Varinka Wichfeld Muus

Varinka Corinna Wichfeld Muus (9 February 1922 – 18 December 2002) was a Danish resistance fighter under the German occupation of Denmark in World War II. Her mother was Monica Wichfeld, an upper-class Ulsterwoman who was a leading member of the Danish resistance during the German occupation of Denmark and was the first woman in Denmark to receive a capital sentence for resistance against the Nazis. In 1943, Varinka became the secretary of her husband-to-be, Flemming Muus, who acted as chief agent in Denmark for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). When Muus was forced to move to Sweden, Wichfeld was charged with telegraphing messages to London as only she knew the secret codes. Together with Muus, she moved to London in 1944 where they remained until the end of the war.

Early life Varinka Corinna Wichfeld was born on 9 February 1922 in the Engestofte manor house near Maribo on the island of Lolland; she was the second of the three children of the Danish aristocrat and diplomat Jørgen Adalbert Wichfeld (1885–1966) and his wife, Monica Emily Massy-Beresford (1894–1945), who had been raised in Ulster in the north of Ireland. Also known as 'Inkie', as a small child Varinka was brought up in the manor house. Thanks to periods spent with her family in England, France, Austria and Ireland, she became fluent in several languages. From 1929 to 1941, she lived with her family in Italy, mainly in Rapallo. Both she and her mother initially supported Mussolini as they had come into contact with Francoist refugees but they soon turned against fascism. She married Muus in June but soon they were both in imminent danger of being arrested.

Varinka Wichfeld Muus died on 18 December 2002 in Copenhagen. She is buried in Søllerød Cemetery.