British Defector
Originator: USA
Document date: 12/09/1957
Document type: Paper

## Page 1

Date: 11/17/98

Page

:

1

JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY

RECORD

NUMBER

RECORDS

SERIES

AGENCY FILE NUMBER

INSCOM/CSF

:

194-10012-10005

DOD-AFFILIATED PERSONNEL AND INCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS

ZF000003W

- PAGES 7-11

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

ORIGINATOR : USA

FROM

TO

TITLE : RETURNED BRITISH DEFECTOR FROM THE ROZ

DATE

: 12/09/57

PAGES

:5

SUBJECTS

: SLOVODA, VLADIMIR

ROBERTS, ANNA FRIDA

ROBERTS, G.

INTERVIEW

DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

CLASSIFICATION : CONFIDENTIAL

RESTRICTIONS : 1B,

CURRENT STATUS : RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW

: 03/20/95

OPENING CRITERIA :

COMMENTS :

64954 Date: 09.22-2022

NW 64954 Docld:34517463 Page 1

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## Page 2

Officer Commanding

BRITISH

INTELLIGENCE POOL BERLIN

British Forces Post Office

45.

'A' Detachment

BRITISH INTELLIGENCE POOL BERLIN

British Forces Post Office

45.

BERLIN

: 954984.

'A' Det : 93. 4206.

BRIP/0/11/354•

9 Doc 57.

Subject : Mrs. Anna Frida ROBERTS, nee BURKHARDT,

widowed UDOLPH.

Wife of 23221775 Pte

ROBERTS, G.,

fron the Roz returned BRITISH defector

CONTENTS

PART ONE

PART. TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

ANNEXURE ONE

ANNEXURE TWO

ANNEXURE THREE

: PREAMBLE.

: PERSON CONCERNED.

: CASE HISTORY.

: COMMENTS.

: BRITISH DEFECTORS IN BAUTZEN. (ROZ).

: AMERICAN DEFECTORS IN BAUTZEN (ROZ).

: MISCELLANEOUS ITENS OF INTEREST IN

BAUTZEN (ROZ).

Ref BRIP/0/11/354 dated 23 Oct 57 %.

'A'.

PART ONE

PREAMBLE

During the morning of 2 Dec 57, we were inforned that Mrs

ROBERTS was in WEST BERLIN.

(Ref 'A'

at on report on The TO or had return

from

Ro he interrogation report on te ROBERts upon his return

PART TWO

2.

PERSON CONCERNED.

Surname

: ROBERIS, nee BURKHARDT,

UDOLPH.

Christian name.(s)

Date

of birth:

Place of birth

: Anna Frida...

: 29 Apr 1915.

: REINHARDISGRIMMA,

Kreis DIPPOLDISWALDE.

(ROZ).

Last address in ROZ : BAUTZEN/Sachsen, Bleichstrasse 7e.

Present address

in

WEST BERLIN

: Bahnhofs-Mission,

Franklinstrasse,

BERLIN-TIERGARTEN,

28.

Date of marriage

(to Pte ROBERTS)

: 21 Jan 1956.

..Ito sheet 2 (para 2 continued).

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2.

3.

(Continued)

(NOTE: Mrs ROBERTS was in posession of the 'Familien-

Stamn-Buch' (Family Genealogical Register) referring to

her ROBERTS marriage.

Owing to paper shortage, a total

of only 5 photostat oopies of this book could be obtained,

have the negative

and additional copies can be

produced;

ghould this be instructed by higher authority.

The photostats show

the front cover and pages

1,. 2, 3, 4

Pages 6 to 24 were not photostatted

Attention is invited

the effect that the entries in the

Certificate on pages 4 and 5) are valid as legal

the events described have taken plaoe.)

Brief life-history.

Date of birth

1921 to 1929

: 29 Apr 1915.

: Attended the Volksschule in

REINHARDISGRIMMA.

1929 to. 1933

: Worked on a farm in REINHARDISGRIMMA.

21 Jun 34 to 23 Sep 40 : Employed as a metal-worker with the

firm of LUDWIG & KOPHAHN 1n

SCHOTTWITZ.

9

Oct 40

to 12 Apr 52: Employed as a metal-worker with

the

firm WILLI TUPFER, REINHARDTSGRIMMA.

CAt the end of the Second World War,

the name of this firm was changed by

the SOVIET occupation authorities to

'Einkaufs und Lieferungsgenossenschait,

DRESDEN, Hoyerswerderstrasse, 27,

Betrieb REINHARDISGRIMMA'.)

15 Apr 52 to 24 Oct 53: Employed as a metal-worker with

the

firm of GUNTER WEIDIG,; REINHARDISGRIMMA.

30 Nov 53 to 29 Jul 54 : Employed as a

laundress

with

WASCHEREI PORSCHE'S BLEICHE, BAUTZEN.

I1 Aug 54 to 11 May 56 : Employed as a kitchen-help by

NITROPA-SCHIFFSGASISTATTEN, DRESDEN.

10 Sep 56 to 28 Aug 57 : Employed as a turner at VEB

FURDERANLAGEN, BAUTZEN.

•2

Sep 57 to 1 Dec 57

.: Employed as a post-woman at the

HAUPTPOSTAMT, BAUTZEN.

• PART THREE

CASE HISTORY:

Subject'g first husband was killed-in-action during

Second World War.

In 1953 she met the AMERICAN defector

and they lived together in a marital-like state.

They did NOT

PETERSON was dissatisfied with his life in the DDR and

sful attempts to return to the WEST.

committed suicide by locking himself in

His mistress found him upon her

time that a doctor arrived PETERSON was

iscounted

the hypothesis that PETERSON was murdered

met Pte ROBERTS at

PETERSON's funeral and they

"ced to live together;

they married at the registry

on 22 pan 568

•to sheet 3 (para 5

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- 3-

On 4 Oct 57, Pte ROBERTS made his successful bid to return

to the WEST.

He did NOT tell his wife of his intention and when

she returned home

from work, she assumed he had left for WEST

She immediately informed Heinz SCHATTEL (Club-leader)

of her suspicions.

The reason that Pte ROBERTS did not tell his

wife he was intending to return to

the WEST was,

she thought,

because on previous

when this aubject bad been discussed

she had disuaded him from tak

attempted to escape

and failed, then they both would be deported to

SIBERIA or sentenced to long terms of imprisonment in the DDR.

Subject stated that several such discussions had taken place and

her arguments against escape to the WEST were always the same.

On 9 Oct 57, she received a letter from her husband telling

her that he had reached WEST BERLIN and surrendered himself to the

BRITISH military authorities.

On about 1 Nov 57, subject received

another letter from Pte ROBERTS, dated 18 or 19 Oct 57, asking her

to visit him in BERLIN-SPANDAU on 29 Oct 57.

On 1 Nov 57, she travelled to BERLIN from BAUTZEN by the

recently-introduced

omnibus service.

She had been given an

address in EAST BERLIN by Doris MULLER (now the wife of. the BRITISH

defector 23247530 Pte McLANE, W., 1 BW

(RHR), AWOL wef 15 Apr 57)

told that the person living at this address would help her in

reaching BERLIN-SPANDAU.

We have been in contact with the

in the EAST sector whom she visited for some considerable

the past and have received useful background information

on BAUTZEN from this

The source subsequently informed us

Mrs ROBERTS was given directions how to reach BERLIN-

eventually found herself at a BRITISH army barracks,

from her description would appear to be identifiable as WAVELL

After some time, she was taken to an officer and a

Frau/Friulein KREITSCH or KRTETSCH

phonetic, was used'as interpreter.

Mrs ROBERTS was told that her husband had been sent to the UK on 24

She was given her husband's address.

She then left the

made her was to. Alexanderplatz (EAST sector) where she

caught the bus back to BAUTZEN.

few days after her return jo BAIZEN, she was asked to

visit SCHATTEL in the Club-house.

Upon arrival at the Club-house,

she was questioned by

two persons, whom she believed to be members

of the MfS,

regarding her reasons for visiting WEST BERLIN.

claimed she told them it was a private family matter.

also questioned about

the contents of the letters she had received

from her husband, but claimed she refused to give any information

She was finally asked to meet the MfS representatives

.at some future: unspecified, date, but refused to acquiesce to thi

She was then told that they

would see her agnin

anyway and would send for her when she was required, but they ner

did this.

subsequently instructed to go to the Staatsanwaltsch

in the Justizgeblude, BAUTZEN, - Here

she was asked if she knew the

address of her husband, to which question

she replied in the

affirmative, but refused to disciose what it was.

She was also

asked if she wished to divorce her husband and answered that she

not, claiming that she had no reasons for taking this step.

...../to sheet 4 (para 10):

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CONFDENTIAL

-4 -

asking her

join him.

She discussed this

question with Asta

SHEARER (wife

of the US Army defector ER 13174268 Arthur SHEARER, AWOL wef 27

Jan 57) who gave her the address of her (Asta's) aunt (FRENCH sector),

Magdelene HILGERT, nee PAETZPE, BERLIN-REINICKENDORE

Waldstrasse, 103.

(NOTE: Our

enquiries have established that this

person is living with her husband, Erwin, at the above address;

was born on 26 Feb 1903 in LINGEN and the WEST BERLIN police have

against her.)

Mrg ROBERTS did not find it

touch with Frau HILGERT.

decided that she would attempt to reach WEST BERLIN

and began to send her furniture

to her son (by her first marriage),

UDOLPH, living in SOHLAND, Kreis BAUTZIN, Scheitenbach, 12.

She did this as she clained that upon her departure to the WEST the

flat would be sealed by the DDR authorities and the furniture

At 0030 hours on 1 Dee 57, she left BAUTZEN for WEST BERLIN,

train, arriving in

BERLIN-SPANDAU at about 0900 hours 1 Ded 57.

her way to WAVELL Barracks, the only place she knew in WEST

BERLIN (para 7 above

refers) and explained her case to an officer,

the same woman as before

telephoned sche-one and

interpreter.

The officer

then advised her to go to the

in BERLIN-SPANDAU,

she did, but was told that

she could not be

as this camp was but a sub-camp and she

to the main refugee camp in BERLIN-MARIENFELDE.

She then made her way

200: railway station, where she contacted

representatives of

Bahnhofs-Mission, who sent her to the hostel in

Franklinstrasse, para 2 above refers.

Later she contacted the BRITISH

consul in WEST BERLIN, on 2 Dec 57, who informed HQ BERLIN Indep Bde

she, in turn. informed

this unit, para 1 above refers.

PART FOUR

COMMENTS.

Mrs ROBERTS claimed that she had not been a member of the FDJ

or SED and had taken no

interest 'in DDR politios and endeavoured to

give the impression of one who had been opposed to communism all her

She admitted she had often visited

the Club-house, but claimed

visits were purely social and she

was accompanied on these

occasions by her husband.

She was questioned regarding this aspent

of her life, but insisted she had never been politically active.

stated categorically that she had nover

informer to the Dif authorities against env other nember of the

renegade. colony

in BAUTZEN.

This conflinted with previous reports

we have received concerning Mrs ROBINS

activities in BAUTZEN;

returned defootres MintiSTD;

PONELL and ROBERTS himself said.

thought she did inform to ScrAtliü.

She was interrogated on this

but denied any such activity, on he contrary; sho claimed she had

never supported the DIR regime in uny way and

could not be shaken

10

../to sheet 5 para 14).

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CONT

-5 -

Further to paras 7 and 12 above,

it is regrettable that

1 BW (RHR) in the first instance and 1 BORDER in the second, did

not inform ug of Mrs ROBERIS' arrivals in WEST BERLIN when they

It might have proved of value if we had been able to

earlier, especially, on the occasion of her first visit.

(We did not hear of this visit

from our source, para 7 above refers,

after it had taken place and it was too late to contact Mrs

ROBERTS.)

15.

Interrogator's opinion of subiact.

She is of

average

intelligence and appeared

to

be a fairly shrewd sort of person.

From what we have already heard of her, and from her own story,

she would appear to have mediocre moral standards.

She undoubtedly

knew a lot about the defector colony in BAUTZEN, but did not volunteer

information until she began to appreciate

that the interrogator had

a sound background knowledge of events in BAUTZEN.

On some occasions

she inadverdently disclosed items of knowledge which showed

she knew

more than she had previously said.

When taxed with these 'slips of

the tongue',

she replied

that they had occured to her as afterthoughts.

In view of her present circumstances she, naturally,

endeavoured to

create

the impression

of a person who had nothing to hide

and who wag

willing

to co-operate.

In spite of this, or perhaps becsuse of it,

she did not make a good impression and there appeared to be

an

intangable

air of doubt and mistrust about her and it is considered

that no great reliance

can be placed on her.

The information she

gave on BRITISH defectors (Annexure I refers) is thought to be

generally reliable.

Her alleged activities as an informant in BAUTZEN

may have been exaggerated by returned defectors, but it is considered

that, at least,

if

she heard of escape plans by defectors which

Involved

her husband

she

did inform SCHATTEL, in erder not to

jeopardise her own personal security and way of life with her husband,

para 5 above also refers.

This may well have been an additional

reason why Pte ROBERTS did not tell his wife of his intended escape

attempt on 4 Oct 57, even taking into consideration the criminal

aspect of his reasons, para 45 of ref 'A' refers.

Sgt,

NCO 1/c 'A' Detachment,

-BUTTISH INMELLIGENGE BODI, BERLIN-

Intelligence Corps

(Sgt J.B. BARKLAM.)

....../to sheet 6 (Annexure I).

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