The Son Who Wasn't - an incredible true story of espionage and betrayal.

Antonia Senior talks to David Gardner, journalist and author about A Spy in the Family, the book he co-authored with fellow journalist Paul Henderson.

BUY THE BOOK: https://amzn.eu/d/5yzY71E

keywords

espionage, spy stories, Czech spy, betrayal, identity, resilience, historical narrative, true crime, family, Cold War

summary

An Incredible True Story of Espionage and Betrayal, A Spy in the Family, is the first book to reveal the full, astonishing story of ‘Václav Jelínek’, aka Erwin van Haarlem, using previously unseen documents from the UK, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic

A fascinating tale of how the authors helped Johanna, now 99, find out the truth about the man who pretended to be her son.

It all starts in a courtroom, in 1989, when Johanna Von Haarlem confronted the man who had spent ten years pretending to be the son that she was brutally forced to give away during the war.

Sound Bites

• "She was sent away to have the baby."
• "He was a trained spy after all."
• "He died a couple of years ago."

Chapters

00:00

The Genesis of a Spy Story

06:45

Johanna's Heartbreaking Journey

12:55

The Spy's Double Life

16:29

The Reunion and Its Consequences

28:41

The Shocking Truth Revealed

31:14

The Search for the Real Irwin

36:51

ending.mp3

37:03

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