Oldham was able to extend his usefulness by providing another key resource for Bystrolyotov – a British passport under the name Sir Robert Grenville, delivered on 27 July.
Oldham claimed that it was signed by the Foreign Secretary, Sir John Simon, who was a personal acquaintance. Bazarov reported the acquisition to the OGPU Centre, in doing so revealing his ignorance of the way Britain’s passport system operated:
Charlie has brought a book for HANS. This book has been issued not by the Ministry of Home Affairs, as is usual, but by the Foreign Office. This book is British and not Canadian, as originally intended, it is like the one Charlie has.
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However, Oldham’s exertions at Lausanne had taken a huge toll on his physical and mental well-being and drink once again took hold. He failed to make appointments with Bystrolyotov: the delivery of the passport took place ten days after the scheduled meeting date and it is clear that Oldham had started to deteriorate physically. As Bazarov reported at the time:
HANS has just come back from his trip; this time his partner made him wait for as much as ten days. He has brought nothing interesting. I think this is explained by his careless attitude to his job. He keeps convincing us that his partner was extremely busy in connection with the Lausanne conference so he had no opportunity to interest us in different matters which are of significance to us.
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Far more seriously, though, Oldham’s mistakes at work were becoming increasingly obvious and far too serious to avoid. Among other things, he failed to respond to the inquiries of other officials within the Foreign Office, possibly linked to the fact that a code book had gone missing from the safe in the basement of the Foreign Office in which Oldham had been seen wandering during periods when he had been officially signed off on sick leave. In addition, he had been spotted using the ambassador’s side entrance to leave the building rather than the front door, thus avoiding security in the form of the door keepers. Add to this the fact that he was often found drunk or even asleep and it was clear that he had become a dangerous liability.
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The final straw came on 12 September, when yet another medical certificate was issued in regard to a leave of absence on the grounds of sickness.
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Although he had been considered a capable official and every effort had been made to give him chance after chance, the impact of his alcoholism upon his work had grown too serious to ignore any longer and made his position within the Foreign Office untenable. On 30 September, Oldham was summoned to see his superiors. He was told that his work over the last two years had been unacceptable and a litany of mistakes was used as evidence. In addition to the issues described above, Oldham was blamed for the loss of confidential papers which he had unaccountably taken home over the previous six months and he was equally unable to explain unauthorised visits to the cipher room. Rather than formal dismissal, he was instructed to:
…submit his resignation on account of ill health. As his doctor is of the opinion that he will in due course regain his normal health, Mr Oldham is not in a position to put forward, for submission to the Treasury, a claim for pension on the grounds that he is permanently unfit for duty. Enquires whether some form of gratuity can be applied for in the circumstances.
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The failure to grant a pension or gratuity was a particularly devastating blow on two accounts. Not only did this further compromise the Oldhams’ parlous financial affairs but it also raised the chilling prospect that the Foreign Office suspected him of wrongdoing or illegal activity rather than simple incompetence caused by his alcoholism. On the handful of previous occasions when a permanent official had not been awarded their pension, the person removed had been under suspicion of espionage.
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Rocked by this catastrophe, but compelled to continue the charade that they still had access to sensitive material of value to the OGPU, the Oldhams travelled to Croydon Aerodrome and flew with Imperial Airways to Berlin on 18 October on the 9.20 am flight to meet Bystrolyotov as previously arranged. They failed to mention Oldham’s dismissal although, from his poor physical condition, it was clear that Oldham was in the grip of alcohol addiction once more.
According to Bystrolyotov’s biographer Draitser’s account of the meeting:
Although he swore he would continue to bring British diplomatic mail in the future, in Dimitri’s [Bystrolyotov] judgment, he couldn’t last more than a few months before becoming fully incapacitated. During their meeting, ARNO was totally apathetic, vomited and often couldn’t even move.
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Three days later, Oldham booked a flight to Berlin but cancelled at the last minute, choosing to travel to Cologne instead before returning to England. He rearranged his meeting with Bystrolyotov but in the end only Lucy made the journey, flying back to Berlin on her own and confronting Bystrolyotov with the true extent of Oldham’s decline and fall on 11 November. As with previous dealings, there was a mix of truth, half-truths and outright lies. Bystrolyotov digested the shocking news and sent a report back to Bazarov:
In the middle of October, that is, a week before his arrival in Berlin, ARNO was dismissed from the service. How greatly the chiefs were prejudiced against him is indicated by the fact that not even a partial pension was granted to him. The reason was that for the past two years he had been drinking heavily and he had been working carelessly. For the past six months he has ceased working entirely and had not appeared at the office. He had taken official papers home and lost them and had failed to answer urgent inquiries. His colleagues had tried to reason with him but to no avail, so they had given up, with the exception of his former assistant Kemp who still visits him.
ARNO’s financial situation is bad. He had some money in the bank, but not much. MADAM intends to leave him, to sell the house and car and take her share. She intends to settle in some French resort where there are plenty of Englishmen and work as a housekeeper or companion. If this fails she will become a prostitute. She has asked me not to leave her without support.
ARNO’s physical condition is poor. He will take a rest after the Berlin trip and will recover some of his cheerfulness and capacity for work but in the end his strength will not last for long and complete disablement will follow in a few months.
ARNO declared that he will continue to maintain contact in the future and we agreed to meet in Germany next week. There was no deterioration in our relations because of his abnormal condition. Complete apathy, heavy vomiting and the inability to speak or move has made him impossible to talk to.
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Bystrolyotov’s mission as Oldham’s handler was in crisis. He proposed an exit strategy, which he revealed to Lucy – namely, to offer Oldham a life pension on the sole condition that he put Bystrolyotov in touch with his ‘source’. It is staggering that, even after his engineered sacking, Oldham had clung to the original cover story that he was merely an intermediary for a ‘retired captain from the Foreign Office’ whose name he would not reveal and on whose behalf he was selling material. When pressed on this by Bystrolyotov, Lucy denied any knowledge of such a person. She also stated that her husband never went abroad on Foreign Office business – clearly untrue, given his presence at Geneva in 1931 – and that nothing Oldham said could be trusted.
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Unsure of what to believe, Bystrolyotov decided to return to London and find a solution – an extraordinary risk to take, given it was entirely possible that Oldham was suspected of treason and therefore under surveillance. As a mark of appreciation for the work he was undertaking, on 17 November Bystrolyotov was bestowed with a personal gun:
For successfully carrying out several assignments of major operative value and exceptional persistence in doing so.
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It bore the inscription:
For a merciless fight with the counter-revolution from the OGPU collegium.
OGPU Deputy Chairman Balitsky
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After a brief sojourn to the continent to sort out a few personal issues, Bystrolyotov finally made the trip to London just before Christmas. Not even two years spent working as ARNO’s handler could have prepared him for the terrible scene that lay in wait behind the genteel façade of 31 Pembroke Gardens. Oldham had been on a non-stop drinking binge, with Lucy unable to restrain him as he grew increasingly violent.
[On] 22, 23 and 24 December, ARNO drank more and more; our entreaties and reproaches irritated him with no result. Finally, I decided to take the matter into my own hands and demanded that he go to the country for treatment. On the evening of the 25th I went to his house and found ARNO dishevelled and asleep in an armchair, an alcoholic who had completely gone to pieces. I shook him awake, but without opening his eyes he reached out for a bottle and drank, thinking that I was his wife. ‘Go away, you bitch,’ he said, before falling asleep again. I persuaded MADAM not to give him any more brandy and urged her to call a doctor when he awoke. When he did so, that night, her refusal to give him a drink prompted him to try and strangle her and she was only saved by the doctor who gave him medication and arranged for him to be taken to the country unconscious. ARNO looked awful and MADAM was shattered and wanted to do away with herself. I spent three days persuading her not to commit suicide while she lay sedated in bed with the marks of ARNO’s fingers very evident on her throat.
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