A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich: The Extraordinary Story of Fritz Kolbe, America's Most Important Spy in World War II

by Lucas Delattre

Book Overview

Drawing on government documents only declassified in 1998 by President Clinton and his personal archives, this is Fritz Kolbe's story.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871138794
• ISBN13: 9780871138798
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Better Than Any James Bond Novel

Lucas Delattre's documentary of Fritz Kolbe is one of the most riveting tales of espionage I have ever read. Kolbe, a German citizen who hated the Nazi regime, was employed by the German foreign ministry and offered himself up as a spy to an American OSS officer in Switzerland. The Americans were skeptical at first, believing that Kolbe might be a double agent. During the last two years of World War II, as Germany was crumbling under constant bombardment by the Allies, Kolbe made several trips from Berlin to Switzerland where he handed over top secret documents to the Americans. Had he been caught (and he almost was, once), he would have certainly been executed. I have read most of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, and this story is better. Not sexy, just better because it really happened. I highly recommend this book. Mitch Paioff, Author, Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant

The spy who was left out in the cold

This must be one of the most remarkable stories to come out of World War II, and Fritz Kolbe must be one of that war's most unique personalities. During the last two years of the war, and at the risk of his life, Fritz Kolbe brought to the Allies over 2600 secret documents from Hitler's Foreign Office in Berlin. As a result, at war's end he was regarded as "the prize intelligence source of the war." For all this, he asked nothing. Kolbe was a minor official in the Foreign Office who had managed to maintain his position despite never having joined the Nazi Party. He came to detest the Nazi regime and, despite the inherent risks, resolved to do everything in his power to help bring it down. In early 1943, despite not being a party member, he managed to wangle a trip to Bern, Switzerland as a diplomatic courier. Once there, he attempted to contact the British secret service but they turned him away. Kolbe then managed to contact the Bern office of the fledgling American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) - the forerunner of today CIA - which was headed by Allen Dulles. Kolbe brought with him about two hundred Nazi top secret documents. Dulles was somewhat uncertain, but decided to take a chance on Kolbe and gave him the cover name George Wood. From that time on, Kolbe provided Dulles with highly classified information regarding the third Reich, its plans, its weaponry, its manufacturing plants and their locations, damage to factories and other installations by allied aircraft, Germany's negotiations with other countries, and strategic information concerning the Japanese war machine. In addition, Kolbe's information helped identify German spies and/or their locations in Ireland, Ankara, and Africa. But sadly, much of this information was never acted upon by the Allies. For some inexplicable reason the OSS office in Washington assigned his file to the counter-espionage service which spent most of its time trying to verify the authenticity of the source. Even more sadly, shortly before his death President Roosevelt mandated that no special consideration should be given to Germans who risked their lives to aid the Allied cause. Germany's surrender must be unconditional. Thus the ultimate irony: It has been said that no good deed shall go unpunished. So, if Fritz Kolbe's heroic efforts to help bring down Adolph Hitler's Nazi Germany can be considered a good deed by mankind, then Kolbe certainly received his just reward. For at war's end, and with the newly established German Foreign Office largely staffed with ex-Nazi officials, Fritz Kolbe found himself blacklisted as a traitor and left out in the cold. He had many friends in America's Office of Strategic Services (OSS), but despite the best efforts of his friend, Allen Dulles, who's reputation as a spy master Kolbe had almost single handedly created, Kolbe was never able to resume his career. Instead, he went from one low paying job to another until his death on February 16,

Unforgettable Tale About An Unsung Hero of World War II

Until I had picked up Lucas Delattre's "A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich: The Extraordinary Life of Fritz Kolbe, America's Most Important Spy in World War II", I had never heard before of this book's fascinating subject. Without question, he became an important source of information to the United States on the state of affairs in Nazi Germany towards the latter half of World War II. But still more fascinating is that he came "out of the cold", unannounced, and introduced himself to skeptical American and British intelligence operatives in Switzerland as a German foreign service employee willing to work alone against a diabolical, despotic regime. Delattre - and his English translator George A. Holoch, Jr. - have told a riveting tale in the best tradition of a Graham Greene or John Le Carre novel, but here, the truth is surely much stranger than fiction. I was especially intrigued with how well Kolbe had won over the Americans, especially Allen Dulles, the OSS station chief in Switzerland, and that he managed to provide - without any detection by his superiors in the foreign ministry or by the Gestapo - invaluable information on Nazi-occupied Europe and Japanese-occupied Asia. And I find it remarkable that Kolbe escaped detection by the Gestapo when quite a few of his friends and colleagues did not, and were executed eventually for their resistance against the Nazi dictatorship. It's a pity that this story had a bittersweet ending for Kolbe, who could not serve in the Federal Republic of Germany's foreign ministry due to the influence of former Nazis who objected to having a "traitor" working in their midst; much to Germany's credit, he has been remembered posthumously with a memorial room in the current Foreign Ministry office. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested not only in World War II, but in events in Germany immediately after the war.

True but Incredible Story

It seems like the release of previously secret information from World War II will never end. This book is based on information from the OSS archives that was finally released in 2000. It tells a story that was simply unknown before. Fritz Kolbe was a walk in. One day he walked in to the OSS office in Switzerland and offered to spy on Germany. Both the British and the Americans were very concerned that he was a double agent. Eventually though Allen Dulles, then head of the OSS in Switzerland took a chance with him. Kolbe was a medium level officer in the German foreign office. He was not a Nazi and became disenchanted with the Nazi regime. All in all he passed some 2,600 secret documents to the OSS. After the war Kolbe wanted to continut working for the German Foreign Office. But the Nazi officials who had by then re-entered the German government considered him a traitor and refused to employ him. The CD is read by Michael Prichard, who has recorded some 430 full length books.

Tale of a Hero

This is a truly unforgettable biography of a German civil servant and diplomat who risked his life to spy for the allies during WWII.He was a member of the German diplomatic service, who had the courage (almost alone among his colleagues), to refuse to join the Nazi party. As the war went on, he was steadily promoted, ending up in a position in which he had access to top-secret documents. Driven by his conscience, he decided that he must help the allies, and this he did at the risk of his life, by smuggling documents to Switzerland. For his first trip across the German - Swiss frontier, he wrapped secret documents around his thighs, under his trousers! Discovery by customs agents would have led to his arrest and eventual execution. When he first arrived in Zurich, he attempted to contact British and American spy organizations, but was treated by them with great suspicion, and considered a 'double agent'. Eventually he was able to gain the trust of Allen Dulles who acted as head US espionage in Switzerland during this period. Fritz Kolbe worked with Dulles for several years, during which he was able to transmit over 2,600 secret documents to the Dulles organization. From the outset, he astonished his American colleagues by refusing any and all payment for his dangerous work. As the war end approached, he even attempted to form a guerilla group in Berlin, but was dissuaded from this by his US handlers, who persuaded him that his work as a spy was too important for him to take on extra risks. When the war was over, he was unable to find employment in the German diplomatic service, because he was considered a traitor by the many ex-Nazis who had managed to re-enter German government service. He died of cancer in 1971.