John Scott Peet (1915 - 29 June 1988 in East-Berlin) was a British

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 journalis ...

who

defected In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

(the German Democratic Republic) in 1950.

Biography

Parental family

John Peet was born on 27 November 1915, the third child of Hubert William Peet (1886 - 1951) and his wife, Edith Mary, born Scott. He had two older sisters and a younger brother,

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

. John's parents were Quakers, unlike his four grandparents who were Congregationalist. His mother's parents had served as missionaries. John went to the Quaker boarding schools at

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

and then

Bootham Bootham is a street in the city of York, in England, leading north out of the city centre. It is also the name of the small district surrounding the street. History The street runs along a ridge of slightly higher ground east of the River Ous ...

His father was a journalist, who wrote religious news and also edited the weekly Quaker magazine '' The Friend'' from 1932 to 1949. He was also an absolutist conscientious objector, who suffered three terms of imprisonment for his refusal to obey military orders.

Grenadier Guard

"For complex reasons", after Quaker School, John Peet joined the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

. According to his brother, Stephen, he was bought out after three months

Spanish episode

John Peet fought in 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 ...

with the

International Brigade The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existe ...

. He travelled and worked in various European cities, until 1939, when he joined the British Army, serving in the British Mandate of Palestine. There he ran the news section of Jerusalem Radio, until he was recruited by Reuters News agency in 1945.

International journalist

He worked for

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

in Palestine, Vienna and Warsaw and covered the

Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...

after

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 ...

, November 1945 to October 1946.

Defection

After three years as a reporter in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Peet announced, during a Press Conference in East Berlin in 1950, that he was leaving the West because of

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

rearmament. From 1952 to 1975, Peet produced the ''Democratic German Report'', a fortnightly newsletter targeting the left-of-centre public opinion in the United Kingdom. His positive portrayal of the GDR was among the GDR's most believable and powerful propaganda in Britain. He spent the last ten years of his life translating

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
''

archetypical The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ot ...

Englishman, and he played this character in several East German films. Peet was married four times. In 1952, he married the Bulgarian Ravensbrück survivor Georgia Tanewa (1923-2012) and they had two children. He died on 29 June 1988, after a long illness. He was survived by his fourth wife, Engelgard. An autobiography, ''The Long Engagement'' was published after his death, with an introduction by

Len Deighton Leonard Cyril Deighton (; born 18 February 1929) is a British author. His publications have included cookery books, history and military history, but he is best known for his spy novels. After completing his national service in the Royal Air Fo ...

.''The long engagement: autobiography of John Peet''. Fourth Estate, October 1989 (published in German language as ''Der Spion der keiner war''. Wien, Zürich 1991). In these memoirs, Peet writes about his defection stating he "could no longer serve the Anglo-American warmongers ...". He also writes about his relationship with

Soviet 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 nation ...

intelligence.

References

Other sources

*''Friendly enemies: Britain and the GDR 1949-1990'', by Stefan Berger and Norman Lapole; Berghahn Books, New York and London (2010). Text available online (minus index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Peet, John (1915-1988) British communists British male journalists British defectors to East Germany British people of the Spanish Civil War British spies for the Soviet Union 1915 births 1988 deaths International Brigades personnel