Granville, Christine, 1908-1952

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q=Krystyna+Skarbek

Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, OBE, GM (Polish pronunciation: [krɨˈstɨna ˈskarbɛk], /krɪstiːnə skɑːrbɛk/; 1 May 1908 [a][b][4] – 15 June 1952), also known as Christine Granville,[2] was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploits in intelligence and irregular-warfare missions in Nazi-occupied Poland and France. Krystyna Skarbek was born in 1908 in Warsaw, Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, OBE, GM (Polish pronunciation: [krɨˈstɨna ˈskarbɛk], /krɪstiːnə skɑːrbɛk/; 1 May 1908 [a][b][4] – 15 June 1952), also known as Christine Granville,[2] was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploits in intelligence and irregular-warfare missions in Nazi-occupied Poland and France. Krystyna Skarbek was born in 1908 in Warsaw, One day, she lost control on a Zakopane ski slope and was saved by Jerzy Giżycki, who stepped into her path and stopped her descent. Giżycki came from a wealthy family in Kamieniec Podolski (formerly Poland, at the time the Soviet Union). At fourteen, he had quarrelled with his father, run away from home, and worked in the United States as a cowboy and gold prospector. He eventually became an author and travelled the world in search of material for his books and articles. He knew Africa well and hoped one day to return there.[25] The two were married on 2 November 1938 at the Evangelical Reformed Church in Warsaw.[25] Soon after, he accepted a diplomatic posting to Ethiopia, where he served as Poland's consul general until September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland.[26] She later said of Giżycki: "He was my Svengali for so many years that he would never believe that I could ever leave him for good."[27]

World War IIUpon the outbreak of World War II, the couple sailed for London, arriving 6 October 1939, where Skarbek sought to offer her services in the struggle against the common enemy. The British authorities showed little interest but were eventually convinced by her acquaintances, including journalist Frederick Augustus Voigt, who introduced her to the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). The first SIS mention of her was in December 1939. She was described as a "flaming Polish patriot, expert skier, and great adventuress" and "absolutely fearless".[28][29]

Skarbek spent 1940 travelling back and forth between Poland and Hungary. In Budapest, in January 1941, she showed her penchant for stratagem when she and Kowerski were arrested by the Hungarian police and imprisoned and questioned by the Gestapo. She feigned symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis by biting her tongue until it bled and a doctor diagnosed her incorrectly with terminal tuberculosis. The Germans released them, but the couple was followed by the police afterwards and they decided to flee Hungary, a German ally.[38] Christine Granville was stabbed to death in the Shellbourne Hotel, 1 Lexham Gardens, Earls Court, in London, on 15 June 1952. She had begun work as a steward some six weeks earlier with the Union-Castle Line and had booked into the hotel on 14 June, having returned from a working voyage out of Durban, South Africa, on Winchester Castle. Her body was identified by her cousin, Andrzej Skarbek. When her death was recorded at the Royal Borough of Kensington's register office, her age was given as 37, the age she claimed on her British passport.[37][82] Her assailant was George Muldowney, the obsessed man who had worked with her as a steward on Ruahine and was at the time of her murder a Reform Club porter. After being convicted of her murder, Muldowney was hanged at HMP Pentonville on 30 September 1952.[83]

Anglo-Polish Spy. She was born on her parents' estate at Mlodziesyn, thirty miles from Warsaw. Her father, Count Jerzy Skarbek, was a Roman Catholic; her mother, Stephanie Goldeder, was Jewish. On the 2nd. November 1938, at the Evangelical Reform Church in Warsaw, she married Jerzy Gizycki. Shortly after their marriage, he was sent to Ethiopia as the Polish Consul, and the couple were in Addis Ababa when Hitler invaded Poland. They made their way back to London but their marriage, which had never been very good, ended in separation; he died in 1973, in Mexico. Krystyna made her way to Hungary, hoping to travel to Poland. In Budapest, she met an old acquaintance, Andrzej Kowerski, with whom she fell in love. Krystyna made three undercover visits to Warsaw, collecting much military and economic information which was sent to London. On her return from the third visit, she and Kowerski were arrested by the Hungarian Secret Police, but were, eventually, released. After this, they contacted the British Ambassador, Sir Owen O'Malley, who arranged for them to be given false passports, under the names Christine Granville and Andrew Kennedy (q.v.). With these new identities, the pair conducted much espionage work in Turkey, Palestine and Egypt, including the information about troop movements which enabled Churchill to predict that Hitler would declare war upon the Soviet Union. In Cairo, Christine joined the Special Operations Executive and was sent to Algiers, from where, on the 6th. July 1944, she was dropped by parachute into occupied France. Here she became part of the "Jockey" underground network, led by the British officer (of Belgian descent) Francis Cammaerts. On the 13th. August, however, Cammaerts was arrested by the Gestapo, along with Major Xan Fielding and a French officer, Commandent Sorenson. They would almost certainly have been executed if Christine had not gone to the prison in Digne where they were being held, claimed to be married to Cammaerts and was the niece of Field Marshal Montgomery, and pointed out that the Allies had just landed nearby and would take reprisals on those who had killed "her husband and his friends." The Gestapo officer may not have believed this, but agreed to release the three for a price of two million francs. Christine managed to contact Algiers, and the money was dropped by parachute and the three released. On the 1st. January 1945, Christine was awarded the George Medal for having saved the lives of two British officers, and the French awarded her the Croix de Guerre avec Palmes for saving that of Commandant Sorenson. After the War, Christine tried her hand at various jobs ( a telephonist at India House, a saleswoman at Harrod's dress department) but was not very successful in any of them. Eventually, she became a stewardess on the Shaw-Savill line to Australia. On the voyage, she met a 41-year old bathroom steward named Dennis George Muldowney, born in Wigan of Irish parents, who had been married and divorced. He fell in love with her, but she did not respond favourably. On her return to London after one voyage, she wrote to Andrew Kennedy, who was working in Germany, to ask whether she might join him abroad. She was due to leave on the 16th. June 1952 but, on the previous evening, Muldowney went to the Shellbourne Hotel in Lexham Gardens, near Earl's Court, and stabbed her to death. He pleaded guilty and was hanged on the 30th. September at Pentonville Prison. When, 36 years later, Andrew Kennedy died, he was buried in the same grave as Christine.