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

Fritz Kolbe was born in 1900 and was a passionate German, but hated Hitler and the Nazis. Though a minor member of the Foreign Ministry in the Third Reich he refused to join the Nazi party. His refusal had economic and other repercussions for him, but he would not change his mind even if it meant imprisonment or death. As the war went on he began resisting in small ways and recruiting others to do the same. Eventually he decided to to pass Confidential/Secret documents from the Third Reich to the Allies. There was an impediment to that plan - there were no longer any embassies for the Allied countries in Germany and he was not allowed to travel to the nearest Allied embassy in Switzerland. The story of how he managed to make that show more contact and how he again and again risked his life to give the Allies valuable information is fascinating. show less

Fritz Kolbe was an interesting man, a German official in the Reich's foreign ministry, who did his best to help the Allies via the American OSS in Bern. Much of the information he passed on was of great use. The British were less enthusiastic than the Americans (Allen Dulles was his contact) because, unknown to the Americans (and either unknown or ignored by the writer), acting on some of the information might have given away the secret that they had broken Germany's Enigma code, or so says Nigel West in a review I found on the internet. Whatever. Kolbe's story is very interesting and it's about time someone finally wrote about it (the book was published in 2003).

Reich foreign service minion Fritz Kolbe apparently proved to be America's chief WWII humint asset and practically built Dulles' career. Kolbe, although apparently at times audacious and reckless did so for worthy ideological reasons and at great risk. Initially distrusted and afterwards basically seen as a traitor in Germany (suggesting bombing targets undoubtedly led to German deaths, possibly even innocent ones), post-WWII Koble was even in the cold from true American gratitude. While maybe not deserving Colonel Hans Landa's demands for a house on Nantucket Island, a Colonel's military pension, public recognition as an agent working with the American Office of Strategic Services and to be awarded the Medal of Honor, it would seem show more tidy government pension and a home in the 'burbs could have been arranged. This edition contains an afterword from a pre-CIA and CIA employee that managed Kolbe's case and completes the story to his anonymous death.

I could help but think of the special immigration visa (SIV) for the United States, established in 2008 to offer Iraqi interpreters easier entrance to the U.S., that still seems too little for our in-country allies: See more at Middle East Eye. show less

The Extraordinary

Un témoignage intéressant, d'un "espion" anonyme et besogneux, dont la candeur est la grandeur.