Her father, Baron Peter Witte, was a counselor to Tsar Nikolai II and acted as an advisor to the Mongolian government.
The couple emigrated to San Francisco, California, in 1924 where their son, Anatole Boris Volkov was born the same year.
[1] At first, Jacob Golos was the main contact of the Silvermaster group but his failing health meant that he used Elizabeth Bentley to collect information from the house.
[2] Kathryn S. Olmsted, the author of Red Spy Queen (2002), points out: "Every two weeks, Elizabeth would travel to Washington to pick up documents from the Silvermasters, collect their Party dues, and deliver Communist literature.
She would stuff all the film and documents into a knitting bag or other innocent feminine accessory, then take it back to New York on the train.