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Speaker 1: Welcome to Spycraft, a podcast that tells gripping life and

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death spy stories and the amazing devices and operations that

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made them possible. Now let's get started.

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Speaker 2: Our story heads over to France today as we talk

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about a spy from doing World War Two. Her name

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is Lashat or the she Cat, depends on how you

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interpret it. The French spy and triple agent known as

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Laschott marked Matilda Carrey. She was born in Chateaureau, France,

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in nineteen oh eight. She joined the Army Army Nurse

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Corps at start of World War Two, became leading member

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of the Interay spy network, interrogated by the Germans in

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nineteen forty one and turned against her former comrades and

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began working for the Gestapo. We're going to learn the

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rest of this story in a minute, so let's start off.

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She's known as the Cat, despised by her former comrades

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in the French resistant moved because of her treachery. Matilda

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Carey lived in pre war existence that was almost dull

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in its conventional contours. As many of the spies that

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we have read about, she earned a law degree at Sarbonne.

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After graduation she married Maurice Carey, a school teacher, and

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moved with him to Olron, Algeria. They divorced after just

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six years and she returned to France on the evil

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World War Two. During the brief struggle to hold back

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the German onslaught, resulting in a catastrophic defeat for the French,

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Mattilda Carey served as a member of the French Army's

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nurse Corps. After the defeat, she was evacuated to the

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southern southern city of Tulau, where she met a Polish

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military intelligence officer by the name of Captain Roman Sisnarski

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cze rna w Ski. He remained who remained in France

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as part of a network to spy on the Germans

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and transmit the data to the Polish embassy in Madrid.

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Garbie Csnarski had been recruited by the overall chief of

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Polish intelligence in France, Colonel Zarevensky, the man responsible for

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brilliantly improvising the creation of an anti German spy operation

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using the papers of a Frenchman killed in the fighting.

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Sarzinsky went under the code name Valentine, who was a

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bold operative who quickly organized an effective network of agents

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that called itself it There. It was a combination of

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French and Polish intelligence. From his headquarters in Parisy, masterminded

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a rapidly growing organization, and by the time wireless contact

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was established, the ring consisted of agents operating in almost

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all of the German occupied zone in France. He and

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until the Karree had become lovers, and she quickly emerges

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one of their most valuable members, cool headed and capable

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of inspiring confidence in her fellow spy. That's how she

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earned her the code name the Cat. By late summer

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nineteen forty one, the Interrey network was operating at a

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maximum effectiveness. When it had operative operatives working in fourteen

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districts of German controlled France. It had over one hundred

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agents strategically located. Unfortunately, the luck ran out in November

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nineteen forty one. This was part due to the arrival

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in Paris of Sergeant Hugo Bleicher or Bliker Blicchr, a

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former Geschappo agent who had been assigned to work for

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the ABO ABWHR that's the German or the Nazi intelligence service.

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Back thencialists especially chosen to wipe out interirea Bliker possessed

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talents as an intelligence agent, the guaranteed doom for the

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Allies by network. The fatal blow came after a major

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lapse of security in Cherbou in early November nineteen forty one,

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which provided the Germans with crucial information about the ring

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and enabled them to round up most of the members.

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Harsh interrogation methods, including physical torture, provided Blacker's men with

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major pieces of information, and a few hours later Blaker

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arrested and unsuspecting Matilda Carey. When Valentine codenamed Valentine refused

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to reveal any useful information to his German interrogators. Despite

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many hours of torture, Blacker decided to concentrate on Carey.

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The strategy, which was very different in her case, emphasized

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a psychological offensive against the prisoner rather than the affliction

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of pain. First, he initiated a dramatic change in surroundings,

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having he moved from a blaque prison cell to a

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place of startling contrast, the five star hotel. The hotel

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also happened to be abbwere headquarters in Paris. Over a

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wonderful meal, Blaker was able to convince Cary that by

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working for him, she would only save herself from torture

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and probable death, but also save the lives of her comrades,

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with whom he would protect from execution all that was required.

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As a Care now began working for the abwear become

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a double agent, helping them to deceive the British by

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feeding them false information. And her memoirs written at the

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end of her life, Care would later admit that within

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hours of being interrogated by Bliker she would commit the

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greatest act of cowardice in her life. Within days of turning,

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Care was working to assist Bliker and rounding up the

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remaining members of Interorey who still remained at large. Now

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operating as a double agent, the cat led Bliker to

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the homes and meeting places of a number of women

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and men who only days before have been her trusted comrades.

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She identified one of them, Claude Joufrey, by greeting him

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with a kiss at the cafe at Little Fourteenth. Blaker's

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agencies the four radio transmitters of the Interra network moving

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to a Paris suburbs so as to continue sending messages

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to London as if nothing had happened. Since care provided

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the Auboy with all necessary codes, transmission schedules, and pre

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arranged security checks, that was little that might arouse the

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suspicion of British intelligence. However, one of the few members

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of Ventorey who still remained free, Pierre Devo moncau vome Coort,

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began to suspect that care was in some way acting suspiciously.

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To test her loyalty, in January nineteen forty two, he

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asked her to procure some forged identity documents. She showed

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up the next day, bringing with her a perfect set

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of papers, complete with authentic German stamps. On top of this,

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she produced a photograph with an air of studied conage.

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Casualness asked Devo moccoy if he recognized the man in

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the photo, who was an agent of British Special Operations

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Executive SOE, British's former intelligence service, especially created for the

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Nazis in World War Two. His suspicious confirmed, Devo mokayheedually

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accused Carey of treachery and working for the Nazis. Confronted

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by the facts, she broke down in tears and confessed.

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Within the rules governing the precarious world of espionage, it

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would not have been unreasonable for Devomcco to kill Correy,

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warned the remaining members and flee himself off. But his

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plans were much more complex. You see, he persuaded care

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to once more work for the Allies, making her now

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a triple agent. Soon after this dramatic change in her loyalty,

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she informed Bliker that Drumbar David Morcaux was planned to

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go to England for an important meeting with British intelligence,

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and that she was being considered for inclusion. Though she

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convinced Bliker, he in turn had considerable difficulty convincing his

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superiors of the value to the abware of allowing kra

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to make a secret trip to Britain. Eventually, though Blaker

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received permission for care and Devamrcaux to leave France. After

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two failed attempts by British intelligence agents to locate the

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two key agents on an isolated beach, they were finally

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picked up and taken to London. Safely aggrived across the

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Channel at Dartmouth, Carey was debriefed by British intelligence. She

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broke down almost immediately, admitting her capitulation under Bliker's interrogations

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and her work for the Abware. She also explained her

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return to the entirea fold under Deva Morcau's leadership several

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months previously. Her January nineteen forty nine trial. The lasted

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four days and resulted in a death sentence, but upon

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appeal it was reduced to a life imprisonment. Her defense

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attorney did not dispute her treasonous behavior, but argue that

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the judge should consider that this woman was faced with

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a choice of life or death. Do not forget that

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from the beginning of the resistance she was a heroine.

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Would you put to death those who at the beginning

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sowed the seed of faith and later overestimated their own strength?

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To the defense attorney. Caray was eventually released in nineteen

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fifty four and attempted to resume her life with a

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new identity. By the early sixties, she published her memoirs.

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Her health had begun to fail and she was rapidly

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losing her eyesight. Caray died in total obscurity in the

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early nineteen seventies. So there is the story of the

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cat