Blowback

by Christopher Simpson

  6.

  “German Civilians Compelled to Bury Victims of Nazis,” New York Times, April 23, 1945, p. 5; and “Atrocity Films Released,” New York Times, April 27, 1945, p. 3. Also noteworthy in the shaping of American opinion concerning Nazi atrocities was the liberation of the somewhat smaller concentration camps at Ohrdruf (April 4, 1945) and at Gardelegen (April 14, 1945). U.S. Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and George Patton visited Ohrdruf amid heavy publicity; see Gilbert, Holocaust, p. 790ff.

  7.

  Lasby, op. cit., pp. 37–49, and 85, with $400-$500 million figure on p. 42.

  8.

  Ibid., pp. 83–87. On Soviet acquisition of scientists, see also Office of Strategic Services, “General Situation Report No. 2., 15 July to 1 September 1945” (top secret).

  9.

  Hunt, op. cit.

  10.

  Lasby, op. cit., pp. 77–79.

  11.

  Ibid., pp. 80–81.

  12.

  Ibid., pp. 58–59.

  13.

  Hunt, op. cit, Lasby, op. cit. pp. 151–60 and 176–78. Former OMGUS official quote: confidential informant.

  14.

  Lasby, op. cit., p. 159; Hunt, op. cit., with underlying documentation in “Report on Conference with State,” to Director JIOA from Commander C. R. Welte, May 26, 1947; Wev to Chamberlin, July 2, 1947; and Intelligence Division GSUSA from JIOA Deputy Director Walter Rozamus, November 28, 1947.

  15.

  Reporter Linda Hunt was the first to unearth records concerning the Pentagon’s efforts to suppress military records of the Nazi pasts of certain of the German scientists it was then recruiting; see: Hunt, op. cit. On this point see also “Application of Denazification Procedures to German Scientists,” from Lucius Clay to Noce, September 20, 1947, in which General Clay provides 1,000 blank Meldebogens (denazification interview forms) to Noce and argues: “It would be much better to permit them [German scientists] to remain in the U.S. as Nazis without bringing them to trial than to establish special procedures not now within the purview of German law,” in Lucius Clay, Papers of General Lucius D. Clay, ed. Jean Edward Smith (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1947), vol. III, pp. 432–33, hereinafter Clay Papers.

  16.

  Hunt, op. cit. Quote is from cable from JIOA Deputy Director Rozamus to Intelligence Division GSUSA.

  17.

  Hunt, op. cit., also Lasby, op. cit., pp. 113, 159, 209, and 245. On Arthur Rudolph: U.S. Department of Justice press statement, October 17, 1984; Ralph Blumenthal, “German-born NASA Expert Quits U.S. to Avoid a War Crimes Suit” and “NASA Refuses to Comment on Its Former Official,” New York Times, October 18, 1984, pp. 1 and A-13; James M. Markham, “Ex-Nazi Denies Role in Deaths of Slave Laborers,” New York Times, October 21, 1984, p. 8; Thomas O’Toole and Mary Thorton, “A Long Trail to Departure of Ex-Nazi Rocket Expert,” Washington Post, November 4, 1984, p. 1. See also Rudolph’s extensive U.S. Army INSCOM dossier, available through the Freedom of Information Act.

  On Rickhey, see U.S. Army v. Kurt Andrae et al., loc. cit.

  On Schreiber, see Nuremberg Assistant Prosecutor Alexander Hardy’s memo, “The Case of Walter Schreiber,” February 17, 1952.

  Chapter Four

  1.

  Reinhard Gehlen, The Service, tr. D. Irving (New York: World Publishing, 1972), pp. 3–10, with quoted statement on p. 6. On Gehlen’s surrender, see U.S. Army records, “Report of Interrogation: Gehlen, Reinhard, 28 August 1945,” G-2 MIS-Y, Gehlen folder (secret), Box 472, RG 165, NA. This interrogation report also discusses Bokor’s role. Bokor’s name is reported there as “Capt. Boka.” For physical description at time of arrest, see “Basic Personnel Record #3WG-1300: Gehlen, Reinhard,” in the same folder. See also: Cook-ridge, op. cit. pp. 111–23; Höhne and Zolling, op. cit., pp. 61–72; Alain Guerin, Le General Gris (Paris: Julliard, 1969); and Charles Whiting, Gehlen: Germany’s Master Spy (New York: Ballantine, 1972).

  For Himmler’s “peace proposals” mentioned in text, see Hohne, op. cit., p. 583ff.

  2.

  Gehlen, op. cit., p. 6ff. Also: Richard Harris Smith, OSS (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), pp. 239–41, hereinafter cited as Smith, OSS.

  On Bokor: interview with retired Colonel John A. S. Bokor, Captain Bokor’s son, June 9, 1984.

  For original documentation on standing U.S. orders regarding relations with German POWs who had formerly been intelligence officers, see “CounterIntelligence Screening of the German Armed Forces,” Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, March 1945 (secret), Folder GBI/CI/ CS/091.711–2 (Germany), “C. I. Control and Disposal of German Forces,” Box 110, Entry 15, RG 331, NA.

  3.

  Smith, OSS, p. 240.

  For biographic details on Generals Sibert and Bedell Smith, see Department of Defense Office of Public Information Press Branch reports on Sibert (April 3, 1952) and Smith (July 31, 1951), available through the Center for Military History, Washington, D.C. Sibert’s obituary appeared in the Washington Post on December 23, 1977, and Smith’s career is discussed in Webster’s American Military Biographies (Springfield, Mass.: G & C Merriam, 1979), p. 400.

  4.

  See Gehlen, “Report of Interrogation.”

  5.

  On starvation camps, see Werth, op. cit., p. 643ff., and Davidson, op. cit., p. 568. On Gehlen’s wartime role in German POW interrogation programs, see David Kahn, Hitler’s Spies: German Military Intelligence in World War II (New York: Macmillan, 1978), pp. 142–51, 428–35 passim.

  6.

  For Gehlen “on principle” quote, see Höhne and Zolling, op. cit., p. 196, or Jürgen Thorwald, “Der Mann im Dunkelin,” Welt am Sontage, December 18, 1956.

  On Sommer, Krichbaum, and Schmidt, see Cookridge, op. cit., pp. 144–45; Hühne and Zolling, op. cit., p. 199.

  7.

  Bokor interview, June 9, 1984.

  8.

  Höhne and Zolling, op. cit., p. 172.

  9.

  On Dr. Franz Alfred Six: For quote on “solving the Jewish Question,” see Trials of War Criminals, vol. IV, p. 525, with a summary of Six’s war crimes on p. 521ff. On wartime role, see Central Intelligence Agency, Study of Intelligence and Counterintelligence Activities on the Eastern Front and Adjacent Areas During World War II (confidential), Addendum G: “Members of the SS Who Participated in Mass Executions and Atrocities,” p. 7, RG 263, NA, hereinafter cited as CIA Eastern Front Study. See also State Department Propaganda Investigation Team, “Investigation Report,” April 30, 1946, interrogation of Franz Six and Horst Mahnke, RG 238, NA; and State Department Special Interrogation Mission, interrogation of Fritz E. A. von Twardowsky, October 3, 1945, Box 745, Entry 179 (G-2 ID MIS-Y records), RG 165, NA. Six’s SS and NSDAP dossier is available through the Berlin Document Center, SS No. 107480, NSDAP No. 245,670.

  On Six’s “eager beaver” relationship with Himmler: Das Eichmann-Protokoll (Berlin: Severin und Siedler, 1982); or Eichmann Interrogated (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1983), pp. 27 and 29. See also Twardowsky interrogation, loc. cit.

  Six’s writings circulated by the Nazis include Europa: Tradition und Zukunft (1944) and Feimaurerei und Judenemanzipation (1938), both published by Hanseatische Verlagsansalt, Hamburg; Les Guerres Intestines en Europe et la Guerre d’Union du Présent, n. d. (1941?); and Dokumente der deutschen Politik (Berlin: Deutsches Auslandswissenschaftliches Institut, 1942).

  On Augsburg’s role noted in the text, see Emil Augsburg records at the Berlin Document Center, SS No. 307925.

  10.

  For an overview of Amt VI, see Kahn, op. cit., pp. 253–71; Hohne and Zolling, op. cit., pp. 368–69; and Walter Schellenberg, The Labyrinth, tr. Louis Hagen (New York: Harper Bros., 1956), pp. 273–76.

  On Poppe: Author’s interviews with Nikolai N. Poppe, October 26 and December 4, 1984, and Nicholas Poppe (Nikolai N. Poppe), Reminiscences, ed. Henry Schwartz (Bellingham, Wash.: Western Washington University Center for East Asian Studies, 1
983), p. 163ff.

  Archival material on the Wannsee Institute includes interrogations of Six, Mahnke, and Twardowsky cited in source note 9, above; and “Interrogation Summary No. 1989: Walter Schellenberg,” Office of U.S. Chief Counsel for War Crimes Evidence Division, April 30, 1947, with text in German and summary in English. See also: Records of the Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police, microfilmed at Alexandria, Va., RG T-175, Roll 455, Frame 2971560ff., for documentation concerning Wannsee’s role in the looting of libraries and bookdealers; Roll 456, Frame 2972093ff., for correspondence, security passes, lists of employees, etc., from the institute; and roll 457, Frame 2973523ff., for Amt VI-G correspondence concerning use of concentration camp inmates for custodial work. This collection is on microfilm in the NA and in a number of leading libraries. Office of U.S. Chief Counsel for War Crimes, Staff Evidence Analysis, Doc. No.: NO-3022, in the Nuremberg records at the NA, documents SS General Berger’s response to one Wannsee study by Akhmeteli.

  For a surviving example of a Wannsee study, see Wannsee Institute, Kaukasus (Berlin: Herausgegeben vom Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, 1942), now in the Library of Congress.

  For Eichmann’s recollection of Wannsee Conference: Life (November 28, 1960), pp. 24 and 101. An English translation of the Wannsee Protocol itself can be found in John Mendelsohn, ed., The Holocaust: The Wannsee Protocol and a 1944 Report on Auschwitz (London and New York: Garland, 1982), which includes a commentary by Robert Wolfe of the Modern Military Branch at the NA. The translation of the protocol (known as Nuremberg Document No. NG-2586) was done by the Office of U.S. Chief Counsel for War Crimes.

  On Role of Six, Ohlendorf, and Schellenberg as “Nazified professors and lawyers,” see Hühne, op. cit., p. 154.

  11.

  Interview with Benjamin Ferencz, July 20, 1984.

  On postwar work with Augsburg and Hirschfield incident, see “Special Interrogation Report No. 65,” File CI-SIR/66, subject: Barbie, Klaus (top secret), p. 4, Tab 29 of Ryan, Barbie Exhibits. East German claims against Six can be found in Albert Norden, Brown Book, War and Nazi Criminals in West Germany (DDR Documentation Center of State Archives Administration, Verlag Zeit im Bild, German Democratic Republic), pp. 79–80.

  12.

  On need for specific approval by Clemency Board, see Charles Thayer, “Inquiries Concerning War Criminals,” p. 6 (n.d.) in Thayer Papers, at Truman Library. On Six’s clemency by McCloy, see New York Times, October 4, 1952.

  On Six’s defense testimony on behalf of Eichmann mentioned in footnote, see New York Times, May 3, 1961, p. 14; May 15, 1961, p. 16.

  On Six’s work for Porsche: Hilberg, op. cit., p. 713. Eichmann’s work for Daimler-Benz: Eichmann Interrogated, loc. cit., p. 283.

  13.

  Dr. Emil Augsburg: For “Jew-baiting,” see Augsburg’s records at the Berlin Document Center, SS No. 307925, NSDAP No. 5,518, 743. On “special tasks,” see Augsburg, “Beforderungsvorichlag: Hauptsturmführer Dr. Emil Augsburg,” July 10, 1941, Document No. 23009–23010. See also interrogation of Six and Mahnke, loc. cit.

  14.

  On Augsburg’s work for SS General Bernau and other employers, see “Subject: Merk, Kurt,” November 16, 1948, HQ CIC Region IV to HQ 7970th CIC Group, EUCOM, p. 2 (secret), Tab 33, Ryan, Barbie Exhibits. On Barbie connection, “Dr. Althaus” alias, etc., see Tabs 9, 18, 29, and 33 of Ryan, Barbie Exhibits. A sanitized version of Augsburg’s CIC dossier is available through the FOIA at U.S. Army INSCOM; see File No. XE004390 16B036, Augsburg, Emil (secret). On wartime activities, including role in killing squads, see source note 13, above. Allan Ryan has told the author that he believes Augsburg also worked for British intelligence during 1947.

  On Wannsee director Dr. Mikhail Akhmeteli, discussed in footnote: Akhmeteli’s NSDAP Card No. 5360858, as well as some captured correspondence with SS General Berger, is available through the Berlin Document Center. On Akhmeteli’s wartime role, see interrogation of Six and Mahnke, loc. cit.; interrogation of Schellenberg, loc. cit. (Schellenberg’s testimony offers the physical description of Akhmeteli.) Secondary sources include: Alwin Ramme, Der Sicherheitsdienst der SS (Berlin: Deutscher Militarverlag, 1969?), pp. 95–97; Peter Kleist, Zwischen Hitler und Stalin (Bonn: Athenaum Verlag, 1950), pp. 134–35; and (in English) Dallin, German Rule, loc. cit., pp. 170n, 323n., and 357. On race theory, see Armstrong, op. cit., p. 574. On early life, see Höhne and Zolling, op. cit., pp. 368–69. On relationship with Gehlen, see Cookridge, op. cit., pp. 242 and 311.

  15.

  On Augsburg’s work for Gehlen: Hohne and Zolling, op. cit., p. 199; Cookridge, op. cit., pp. 194 and 242.

  Chapter Five

  1.

  Arthur Macy Cox interview, June 7, 1984.

  2.

  Cookridge, op. cit., pp. 158 and 161. Dulles quote: Höhne and Zolling, op. cit., p. xv.

  3.

  Rositzke comments: For “virtually empty,” see Harry A. Rositzke, The CIA’s Secret Operations (New York: Reader’s Digest Press, 1977), p. 20. For “primary role” comment: Harry Rositzke interview, January 16, 1985.

  4.

  W. Park Armstrong interview, June 17, 1983. On “retyping reports,” see Cookridge, op. cit., p. 201. Höhne comment: Höhne and Zolling, op. cit., p. 107, or see original Spiegel series in spring and summer 1971.

  5.

  Marchetti interview, June 7, 1984.

  6.

  Cox comments, December 15, 1983.

  7.

  The author is indebted to Matthew A. Evangelista’s study, “Stalin’s Postwar Army Reappraised,” International Security (Winter 1982–1983), p. 110ff., from which a number of pertinent points in this section have been drawn. On railroads, see Evangelista, op. cit, pp. 120–23; on Soviet dependence on horse-drawn transport discussed in footnote, see ibid., p. 121; E. O’Ballance, The Red Army (London: Faber & Faber, 1964), p. 192; and Dr. Allen F. Chew, “Fighting the Russians in Winter, Three Case Studies,” U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Leavenworth Papers, December 1981, pp. 35–41. On 1946 estimates, see JWPC 432/7, “Tentative Over-all Strategic Concept and Estimate of Initial Operations—Pincher,” June 18, 1946 (top secret), cited in Evangelista’s study.

  8.

  On MIS/OSS rivalry see, for example, Anthony Cave Brown, The Last Hero: Wild Bill Donovan (New York: Vintage, 1982), pp. 305–07.

  9.

  For “opportunist” quote, see “Memorandum For: Chief of Staff, United States Army, Subject: Grombach, John V.,” from James L. Collins, Acting Deputy AC of S for Intelligence, July 5, 1967 (confidential), in Grombach Dossier, No. 81177870, U.S. Army INSCOM, Fort Meade, Md.

  For an overview of Grombach’s career, including his accomplishments in sports, see Grombach’s obituary in the West Point alumni magazine Assembly (June 1983), p. 132. NB: Grombach, who was born of French parents, was christened Jean Valentin Grombach. In his adult life, however, he generally preferred to use the form “John Valentine Grombach,” which is what is used in this text.

  10.

  INSCOM Dossier No. 81177870 is the best single source of documentation on Grombach’s professional career. See particularly “Summary of Information (SR 380–320-10)” reports for the following dates and subjects: “G-2 SPS Grombach, John Valentine,” June 1, 1955 (top secret); “N. V. Philips Co.,” June 1, 1955 (top secret); “Grombach, John V.,” September 23, 1958 (confidential); and memo from Brigadier General Richard Collins, director of plans, programs, and security to ASCoSI, Subject: Grombach, John Valentine, September 30, 1958 (secret). On Philips’s role, see Grombach letter to Colonel George F. Smith, April 12, 1950, and Collins report of September 5, 1958 (secret). For quote on “pro-Marxist personnel,” the purges of OSS R&A, and the Grombach-OSS R&A conflict generally, see “G-2 SPS Grombach, John Valentine,” June 1, 1955 (top secret), and the April 12, 1950, Grombach letter to Colonel George F. Smith. On Katyn Forest massacre dispute, see Brigadier General Richard Collins memo of September 30, 1958.

  On Duran cas
e, see David Oshinsky, A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy (New York: Free Press-Macmillan, 1983), p. 126, and David Caute, The Great Fear: The Anti-Communist Purge Under Truman and Eisenhower (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978), pp. 331–38. Grombach later claimed it had been he who first discovered the “Communist connections” of Carl Marzani, Alger Hiss, John Stewart Service, and several other well-known targets of 1940s security investigations.

  For Grombach’s comments discussed in footnote, see John V. Grombach, The Great Liquidator (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980), p. xvii. The aim of this book, Grombach writes, was to “convince the U.S. public that subversion and clandestine espionage activities cannot be controlled by normal, legal, and proper methods. The current limitations placed on both the CIA and FBI,” he continues, “would more properly fit a Boy Scout organization” (p. xviii).

  11.

  On Project 1641, ibid., pp. xvii-xviii, 109, and 114; Lyman Kirkpatrick interview, April 11, 1984; and “G-2 SPS Grombach, John Valentine,” June 1, 1955 (top secret), and the April 12, 1950, Grombach letter to Colonel George F. Smith.

  12.

  On resignation of McCormack and its significance, see William R. Corson, The Armies of Ignorance (New York: Dial/James Wade, 1977), p. 272; and Smith, OSS, pp. 364–66.

  13.

  Interview with retired officer of the Office of National Estimates (ONE), June 30, 1986.

  14.

  Lukacs comments: John Lukacs, “The Soviet State at 65,” Foreign Affairs (Fall 1986), pp. 27–29. Hohne on “alarm signal”: Höhne and Zolling, op. cit., pp. 100, 106–07.