15 Facts About Germaine Schneider

Germaine Schneider was a Belgian communist and Communist International agent.

Germaine Schneider worked as a principal courier for the groups that were associated with the Comintern agent, Henry Robinson in the late 1930s in France and later the Soviet GRU officer, Konstantin Jeffremov in Belgium and the Low Countries, in the early 1940s.

Germaine Schneider used the aliases Clais, Pauline, Odette, Papillon and Butterfly to disguise her identity.

Germaine Schneider had been living and working in Brussels since 1920.

In January 1925, Germaine Schneider married Swiss national Franz Schneider.

That same year, Germaine Schneider was recruited into the Communist International organisation.

Between 1925 and 1929, Germaine Schneider provided safehouse accommodation for travellers who were members of the Comintern.

Germaine Schneider's apartment saw many communists come and go including Maurice Thorez and Jacques Duclos.

Germaine Schneider recruited a significant number of people into the Jeffremov network and managed those people as a sub-network within the Jeffremov network.

Germaine Schneider was to became a courier between Jeffremov in Brussels and Trepper in Paris.

In November 1942, Germaine Schneider was arrested while she was working for the Springer group in Lyon.

Germaine Schneider was sent to a concentration camp and was liberated by the Red Army advance in May 1945.

Germaine Schneider was gravely ill when she left Ravensbruck concentration camp and was sent to a Swiss sanitarium in Zurich in October 1945.

Germaine Schneider remained there until the end of war, when he was liberated by the advancing Soviet front in May 1945.

Germaine Schneider suffered lung disease in prison and recovered sufficiently well to join Germaine in Zurich in October 1945.