Karin Tekla Maria Lannby (13 April 1916,

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

– 19 November 2007,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a Swedish actress,

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

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 ...

.Stockholm - The Casablanca of the North - Radio Sweden , Sveriges Radio
/ref> She served as a spy for the leftists during the

Spanish civil war The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, and for Sweden in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Biography

The daughter of journalist Gunnar Lannby and Lilly Lannby, the boss of the Swedish agency of the American film company

Metro Goldwyn Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

. Through her mother, Lilly, Karin belonged to the

high society. As a student in the 1930s, Karin, being a convinced anti-

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

, joined the Swedish

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

s. During the Spanish civil-war, she served as an interpreter and secretary at a hospital in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. She made contact with the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, who gave her an assignment to infiltrate the troops of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

in the south of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. After having failed her task, she was excluded from the communists and returned to Sweden. From 1939 to 1945, she was an agent in service of the Swedish state during the war; under the code name ''Annette'', she reported of her observations from the cultural and diplomatic circles of Stockholm's party life. She acted in several films during the war. In 1940–41, she had a relationship with

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...

; she is said to have been the role model for the character Ruth Köhler in the film '' Kvinna utan ansikte'' (1947). After the war, Karin Lannby changed her name to Maria Cyliakus and moved to France (1952), where she was active as an actress, translator and journalist.

References

Literature

* Anders Thunberg (in Swedish): ''Karin Lannby: Ingmar Bergmans Mata Hari'' (Karin Lannby: The Mata Hari of Ingmar Bergman) (2009) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lannby, Karin 1916 births 2007 deaths People of the C-byrån Female wartime spies Swedish people of World War II Swedish actresses Swedish people of the Spanish Civil War Swedish translators Swedish poets Women in war 1900–1945 Women in war in Spain Women in World War II 20th-century translators 20th-century Swedish women writers 20th-century Swedish poets World War II spies for Sweden 20th-century Swedish journalists

Biography

See also

References

Literature