A spy at the heart of the Third Reich : the extraordinary story of Fritz Kolbe, America's most important spy in World War II / Lucas Delattre ; translated from the French by George A. Holoch, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Delattre, Lucas.

Standardized Title:

Fritz Kolbe. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Kolbe, Fritz, 1900-1971.

Kolbe, Fritz.

World War, 1939-1945--Secret service--United States.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Germany.

Spies--Germany--Biography.

Spies.

Germany.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

308 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Atlantic Monthly Press, [2005]

Summary:

In 1943 Fritz Kolbe, an official from the German foreign ministry, arranged to meet with Allen Dulles, then the head of the OSS in Switzerland and later the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Kolbe was the assistant to a highly placed official, Ambassador Karl Ritter, and privately detested Nazism. He had long agonized about staying in his post, until finally, faced with the reality of the Nazi program, he reluctantly concluded that the most valuable service he could provide to Germany, if not the Party, was to assist the Allies. While Dulles was skeptical, he was soon convinced that Kolbe was a vital source of intelligence-the location of munitions factories and Hitler's headquarters; diplomatic reports on Germany's relations with other Axis nations like Romania and nominally neutral countries like Spain; Germany's intelligence and who in the Allied effort was working for the enemy. Though a staunch patriot and one of the few Germans to take such risks, after the war he was viewed by many Germans as a traitor and his contributions were largely forgotten.

Kolbe was in many ways an ordinary man. The lengths to which his conviction led him were what made him extraordinary. Drawing on government documents only declassified in 1998 by President Clinton and Kolbe's personal archives, this is the first time his story has been told. A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich is an electrifying account that captures the final years of World War II, the mood of the residents of Berlin in 1944, and the inner workings of the Allied intelligence effort. A work of remarkable scholarship that moves with the swift pace of a Le Carre thriller, A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich is a riveting addition to the literature of espionage.

Contents:

1 Senor Fritz Kolbe 7

2 Return to Berlin 22

3 What Is to Be Done? 38

4 In the Wolf's Lair 48

5 Decisive Encounters 67

6 Allen Dulles 76

7 A Visa for Bern 85

8 "George Wood" 107

9 The "Kappa Files" 131

10 One Misunderstanding After Another 151

11 Final Revelations 180

12 Disgrace 209

A Remembrance of Fritz Kolbe / Peter Sichel 235.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [297]-308).

ISBN:

0871138794

OCLC:

56214715