Elizabeth Wiskemann (1899–1971)

Recommended in Slightly Foxed, Spring 2020 and purchased second hand from eBay.
Written in 1968, this is the autobiography of an English journalist/academic, discussing her travels in Weimar and Nazi Germany in the 1930’s to 1946, when she was arrested by the Gestapo on the basis that her newspaper articles were critical of Nazi Germany. Thankfully her questioning was short and she was released on the understanding that she would be arrested again should she ever return to Germany.
The book then details her visits to other European countries prior to the Second World War, when she was also gathering information for newspaper and magazine articles.
The contacts made during these years proved invaluable in working for British intelligence during the Second World War in Switzerland.
Finally there are a couple of chapters on Hungary and Italy in the immediate post-war period.

The autobiography is full of names and places with which, as a general reader, I am unfamiliar, and although some passages and the overall narrative arc of her life during this period is well described, it has too much unnecessary detailing of names without sufficient anecdote. Indeed at one point Wiskemann laments that she is unable to recall anecdotes (although you wonder whether she was still constrained by the Official Secrets Act). It does however make one aware of the political problems running up to the Second World War and the personal nature of intelligence gathering.
It was interesting to read the autobiography of someone in the intelligence community who was present during such an exciting and terrifying time to be alive.… (altro)