Czech spy dupes Dutch mom for a decade

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/07/2025 (422 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Imagine discovering that the man claiming to be your long-lost son is no relation at all, but is in fact a foreign spy.

In A Spy in the Family: A True Story of Espionage and Betrayal, Paul Henderson and David Gardner give a fascinating account of Václav Jelínek, a spy from the former Czechoslovakia whose life intersected with a Dutch mother’s quest to find the son that she had left behind years earlier.

Henderson is an investigative journalist and award-winning editor; Gardner is currently the chief national correspondent for the Daily Beast in Washington, D.C., and has worked for the Daily Mail as a crime writer and senior foreign correspondent.

Johanna van Haarlem was young and unmarried when she became pregnant by a German officer in the Netherlands in 1944. Her father was friendly with the Nazi invaders, but he refused to accept the half-German baby into the family. Joanna reluctantly left the child at a Czech orphanage, hoping they would soon be reunited.

Years later, after her father had died, van Haarlem heard the Red Cross had located her son. Although the man calling himself Erwin van Haarlem had brown eyes rather than the bright blue that she remembered, she accepted him as the son that she had not seen in decades.

For the next 10 years, Johanna treated the man calling himself Erwin as a treasured member of the family, showering him with gifts and attention. Meanwhile, as a spy codenamed Gragart, the man was acting as a “sleeper,” trying to blend in with the locals while searching for information on nuclear weapons and the British royal family. He lived a double life, receiving gifts and money from Johanna while trying to keep his own identity and mission secret.

Eventually, however, the false Erwin van Haarlem became overconfident of his skills and frustrated with playing the part of Johanna’s son. He became careless, and MI5 agents investigating the case finally identified him as a Czech man named Václav Jelínek, whose parents still lived in the village where he had been born. The spy was arrested, tried and convicted of espionage.

Although devastated by the news that she had spent so much time and effort on an imposter, Johanna was still determined to find her real son. She discovered the boy had been adopted by a caring family and had lived a happy and stable life. The two were soon in contact, and Johanna could finally have the reunion that she had wanted. While the imposter was deported to his home country in shame following his incarceration, Johanna had the satisfaction of having fulfilled her life’s goal.

A Spy in the Family is a well-written and compelling story of Cold War espionage and its effects on ordinary people. Although the authors’ use of all three of the spy’s names can be confusing at times, this tactic helps to emphasize the many facets of the fraud. It’s well worth reading for fans of historical works and spy stories.

Susan Huebert is a Winnipeg writer and pet sitter.