CONFESSIONS OF A SPY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23955, 3 May 1941, Page 2 (Supplement)

CONFESSIONS OF A SPY

Truth About Secret Is Much Stranger

HPHE ingenious methods by which spies in fiction con--1 ceal messages are sometimes surpassed by secret agents in real life. During the last war Emanuel Victor Voska, working at the head of a large Czech espionage organisation in America, found it necessary to send written reports to Bohemia.

THIS was accomplished, ho says in his reminiscences, "Spy and Counter-Spy," by Emanuel Victor Voska and ill Irwin (llarrap), with the help of an expert carver: — Ho would tako a box of largo wooden European matches, choose one with an especially good grain, split it, hollow out the halves. There'is —or was—a kind of expensive Japanese tissue paper so thin that it makes the sheerest silk appear liko a felt mat. I would take a strip of this paper about eight inches long and three-quarters of an inch wide and with the help of a magnifying-glass write on it in a minute hand. ' Invisible Ink The paper was then folded by the carver and fitted into the hollow match so cleveriy that "the doctored match looked no different from fifty others in the samo box." Later .in the war, when Mr. Voska wag working in Europe, ho had occasion to use invisible ink. Most of the types then in u*o were, of course, known to the Germans, so Mr. Voska decided that he must have something new. He put the matter into the hands of a Czech chemist in New York, who, after weeks of experiment came through with a new and almost ridiculously simpio formula. The implement and the fluid which produce. the writing are in most civilised households and offices; so is the substance which brings it out of its invisibility. The process of development takes less than a minute. Our agents in enemy territory used this method almost exclusively for their reports, diagrams and maps. Mr. Voska adds that, so far as he knows, the Germans did not discover this secret, and even now he does not disclose any further details. Soon, he gathered together an enthusiastic band of helpers—revolutionary Slovaks, South Slavs, and others — all anxious to help the Allied cause. Among them was Emmy Destinn, the Wagnerian opera-singer, who in 1916 had just finished a contract with the

.Metropolitan Opera Company in New York. She had the opportunity of renewing the contract, or of going to the opera-house in Prague, and asked .Mr. Voska which she should do: .M asaryk needed someone with personality ami inlluence who could persuade leaders of the other lac- • lions to escape from Austria and join him in Loudon. Kmmy Destinn, who already had an Austrian passport. was made to order lor this job. When 1 proposed it to her she accepted as casually as though 1 had invited her to luncheon. And never once did she mention the iact that, while salaries in Prague were small, her contract with the .Metropolitan would have amounted to a small fortune. In Prague, although constantly shadowed bv the police, she did excellent work, and, says Mr. \ oska, "when the revolution came she was at its centre." Women, indeed played an important part in Mr. Voska's organisation. One of the most useful was a young short-hand-typist employed at the Austrian Consulate in New York. On one occasion the Germans were secretly sending home, via Copenhagen, a large batch of important papers which they had assembled at the Austrian consulate and placed in a large packing-case. "A Bit Lovelorn" Mr. Voska's agents knew all the details, but it was necessary to identify the case in some way to ensure its falling into British hands. Von Nuber. the Austrian Consul-General, watched the case so carefully that he would have been suspicious if Mr. \ oska v men had put even ft small distinguishing mark on it, and this was where the typist played her part: — She always brought her lunch to the olliee. Also she had of lato attracted quite favourable attention from Von Nuber, who went to luncheon later than his underlings She ate that day alone in the same room with the box, leaving the door open. Having finished, she stood holding in her hand one of those pencils with a blue lead at ono end and a red at the other. She decided to risk a little mark in blue on the comer. She had made a single stroke, when \on Nuber appeared in the doorway. She managed to smile at him, and then leaned back against the case.

Presently Von Nuber came over to her, remarking that she looked sad: "Yes, I suppose I'm feeling a bit lovelorn," she answered softly; "like this!" And with a musing, absent-minded air, she transformed the pencil-stroke on the corner ot the box into a little blue heart, "That's how I feel inside," she added; "cold." "What you need," he said, laughing. "is another heart beside yours. Rig and warm!" He took the pencil from her and drew a big red heart with (lames bursting from it. "Somo dav," he added, "this is going to happen!" And ho drew through both hearts a red arrow. When Von Nuber had gone out ,-i not her of Mr. Voska's agents managed to make a tracing of the double-heart diagram. This was sent, with a description of the case, to the British Naval Intelligence, who were thus able to recognise and confiscate it. With the entry of America into the war in 1017, the need for Mr. Voska's voluntary American-Czech organisation came to an end. But Mr. Voska's adventures continued. lie did good work, first on a mission to Russia, the object of which was to "organise Czechs and Slovaks to keep Russia in the war," and later as a captain in the Intelligence Department of the United States Army. Mis book is a lively record of dramas played behind the scenes and does honour to many hitherto nameless heroes and heroines.