Evdokia Alexeyevna Petrova (russian: Евдоки́я Алексе́евна Петро́ва; – ) was a Russian

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the 1950s. She was the wife of Vladimir Petrov, and came to prominence with him during the

Petrov Affair The Petrov Affair was a Cold War spy incident in Australia, concerning the defection of Vladimir Petrov, a KGB officer, from the Soviet embassy in Canberra in 1954. The defection led to a Royal Commission and the resulting controversy contribu ...

Life

Raised in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, Petrova worked as a bureaucrat in the state-run forced labor camps or

gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

s. In 1951, she was posted with her husband as a diplomat to

, though her real work was as a spy, in the rank of captain, against the Australian government. In this capacity she provided clerical, cypher, and operational assistance to the Soviet embassy in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. With her husband she defected to Australia in 1954. This happened at

Darwin Airport Darwin International Airport is the busiest airport serving the Northern Territory and the tenth busiest airport in Australia. It is the only airport serving Darwin. The airport is located in Darwin's northern suburbs, from Darwin city ...

, at the height of the

. The Petrovs' memoirs of the episode were contained in their book ''Empire of Fear'', which was ghost-written by

Michael Thwaites Michael Rayner Thwaites, AO (30 May 1915 – 1 November 2005) was an Australian academic, poet, and intelligence officer. Early life and education Thwaites was born in Brisbane, to Yorkshire immigrant Robert Ernest Thwaites who taught at Brisba ...

. After the defection, Evdokia was haunted by worries about her family in Moscow, fearing they had been punished or killed. The Red Cross reconnected her to her family in 1960. Her father had been sacked from his job following the defection, and died three years later, but she stayed in contact with her mother until her mother's death in 1965. Her sister Tamara migrated to Australia in 1990. The Petrovs bought a home in Bentleigh, Melbourne, in 1956. To help protect their identities in Australia, the Petrovs took the names ''Sven'' and ''Anna Allyson''. They were protected under the D-notice system. Although the press agreed not to identify them under the D-notice, the press did not always observe this voluntary protection order. Evdokia became an Australian citizen in 1956. She found work as a typist for William Adams Tractors under the name Anna Allyson. Vladimir Petrov died in 1991, but she was not able to attend his funeral due to media attention. Robert Manne interviewed her in 1996; the interview is held by the National Library of Australia. She died in 2002, aged 87 years old.

Fictional works

Evdokia Petrov's life has inspired a number of fictional works. * ''The Red Shoe'', a novel by

Ursula Dubosarsky Ursula Dubosarsky (born ''Ursula Coleman''; 1961 in Sydney) is an Australian writer of fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults, whose work is characterised by a child's vision and comic voice of both clarity and ambiguity. She ha ...

which won the

New South Wales Premier's Literary Award The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, t ...

and the

Queensland Premier's Literary Award The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were an Australian suite of literary awards inaugurated in 1999 and disestablished in 2012. It was one of the most generous suites of literary awards within Australia, with $225,000 in prize money across ...

in 2006. * ''Mrs Petrov's Shoe'', a play by

Noelle Janaczewska Noelle or Noëlle is the feminine form of the gender neutral name Noel. It derives from the old French Noël, "Christmas," a variant (and later a replacement) of nael, which itself derives from the Latin natalis, "birthday". Other nicknames a ...

which won the

for drama in 2006. * ''The Safe House'', an animation by Lee Whitmore, narrated by

Noni Hazelhurst Leonie Elva "Noni" Hazlehurst , (born 17 August 1953) is an Australian actress, director, writer, presenter and broadcaster who has appeared on television and radio, in dramas, mini-series and made for television films, as well also on stag ...

, which won Best Animation at the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

2006. * ''Document Z'', a novel by Andrew Croome, which won the

Australian/Vogel Literary Award ''The Australian''/Vogel Literary Award is an Australian literary award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under the age of 35. The prize money, currently A$20,000, is the richest and most prestigious award for an unpublished manuscript in ...

in 2008. * ''The Petrov Affair'', a 1987 television mini-series.The Petrov Affair (TV mini-series 1987) - IMDb
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References

1914 births 2002 deaths Soviet spies Soviet defectors Soviet emigrants to Australia Australia–Soviet Union relations {{russia-bio-stub

Life

Fictional works

See also

References