Franz Schneider (spy)

They also met Swiss communist leader Cigy Bammater who introduced them to Henry Robinson, a Soviet espionage agent who also worked for the Comintern.

Upon his return Schneider found work with Natural Le Coultre, a Geneva based company specialising in the storage and transportation of fine art.

[2] Between 1925 and 1929, Schneider and his wife provided help to the Communist Party of Belgium and offered their apartment as a safehouse for travellers who were members of the Comintern.

In the same year, Schneider began working for the British Lever brothers company as a travelling soap salesman,[2] eventually becoming department head.

[a][1] In early 1938,[10] [b] the German GRU agent and radio operator Johann Wenzel moved to Belgium and resided with the couple[10] to train Germaine in Wireless Telegraphy techniques.

[13] In 1939, the couple had been recruited into an espionage network Belgium and the Low Countries that was run by Soviet GRU intelligence officer Konstantin Jeffremov.

[2] Germaine Schneider was the most important of the two, working as a courier that involved extensive travel across Europe and was Henry Robinson's contact to Soviet agents in Great Britain.

Swiss courier Franz Schneider