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Atomic Spy Page 38

by Nancy Thorndike Greenspan


  The government later admitted: NA, CAB 66/13/43.

  He told Kellermann: Kellermann, Physicist’s Labour in War and Peace, 80.

  As the government came: NA, KV 4/390, 6.22.1940.

  In the early morning dew: Seidler, Internment, June 14, 1940, 49–50.

  Workers had grappled: “Spectators’ Searchlight,” Isle of Man Examiner, May 17, 1940, 4.

  A newspaper reported: “Internment of Aliens,” Governor’s statement, Isle of Man Examiner, May 31, 1940, 1, 7.

  A local newspaper: Seidler, Internment, June 20, 1940, 53.

  The refugees referred: Kellermann, Physicist’s Labour in War and Peace, 79.

  With a nod to democracy: Kellermann, Physicist’s Labour in War and Peace, 81.

  With limited resources: NA, CAB 67/6/48, 6.13.1940.

  John Anderson stressed: Koch, Deemed Suspect, 74–75.

  The pragmatists insisted: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, xii; NA, CAB 67/7/20, 7.2.1940.

  No one told the Canadian government: NA, CAB 67/7/20, 7.2.1940.

  “Dear Professor Born”: CHURCH, STABI, KF to Born, n.d. (approximately July 2, 1940).

  At nine o’clock that night: NA, HO/215/267.

  He was also classified: NA, HO/215/265.

  Once in Liverpool: “Launched 1938: MV Ettrick,” Shipping Times, www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship/asp?id=4095; IWM, Hermann Wallach diary, 14.

  The thirteen hundred refugees: IWM, Hermann Wallach diary, 14–16.

  “There is no way out”: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 34.

  Down the middle of each deck: Lynton, Accidental Journey, 33.

  Kellermann claimed a place: BA, NY/4301, KF to Horst Brasch, 9.1.1986.

  The second night: IWM, Ernst Pollak interview, 30.

  Finally, the colonel was persuaded: Coleman, Cornish, and Drake, Arndt’s Story, 35.

  “The whip of hunger”: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 37.

  The Nazis goaded: Kellermann, Physicist’s Labour in War and Peace, 85.

  At night they sang: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 39; IWM, Ernst Pollak interview, 25.

  “A sight worse than anything”: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 38–40.

  The refugee doctors: Seidler, Internment, July 10, 1940, 60; Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 40.

  A detachment of volunteers: Coleman, Cornish, and Drake, Arndt’s Story, 35; Lynton, Accidental Journey, 32, 34.

  Accenting the blur: Lynton, Accidental Journey, 35.

  Klaus insisted that Lingen’s crew: Victor Ross, interview with author, March 2016; BA, NY/4301, KF to Horst Brasch, 9.1.1986; NA, HO/215/210, “Summary Report of the Internment of German and Austrian Refugees in Canada,” 2.

  On the third day out: NA, CAB 66/13/43.

  On the seventh day: Seidler, Internment, July 10, 1940, 60; Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 41.

  “It was the longest 10 days”: IWM, Peter Wayne interview.

  CHAPTER 10: INTERNMENT, CANADA 1940

  One internee estimated: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 43.

  By 4:00 p.m., the men: NA, HO/215/210, diary section, 1.

  It was 7:30 before the refugees: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 44.

  As motorcycle police: Seidler, Internment, July 13, 1940, 61–62.

  The buses reached the heights: Seidler, Internment, July 18, 1940, 65.

  Newly outfitted as a prison compound: NA, HO 215/210, diary section, 6.

  The inspectors found: NA, KV 2/1253.

  At one o’clock that morning: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 50–51.

  In each hut that first night: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 78.

  The next day a couple: Seidler, Internment, July 14, 1940, 62–63.

  Pondering whether the Canadians: Seidler, Internment, July 14, 1940, 63.

  Early in the morning: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 51–52.

  The men did hear: Victor Ross, interview with author, London, March 11, 2016.

  He was taken: Seidler, Internment, July 17, 1940, 64.

  A report attributed the death: LAC, Camp L report no. 25, Red Cross, 8.29.1940.

  The fact is: Koch, Deemed Suspect, 80.

  The leaders of the Ettrick’s: IWM, Walter Wallich interview; Michaelis, Scientific Temper, 23.

  Kahle and Klaus fumed: NA, KV 2/1249, KF, interview with Skardon, 12.21.41.

  The majority of refugees: IWM, K. Hirsch diary and Walter Wallich interview; Koch, Deemed Suspect, 84–87.

  Fearing negative publicity: NA, FO 371/24424/5873, CAB, 66/15/48.

  The few times he was allowed: IWM, Walter Wallich interview.

  The polar opposite: NA, KV 2/1561, 11.28.1939 and 10.18.1930.

  Internees uniformly found Klaus: IWM, Walter Wallich, Alfred Lane, and Alfred Doerfel interviews; Koch, Deemed Suspect, 84.

  Others found his “fanatical” expression: NA, KV 2/1252, 2.15.1950.

  The camp’s intelligence officer: IWM, Walter Wallich interview.

  At the first council meeting: IWM, Walter Wallich interview.

  The Canadian government’s official answer: NA, HO 213/2391, from the Undersecretary of State, U.K., to a Canadian official, n.d.

  Within the camp: Coleman, Cornish, and Drake, Arndt’s Story, 37–38.

  “In contrast to the camp”: FAM, KF, “Lebenslauf für VdN,” 3.12.1960.

  While everyone resented: BA, NY/4301, KF to Horst Brasch, 9.1.1986.

  One young Jewish refugee: Seidler, Internment, July 27, 1940, 67.

  Canadian authorities prominently: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 62.

  The censors in Ottawa: Seidler, Internment, July 17, 1940, 64.

  Some refugees gave in: BA, NY/4301, KF to Horst Brasch, 9.1.1986; Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 62; Seidler, Internment, Aug. 7, 1940, 70.

  “Friendly Aliens, Grave Injustice”: Times (London), Aug. 16, 1940.

  A few outraged members: NA, HO/215/254, July and Aug. 1940; HO/215/150, Oct. 1940.

  “I am not here to deny”: Koch, Deemed Suspect, 175.

  He had already pushed: ROYSOC, Born to Francis Simon, 7.25.1940.

  In a letter to von Neumann: LOC-N, Born to von Neumann, 8.20.1940; HARVARD-B, Born to Percy Bridgman, 8.30.1940.

  His friends did comply: Kellermann, interview with author.

  Then Born pressured: NA, KV 4/372, 10.24.1940, 3; STABI, Ralph Fowler to Born, 9.9.1940, and A. V. Hill to Born, 9.12.1940.

  The bountiful Canadian fields: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 56–57.

  The internees’ only assigned task: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 56–57; K. Hirsch diary, 65–67.

  Initially, guards removed: LAC, report by Colonel H. de N. Watson, 7.22.1940; Seidler, Internment, July 22 and 26, 1940, 66–67.

  “Some of the brainiest people”: IWM, Hermann Wallach diary, Aug. 22, 1940, 34.

  From within the barbed wire: Michaelis, Scientific Temper, 23–24.

  Fuchs, whose pupil Perutz: Seidler, Internment, Sept. 2, 1940, 78; Max Perutz, “Spying Made Easy,” London Review of Books, June 25, 1987, 6–7.

  The sympathetic major Wiggs: Seidler, Internment, July 21, 1940, 65–66.

  Through the layers of barbed wire: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 67; Seidler, Internment, Aug. 11, 1940, 73.

  News of the white paper: Seidler, Internment, Aug. 23, 1940, 75.

  As icy winds and rain: Seidler, Internment, Aug. 31–Sept. 3, 1940, 77.

  Within two weeks, the director: Kellermann, interview with author.

  The hut fathers called: NA, HO/215/166/8, 10.12.1940, 1.

  That same day the guards: Seidler, Internment, Sept. 23, 1940, 82, and Oct. 2, 1940 84.

  On September 27, the internees: Coleman, Cornish, and Drake, Arndt’s Story, 37; IWM, Walter Wallich interview.<
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  “[We] should like to protest”: NA, HO/215/166/8, Appendix 1, 10.12.1940.

  Canadian officials knew: NA, HO/215/166/8, 10.12.1940, 4.

  Major Wiggs wanted: K. Hirsch diary, 95, and NA, HO/215/166/8, 10.12.1940, Nos. 39 and 56, pp. 4, 6.

  Jews who considered: Koch, Deemed Suspect, 123, quoting the diary for Peter Heller on September 17.

  “I was especially responsible”: BA, NY/4301, KF to Horst Brasch, 9.1.1986.

  Major Wiggs sent off: NA, HO/215/166/8, 10.12.1940, no. 60, p. 6.

  On the morning of October 15: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 100; Seidler, Internment, Oct. 15, 1940, 89.

  The men looked out the windows: IWM, Heinz Bing interview.

  When they objected: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 123.

  An internee equated them: IWM, Hermann Wallach diary, 14.

  The word “release” was in the air: NA, CAB 67/8/109, 11.20.1940.

  “The rough and ready measures”: NA, CAB 65/10/13.

  Paterson arrived at Camp N: Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice, 128.

  Unlike during the trip over: IWM, Walter Wallich, Hermann Wallach diary, and Heinz Bing interviews; Kellermann, Physicist’s Labour in War and Peace, 95.

  Air raid sirens screamed: www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/military-history/world-war-two/tra28260.

  After the all clear: BODLEIAN-S, KF to Esther Simpson, 1.13.1941; Kellermann, Physicist’s Labour in War and Peace, 96.

  CHAPTER 11: TUBE ALLOYS, BIRMINGHAM 1941

  Born wanted Kellermann: ROYSOC, Born to Francis Simon, 10.23.1940.

  An obvious employer: BODLEIAN-S, KF to Esther Simpson, 1.23.1941.

  While Klaus was in Canada: NA, AB 1/572, RP to Born, 11.5.1940.

  Ultimately, the uncertainty: NA, AB 1/572, RP to Born, 11.27.1940.

  Born approached Peierls: NA, AB 1/572, correspondence between RP and Born, 3.12–22.1941.

  needed a good physicist: NA, AB 1/574, correspondence between RP and KF, 5.10–22.1941.

  He included a detailed letter: NA, AB 1/572, RP to Born, 5.12.1941.

  Fuchs’s friends from the camps: NA, KV 2/1249, KF, interview with Skardon, 12.21.1949.

  Kuczynski, an outsider: NA, KV 2/1879, 3.11.1941.

  Bringing German art, literature: Brinson and Dove, Politics by Other Means, introduction.

  Klaus could easily see friends: NA, KV 2/1259, police note, 4.15.1941; FAM, Wilhelm Koenen to Fuchs, 1959; Brinson and Dove, Politics by Other Means, 6, 27–29, 34–35. There are various accounts of where Fuchs and Kremer met. One is a party in April at the Kuczynski’s house. Fuchs himself reported a house on the south side of Hyde Park. He probably wouldn’t have named the house of a friend. During his trip in April, he did go to the league. So it is somewhat confusing.

  an agent for the GRU: NA, KV 2/1561, 10.1939; AB 46/232, 9.6.1940; KV 2/1248, Robertson, 11.23.1949.

  Klaus found himself: NA, KV 2/1259, Metropolitan Police memo, 4.15.1941.

  “Vast Power Source”: NUFFIELD, New York Times, May 5, 1940, in D.30.

  the article drew special attention: NUFFIELD, Simon to Frederick Lindemann, May 7, 1940, in D.230.

  The outcome was a blithe memo: NUFFIELD, Lindemann to Churchill, n.d., D.230/3,4.

  Government regulations excluded: NA, KV 2/1658, G. P. Thompson to Air Marshal R. H. M. S. Saundby, 5.3.1940.

  they became full members: Farmelo, Churchill’s Bomb, 180.

  “When Fuchs went to Birmingham”: CHURCH, Born to Gustav Born, 9.2.1945.

  “And so all illusion”: Klaus Fuchs, “Wenn die Neugier nicht wär’!,” Meine Jugendstunden, Teilnehmerheft 77/78, 26.

  the deadliest raids were over: ROYSOC, Born to Franz Simon, 8.2.1942.

  Klaus became their lodger: Peierls, Bird of Passage, 163.

  Peierls was enthusiastic about Fuchs: NA, AB 1/575, RP to Frisch, 5.31.1941.

  Fuchs had recalculated: NA, AB 1/576, RP to Maurice Pryce, 6.8.1941.

  Even though Fuchs: CHURCH, Born to Gustav Born, 6.25.1941; ROYSOC, Born to Simon, 8.8.1941; Peierls, Bird of Passage, 164.

  he was the perfect fit: BODLEIAN-P, Rudolf Peierls, taped interview.

  By August, Klaus was well: FBI, “VI. Fuchs’ Espionage Contacts Outside United States,” 109; NA, KV 2/1256, Nov. 1950.

  They could build an atomic bomb: U.S. Department of Energy, Manhattan Project, MAUD Report, 1941.

  create a partnership on the bomb: Farmelo, Churchill’s Bomb, 196–99, 203–5.

  required filtering uranium gas: NA, AB 1/576, 12.23.1941; AB 1/572, 2.24.1942, 3.29.1942, 3.31.1942.

  They plowed through the research: NA, AB 1/572, 8.15.1944.

  examined German science journals: NA, AB 1/576, RP to Simon, 9.15.1941; Simon to RP, 2.1.1943; AB 1/578, W. A. Akers to Gorell Barnes, 6.22.1942; AB 1/574, RP to H. Halban, 8.22.1942.

  Sonya and Klaus first met: NA, KV 2/1963, Fuchs note, 2.24.1950; Werner, Sonya’s Report, 250–52; VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 86.

  Fuchs didn’t limit himself: Brinson and Dove, Politics by Other Means, introduction.

  the involvement of both in the KPD: IWM, Alfred Doerfel interview.

  Fuchs now had authority: NA, AB 1/574, 6.18.1942.

  Fuchs became a naturalized British citizen: NA, CRIM 1/2052, 6.18.1942; KV 2/1263, 7.31.1942.

  MI5 officers questioned employing him: NA, KV 2/1245, 10.10.1941.

  “We must . . . face the fact”: Farmelo, Churchill’s Bomb, 215, as quoted from Margaret Gowing, Britain and Atomic Energy, 1939–1945 (London: Macmillan, 1964), 437–38.

  The British and Americans reached consensus: NA, AB 1/578, 10.29.1943.

  the agreement didn’t specify mutual trust: IWM, Rudolf Peierls, taped interview.

  CHAPTER 12: MANHATTAN PROJECT, NEW YORK 1943

  The East Coast headquarters: NA, KV 2/1255, Fuchs’s notebook (addresses) from Arnold on 5.31.1950; FBI Vault, “V. Fuchs’ Scientific Knowledge and Disclosures to Russians,” 100. The building occupies a corner. Some references cite the address as 37 Wall Street.

  Meetings between the British team: NBLA, Williams Collection [DOE Archives], box 2, folder 11, War Department, 12.8.1943; FBI: “V. Fuchs’ Scientific Knowledge and Disclosures to Russians,” 88.

  They needed special permission: NBLA, Williams Collection [DOE Archives], box 2, folder 11, War Department, 3.18.1944.

  Permission was granted automatically: FBI, File no. 5, 2.13.1950, 79–80.

  the plant’s thousands of components: IWM, Rudolf Peierls, taped interview.

  her life had changed dramatically: USHMM, correspondence between Christel Fuchs, Hertha Kraus, and members of Quaker and refugee organizations, March–June 1938.

  An intensive refugee crisis: USHMM, “Immigration to the United States, 1933–41,” Holocaust Encyclopedia.

  From Cambridge, she worked tirelessly: USHMM, correspondence between Christel Fuchs, Hertha Kraus, and members of Quaker and refugee organizations, June–Jan. 1939.

  This, their first encounter: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 2.5.1944.

  Klaus explained his assignment: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, B, 2.5.1944, 31.

  Before going their separate ways: Williams, Gold FBI statement, 197.

  Klaus had brought no materials: LANL, Fuchs FBI interviews, LA-UR-14-27960, 3, 7, 10.

  He began his report: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, B, 2.5.1944, 31.

  The KGB knew a lot about Klaus: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 1.29.1944, 119, 121.

  But there were also reservations: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, C-NY 2.15.1944, 148.

  they had fleeting encounters: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, 2.25.1944, 150.

  Raymond had his own drill: LANL, Fuchs FBI interviews, LA-UR-14-27960,
14.

  Klaus asked about the reaction: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, B, 48, NY-C 3.22.1944.

  Why had he, “Goose”: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, C—to May, 7.28.1944, 416.

  fabricated a detailed cover story: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, B, 48.

  The work of the British team: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, B, 49; C/t NY-C, 6.15.1944, A, 171.

  The scientists and engineers at Los Alamos: NA, AB 1/5, RP to KF, 6.14.1944, 74.

  Fuchs’s deployment remained a subject: NA, AB 1/639, James Chadwick to RP, 7.14.1944.

  bringing Fuchs back to England: NA, AB 1/639, James Chadwick to RP, 7.14.1944.

  “He was a student of Born”: LANL, Teller to Mayer, 2.8.1944.

  Fuchs sent Peierls his latest report: NA, AB 1/575, KF to RP, 6.17.1944.

  he complained to Peierls: NA, AB 1/575, Fuchs report, 7.22.1944.

  Fuchs succinctly summarized their work: LANL, Klaus Fuchs, personnel form, 6.27.1945, 5.

  the British mission’s seventeen reports: NA, AB 1/575, KF to RP, 7.17.1944; AB 1/575, 7.22.1944.

  Klaus made two more trips: LANL, Fuchs FBI interviews, LA-UR-14-27960, 16.

  It returned a qualified: NA, KV 2/1245, 1.17.1944.

  Klaus and Raymond were to meet: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, cipher cable NY to C, 8.29.1944, D, 154.

  Fuchs was on his way to Camp Y: NA, KV 2/1249, Patterson, 1.10.1950.

  he learned that Klaus had left: VENONA, Vassiliev yellow notebook no. 1, cipher cable NY to C, 8.29.1944, D, 154.

  CHAPTER 13: TRINITY, LOS ALAMOS 1944

  transported Klaus to a new world: McKibbin, “Under a Pinon Tree,” 13, 15, 17.

  Dorothy McKibbin, the indispensable gatekeeper: McKibbin interview, 1965, Voices of the Manhattan Project, Atomic Heritage Foundation.

  The research site: Densho Encyclopedia, encyclopedia.densho.org. Today it is the Japanese Internment Remembrance Site on La Loma Vista Road in Santa Fe.

  they reached the Pajarito Plateau: Jette, Inside Box 1663, 31–32; Lilli Hornig, interview with author, Aug. 2011; Patricia Shaffer, interview with author, Oct. 2016.

  Fuchs’s next-door neighbor: Gleick, Genius, 190, 187.

  Evenings when they were free: FBI, Feynman interview, 78.

  Fuchs worked in the Theoretical Division: FBI, “V. Fuchs’ Scientific Knowledge and Disclosures to Russians,” 103s; LANL, Theoretical Divisions—Personnel, Building E, 9.1.1944, “Inter-office Memorandum, 11.8.1944, Bethe to Oppenheimer.

 

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