MY MOSCOW ORDEAL BY THE FREED WIFE OF ACCUSED BRITION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100510028-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 26, 1998
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: April 30, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

WIFE OF ACCUSED BRITON
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 Sanitized -Approved Fdr'Release CIA-RDP75-00149R000100510028-8
?CPYRGHT CPYRGHT
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RS. Barba-ra
Brooke told to-
night of her ordeal
when security,
police arrested her
husband.
She was questioned
throughout Sunday
night and given" only
cups of cold water to
drink."
It was 6.30 a.m. before she
was taken back to her hotel
alone-still not knowing."
Scoop
Television viewers of the ITV
programme What The Papers Say
last night heard Alistair Burnet,
Editor of the Economist, say, :
"Scoop of the week undoubt-
edly in the Daily Mail this morn-
ing : Walter Terry, now political
editor breaking this exclusive
story-Briton Held' in Moscow."
what had happened to 'her
26-year-old husband Gerald.
Tonight Mr. 'Brooke--teacher,
Russian linguist and holder of
the Queen's Scout badge-waits
in Moscow's Lubyanka jail hoping
.his wife will be allowed to visit.
him before she flies back 'to
London tomorrow night. ' .
Twenty - Ave - year old Mrs,
Brooke broke down and wept as
she, whispered her st9ry to
repgrters. in the , apartment of,
_
CPYRG~T
KEITH
MORFEIT
CR`'RQHT
-From
'night.by Mr.-Paul Harvey, 45,' -Of .
Foundation Boys' School in
Cooper - street in the City of
London.
He has now taken ' over the
? leadership of the visiting group
from Mr. Brooke.
Mr. Harvey -said that the
Miss Agnes Wood, the -British
Consul, who is caring for her. '
Mr. and Mrs.. Brooke, who
arrived, here on 'April 18 with a
sightseeing " group. of 30 British
teachers, were visiting 'a Russian :
family when the arrest- came.
Mrs. Brooke said : " It hap-
pened in an apartment house in :
Moscow. Three plain-clothes men
came into the room: They said
something in Russian.
" Then they separated : my hus-
band. and me and took me to
another building. I don't know
where the. building. was. They
took me there by car.
"1 was kept in. custody through-
out the night and all the time they
'took me back by car to the Hotel
.Bucharest, escorted hie to. my
room on the si,h floor "and
searched i t.
Then they went away. I have
not seen or heard from my hus
band since we were separated by-
security police.
At this point Mrs:' Brooke, a
brunette dressed ' in ' . a fawn
shoes,. dropped her head into her
hands'and began to cry.. She was
immediately led out of the ' room
But ,a fuller version of'' what.
Brookes had never before met the
Russian couple to whose subur-
., 'ban apartment they were invited.,:
He said that throughout her .'.-
questioning and later in Room 601
of the hotel Mrs. Brooke pleaded'
with the security men: "Where
is my husband 7 What have you ,
done with him'? Please let me
speak with him or see him."
Mr. Harvey said : " Whilethey
searched the room Mrs. Brooke
kept saying to them : 'Please let
me telephone my friends, I must
telephone someone and tell them
what has happened.'
"'They finally gave permission.,
and she telephoned,. me on the fifth
Poor. She was very distressed.
I calmed her ? town and took
her ,to the : hotel dining room to
persuade her to eat some food.
Then.. we went together to the
? British Embassy.
Of "the arrest Mr. Harvey said
~rs. Brooke told him " I cannnt
FOR LOVE
OF RUSSIAN
z PYR Page seven-.
or the life of me remember where '
the apartment was' or the names
go there.
."We had been in the flat only
15 -minutes when the security men
came in. I don't speak a word of
Russian and I just couldn't make,
out what was happening.
"Then they took Gerry away,
and that is when I began to get a .
~
.
, bit frightened. They took me in a
have been security headquarters,
and the questioning began."
t APR 3 0 1965
Sanitized Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-cl
.From Room 601 the security
men seized a book of photographs,
notebooks of the i rookes' Russian
Both at police headquarters and
in the hotel the Russians treated
~~i'vWW'rRm the
Mi4~1~i;b~5 maven to
 Sanitized - Approved F6r elease_: CIA-RDP75-00149R000100510028-8
CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
One said : " We split "into due to leave by train for home
wc" rruCU ,?ay n'CIG ,uanu,g a- /.do to help Mr. Brooke.,
conducted 'tour of -Moscow Some expressed fear for
University. : their own position They are
Commerce recalled that th the
mom ce we t,,, ~a..,ey- ' '1n' theie hotel rooms and,
Mr. Harvey and other mem- .- ." -.,selves properly, and that there
y .,'can be no basis whatever for
hers of the group, most of ;: .;Gerald Brooke's detention by
ll(/15V(sGI~G can year witness to ins tact
? that they conducted them- -
a
t
ege a t e.' ...and we feel compelled to
Brookes were . spreading
"anti-Soviet literature; and ask the Soviet ,Government
mnet .,f th -.r .,.,eat;.,.,:.... ~,..a for,his early. release.
. The Russians are believed: w-.. :
M led our group - to Moscow,
ave
ll d th
h'
We' have been asked ' by'
the ' British Embassy in Mos-
cow to remain" silent on much
of what has happened. But I
do know Mrs. Brooke acted'
very, very bravely."
.the rest of us it is obvious
she is a very ' courageous..
girl. :C
two groups. As my group " tomorrow.
walked along' the corridors They bedated whether any
we realised a Russian security step they could take at the
than had attached himself to last moment could help ,bring
us, and he stayed" observing" about Mr. Brooke's release.
us the whole time we were on'.
I'_ ?;..' One teacher said : "My
Sir Humphrey Trevelyan, has'
,made rgpeated attempts to see
~Ths other; 29 J3dtfslws r
PYRGHT
CPYRGHT
ured, us they wil ltake.care
f Mr. Brooke's best interests.
e are all completely baffled
y what has happened."
press - avenue, Woodford
1k en, said that the Russian
e to whose apartment the
okes 'went on Sunday
ht had told them she was
' interested in libraty-
k. " Mrs. Brooke is a.:
ned, librarian.
The Russian girl Insisted
h Mrs. Brooke should go,to
house because she wanted.:
onow how libraries are run
n ngland, said Mr. arvey.
.Vassall-
kin 1959 and was anxiou
t Ind out whether any of hi
o friends here were sti
a und.,., :.,
y a poincidence, - Mrs
oke is tonight staying i
~sail, the British spy, .lived
1: ring his years as a naval
.:for me in London: I do, not iss Wood 'moved into th
,!,;,that would. endanger my
CPYRGHT
haare~st Hotel to' collect th
i. ~n'wr lba'saaJte.-. , -
APR 3 0 1965
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000100510028-8