After being recruited by the Allied secret intelligence services, Szymańska provided a conduit of information between the Allies and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the GermanAbwehr. In autumn 1939 he helped her and her children move from occupied Poland to Switzerland in compensation for a contact with the British Secret Intelligence Service. Szymańska, as a British agent, met several times with Canaris in Switzerland and Italy. Then she met with his courier, Hans Bernd Gisevius. Szymańska played an important role, as an intermediary, in secret contacts between the Allies and German anti-Nazi conspirators. In April 1940 she received information about the coming German attack on France and the Benelux countries. In mid-June 1941 Szymańska received information about the coming German attack on the Soviet Union. During World War II she became one of the most effective MI6 agents. Szymańska had three daughters with Col. Antoni Szymański — Hanka, Ewa and Marysia. All four spent the war in Switzerland, where Halina began her work for MI6 and later the French Deuxieme Reseau, conducting courier work into occupied France, for which she was decorated by the French. Among others, she developed a working relationship with the AmericanAllen Dulles, who then headed the American OSS intelligence office in Bern. Dulles became the first civilian and the longest-serving Director of Central Intelligence and had two children, Anouchka and Michael. Michael Fabian, Halina's grandson was very close to both his grandmother and grandfather, Antoni Szymanski, in whose house, Chiswick, he grew up in with his mother Marysia, father Mirek and sister Anouchka. Michael Fabian, many years later, assisted the English spy expert/writer Nigel West - real nameRupert Allason - with the section of his book, MI6: British Secret Intelligence Service Operations, 1909-45, which dealt with his grandmother Szymańska. Among other documents, the book shows Halina's French identity card, which was forged by the MI6's printing expert, Mr Adams in Potters Bar, in order to enable her to travel to occupied France to meet Admiral Canaris, collect information and report back to the Allies in Switzerland. It also shows Mme Szymanska's diplomatic passport. Stamped with numerous entry and exit visas, it includes two relating to her rendezvous with Admiral Canaris in Italy, April 1941, at which he disclosed details of Hitler's imminent attack on the Soviet Union. Michael writes, there are a number of projects revolving around Halina's wartime exploits, plus mentions in a number of new books that touch upon the subject. Full list to be compiled.
