Edith Tudor-Hart (''née'' Suschitzky; 28 August 1908 – 12 May 1973) was an Austrian-British photographer and spy for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Brought up in a family of socialists, she trained in photography at

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

in Dessau, and carried her political ideals through her art. Through her connections with

Arnold Deutsch Arnold Deutsch (1903–1942?), variously described as Austrian, Czech or Hungarian, was an academic who worked in London as a Soviet spy, best known for having recruited Kim Philby. Much of his life remains unknown or disputed. Early life He ...

, Tudor-Hart was instrumental in the recruiting of the

Cambridge Spy ring The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted for ...

which damaged British intelligence from

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 opposing ...

until the security services discovered all their identities by the mid-1960s. She recommended Litzi Friedmann and

Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British secr ...

for recruitment by the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

and acted as an intermediary for Anthony Blunt and Bob Stewart when the ''

rezidentura A resident spy in the world of espionage is an agent operating within a foreign country for extended periods of time. A base of operations within a foreign country with which a resident spy may liaise is known as a "station" in English and a (, 're ...

'' at the Soviet Embassy in London suspended its operations in February 1940.The Guardian", 21 August 2015, ''How MI5 failed to expose matriarch of Cambridge spy ring'' by Ian Cobain
/ref>

Early life and education

Her father, Wilhelm Suschitzky (1877–1934), was a

social democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

who was born into the Jewish community in Vienna, but had renounced Judaism and become an atheist. He opened the first social democratic bookshop in Vienna (later to become a publishers). Tudor-Hart's brother, a filmmaker and a photographer like his sister,

Wolfgang Suschitzky Wolfgang Suschitzky, BSC (29 August 1912 – 7 October 2016), was an Austrian-born British documentary photographer, as well as a cinematographer perhaps best known for his collaboration with Paul Rotha in the 1940s and his work on Mike Hodges' ...

described their father as "a great man. I realised that later on in life, not so much when I saw him every day. But, I met interesting people, some of his authors who came and had lunch with us or met people who came to his shop." Suschitzky recalled boyhood memories of the family excitement that greeted the Russian Revolution in 1917. She studied photography at the

in Dessau in 1928 before working in Vienna, taking photographs of working class districts while a

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...

teacher. An anti-fascist activist and Communist, she saw photography as a tool for disseminating her political ideas. Her brother also became a well-known photographer and cinematographer in Britain. He cited his sister as an influence on his decision to pursue an artistic career over a scientific one. In 1933 she married medical doctor Alex Tudor-Hart, who she had met in 1925. She was described "by those who knew her in her youth as immensely vivacious, amusing, curious, and gifted". The couple fled to London, England in 1933, so that she could avoid prosecution and persecution in Austria for her Communist activities and Jewish background.

South Wales

Following her marriage, she moved to South Wales where her husband practised as a GP in the area of

Rhondda Valley Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ...

, she began to produce photographs for '' The Listener'', '' The Social Scene'' and '' Design Today'', dealing with issues such as refugees from 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, link ...

and industrial decline in the north-east of England. From the late 1930s, she concentrated more on social needs, such as housing policy and the care of disabled children. This change in work may have been because after separation from her husband who had just returned from the

, their son, Tommy, developed

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

Spying activities

Tudor-Hart was instrumental in recruiting members of the

, which damaged British intelligence from

through to its discovery in the late 1960s. While working as a photographer she also acted as a courier. Her rather unsubtle codename was "Edith". Tudor-Hart had met

in Vienna in 1926, and with him she worked in the OMS, the International Liaison Department of the Comintern. Tudor-Hart was placed under surveillance by Special Branch after October 1931 when she was observed attending a demonstration in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...

. Tudor-Hart was of interest because of her friendship with Litzi Friedmann, made when she moved to London. Arnold Deutsch discussed with Edith and Litzi the recruitment of Soviet spies. Litzi suggested her husband,

with whom she had arrived in London from Vienna in May 1934. Tudor-Hart had spotted him as a potential Communist agent during his stay in Vienna, where he was a sympathiser of the Social Democrats who waged a civil war against the government of Engelbert Dollfuss. According to her report on Philby's file, through her own contacts with the Austrian underground Tudor Hart ran a swift check for the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

and, when this proved positive introduced him to "Otto" (Deutsch's code name). Deutsch immediately recommended... "that he pre-empt the standard operating procedure by authorising a preliminary personal sounding out of Philby." She also helped to recruit

Arthur Wynn Arthur Henry Ashford Wynn (22 January 1910 – 24 September 2001), was a British civil servant, social researcher, and recruiter of Soviet spies for the KGB. Early life Wynn was the son of a professor of medicine. Educated at Oundle School, he ...

in 1936. She acted as an intermediary for Anthony Blunt and Bob Stewart when the ''rezidentura'' at the Soviet Embassy in London suspended its operations in February 1940. In 1938–39 Burgess used her to contact Russian intelligence in Paris.

Later life

She separated from her husband and had a breakdown. After the Second World War, she opened an antique shop in Brighton. She died of stomach cancer in Brighton on 12 May 1973.

Bibliography

* * Catalogue for an exhibition in Edinburgh, Vienna, and Berlin * *

Documentary film

*''Tracking Edith'' (2016), written and directed by Peter Stephan Jungk

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tudor-Hart, Edith 1908 births 1973 deaths Austrian photographers 20th-century British photographers 20th-century Austrian women artists 20th-century women photographers Bauhaus alumni Austrian communists Austrian spies for the Soviet Union British spies for the Soviet Union World War II spies for the Soviet Union Austrian women photographers Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United Kingdom after the Anschluss Women spies