Hitler's Lost Spy by Greg Clancy Read Free Book Online

SS  Orcades sailed through the heads of Sydney Harbour on its second voyage to Australia. Included on the first-class passenger list was the name Annette Fanny Catherine Wagner who had boarded the ship in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), after a voyage by a connecting ship from the French colony of Madagascar.
    The Personal Statement and Declaration completed by Annette in Fremantle states she was entering Australia as a ‘Tourist Visitor’. Her last permanent address was listed as Tananarive, the French administrative capital in Madagascar. A question on the statement referring to her medical status is answered ‘Convalescence for Typhoid Fever’. The duration of her visit was declared as being for ‘One month – 6 weeks’.
    Following her disembarkation in Sydney, she travelled to the home of a relative living near the city of Newcastle, 160 kilometres north of Sydney.
    According to statements later tendered by Annette, she had contracted typhoid fever while working for the Red Cross in Madagascar. She claimed the French colonial government offered to repatriate her to France in January 1938, but she was fearful of the winter and arranged to come to Australia where she had the benefit of recuperating while residing with her relative. The Australian Government had provided her with a temporary visa.
    Annette was born in the Swiss town of Bienne (today officially known as Biel-Bienne) on 3 June 1912, the daughter of Ernest and Sophie Schneider. Her father had been raised in a German-speaking sector of the town and her mother, in the French-speaking sector. In 1919 her mother passed away and Annette moved to England to live with a relative, Gertrude (nee) Schneider, who had married an Englishman, Howard Ridgley. She later advised, incorrectly, that she had been adopted by the couple, but she never obtained a British passport. She was raised in the Ridgley home in North London and received her education in local schools.
    Various unconfirmed reports have stated that Annette had worked in London for a Swiss Bank and the Japanese Embassy. The bank has not retained pre-war personnel records and the Japanese embassy’s staff details are advised as having been destroyed by a misguided and undiplomatic German bomb during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Annette claimed she had also worked for the British Home Office, but this also cannot be confirmed.
    Annette then travelled to various destinations in Europe, which included, she stated, a one-year secretarial training course in Geneva. She also claimed to have been employed by a large cotton broker, Bernachie Chomenie, the head office of which was in Alexandria, Egypt. The  Smith’s Weekly article quoted in Chapter 1 stated that she had worked as an interpreter for the Japanese legation at the League of Nations. Annette’s supposed Japanese League connection is both possible and intriguing, but hard evidence supporting it does not appear to be available.
    The archives of the League of Nations are housed with the United Nations offices in Geneva. A search of personnel records did not reveal Annette Schneider’s name. However, the claim that she worked as a translator for the Japanese at the League may be correct. Most employees at the League missions were employed directly by the individual national delegations, and may not have required any authorisation from the League’s administration, hence no such records were found.
    At an unknown date Annette returned to England and lived at various addresses in London. While she was in Europe, Howard and Gertrude Ridgley had relocated to Sussex.
    In March 1934 Annette departed England on the passenger liner Windsor Castle and disembarked at Cape Town, South Africa. She had volunteered to serve in some medical missions under the auspices of the Red Cross, and she named these as the Paris-based French Evangelical Mission and the London-based Elim Medical Mission. It is believed that Annette,