The Golden Thread
Page 25
I have also drawn from Hammarskjöld’s own writings, as collected by the Hammarskjöld Foundation, Ivan Smith’s papers, the essay written by W.H. Auden to introduce the translation of Hammarskjöld’s diaries into English (published as Markings), and the recollections of those who had known him.
Chapter 4
Leopoldville in 1960 was described to me by several people present in different parts of the city, including Bengt Rösiö and Jean Sackur. I drew also from Scott’s Tumbled House, which documents the daily chaos; and Naipaul’s Congo Diary, which describes the aftermath of this crisis; as well as contemporary news and governmental and UN reports.
The bulk of the chapter refers to Devlin’s memoir, Chief of Station, Congo, declassified US intelligence materials, Senate testimony, news reports, and corroborating interviews, as well as other accounts Devlin gave through the course of his later life in retirement.
Hammarskjöld’s responses are drawn from his speeches.
Chapter 5
The references to the SIS report, and the attached notes to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, are drawn from the copy of the report available in the UK National Archives. Some of Macmillan’s own responses are detailed in his memoir, Pointing the Way.
Paddy Hayes’s Queen of Spies was the central text in describing and interpreting Park, guiding me to a plethora of materials in the shape of speeches and talks she had given, as well as obituaries and memorial materials for her funeral, including recollections from those who had known her most closely (which were kindly provided by Sir Gerald Warner, the former deputy chief of SIS). I also drew on a longer interview Park had provided the BBC correspondent Gordon Corera for his book The Art of Betrayal. The quotes attributed to her are from talks and discussions later in her life, most notably an appearance in connection with the Royal Society of Literature.
The British strategy on the Congo was outlined in declassified materials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other branches of the government, and the attitude of SIS chiefs was detailed in Williams’s Who Killed Hammarskjöld, and in a strange pseudo-memoir by George Kennedy Young, another former deputy chief of SIS, obtained and published by Lobster Magazine.
Chapter 6
The events surrounding Lumumba’s arrest, imprisonment, and murder are drawn from declassified US and UK government materials, usually in the shape of correspondence within the governments, from Hayes’s Queen of Spies, Devlin’s Chief of Station: Congo, and from Ludo de Witte’s peerless account, The Assassination of Lumumba.
The CIA’s activity in the Congo and elsewhere was examined by the 1975 United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, more commonly known as the Church Committee for its chairman, Idaho senator Frank Church. I have drawn heavily on testimony there by Devlin (under a pseudonym) and others.
The UN’s perspective was provided in Brian Urquhart’s biography of Hammarskjöld, in interviews participants in the conflict later gave to historians, and in contemporary memos that have since been made public. Some of the more gruesome details come from Othen’s Katanga 1960–63.
All of the above was confirmed and contextualized by interviews with those present, some of whom declined to be named as sources, and from contemporary press accounts.
Chapter 7
The scene reconstruction is drawn from contemporary sources: descriptions of the Memling Hotel and its atmosphere from those present in Leopoldville and from pictures. The substance of the exchange comes from declassified CIA materials describing the incident and the backgrounds of the two men in detail.
Chapter 8
The material on Hammarskjöld, and his monkey, is drawn from the biographies by Lipsey, Urquhart, and Kelen, as well as materials from the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation.
The material on Katanga is drawn from the recollections of those present, from archival documents, Othen’s Katanga 1960–63, Jerry Puren’s Mercenary Commander, O’Brien’s My Life and Times and To Katanga and Back, and Hunt’s Hotline to Katanga.
The material on France and on the Organisation Armée Secrète of Algeria is drawn from Devlin’s memoir and from press accounts, and characterizations of the way French soldiers were seen in Katanga comes from declassified UN materials and from O’Brien’s memoirs.
Trinquier’s theories are drawn from an English translation of Modern Warfare. Faulques’s day-to-day actions were described by Puren and Pottinger.
The UN’s decisions in this period were described in archival materials, most notably the communications and ordnances mentioned, and contemporary press coverage.
Chapter 9
O’Brien’s misgivings about Hammarskjöld come from the endnotes to his play, Murderous Angels.
The reconstruction of Operation Mortor comes from archival materials, mostly the UN and George Ivan Smith’s papers at the Bodleian Library, and from the copious press coverage, in both print and newsreel, covering the conflict. The dispatches of David Halberstam of the New York Times were particularly vivid and useful. The description of Faulques was drawn from Puren’s memoir.
Details about the operations’s fallout come from declassified UK, US, and UN materials; also, vital context was provided by the Zimbabwean government.
Chapter 10
The UN and Rhodesian reports into the crash of the Albertina described the bullet lodged in the engine, some of the circumstances surrounding it, and its subsequent flight to Leopoldville. I drew from those available details and information on mercenary activities that night, along with contemporaneous images and video, to build this interpretation of events.
The detail on Noork’s birthday comes from the recollections of Kjell Peterzén, as published on a website dedicated to the company he worked for, Transair. (It was made known to me by Williams, who references it in Who Killed Hammarskjöld.)
Chapter 11
The description of the events at Leopoldville airport is drawn from a video taken that day. It has been expanded with the views of the participants from their own memoirs (in Hammarskjöld’s case his diaries, Markings), with extra details from later investigations, including the UN’s.
The details aboard the plane come from the recollections of Linnér, who briefly boarded the Albertina and described Hammarskjöld there. The descriptions of his feelings are drawn from the accounts by Urquhart, Lipsey, and William.
Chapter 12
The eyewitnesses gave detailed accounts of their memories of the night of September 17, 1961, to both Rhodesian and UN investigators. This chapter is comprised mostly of material from transcripts of those interviews.
The descriptions of what Daka must have seen come from videos and images taken of the crash site the next day.
Chapter 13
The precise events of the period after the crash, essentially the early hours of September 18, 1961, were drawn from the Rhodesian and UN reports, Who Killed Hammarskjöld, archival UN cables, declassified UK and US government communications, and material uncovered by Rösiö.
The O’Brien incident was detailed in his memoirs. The description of the crash site is drawn from Who Killed Hammarskjöld, from images and filmed footage taken there, and from later investigations. Julien’s words and behavior in the hospital were recalled in witness statements by a Rhodesian police officer and by the doctors and nurses who had treated him there.
Chapter 14
The details of the Rhodesian investigation are drawn from the report it eventually generated and the reams of ancillary materials—appendices, images, and witness statements—that went along with it.
Where I have described a map or image, I have drawn on a copy of it. The recollections of Egge and Knut Hammarskjöld are drawn from later UN reports, from material uncovered by Rösiö, and from Who Killed Hammarskjöld.
Details of Julien’s last moments are from sources provided in the previous chapter.
Chapter 15
Ivan Smith’s daughter, Edda Ivan Smith, was kind
enough to provide details of her father’s life in an interview. It supplemented and illuminated his extensive archive at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, which covers virtually his entire life. His thoughts on Hammarskjöld are mostly drawn from correspondence with friends.
External views of Ivan Smith appeared in writings by O’Brien and in contemporary press clippings. The details of the global response to Hammarskjöld come mostly from news reports, which Ivan Smith also collected and archived.
Chapter 16
Ivan Smith detailed his kidnapping, and his thoughts on it, in correspondence. This account also draws from a UN Oral History Project interview given by Sir Brian Urquhart in 1984, and Thomas Dodd’s version of events, which appeared in Time magazine in December 1961.
Chapter 17
Ivan Smith detailed his investigation of copious documents in his archive. Portions were first uncovered in an essay by Manuel Fröhlich, “The Unknown Assignation: Dag Hammarskjöld in the Papers of George Ivan Smith,” published by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation in 2008.
The background details on the progress of the formal inquiries are drawn from Williams’s Who Killed Hammarskjöld. The details of the Clayden inquiry are drawn from its report and associated appendices, as well as from Bo Virving’s own account of events, kindly provided via documents, images, and interviews by his son, Björn Virving.
Chapter 18
The chapter is comprised largely of material from the Rhodesian report itself, “Report of the Commission on the Accident Involving Aircraft SE-BDY.”
Chapter 19
Virving’s report was provided to me by his son, Björn, and was supplemented by Björn’s recollections of his father’s experiences.
Chapter 20
The swirl of rumors and new details that emerged in the wake of the Rhodesian investigation was detailed in the UN report of 1962, which forms the spine of this chapter, and in Blandori’s unpublished appendix to it. Supplemental material was supplied from correspondence, papers and clippings in Ivan Smith’s archive, the later UN investigations overseen by Mohamed Chande Othman, and Arthur Gavshon’s Mysterious Death of Dag Hammarskjöld.
Chapter 21
Material for this chapter is drawn primarily from correspondence between Welensky and Ivan Smith, available in their archives, supplemented with basic public biographical information from a variety of sources, as well as insight and direction from Williams’s Who Killed Hammarskjöld.
Chapter 22
Much of the chapter is drawn from the published version of Murderous Angels and its comprehensive endnotes, supplemented by contemporary press accounts and reviews of the play.
The list of nicknames, and some of the notions of how O’Brien was seen, come from an essay Christopher Hitchens wrote about him for the now-defunct magazine Grand Street in 1987.
I drew also on sections of Trinquier’s Modern Warfare, as well as an article O’Brien had written for the Guardian covering his misgivings about the crash, which described the incident with Welensky.
The crash group detail was mentioned by Williams, and details of it are drawn here from contemporary UN communications.
Chapter 23
The chapter is drawn from materials in Ivan Smith’s archive, including transcripts of his television appearances, supplemented with interviews, most notably with his daughter, Edda Ivan Smith.
Chapter 24
Ivan Smith’s experiences with De Kemoularia, and his efforts to piece the mystery together, are detailed in tapes of their meetings and in a long transcription of those tapes available in his archive.
Chapter 25
The history of the Katangan secession and the siege of Jadotville is drawn primarily from Gerard-Libois’s Katanga Secession, O’Donoghue’s Irish Army in the Congo, and contemporary press clippings describing the events here. The information on the prevalence of hijackings is drawn from Brendan Koerner’s The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking.
The continued story laid out by Grant is from sources described for Chapter 24.
Chapter 26
Material is drawn largely from sources provided for Chapter 24.
Chapter 27
The chapter is built around Ivan Smith’s 71-page memo to De Kemoularia, supplemented with correspondence and other papers from that moment in Ivan Smith’s life.
Chapter 28
The account of Munongo’s last day was kindly supplied in an extensive interview with his son, Patrick Munongo. It is supplemented by O’Brien’s writing on Katanga and UN documents that detailed Kanyinda’s accusation, as well as contemporary press accounts.
Chapter 29
The chapter is drawn from extensive interviews with Bengt Rösiö, who also supplied the other materials on his investigation cited here, notably his book on the crash and a translation of his report, which appeared in the Journal of African Studies. He also wrote witty letters to me, addenda to his body of work, which expanded on his theories.
Chapter 30
The chapter is derived from sources provided for chapter 29.
Chapter 31
The existence of the INR report was first unearthed by Susan Williams. This chapter is drawn from interviews with those with experience of the agency (who did not want to be named as sources), press clippings about the agencies, and copies of Southall’s exchange with Miller and Enstrom kindly supplied by Williams, along with the FOIA document mentioned.
Chapter 32
The material on Rösiö is derived from sources listed for chapter 29. The information on Southall, and the details of his account, come from Williams’s Who Killed Hammarskjöld, a short University of Beirut biography of Southall, and testimony he gave later to investigators that appeared in reports from the UN and others.
Chapter 33
Correspondence and interviews with Rösiö described his experiences. Edda Ivan Smith supplied the details of her father’s last days, which are supplemented by press clippings, including letters he wrote to the Guardian newspaper.
Chapter 34
The details of Tutu’s press conference come from archival video of the event. The details of the Celeste letters come from copies of the eight mentioned. The context comes from contemporary press clippings, many of which were first unearthed by Susan Williams.
Chapter 35
Susan Williams kindly offered an interview, and she described her experiences with this story, which I supplemented with the published account available in her book. The context in South Africa is drawn from contemporary press clippings.
Chapter 36
Post-Leopoldville biographical information about Daphne Park comes from Queen of Spies and from her obituaries. Susan Williams outlined the moment she found the Ritchie report, and I drew on a copy of the report itself.
Chapter 37
Material for the chapter is drawn from Who Killed Hammarskjöld and from a copy of the Hammarskjöld Commission’s report, supplemented by Susan Williams herself.
Chapter 38
Material for the chapter is derived from the sources listed for Chapter 37.
Chapter 39
The chapter is drawn from interviews and exchanges with Mohamed Chande Othman himself and Simon Thomas of the UN, as well as Othman’s initial report.
Chapter 40
The chapter is drawn from, essentially, all of the sources in the previous chapters and built around the new work done by Othman, supplemented by a large quantity of new material supplied by the Zimbabwean government.
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