The Spy Who Came in From the Opera

Margery Booth (1905-1952) was an attractive English woman who sang opera. She had a good not great career. There were appeances with itinerant opera companies through Great Britain, and a place for her at England's pinnacle, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. She had  been long forgotten. There's been a revival of interest lately, having little to do with music. In 1936, after a stab at Hollywood and a proposal to film Aida, Margery married a German doctor called Egon Strohm. His family owned successful breweries in Germany going back generations. Margery continued to sing, mostly in pre-war Germany. Her appearances at the Bayreuth Wagner Festival from the early 1930s brought her into the Nazi orbit. Did Margery, like the infamous Unity Mitford,  find herself obsessed by the Fuhrer? No. She took advantage of Hitler's admiration and the access to his circle to serve Great Britain as a spy. Margery as regularly in contact with officials in London, passing along the Nazi's table talk to which she was privy. Once war was declared in 1939, Margery became an enemy alien. She nonetheless remained in Germany. For a time Margery sang for British prisoners of war at Stalag IIID. The Nazis used this camp as a "spa" where they hoped to turn imprisoned British officers into Nazis. It didn't work. Margery instead used the inmates to learn and later to pass information of use to the Allies. She was questioned several times by the Gestapo. It was reported that she was arrested and tortured. Margery survived the war. She had allowed herself to be pilloried in the British press as a traitor lest the intricate spy ring of which she was part be busted..Margery divorced her German husband, and died of cancer in New York at the age of 47. She was the lady who sang for Hitler, going out of her way to captivate the Fuhrer and his circle, while becoming an invaluable informant for M19 British Intelligence. Seventy years after her death, Margery Booth is forgotten. Her contributions never have been celebrated, although in recent years they've become better known. An extensive article ran in the  Daily Mail in 2010. It was the sale of the only photograph known of Margery, taken at Stalag IID, that led to renewed interest. Not enough to put her on a stamp or a tea towel, but it got people to talking about Margery's heroics and wanting to know more. Alas, all that's left are some recorded performances from the stage at Bayreuth of supporting roles in Wagner operas. Sung with a secret code book, under her costume, and roses from Hitler in her dressing room. (see also www.margerybooth.com for information on a film-bio in production)