Krueger's Men
Page 30
46 68064 138475 Nieft Gerhard 1917 7/7 Berlin DR retailer
47 72515 138425 Goldglas Jakob 1911 1/22 Warsaw Poland lawyer / carpenter
48 73099 138435 Hoffgaard Sven 1895 9/8 Copenhagen / Hellerup Denmark bank officer
49 73351 138463 Lewy [Leonard] Norbert Wilhelm 1913 3/30 Berlin DR photographer
50 75191 138489 Rozencwajg Jakob 1898 12/22 Praszka / Bendsburg Poland office worker
51 75192 138417 Fajerman Symcha 1915 1/20 Bendsburg Poland industrial technician
52 75192 [sic] 138432 Hirschweh [Edel] Peter Hans 1921 7/12 Berlin DR painter
53 75193 138430 Hahn Victor 1899 8/21 Prague Czech bank officer
54 75194 138434 Holländer Feiwel 1908 8/19 Dombrowa / Sosnowitz Poland machine-builder
55 75195 138444 Klein Arthur 1907 4/25 Königsberg / Lubisska Czech electrician
56 75196 138525 Werdigier Szyia 1908 3/4 Sosnowitz Poland [unknown]
57 75197 138427 Gottlieb Moric [Karel] 1917 5/24 Kaschau / Prague Czech carpenter
58 75198 138418 Fajman Icek 1919 3/2 Warthenau / Bendsburg Poland tailor
59 75199 138520 Walter Heinzel Hans 1921 12/14 Berlin DR laborer
60 75200 138438 Jakobsen Abraham 1895 2/8 Amsterdam / Overseen Netherlands print shop manager
61 75204 138454 Landau Paul 1922 8/5 Warsaw France carpenter
62 75205 138412 Drechsler Georg 1913 4/8 Varazdin Croatia bookkeeper
63 75206 138399 Ajdels Bernard 1911 12/26 Radom Poland office worker
64 75206 [sic] 138408 Burday Josef 1904 12/21 Talnose France tailor
65 75207 138512 Stein Max 1899 8/22 Wien / Prague stateless weaver
66 75208 138471 Markus Mordke 1909 5/11 Slawkow Poland carver
67 75210 138452 Kühnauer Rudolf Leopold 1906 4/4 Berlin DR lithographer
68 75211 138449 Krakowski Abram 1918 9/9 Katowicz / Sosnowitz Poland bookkeeper
69 75212 138437 Iwanowicz Rubin (Rywen) 1901 11/25 Lubraniec / Brzesc Kujawski Poland bookkeeper
70 75213 138406 Bosboom Andries 1913 6/26 Amsterdam Netherlands lithographer
71 75214 138495 Salomon Berek 1903 2/5 Bendsburg Poland bookkeeper
72 75216 138416 Fajerman Heinrich 1905 3/29 Bendsburg Poland locksmith
73 75217 138428 Groen Louis Mayer [Max] 1918 1/25 Amsterdam Netherlands newsreel cameraman
74 75220 138431 Heitler Chil 1911 5/6 Pinerow / Krakow Poland bookbinder / printer
75 75221 138401 Blass Hans 1907 12/1 Wien / Fleurance DR [Austria] factory worker
76 75222 138534 Zylberberg Chaim 1900 9/26 Janou / Bendsburg Poland laborer
77 75223 138483 Van Praag Moses 1910 5/3 Amsterdam Netherlands [unknown]
78 75224 138445 Knock Samuel / Overveen 1901 1/16 Amsterdam / Grandelaan Netherlands photographer
79 75225 138465 Lewkowicz Szlama 1909 12/30 Wartheim / Zawiercie Poland bookkeeper / lithographer
80 75226 138457 Lehrhaft Leon 1903 8/6 Krakow / Sosnowitz Poland bookbinder
81 75227 138433 Holländer Chaim 1908 4/20 Dombrowa / Sosnowitz Poland painter / worker
82 75228 138487 Rojzen Baruch [Boris] 1907 6/3 Ryzyszcze / Lemberg Poland physician
83 75229 138470 Marianka David 1897 10/20 Sosnowitz Poland woodworker
84 75231 138518 Tuchmajer Mordka 1914 5/14 Ilkenau / Sosnowitz Poland printer
85 75232 138458 Lehrhaft Leonard 1924 10/23 Auschwitz / Sosnowitz Poland bookbinder
86 75233 138455 Laskier Jakob 1900 8/7 Bendsburg Poland office worker
87 75233 [sic] 138486 Reis Josef 1915 11/27 Krakow / Bochnia Poland painter / accountant
88 75234 138528 Wulfowicz Max 1899 9/20 Kielce stateless locksmith
89 75235 138472 Milikowski (Filip) Herman 1909 3/3 Den Haag / Amsterdam stateless teacher
90 75236 138484 Rajzner Rafail 1904 1/15 Choroszcz / Bialystok Poland calligrapher
91 75238 138515 Stolowicz Harry 1916 10/10 Warsaw / Belgium Poland truck driver
92 75239 138529 Zauberman Fajwel (Felix) 1917 6/29 Radomsko / Bendsburg Poland [unknown]
93 75240 138400 Aron Samuel 1902 6/28 Ulanow / Brussels stateless technician
94 75241 138459 Leibsohn Chaim Karl 1919 8/6 Warsaw / Algiers stateless [unknown]
95 75242 138464 Lewkowicz Simon 1917 3/19 Auschwitz Poland [unknown]
96 75243 138411 Domankiewicz Wolf 1906 1/20 Litzmannstadt Poland carpenter
97 75244 138451 Krzepicki Mosjek 1919 10/25 Krzepice / Litzmannstadt Poland [unknown]
98 75245 138507 Sussmann Karl 1908 6/21 Wien DR [Austria] fashion artist
99 75246 138504 Spenadl Herbert Jarolim 1920 11/4 Wien DR [Austria] barber
100 75247 138478 Obler Walter 1906 2/2 Berlin / Vienna III DR master machinist
101 75248 138511 Stammer Samuel 1907 7/5 Dornfeld / Miedzyrzec Poland watchmaker
102 75249 138442 Jura Wolf 1905 1/15 Bendsburg Poland bookbinder
103 75250 138488 Rozenberger Mendel 1905 5/17 Bendsburg Poland bookbinder
104 76677 138531 Zeichmer Chaim 1896 1/8 Kolomen / Vienna stateless carpenter
105 79100 138496 Salzer Hermann 1912 11/16 Kiraly XB / Prague Czech engineer
106 79158 148508 Schipper Ascher 1915 1/9 Jaroslau / Warsaw Poland printer
107 79159 136421 Gafne Lajb 1906 1/15 Bendsburg Poland printing machinist
108 79161 138409 Burger Adolf / Adolph 1917 12/8 Bratislava / Velka Lomnica Slovakia printer
109 79163 138404 Bier Eduard 1910 10/6 Bialowar / Zagreb Croatia chemical engineer
110 79165 138468 Lubetzki David 1905 3/15 Wasiliski / Bendsburg Poland printer
111 79166 138521 Weill Roger 1920 5/23 Bischheim / Drancy France photograveur
112 93594 138498 Smolianoff Salomon 1887 3/26 Poltava / Berlin stateless painter / professional counterfeiter
113 102347 138477 Nyul Ernö 1908 5/25 Bercttyc Hungary canvas printer
114 102431 138492 Rubinstein Ladislaus 1909 2/23 Reprod /Grosswardein Hungary printer
115 102433 138490 Rubinstein Alexander 1914 9/3 Grosswardein Hungary bookbinder
116 102434 138494 Rusznak Henrik 1891 7/7 Reprod / Lewa Hungary typographer
117 102438 138497 Selmann (Rezsö) Rudolf 1894 1/18 Temeszvar / Budapest Hungary [unknown]
118 102439 138419 Frenkel David 1893 10/20 Marmaros-Sziget/ Pesztujhely Hungary phototypist
119 102440 138523 Weisz Henrik 1885 1/7 Budapest Hungary printer
120 102441 138420 Fried Lejb 1902 12/24 Chelm / Litzmannstadt Poland engraver
121 102442 138506 Sugar Izso 1886 9/5 Budapest Hungary printer
122 102443 138500 Sonnenfeld Andreas 1896 11/18 Grosswardein Hungary lithographer
123 102444 138499 Somos Stefan 1911 1/11 Budapest Hungary photographer
124 102445 138403 Bialer David Israel 1908 1/1 Litzmannstadt Poland engraver
125 102446 138502 Sonnenfeld Stephan 1924 12/23 Grosswardein Hungary lithographer
126 118029 138429 Haas Leopold 1901 4/15 Opava / Ostrava Czech painter /graphic artist
127 ????? 138474 Nejman Max 1922 2/25 Brussels Poland draftsman
128 [102445] 138501 Sonnenfeld Gustav 1895 12/21 Grosswardein / Nagyvarad Hungary lithographer
129 10243? 138491 Rubinstein Zoltan 1913 3/28 Grosswardein Hungary printer
130 10243? 138522 Weisz Bela 1891 11/29 Budapest Hungary printer
131 7521? 138467 Löwi Mendel 1908 9/16 Zegocina / Bochnia Poland [unknown]
132 138407 Braschewitzki Leon 1923 6/15 Paris France optician
133 138440 Jenöi Lancz 1900 6/17 [unknown] Hungary printer
134 138441 Jilovsky Georg 1884 3/15 Prague Czech painter
135 138460 Lenthal Hans 1914 12/18 Wien / Paris DR [Austria] art restorer
136 138493 Rudoler Jochim 1912 2/28 Bendsburg Poland printer
137 138527 Wajskop Max 1909 1/18 Tomasjow Poland printer
A NOTE ON SOURCES
LAWRENCE MALKIN AND MARGARET SHANNON
The Nazi counterfeiting scheme has been public knowledge since new
spaper accounts began appearing during the last months of World War II. Its enormity soon became evident as experts followed Allied troops to assess the danger to U.S. currency as well as the damage to British finance. Since then, the story has become as barnacled in myth as the sunken German warship Bismarck. Too many details descend from overheated, secondhand, and often self-promoting accounts circulated by officials who tracked the counterfeits, treasure hunters, imaginative journalists, East German propagandists, and even former Nazis peddling their own versions. Many have made their way onto the Internet as fact. One British writer claimed in 1961 that “most of the story’s protagonists are dead,” although they were not. He declared he had therefore “imaginatively reconstructed” some unrecorded events. Unfortunately, he neglected to distinguish between events that were fact and those that were imagination. This book represents our best efforts to scrape away the barnacles of such myths by telling a tale whose essential fascination is enhanced by being true.
The success of Operation Bernhard depended on secrecy, and that alone kept German records sparse. The SS also wanted all traces buried (or murdered). Our sources are primarily diplomatic cable traffic and contemporaneous documents of the investigations conducted by Allied intelligence officers, currency specialists, and officers of Scotland Yard’s counterfeit division. Their reports were based heavily on interviews with the prisoners that were conducted within weeks or months of their escape. The prisoners’ own drama unfolds mainly through memoirs, most of which were unknown or simply ignored by earlier writers. None was more valuable than Falskmynter i blokk 19, by Moritz Nachtstern and Ragnar Arntzen, published in Oslo in 1949. This virtually forgotten book was discovered on the Internet by Margaret Shannon with the help of the remnants of the Norwegian language she picked up during her childhood years in Oslo. We thank Anne Synnevaag of Norwegian Public Radio for obtaining permission from Nachtstern’s son Jan to quote from an English translation. She also led us to his daughter Sidsel, who explained how he wrote the book, which was republished in Norwegian in 2006.
Another important source was the fragments of Bernhard Krueger’s reminiscences, principally via interviews with Murray Teigh Bloom, whose own meticulous investigation was the first by an American writer. His fascination with our discoveries was undiminished by his age (approaching ninety), and his support and assistance for this project never wavered even when it disproved his own account of Salomon Smolianoff’s role as Krueger’s principal forger of sterling.
The author, Lawrence Malkin, has known the outlines of this story since he began reporting on finance from London in the 1960s. Margaret Shannon, senior research historian of Washington Historical Research, was the associate producer and principal researcher of an effort begun in the late 1990s to locate and return Nazi assets believed to have been looted and dumped in the Toplitzsee. It was financed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Columbia Broadcasting System, and we are grateful to Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the center, for permission to draw on Shannon’s research. In 2002 Malkin was referred to her by Wayne deCesar, the U.S. National Archives specialist in the records of the U.S. Secret Service, which is the principal anticounterfeiting agency of the United States.
Thereupon followed three years of collaborative research, with Shannon principally uncovering official correspondence and reports, cables, intercepts, letters, diaries, film footage, captured documents, transcripts of interrogations, and photographs in various archives. Many of these documents have been available for thirty years to researchers willing to look for them. Others have been declassified only recently. Under the U.S. thirty-year rule, most OSS documents were not systematically reviewed for declassification until 1976, well after the first accounts of Operation Bernhard had been written. Only in the first years of this century did the CIA declassify its files on Wilhelm Hoettl, Friedrich Schwend, and Georg Spitz. The timing was fortunate for this book and is the direct result of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1998, which requires all U.S. federal agencies to identify and declassify records related to Nazi war crimes. More than 8 million pages of documents were declassified, some directly related to Operation Bernhard.
Missing from the U.S. Secret Service archives, however, is File CO 12,600, which contained the voluminous Secret Service master files on Operation Bernhard. Bloom was allowed to view the files privately at the U.S. Treasury and referred to them in his writing as “The Amstein Report” after André Amstein, the chief of Switzerland’s anticounterfeit police and his country’s representative to Interpol. According to the U.S. Secret Service archivist Michael Sampson, File CO 12,600 was “destroyed in a routine purge.” Herr Amstein, a lawyer in private practice in Bern, wrote in 2002 refusing an interview on the grounds that he was an old man, remembered little, and had no documents from the period. This made it necessary to reconstruct the contents through archival research.
Among captured German records at the National Archives in Washington is one invaluable document: the 1942 and 1943 telephone directories of the RSHA, which helpfully list the division, building, and room number for its employees. By extrapolating from the names of those who worked in Amt VI F, we were able to confirm the identities of those who worked in the counterfeiting operation, its chain of command, and even who worked in what office. (Have you ever wondered why the Pentagon telephone book is classified?)
We have already singled out several people who contributed heavily to our research, but they are far from the only ones who have made this book possible. Our most essential guide was the historian and archivist Robert Wolfe, who for more than thirty years was chief of captured German records at the U.S. National Archives. Although officially retired in 1995, Wolfe remains actively engaged with documents covering German and Japanese war crimes. As a National Archives volunteer with Top Secret clearance, he has repeatedly given us wise and generous counsel about documents, and candid assessments of the credibility of many of the personalities, living and dead, who figure in this book.
At the Bank of England, the newly appointed archivist Sarah Millard and her staff helped breathe fresh air into this history by showing us files whose existence at the Bank had simply been denied by her predecessor. The British National Archives at Kew is a researcher’s dream, computerized and efficient in delivery; we regret that its staff remained as anonymous as it was unfailingly helpful and courteous. Tim Hughes, a professional researcher based in nearby Twickenham, initiated us into the rules and procedures during a two-week research visit in 2003. Meanwhile, Professor Alan Milward, economic historian at the British Cabinet Office, helped point the author toward essential Treasury files.
At the U.S. National Archives, we are deeply grateful for the assistance in our search of intelligence and military records of Timothy K. Nenninger, Lawrence H. McDonald, and the legendary John E. Taylor. Among the archivists and historians overseeing civilian records, we thank Milton Gustafson, diplomatic historian, and Greg Bradsher, director of the Holocaust-Era Assets Records Project. Wayne deCesar cheerfully made repeated searches in the compressed shelving that houses the U.S. Secret Service records. In the microfilm reading room, we benefited enormously from the diligence of a former archivist, Neils Cordes, who unearthed Smolianoff’s Mauthausen record and conclusively established the date of his transfer to Sachsenhausen. Edward Barnes, Elizabeth Lipford, and Louis “Smitty” Smith located records in places they were not supposed to be. John Fox, newly appointed historian of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Michael Sampson, archivist/historian of the U.S. Secret Service, went beyond the call of duty to assist us. At the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, which is part of the National Archives, Robert Clarke took great pains to locate John Steinbeck’s correspondence and to find pages in the voluminous Morgenthau Diaries. Susan Shillinglaw, director of the Steinbeck Center of San Jose State University, helped us find further traces of Steinbeck’s encounters with FDR.
Fiona Fleck, an intrepid journalist based in Geneva and friend of the author’s
family, navigated the shoals of the Swiss bureaucracy with the invaluable help of Ruth Stalder of the Swiss Federal Archives in Bern and Claudia Wassmer, a lawyer for the Swiss police (Bundesamt für Polizei), who released in a most unbureaucratic manner some documents that might otherwise have remained sealed for several more years.
Batya Leshem of the Central Zionist Archives did research we could not do ourselves without a trip to Jerusalem. Hans Coppi of Berlin carefully conducted the author on a tour through the remains of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, now a museum, and Winfried Meyer, then the museum’s director, provided valuable leads.
The author also acknowledges — and can never sufficiently thank — the assistance of a number of friends and colleagues in breaking down inevitable bureaucratic barriers or providing advice and information when needed, often on short notice. Chief among them is Sir Derek Mitchell, formerly director of overseas finance for Her Majesty’s Treasury, who has supported this project from its inception. So has David Kahn, dean of American cryptographic historians, whose invaluable assistance continued right through to a careful reading of the manuscript, which was also checked by Andrea Merrill. Others are Paul A. Volcker, Michael Bradfield, Stuart Eizenstat, Peter Jay, Yuval Elizur, Curtis Roosevelt, Shareen Brysac, Sanford Lieberson, William McCahill, Robert Wernick, the German writer Melissa Mueller, James Nason of the Swiss Bankers Association, Michael Rose of Interpol, Nathalie Moreau of the Colmar Archives, Nadine Coleman of Paris, Anne Makkinje of Amsterdam, Peter Bakstansky of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Michael T. Kaufman and Michael Vachon, respectively the biographer and the spokesman of the financier George Soros. Ingeborg Wolfe, Jaakov Lind, Toby Molenaar, and Tina Vogel assisted with translations.
Finally, no book is ever realized without unseen hands that hold and shape it. Lianne Kolf of Munich, the author’s European agent and summer neighbor, nurtured and stood by him when others had deserted the project; she staunchly continues to do so. The author’s friends, his American agent, Thomas C. Wallace, and his lawyer Louis Atlas, defended this project against all who would stop it. The author’s wife, Edith, closer to the subject of wartime survival than most, nobly endured her husband’s entangling obsessions. Helmut Ettinger, the book’s German translator, served as a meticulous guarantor of accuracy and quality, and the author thanks his German editor, Elmar Klupsch, for generously providing his services and much else. Likewise Peggy Freudenthal, Little, Brown’s chief copyeditor, who saw this book and its complex scholarly impedimenta to press with meticulous skill and great charm. Geoff Shandler, editor in chief at Little, Brown, a colleague on several previous books, and a valued friend, offered imaginative structural advice and meticulous textual skill of a kind that has almost vanished from today’s publishing world but, as long as he practices his craft, will continue to enrich the lives of authors and readers alike.