From the Web site of the Bundesregierung we learn that Joschka Fischer will be presiding at an event to honor the memory of Fritze Kolbe today in Berlin. Kolbe holds a special place in the history of German-American relations, since he was the first offical in the Nazi foreign ministry to spy for the American OSS (the precursor to the CIA). Kolbe showed up in the Bern offices of Allen Dulles, the father of American espionage, in August of 1943, and offered valuable information. Amazingly, the Americans did not have one significant informant inside Germany, so Kolbe’s appearance was something of a miracle. While Dulles was initially skeptical about this apparently mild-mannered bureaucrat, Kolbe proved his bravery time and again by smuggling microfilmed documents into Switzerland for the Americans. The Web site History of Espionage pays homage to Kolbe:
“The Allies asked Kolbe to determine whether or not their bombing of German cities had slowed war production. He quickly sent information pinpointing plant production figures, which had diminished considerably since the daily Allied bombings of the Third Reich had begun. Kolbe was also able to send information that proved that public morale in Germany was devastatingly low because of the bombings.
Kolbe’s flow of information was invaluable and also included top-secret information regarding Germany’s ally, Japan. He sent to Dulles a complete battle order of the entire Japanese fleet that the U.S. Navy was able to use in confirming that it had, indeed, broken the Japanese military code and led to several successful American naval engagements.”
After the war, Kolbe was viewed as a ‘traitor’ in Germany, and was not able to continue working in the foreign ministry. His friend Dulles also could do little to help him. This from Spiegel-Online:
Unter seinen früheren Kollegen im Auswärtigen Amt, von denen die meisten in der NSDAP waren, teils aus Überzeugung, teils nur nominell, galt er als “Verräter”. Kolbe war dem Beitritt zur Partei allerdings stets trickreich aus dem Weg gegangen. Die Bundesrepublik der Adenauer-Ära wollte von ihm nichts wissen. Oder, wie es Buchautor Delattre ausdrückt: “Demokrat mit prowestlicher Einstellung war Fritz Kolbe ohne jeden Zweifel. Sein einziger Fehler war, dass er es lange vor den anderen gewesen war.”
The French historian Lucas Delattre published a book about Kolbe, which has now been translated into German” Fritz Kolbe: Der wichtigste Spion des Zweiten Weltkriegs. This will be added to my reading list.
