Sonja Morawetz Sinclair

Sonja Morawetz Sinclair (born December 3, 1921) is a Canadian journalist, author, and cryptographer.

Sonja was born in Úpice, Czechoslovakia, on December 3, 1921, to parents Frida Glaser Morawetz and industrialist Richard Morawetz.

She grew up in Prague.

In late 1938 she fled Czechoslovakia through Nazi Germany to Great Britain.

She spent a year at Badminton School in Bristol before moving to Canada.

As a student at Trinity College, University of Toronto, she served as editor-in-chief of the Trinity Review.

Her sister-in-law Cathleen Synge Morawetz was a distinguished mathematician at NYU.

Her brother Herbert Morawetz was also a notable chemist at NYU.

Her brother Oskar Morawetz was a notable classical music composer.

Between 1943 and 1945 Sonja worked as a World War II codebreaker for an Ottawa extension of Bletchley Park Signals Intelligence.

She was sworn to secrecy and did not reveal her work to her or friends family for over 70 years.

From the 1950s to the 1990s she worked independently for major Canadian publications including Time, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Maclean's, Chatelaine, Canadian Business, Financial Post, authored four books and worked as Director of Communication for Price Waterhouse.

In 1974 Sonja's family helped Mikhail Baryshnikov defect from the USSR.

Baryshnikov sprinted away after a performance in downtown Toronto to a waiting getaway car that took him to a farm near Markham, Ontario.

He stayed there for a couple of days until journalists caught up to him, at which point he moved to a cottage on Lake Muskoka owned by Sonja's family.

He remained there until he was assured the Canadian government would not extradite him.

Baryshnikov settled in New York City quickly thereafter.

In June 2017 she was honoured by the British government for her service as a World War II codebreaker for an Ottawa branch of Bletchley Park Signals Intelligence between 1943-1945.

She kept her wartime intelligence service secret from her closest family and friends for over seven decades.

In 2017 she was awarded the Bletchley Park Commemorative Badge for her service.