13 Facts About Lona Cohen

Lona Cohen, born Leontine Theresa Petka, known as Helen Kroger, was an American who spied for the Soviet Union.

Lona Cohen is known for her role in smuggling atomic bomb diagrams out of Los Alamos.

Lona Cohen was a communist activist before marrying Morris Cohen.

Lona Cohen was born Leontine Theresa Petka in Adams, Massachusetts, the daughter of Polish Catholic immigrants.

At the age of 15, Lona left her parents' home in Taftsville, Connecticut and moved to New York City.

Lona Cohen separated from the Socialist Party at this time, becoming a member of the Communist Party.

At the time of her marriage to Morris Lona Cohen in 1941, she did not know that her husband was a spy for the Soviet Union.

Lona Cohen met a young man, identified in her report as Allen, working at an aircraft plant in Hartford, Connecticut.

Lona Cohen then asked Allen to smuggle a working model of a new machine gun out of his plant.

Lona Cohen frequently received documents from seamen from South America and Europe, using her charm to persuade dock-workers to permit her access to the ships.

Lona Cohen's job was to transport classified information from Theodore Hall, and a source cover named "FOGEL" and "PERS" from the American secret atomic weapons project at Los Alamos, New Mexico and carry them to the Soviet consulate in New York.

Lona Cohen had been to this church the previous four Sundays, but Hall had been confused about the date of their meet and did not show up until nearly a month after scheduled.

In Moscow, Lona Cohen had received additional training as a radio operator and cipher clerk.