Anna Wolkoff – Hitler’s Russian spy in London.

Admiral Nikolai Volkov, was the Russian Empire’s naval attaché in London . He was born in 1870, near Pskov. His family was part of the establishment elite in Imperial Russia and as such he was born into wealth and privelige with some members of his family serving at the imperial court. His wife was a lady in waiting to the Empress. Not unsurprisingly after the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, he elected not to return.
He was, like many within the Russian establishment, viciously anti Semitic. He passed this trait onto his daughter Anna who was born in 1902 in Saint Petersburg.
Around 1923, now unemployed, Volkov set up the Russian Tea Rooms at this location in South Kensington. This became the haunt of those exiled Russians who had fled to London and no doubt they could come here and talk about the good old days when everyone knew their place in society.
On 10 September 1935, the whole family became British citizens.
Anna Wolkoff became a seamstress, she found some wealthy backers who set her up in business as Anna de Wollkoff Haute Couture Modes. In April 1937 she made it into Vogue. Her designs were worn by some very influential people in the UK such as Wallis Simpson and the Duchess of Kent. However, despite her fame, her business lost money and in 1939 her financial backers pulled out.
Her anti Semitism led her to support Hitler. She visited National Socialist Germany several times and probably because of who she was as a member of the Russian aristocracy, she was able to meet the likes of Hans Frank and Rudolf Heß . Wolkoff shared her opinion with them that it would be wonderful if Adolf Hitler took over the United Kingdom.
In 1935, she came to the attention of MI5, who suspected she was involved in sending state secrets to the German government. As she probably did not have access to state secrets, this suspicion was probably unfounded. However, that was to change.
The Russian Tea Rooms began to become used by the Right Club , an anti-Semitic organisation which had attracted some members of the British establishment elite. The head of the Right Club was Archibald Ramsay, . Ramsay said that the aim of the Right Club was to counter and expose the activities of organized Jewry. He said later ‘Our first task was to purge the Conservative Party of Jewish influence , and the nature of our membership and meetings was strictly consistent with this goal’.
Members of the Right Club included William Joyce, later to be Lord Haw Haw, author A. K. Chesterton, Francis Yates-Brown who wrote The Deeds and Days of the Bengal Lancer which when it hit the big screen became one of Hitler’s favourite films and Admiral Wilmot Nicholson with his wife Christabel. Other members included Lord Redesdale, Lord Lymington, Arnold Leese and George Henry Drummond who was father-in-law of John Astor. The 2nd Duke of Westminster, one of the wealthiest people in the UK, owning significant parts of London, was a supporter. Another member, who took the chair at the first meetings was the Fifth Duke of Wellington – great grandson of the victor at Waterloo.
Archibald Ramsay had gone to Eton and Sandhurst. As a member of the establishment, he lived in a castle but liked to be called Jock by his friends. On 30 April 1917, he married Lady Ismay Crichton-Stuart, the only daughter of Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston and widow of Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart MP, who had been killed on active service in 1915. Ramsay was elected as MP for Peebles and Southern Midlothian as a member of the Unionist party which was allied to the Conservative party. In the government he rose to become involved in the Potato Marketing Board, a role that suited his interest in agriculture. However Ramsay was radicalised by anti Semitic conspiracy theories in the mid 1930s. He supported Franco during the Spanish Civil War against what he considered to be the ‘godless’ Republicans. At a time when the Jewish leaders who had supported the Russian revolution were being put on trial and judicially murdered in the USSR by Stalin, Ramsay claimed that Jews were behind Soviet propaganda. How he explained the alliance between Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union has not been recorded. Whilst the rest of the United Kingdom was preparing for fighting with Nazi Germany on 4 September 1939, Archibald Ramsay sat in the library of the House of Commons writing a parody of Land of Hope and Glory, beginning: “Land of dope and Jewry”. When the Secretary of State for War Leslie Hore-Belisha, who was Jewish, was forced out of office, Ramsay argued that the newspapers that regretted his departure demonstrated Jewish control of the press.

[Music] Admiral Nikolai vov was the Russian Empire’s Naval atache in London he was born in 1870 near pcov his family was part of the establishment Elite in Imperial Russia and as such he was born into wealth and privilege with some members of his family serving at the Imperial Court his wife was a lady in waiting to the empress not unsurprisingly after the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia he elected not to return he was like many within the Russian establishment viciously anti-semitic he passed this trait on to his daughter Anna who was born in 192 in St Petersburg around 1923 now unemployed volov set up the Russian te- rooms at this location in South Kensington this became the haunt of those exiled Russians who had fled to London and no doubt they could come here and talk about the good old days when everyone knew their place in society on the 10th of September 1935 the whole family became British citizens Anna volov became a seamstress she found some wealthy backers who set her up in business as Anna devovo mod in April 1937 she made it into Vogue her designs were worned by some very influential people in the United Kingdom such as Wallace Simpson and The Duchess of Kent however despite her Fame her business lost money and in 1939 her financial backers pulled out [Music] her anti-Semitism led her to support Hitler she visited national socialist Germany several times and probably because of who she was as a member of the Russian aristocracy she was able to meet the likes of Hans Frank and Rudolph hes vov shared her opinion with them that it would be wonderful if Adolf Hitler took over the United Kingdom in 1935 she came to the attention of MI5 who suspected she was involved in sending State secrets to the German government as she probably did not have access access to State Secrets this suspicion was probably unfounded however all that was to change the Russian t- rooms began to become used by the right Club an anti-semitic organization which had attracted some members of the British establishment Elite the head of the right Club was Archie bald Ramsey Ramsey said that the aim of the right Club was to counter and expose the activities of organized jury he said later our first task was to purge the conservative party of Jewish influence and the nature of our membership and meetings was strictly consistent with this goal members of the right Club included William Joyce later to be Lord hoor author AK Chesterton Francis Yates Brown who wrote the deeds and days of the Bengal Lancer which when it hit the big screen became one of Hitler’s favorite films Admiral wilou Nicholson and his wife christopal were also members as were Lord reedsdale Lord Limington anold lease and George Henry Drummond who was the father-in-law of John Aster the second Duke of Westminster one of the wealthiest people in the United Kingdom owning significant parts of London as well as other places was a supporter another member who took the chair at the first meetings was the fifth Duke of Wellington great grandson of the Victor at waterl archal ramse had gone to Eaton and Sandhurst as a member of The Establishment he lived in a castle but he liked to be called jock by his friends on the 30th of April 1917 he married lady Isme kryon Stewart the only daughter of Geno Preston fourth VI count gormanston and Widow of Lord ninan kryon Stewart A Member of Parliament who had been killed on active service in 1915 Ramsey was elected as Member of Parliament for pebles on Southern Midlothian as a member of the unionist party which was Allied to the conservative party in the government he rose to become involved in the potato marketing Board of role that suited his interest in agriculture however ramse was radicalized by anti-semitic conspiracy theories in the mid 1930s he supported Franco during the Spanish Civil War against what he considered to be the Godless Republicans at a time when the Jewish leaders who had supported the Russian Revolution were being put on trial and judicially murdered in the USSR by Stalin Ramsey claimed that Jews were behind Soviet propaganda how he explained the allly alliance between Nazi Germany and Stalin Soviet Union is not being recorded whilst the arest of the United Kingdom Was preparing for fighting with Nazi Germany on the 4th of September 1939 archal Ramsey sat in the library of the House of Commons writing a parody of land and hope and Glory beginning land of dope and jury when the Secretary of State for war Leslie H bisher who was Jewish was forced out of office Ramsey argued that the newspapers that regretted his depart Archer demonstrated Jewish control of the press it therefore should come as no surprise that Anna volov became the personal assistant to Archie Bal Ramsey the Nazi Soviet treaty did not bother vov she contacted the assistant military atachi of the Italian Embassy Colonel Franchesco Marano she asked him to pass on information to Berlin including suggestions for William Joyce’s propaganda broadcasts as Lord hoo Tyler Kent had worked in the US foreign service since 1934 he had served in the Moscow Embassy but had been moved to London as his superiors thought it that he sympathized with the Bolsheviks in fact he sympathized with the old Russia that had been overthrown in 1917 in October 1939 he came to London he was a cipher Clerk and as such had access to secret correspondence he began secretly making copies of documents he thought might be of value to the Nazis and kept them in a suitcase in his apartment at the beginning of 1940 he met Anna volov volov in turn introduced him to Archie Bal Mo Ramsey Ramsey believing that as kenter diplomatic immunity and thus could not be searched gave him the list of the membership of the right Club the list of these potential traitors would be safe with him Tyler Kent was also a believer in conspiracy theories these beliefs led him to support Hitler and as such he was prepared to betray his country Kent was observed by MI5 at the Cumberland Hotel at Marble Arch handing over a package to Matias a Swedish man suspected to be working for a German intelligence a suspicion later proven to be true on the 13th of April 1940 he passed on documents of Correspondence between Roosevelt and Churchill to vov Churchill was then first Lord of the admiralty in Chamberlain’s wartime government vov a person who had not returned to bik Russia then decided to betray the country which had given her shelter and support the country that was now Allied to the Soviet Union she attempted to contact William Joyce again the former right Club member who had fled to Nazi Germany she did this fire the Romanian Embassy she was however out of look the right Club had been infiltrated by the British Security Services right Club member Joan Miller was one of those agents and she reported to the head of mi5’s b5b section that is their political subversion monitoring Department her boss was Maxwell Knight the person M was based on in the James Bond novels British intelligence informed the American ambassador in London Joseph P Kennedy father of the future US President Kennedy then lifted Kent’s diplomatic immunity [Music] on the 20th of May 1940 Tyler Kent’s home was raided secret documents as well as duplicates of the embassy’s coding keys were found they also found the full list of the members of the right club volov and Kent were arrested for violating the British official Secrets Act of 1920 vov was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Kent to 7 years in prison the trial was was held in camera in London on the 7th of November 1940 they were lucky that their treason had not been found out later as in this case they would probably have faced the death sentence in accordance with the treachery act 1940 only the verdicts of the proceedings were made known to the public as a result the British government clamped down on potential traitors around 1,000 people were taken into custody in the United Kingdom Under defense regulation 8 b1a by the end of 1940 Kent was handed over to the US authorities in 1945 the state department decided not to charge him as a German spy Anna volov served seven years of her 10year sentence on release she returned to working as a seamstress for Felix hope Nicholson later she went to live in Spain which was then more to her political liking she died in a car accident in Spain on the second of August 1973 the person driving the car was another former member of the right club Enid riddle Joseph Kennedy was recalled as ambassador from London one day before the Tyler Kent trial began and three weeks before the 1940 presidential election Kennedy who knew of the secret Communications between Rosevelt and Churchill could have embarrassed the president by talking about them publicly instead he endorsed Roosevelt’s candidacy in a radio speech on the 20th of March 1940 archal Ramy asked a question in Parliament about a propaganda radio station set up by Nazi Germany giving its precise wavelength a not so subtle way of advertising it using his parliamentary immunity it could be argued that Ramsey was attempting to set himself up as the British quizzing according to informants the British intelligence Ramsey said that he would welcome a fascist coup in the case of a German invasion personally I should welcome a civil war with shots fired in the streets he said after the arrest of vov and Kent Ramsey was also arrested on the 23rd of May 1940 he was put in Brixton prison as a security risk he was the only British Member of Parliament detained under emergency Legislation during World War II Ramsey was not released from detention until September 1944 he returned to Parliament where he placed a motion calling for the reinstatement of the 1275 statute of the jury passed under King Edward I which forbade Jews from living in England he did not defend his seat in the 1945 general election pebles and Southern midoan Was Won by the labor Party candidate David Pride Ramsey died age 60 on the 11th of March 1955 I hope that you found this interesting I upload every Friday 2000 hours Central European Time and sometimes on other days too my specialist are is in 20th century European history and in particular World War II and within that the Holocaust I now regularly ask my viewers what video they’d like to see next napole which comes out on Saturdays if you’d like to know when I’m uploading you can subscribe in the meantime you might like to see this video I made on the life of Margarita himler the wife of the rur SS a link which has appeared now or at least it should have done all the best for me and bye for now [Music] that sure