The Undercover Nazi Hunter

Exposing Subterfuge and Unmasking Evil in Post-War Germany

Wolfe Frank

• Verlag: Frontline Books
• Jahr: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781526738745
• Thema: Historia
• Thema: Segunda Guerra Mundial

Wolfe Frank was Chief Interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials where he was dubbed ‘The Voice of Doom.’ A playboy turned resistance worker he had fled Germany for England in 1937 having been branded an ‘enemy of the state – to be shot on sight.’ Initially interned as an ‘enemy alien, ’ he was later released and allowed to join the British Army – where he rose to the rank of Captain. Unable to speak English when he arrived by the time of the trials he was considered to be the finest interpreter in the world. In the months following his service at Nuremberg, Frank became increasingly alarmed at the misinformation coming out of Germany so in 1949, backed by the New York Herald Tribune, he risked his life again by returning to the country of his birth to make an ‘undercover’ survey of the main facets of postwar German life and viewpoints. During his enterprise he worked as a German alongside Germans in factories, on the docks, in a refugee camp and elsewhere. Equipped with false papers he sought objective answers to many questions including: refugees, anti-Semitism, morality, de-Nazification, religion, and nationalism. The NYHT said at the time: ‘A fresh appraisal of the German question could only be obtained by a German and Mr Frank had all the exceptional qualifications necessary. We believe the result of his “undercover" work told in human, factual terms, is an important contribution to one of the great key problems of the postwar world … and incidentally it contains some unexpected revelations and dramatic surprises.’ The greatest of those surprises was Frank single-handedly tracking down and arresting the SS General ranked ‘fourth’ on the allies ‘most wanted’ list – and personally taking and transcribing the Nazi’s confession. The Undercover Nazi Hunter not only reproduces Frank’s series of articles (as he wrote them) and a translation of the confession, which, until now, has never been seen in the public domain, it also reveals the fascinating behind-the-scenes story of a great American newspaper agonizing over how best to deal with this unique opportunity and these important exposés.

PREPARATION

‘The Germans are the most dangerous people in Europe.
I do not think two defeats have changed them much.’

Field Marshal Lord Wavell, British wartime commander in
The Middle and Far East (later Viceroy of India) – November 1949.

THE IDEA OF UNCOVERING THE TRUTH ABOUT POST-WAR GERMANY

OVER THE FIFTEEN-MONTH PERIOD following my retirement as Chief Interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials (where in view of my having announced the death sentences to the Nazi war criminals the world media had dubbed me ‘The Voice of Doom’) I developed a growing allergy to the kind of reporting that I had been reading on Germany in the English and international press.

By early 1949 it had become blatantly obvious to me that we were increasingly reading only what the Germans wanted us to read. Allied journalists in Germany appeared to be relying more and more upon what the Germans were telling them and less and less on what they themselves were discovering, uncovering and observing. One reason for this was that those reporters did not speak German – or not enough of it.

How could so many journalists, for instance, record that most Germans had not known about Nazi war crimes, concentration camps or atrocities? And why were the Allies permitting so many Germans to flee from the Russians in the East to the Western occupied zones? In other words, why was the public not being provided with the true scenario of the rapidly developing new, post-war Germany that now – only four years after the end of WWII – was becoming a major feature of the face of Western Europe.

An idea began to develop in my mind: could I not go to Germany and gather material, covering a multitude of subjects and write a more accurate account of what was happening? If I did, who would sponsor such an enterprise? Who would print it? And how could I become an investigator without appearing to be one?

A friend of mine knew Russell Hill of the New York Herald Tribune (NYHT) in Paris. We met and the three of us came up with a rough blueprint for such an enterprise.

I would approach Geoffrey Parsons Jr., the editor of the NYHT European Edition with the following project: I would assume the identity of a German and would go to Germany, equipped with the necessary (obviously false) documents, and I would go out in search of facts related to a range of subjects that the newspaper wanted covered.

This was, in fact, about all I put before Geoffrey Parsons Jr. when I met him at the NYHT offices in Rue de Berri, Paris. I liked Geoffrey at once. He was a quiet, thoughtful, exceptionally well-read man and he was totally aware of the situation about which I was concerned.

We began to put meat on the skeleton of my idea. False papers would be no problem – enough craftsmen were available at the NYHT who had practised the art of forging such papers during the occupation. Something would have to be leaked to the US Military in Germany since I wanted to be covered if the Germans caught me and put me in jail. Parsons knew General Huebner1 well and an off-the-record arrangement was made whereby I had a contact in the US Army through which I could get myself fished out of any German prison. It was never needed – in fact I discovered an unbelievable lack of curiosity and interest in the identity of others among Germans.

The NYHT editorial team would make a list of subjects they wanted covered, but I would have a free hand to add to or omit from it. Once I had gone into Germany, I would cease to be Mr Hugh Wolfe Frank and would become Herr Hans Haag, who actually existed in Munich and who kindly contributed his driving licence to the enterprise for a consideration. The honourable forgers at the Tribune built all of my documentation around this driving licence, simply using my picture instead of Haag’s, and I learned to imitate his signature, which was included on the licence.

Two questions had yet to be answered before we would sign on the dotted line: top management in New York would have to go along with the idea, and my wife Maxine2 would have to put up with my being away for several months!

Notes:

1.Lieutenant General Clarence Ralph Huebner (1888 – 1972) was the last Military Governor (acting) of the American Zone in Germany. He held the post from May until September 1949.

2.Wolfe’s second wife Maxine was an American actress who continued to use her maiden name – Cooper. She was born in Chicago in 1924 and studied theatre arts at the Pasadena Playhouse. Maxine travelled to Europe in 1946 to entertain US military troops, during which time she met and married Wolfe Frank. She stayed in Europe for five years working in the theatre and television and during this period, as her private letters attest, she and Wolfe were devoted to each other. The couple moved to the US in the early 1950s but divorced in 1952. Maxine continued to perform in the theatre and for US television and made her film debut in 1955 starring alongside Ralph Meeker in the film noir Kiss Me, Deadly. She later appeared in another movie classic of the period – Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? In 1957 she married Sy Gomberg, a screenwriter and producer, and retired from the acting profession in the early 1960s to raise a family.The couple remained married until Sy Gomberg’s death in 2001. Maxine became well known as a photographer and as a Hollywood activist standing up for minority groups in the theatre and human rights and against nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War. Maxine Cooper Gomberg died, aged 84, in 2009. (Amongst its most notable alumni the Pasadena Playhouse lists such names as Raymond Burr, Victor Mature, Eleanor Parker, Tyrone Power Robert Young, Charles Bronson, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman … and Maxine Cooper Gomberg).

THE PROPOSAL

Editor: To assist in presenting the idea to the American executives of the NYHT, whose approval would be required to proceed with such a major project, an enthusiastic Geoffrey Parsons Jr asked Wolfe Frank to provide a written proposal based on what they had discussed. Wolfe chose to do that by way of submitting the following communication addressed to Parsons and enclosing letters of support (also reproduced on the following pages) from:

The Rt Hon Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, KC, MP, British Deputy Chief Attorney at the Nuremberg Trials

Tim Holland Bennett, Head of Casting at BBC Television

Brigadier General Telford Taylor, USA Chief of Counsel for War Crimes

From: Wolfe Frank

To: Geoffrey Parsons Jr.,Editor, NYHT European Edition

14 April 1949

Dear Mr Parsons

You may recall that we met in your office about a month ago when I made a proposition to you that I need not reiterate here since the material I am attaching to this letter covers it completely.

I had to delay my writing to you since certain business matters made it quite impossible for me to decide upon a period when I could possibly be absent from London for any length of time. These matters have now been cleared up and I will be in a position to leave London any time after 15 May.

Since talking to you in Paris I have, of course, given the matter considerable thought. The most serious problem would appear to be that once I am in Germany and have become a member of the German population I will have to account for my prolonged absence from that country. It would be no good posing as a returned prisoner of war. This would simply multiply the number of people who might find me out by the number of other ex-prisoners of war who were imprisoned under similar circumstances. In other words it would require a complete knowledge of units, locations, names of officers and so on and so forth, which it would take months to acquire.

To cut a long story short I propose to appear as a young man who, early in 1939, was sent to Switzerland with Tuberculosis. He went to Davos1, a place known to all Germans, was still there requiring treatment when war broke out and who, being somewhat opposed to the Nazi Regime, had decided not to follow the call to arms of his Fatherland, but to stay on in Switzerland. When his lungs got better he took a job in a sports shop, and during the summer he worked as a keeper of the local tennis courts. In 1949 he got himself into trouble through doing a bit of black marketeering and the Swiss chucked him out of the country.

Having friends in Davos I shall be able to substantiate this tale with some testimonials and it has the advantage that I know conditions there so well that I could not be caught out by any questions. There will also, of course, be the necessary doctor’s certificate showing that I was sent there in 1939.

I have also been able to arrange for a perfectly genuine set of German papers belonging to a friend of mine who is at present in England and who will let me have the use of his German documents – which he will report lost if necessary.

Furthermore, as there is a great deal of unemployment in Germany at this stage, I have seen to it that I will not lose too much time in obtaining work once I get there.

During our conversation you asked me for some proof of my integrity and for some evidence that I could write.

I have therefore discussed the scheme with Sir David Maxwell Fyfe2 and asked him to give me a reference. He suggested that this would hardly be a case of a ‘To whom it may Concern’ letter, and he suggested that I should write him a letter to which he would reply. Copies of my letter to Sir David and his answer are enclosed.

I a...