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Change Your Life! |
Inspiration
of James Bond’s ‘Moneypenny’ dies |
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June 28, 2000
LONDON (AP) - Vera Atkins, the World War II British spymaster who inspired the efficient and unflappable Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond series, has died. She was 92.
Atkins died Saturday, her family said. No cause of death was given. Born Vera Maria Rosenberg in Bucharest in 1908, she moved to England in 1933, later adopting the surname of her English mother.
She was educated at the Sorbonne, and her knowledge of France led to Atkins' recruitment into the French section of Britain's Special Operations Executive, the organization responsible for supporting the resistance in Nazi-occupied Europe.
As deputy to F-section chief Maurice Buckmaster, Atkins coordinated a network of close to 500 spies across Nazi-occupied France - briefing them on the life that awaited them, helping concoct elaborate cover stories and false identities, communicating with the families they left behind.
Atkins felt a strong personal responsibility toward her charges, and after the war traveled to Germany to investigate the fates of the 118 agents who had not returned. The evidence she gathered helped bring their killers to court for war crimes.
Later, Atkins settled into a quiet life in an English seaside cottage, but her war work was not forgotten. The French government named her a Commander of the French Legion of Honor, and she was made a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
Atkins never married. A private funeral was to be held July 3, with a later public memorial service to be announced. |