Women of Interest

Southland Times, Issue 22499, 8 December 1934, Page 20

Women of Interest

(Number 18.) MARIE LOUISE MARTIN. (International Spy.) Marie Louise Martin, the international spy, was bom in Latvia in 1906, her real name being Maria Emma Schul. She was originally a waitress. Beautiful and intelligent, she visited many countries, becoming an accomplished linguist. It is probable that she owed her education to the person who took her from her obscurity to make a spy of her. This could have been none other than the Russian spy Lydia von Stahl. The name “Marie Louise” came up in 1932 in connection with the Scottish lieutenant, Baillie-Stewart, who in that year spent his leave in Germany. Soon after his return he was arrested on a charge of espionage. He had suddenly become possessed of a large amount of money whose origin he could not account for. During his trial he declared that he got it from a woman, “Marie Louise,” whose acquaintance he had made at Wannsee near Berlin, but refused further information. All attempts in Berlin to locate Marie Louise failed. Baillie-Stewart was sentenced to eight years in the Tower of London as a spy. The connection between Marie Louise of Wannsee and Marie Louise Martin, who was arrested in December 1933, has not been definitely established, but it is to be assumed that they are identical and that after the affair of the officer, Marie Louise went to Helsingfors where in March 1933, she was put in charge of the espionage organization in Finland. She had large sums at her disposal and a staff of accomplices, but was under the control of Lydia von Stahl in Paris. She had a stolen or forged Canadian passport which described her as the widow of a former consul in the Baltic countries.

Her connection with the Paris organization came out in the case of Lt. Laavo Penttikainen, who worked in the secret photographic section of the Finnish General Staff. He came under the spell of Marie Louise and did what she told him. In October 1933, he disappeared with important secret documents. Some days later the Soviet Government reported that he had been arrested and that it had nothing to do with this espionage affair. Marie Louise came under suspicion. As a result of investigations she and twenty-seven alleged accomplices were arrested and in April 1934 she got eight years for spying on behalf of Russia, while 23 of her’ confederates were given shorter terms. The link with Paris which was discovered led to the arrest of Lydia von Stahl and the French professor Louis Martin. It was also shown that Marie Louise was in touch with espionage agencies in Moscow, London and Balkan capitals Soon after her conviction it was discovered that she was concerned in an affair relating to the fortress of Belfort which had repercussions in high French military quarters.