Christophe Vuillaumes efterslægt - Christensen, Erichsen ...

Appeal dismissed an appeal made in secret on July 21st 1941. Both men were
executed at Wandsworth Prison on August 6th 1941.
So who was Vera and what became of her?
Vera's fate was never disclosed at the time and was the subject of much
speculation and discussion ever since. The declassification, in January 1999, by
the National Archives, of papers relating to the case provided new information
about the life and times of Vera Erikson. Although investigators have found her
story to be contradictory in many places and there are a number of 'problems' with
the story.
It appears that she was born in December 1912 (dates vary between 10th and 14th
according to different sources) as the daughter of August Theodor Schalburg (a
Dane) and his wife, Jelena Startiskaja von Siemandvska, who was of the
Polish-Ukrainian gentry and whose family had large estates in the
Ukraine. However, an alternative account of Vera suggests that that she was
born in Kiev as late as 1914 of Jewish extraction and was adopted by a White
Russian family.
The most credible account of her origins comes from an interview between Erik
Haaest, the Danish author and journalist and Helle von Bülow, the widow of
Christian Frederik von Schalburg, Obersturmbannführer of Frikorpset Danmark,
in 1975. The level of corroboration in this interview would seem to indicate that
Vera was Christian's younger sister and that she was indeed born in December
1912 as the daughter of August Schalburg.
Vera's early life is similarly shrouded in mystery. It appears she trained as a
ballet dancer and eventually ended up dancing at the Folies Bergeres. It has been
suggested that, in 1930, aged 18, she married Count Sergei Ignatieff, a member of
an important aristocratic Russian family that had fallen on hard times since their
exile after the Russian Revolution. It is said that he was an unscrupulous double
agent who was involved in drug trafficking and appears to have been the driving
force behind her involvement in spying. A report prepared by MI5 said that he
had a hold over her "He was a cocaine addict, a pervert and actively engaged in
espionage for the White Russians". Vera became his courier, carrying parcels
around Europe. Vera and Ignatieff lived together as man and wife for only a year
but their association is said to have lasted for several years. In 1935, whilst the
lived in Brussels, Ignatieff tried to stab her to death when she threatened to stop
spying on Communists. However, some accounts of Vera's life fail to make any
reference to Ignatieff.
At this point it appears that the Germans stepped in and that she was recruited to
the Abwehr. Some accounts suggest that she "remarried" around 1937. The
name suggested for this "second husband" Hans Friedrich von Wedel. However,
others have posited the idea that this was a code name for Hilmar Dierks whose
mistress she was believed to be.
Some investigators suggest that in 1938 the couple were sent to Britain where
they were to form relationships with German agents, German sympathisers and
other influential people. A "Major Mackenzie" has been mentioned by
some. During this time it has even been suggested that Erikson had a child, a
son, but the evidence here is limited. Von Wedel is said to have died in a car
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