[1] Voelkner became part of a Soviet espionage group that operated in Europe in World War II that would later be identified by the Abwehr as the Red Orchestra ("Rote Kapelle").

[2] Originally a circus acrobat, Voelkner managed to obtain a key position as a shorthand typist[3] in the Parisian office of Fritz Sauckel of the Arbeitseinsatz (Compulsory Labour Service)[1] where she operated as an informant to the Red Orchestra's group's director Leopold Trepper.

[6] The family toured Europe and Russia extensively[4] during the interwar period, living a hand-to-mouth existence, that often left them destitute.

In 1925, Voelkner met the Italian artist and art teacher[7] [a] Johann Podsiadlo while on tour[1] and he eventually became her lover and manager.

[11] At the start of World War II, the couple, living at 5 Impasse Rolleboise in Paris,[12] were vehemently anti-nazi.

[17] Trepper was suspicious of the Voelkners due to the Rue des Atrébates raid and it was some weeks before they were recruited in the autumn of 1941, by Anna Maximovitch.

Her mission was collect any salient confidential information on Nazi problems on satisfying manpower requirements.

[18] Voelkner shared her information on sheets of tissue paper that she smuggled out the office in her compact or between pages in a magazine or in a match box.