“Dulles’s prestige,” Sichel recalls: Interview with Peter Sichel, December 1, 2001, Bordeaux. After the war, Peter Sichel headed the Berlin branch of the CIA (1949–52), later directed CIA operations in Eastern Europe, and then took over the Hong Kong office in 1956.
of narrow self-interest: Joseph Persico, Piercing the Reich (New York: Viking, 1979).
headquarters in East Prussia: This episode has been reconstructed in part on the basis of a letter of October 4 from Fritz Kolbe to Ernst Kocherthaler, National Archives, and the biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe.
“like Wilhelm Furtwängler’s”: Letter from Fritz Kolbe to Allen Dulles, June 28, 1962, Allen W. Dulles Papers.
to prescribe fictitious treatments: Fritz Kolbe relied more than once on the complicity of his medical friends. On one occasion, he had Adolphe Jung give him an injection causing a fever so that he could take a few days off to work on the files that he wanted to transmit to the Americans. Morgan, “The Spy the Nazis Missed,” and biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe.
of the Ost Ministerium: In the fall of 1944, the Ministry of the Occupied Territories in the East (Reichsministerium für die Besetzten Ostgebiete or Ostministerium, headed by Alfred Rosenberg), was nothing but an empty shell, as most of the territory in question had been retaken by the Red Army.
agreement with the Soviets: Kappa message, October 7, 1944 and Boston document no. 426. The attempts at an approach to the Soviet Union by Peter Kleist had been mentioned in the American press in July 1944, but had been the subject of an official denial by the authorities of the Reich. Boston document no. 411.
a vast agricultural zone: Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau’s plan, revealed in September 1944, was widely used by Nazi propaganda to denounce America’s “criminal” intentions toward Germany.
prepared by Allen Dulles: Kappa message, October 7, 1944.
I should join you: Letter from Fritz Kolbe to Ernst Kocherthaler, November 14, 1944, National Archives.
supplied by the Americans: “With the camera, the volume of documents processed increased enormously.” Biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe.
while I was working?: Unpublished notebooks of Adolphe Jung.
confessed many years later: This episode is recounted in detail in “The Story of George” and in the biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe. Fritz Kolbe had the habit of drinking a cognac after moments of great anxiety. Morgan, “The Spy the Nazis Missed.”
population in the neighborhood: Episode recounted in the biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe and in “The Spy the Nazis Missed.” The Blockwart’s function was to be a liaison between the NSDAP and society. There were two million of these “little führers” in wartime. They observed the neighborhood, organized informing on deviant behavior, and the like.
caught him crossing Alexanderplatz: Biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe.
in the Dufourstrasse buildings: Complete Diary of Clandestine Radio Communications in Bern, Switzerland from November 24, 1944 through the Month of June 1945, National Archives.
carry out a search: Bern, National Archives.
a watch to be repaired: Biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe.
region for the present: Boston documents nos. 415 and 470. This information was transmitted by the OSS to President Roosevelt. Memorandum for the President, October 11, 1944, microfilm (entry 190c, MF1642, roll 18).
for a German defeat: Boston documents nos. 475, 478, and 479.
SS-Obersturmbannführer Eichmann: Boston document no. 471.
forced labor and “conscription”: Boston document no. 534.
of the Boston series: Boston document no. 542.
amounted to 440,000 people: Boston document no. 733.
the Jews of Budapest: In late December 1944, Fritz Kolbe informed the Americans that “Obersturmbannführer Eichmann has been ordered back to Berlin,” his mission accomplished. See Boston document no. 733.
dated December 1, 1944: Microfilm document (MF1642, roll 18).
the giving of guarantees: Ibid.
best deliveries of “Wood”: Evaluation of Boston Series, December 28, 1944, National Archives.
to his Washington colleagues: Hansjakob Stehle, “Der Mann, der den Krieg verkürzen wollte,” Die Zeit, May 2, 1986.
courier never traveled alone: Biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe.
legation in Bern, noted: Boston document no. 802.
“personal friend” of Emil Puhclass="underline" Boston document no. 355.
the IG Farben conglomerate: Boston document no. 804.
political asylum in Switzerland: In April 1945, several German diplomats left the legation in Bern and took refuge with Swiss friends. They returned to Germany after the fall of the Nazi regime. Handwritten notes of Ernst Kocherthaler, April 10, 1945, National Archives.
most of the trip: Biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe.
and the People’s Court: The ignoble chief prosecutor of the Nazi regime, Roland Freisler, died that day after being hit by a projectile while crossing the building’s courtyard.
close off the street: Unpublished notebooks of Adolphe Jung.
of the Foreign Ministry: Biographical document by Gerald Mayer and Fritz Kolbe. A large scale destruction of archives was to take place during the final weeks of the Nazi regime. Kappa message, April 5, 1945.
had not been obtained: Kappa message, February 5, 1945, in From Hitler’s Doorstep, p. 444. The question does indeed arise as to why the Americans never bombed Hitler’s headquarters in East Prussia, when Kolbe had indicated its precise location during his first visit in August 1943. According to the historian Klemens von Klemperer, the reason was the limited range of Allied aircraft, given the fact that the Soviets would not permit them to be refueled in the USSR.
decipher crossword puzzles: Kappa message, February 5, 1945.
Undersecretary, and President: Letter from Ferdinand L. Mayer to Whitney H. Shepardson, December 28, 1944, National Archives.
analyze the Kappa messages: OSS document dated February 20, 1945, entitled Special Unit, Kappa Material Organization and Handling, National Archives.