New crime novel:
The “Third Man” can also be a woman
On the fringes of "Buch Wien", the German-British author Karina Urbach spoke about the fascination of the "Third Man", her longing for Vienna, the last survivors of the Vienna bugging tunnels and women as spies.
"Krone": Ms. Urbach, where does your enthusiasm for Vienna come from?
Karina Urbach: My grandmother Alice Urbach was a well-known Viennese cookbook author in the 1930s. I was fascinated by her adventurous life and wrote a biography about her a few years ago. After that, I just couldn't get away from this city.
Is Vienna really still regarded internationally as a "city of spies"?
Absolutely! Western and Eastern secret services have been spying on each other since the Cold War, and there are also many international organizations here. We recently had the case of the ex-Wirecard manager and Russian spy Jan Marsalek, who went into hiding and led Bulgarian agents in Vienna. He insisted that they bring him a Sacher torte on the side.
The "Third Man" fascinates tourists and locals - why?
Men love James Bond and the idea of leading an exciting double life. But espionage is also interesting for women in terms of psychology and leadership. Women have always been very successful secret service agents because they are good judges of character. But their success stories were not told. I wanted to change that.
You also once interviewed Daphne Park...?
Daphne was a British secret service agent who was sent to Vienna in 1948. She saw how brutal the Soviet side was at the time. She hated communist ideology, but loved Russian literature. She wanted to understand both and studied Russian intensively. She was then transferred to the British embassy in Moscow to run agents. Because she looked like Miss Marple, the KGB underestimated her. They thought she was the embassy's new housekeeper - it was the perfect cover for her. It helps to be underestimated!
How much of your novel is based on true events?
80 percent is based on interviews with an agent and a man who worked in the interception tunnel. Screenwriting assistant Angela Allen (now 95) gave me the incredible spy story behind the Third Man. So I didn't have to invent much, the reality was exciting enough.
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