For a period of some years, between 1999-2004, I exchanged occasional letters with James McNeish (23 October 1931 – 11 November 2016), beginning at the time that he was carrying out research for his outstanding and impressively balanced book, "Dance of the Peacocks, New Zealanders in Exile in the Time of Hitler and Mao Tse-Tung" (2003).
Our correspondence concerned Ian Milner, one of the subjects of his book. I had known Ian while I was serving in Prague (1986-1989), largely because of common literary interests and his translations of Czech poets like Miroslav Holub.
Ian and his wife, Jarmila, used to come to our cultural events.
I think James had first contacted me as he had read my obituary on the death of the poet and scientist Miroslav Holub (1923-1998), published in the Australian international literary journal, HEAT (HEAT 11, 1999).
I was glad to be of help with his research. I have just been re-reading "Dance of the Peacocks", as well as other books (about Václav Havel and the history of Czechoslovakia until 1990), for a short story that I have been writing.
"Regarded by one critic as 'the best book published in New Zealand in the last twenty years', this is a fascinating story based on letters, diaries and interviews in several countries. It is the story of a group of Rhodes scholars, five young men - James Bertram, Geoffrey Cox, Dan Davin, Ian Milner, John Mulgan - caught up in the turmoil of their times: Spain, Hitler's Germany, Greece and North Africa, Eastern Europe, China. They left New Zealand in the thirties for 'the dreaming spires' of Oxford. War intervened. Only one returned". https://www.penguin.co.nz/books/dance-of-the-peacocks-9781869796624
An excerpt from "Dance of the Peacocks" (see pages 399-403):
A different view:
"In 1947 the New Zealand born Milner resigned from the Australian Department of External Affairs to take up a position with the United Nations in New York. Western intelligence agencies were already closing in on him.
Professor Horner again:
“The Venona intercepts, that's the intercepting of the cables between the KGB headquarters in Moscow and its embassies, identified that Milner was one of these people who was passing information on. The Soviets got wind of the fact that things were closing in on Milner and suggested that he get out of New York and he went to live in Czechoslovakia. And suddenly he got a well-paid job at a Czechoslovakian University and he worked there for the rest of his life continually denying as information came out about Venona that he'd ever been working in Australia as a spy.
In fact Milner landed a temporary job as Special Lecturer in the Department of English at Charles University.
After the Cold War newly released secret files from the Czech Interior Ministry revealed that in 1950 the Soviet Intelligence service had decided to "relocate" Milner to Czechoslovakia. The documents showed he was paid 25 thousand crowns per month, compared with the normal university salary of 7000.
He was given the cover name "Dvorak", as well a pseudonym. Agent 9006 continued working for the Czech secret service, reporting on academic and diplomatic acquaintances. The last available report in the archives confirmed he was still working for Czech intelligence as late as 1968.
Despite the mounting evidence Milner, who died in 1991, always denied he was a spy.
“To say that because you hold left-wing political views at a certain time of your life that you might have been working for Russian intelligence - this is fantastic.”
Very interesting, Jim!
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