Anna Colloms
Anna Colloms was a teacher at Washington Irving High School in New York City during World War II. Colloms was also a member of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and its underground secret apparatus, which was functioning at the time as an auxiliary to Soviet intelligence. In August 1943, Colloms acted as a courier for Soviet intelligence to Mexico, as part of the plan to free Leon Trotsky's murderer, Ramón Mercader, from a Mexican prison.
Colloms was closely associated with Jacob Epstein and Ruth Wilson, a husband and wife working for Soviet intelligence in Mexico City.
Venona traffic
Several decrypted Venona messages reveal that both Lydia Altschuler and Anna Colloms had been used extensively as mail drops for KGB operations throughout Latin America. Colloms is referenced in the following Venona project decrypts:
- 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944. pg.1
- 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944. pg.2
- 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944. pg.3
- 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944. pg.4
- 193–194 Mexico City to Moscow, 14 March 1944. pg.5
Reference
- John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999)
- Comintern Apparatus Summary Report, 15 December 1944, FBI Comintern Apparatus file, serial 3702
- Colloms testimony, “American Aspects of Assassination of Leoh Trotsky,” U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Un-American Activities Committee, 82nd Cong., 1st sess., 1951
