| Helen P. Silvermaster | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elena Witte July 19, 1899 Czarist Russia |
| Died | December 22, 1991 (aged 92) Beach Haven, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Known for | Silvermaster spy ring |
| Spouse | Volkov (divorced; one child) Nathan Gregory Silvermaster (1930-1964; his death) |
| Children | Anatole Boris Volkov |
| Relatives | Sergei Witte, granduncle |
Helen P. Silvermaster (July 19, 1899 — December 22, 1991) was an accused Soviet spy.
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Elena Witte was born in 1899 in Czarist Russia. Her father, Baron Peter Witte, was a counselor to the Czar and acted as an advisor to the Mongolian government. After the October Revolution he was arrested by Bolcheviks, but later released. After her father's arrest, she moved to China and married a Russian, becoming known as Elena Volkov, around 1923. They emigrated to San Francisco, California in 1924 where her son, Anatole Boris Volkov was born the same year. Shortly after their son's birth the couple separated. Helen began a relationship with Nathan Gregory Silvermaster; the couple wed in 1930 and remained married until Nathan's death in 1964.
The couple came to Washington D.C. in 1939. In Washington, she was one of the leaders of the Washington Bookshop, the American League for Peace and Democracy, the Washington Committee for Aid to China, and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. All these organizations were Comintern and CPUSA sponsored organizations. Her code name with Soviet intelligence and in the Venona project is "Dora".
She died on December 22, 1991 in Beach Haven, New Jersey, aged 92.