In this novel, based on his Ph.D Dissertation at Columbia University, the author reveals his talent for storytelling and provides a striking account of Hitler's persecution of Polish Jews all the way to Central America, and how they fought against his plans for their destruction. The novel also reveals these immigrant's internal struggles for their personal liberation with regard to women's and gay rights, both in Germany, Poland, and Central America. It deals, for the first time, on issues of the 1930's and 40's, which no one had unearthed before, specially those relating to Nazi war efforts to take control over the Panama Canal. A must read for both its academic and riveting narrative.
When Heinz Lüning posed as a Jewish refugee to spy for Hitler's Abwehr espionage agency, he thought he had discovered the perfect solution to his most pressing problem: how to avoid being drafted into Hitler's army. Lüning was unsympathetic to Fascist ideology, but the Nazis' tight control over exit visas gave him no chance to escape Germany. He could enter Hitler's army either as a soldier... or a spy. In 1941, he entered the Abwehr academy for spy training and was given the code name "Lumann." Soon after, Lüning began the service in Cuba that led to his ultimate fate of being the only German spy executed in Latin America during World War II. Lüning was not the only spy operating in Cuba at the time. Various Allied spies labored in Havana; the FBI controlled eighteen Special Intelligence Service operatives, and the British counterintelligence section subchief Graham Greene supervised Secret Intelligence Service agents; and Ernest Hemingway's private agents supplied inflated and inaccurate information about submarines and spies to the U.S. ambassador, Spruille Braden. Lüning stumbled into this milieu of heightened suspicion and intrigue. Poorly trained and awkward at his work, he gathered little information worth reporting, was unable to build a working radio and improperly mixed the formulas for his secret inks. Lüning eventually was discovered by British postal censors and unwittingly provided the inspiration for Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana. In chronicling Lüning's unlikely trajectory from a troubled life in Germany to a Caribbean firing squad, Thomas D. Schoonover makes brilliant use of untapped documentary sources to reveal the workings of the famed Abwehr and the technical and social aspects of Lüning's spycraft. Using archival sources from three continents, Schoonover offers a narrative rich in atmospheric details to reveal the political upheavals of the time, not only tracking Lüning's activities but also explaining the broader trends in the region and in local counterespionage. Schoonover argues that ambitious Cuban and U.S. officials turned Lüning's capture into a grand victory. For at least five months after Lüning's arrest, U.S. and Cuban leaders -- J. Edgar Hoover, Fulgencio Batista, Nelson Rockefeller, General Manuel Benítez, Ambassador Spruille Braden, and others -- treated Lüning as a dangerous, key figure for a Nazi espionage network in the Gulf-Caribbean. They reworked his image from low-level bumbler to master spy, using his capture for their own political gain. In the sixty years since Lüning's execution, very little has been written about Nazi espionage in Latin America, partly due to the reticence of the U.S. government. Revealing these new historical sources for the first time, Schoonover tells a gripping story of Lüning's life and capture, suggesting that Lüning was everyone's man in Havana but his own.
Published first in Brazil as Suástica sobre o Brasil, this examination of the rise and fall of German espionage in that country spent months on the best-seller list there and generated a national furor as former spies and collaborationists denounced it as a CIA ploy. Here, for the first time, are the colorful stories of such German agents as "Alfredo," probably the most important enemy operative in the Americas; "King," who was decorated for his daring exploits but who carelessly mentioned the real names of his collaborators in secret radio messages; the bumbling Janos Salamon; and the debonair Hans Christian von Kotze, who ultimately betrayed the Abwehr (German Military Intelligence). Eminently readable, Hitler's Secret War in South America resembles, but is not, fiction. It describes in detail the Allies' real battle against the Abwehr, a struggle highlighted by the interception and deciphering of German radio transmissions.
A treasure trove filled with fascinating anecdotes about the tiny ripples that have caused big waves in history, Hitler’s Secret Jewish Psychic will cure you of two misconceptions: the first being that history is relentlessly boring and the second that significant historical events are caused by significant and great causes. Here you’ll unearth a multitude of facts you never knew were true. You’ll learn some unbelievable things about some of the most prominent figures in history (Picasso was stillborn until his uncle revived him by blowing cigar smoke in his face!). You’ll discover facts about some of the most famous wars in history (Japan actually manufactured balloons carrying deadly diseases, which they attempted to send over the Pacific Ocean to the United States). Other strange facts include: The career Fidel Castro almost chose over his leadership of Cuba Where Eli Whitney got the idea for his invention of the cotton gin What almost happened during the Wrights brothers’ first successful flight Why certain literary works almost never saw the light of publication What day should have really been designated Independence Day The truth behind Winston Churchill’s daring escape from a Boer War prisoner-of-war camp Franklin Roosevelt’s campaign cover-up The behind-the-scene beliefs of Isaac Newton And many more! It is true that many things you hear should be taken with a pinch of salt; nothing proves this so much as Hitler’s Secret Jewish Psychic, where you will discover the outrageous secrets history has tried (and failed) to keep. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Julius Fein examines the French response to the large number of German refugees between 1933 and 1938. Fein demonstrates how the Quai d’Orsay sought a compromise between the Republican canon, which said France must help the persecuted, and the factors that limited its willingness to accept refugees, including economic depression, mass unemployment, anti-Semitism, and anti-German sentiment.
"Nigel West has presented the most complete account of the Abwehr to date. It will serve as a valuable reference work." â Studies in Intelligence As the Second World War progressed and defeat for Hitlerâs Third Reich in all theatres became ever more certain, the tight Abwehr network, built so effectively by its head, Admiral Canaris, began to unravel. High-level defections to the Allies and bitter disputes with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) added to a collapse in morale. Most notably was the increasing opposition within the officer ranks of the Army to Hitler fermented by Canaris and his deputy Generalmajor Hans Oster. The final years of the Abwehr were marked by the Abwehrâs efforts to undermine the regime, which came to a bloody conclusion following the Valkyrie assassination attempt of 20 July 1944. This saw the arrest of many Abwehr officials and the execution of Canaris and Oster. In this penetrating study of the final years of the Abwehr, Nigel West, a world-renowned specialist in the field, pieces together the gradual decline in the organizationâs role and importance with Hitler and his acolytes paying little heed to reports that were increasingly cautionary. Among the many previously undisclosed stories are details gleaned from recently opened files which tell of a hitherto unknown spy-swap. This was the exchange of Berthold Shulze-Holthus, a German spy detained in Iran, for Ferdinand Rodriguez, a British radio operator captured in France. This was the only such exchange that took place during the whole of the Second World War â though the fact that the swap took place at all suggests that a previously unsuspected degree of communication existed between the Allies and Nazi Germany. Perhaps most tantalizingly of all, is the new night light thrown upon the role the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, had, in league with the Abwehr, in the Valkyrie bombing which almost killed Hitler.
This book examines the significance of alliances in the international system, focusing on the dynamics between great and regional powers, and on the alliances Nazi Germany made during World War II, and their implications for Germany. It examines a variety of case studies and looks at how each of the respective states contributed to or weakened Nazi Germany’s warfighting capabilities. The cases cover the principal Axis members Italy and Japan, secondary Axis allies Hungary and Romania, as well as neutral states that had economic and military significance for Germany, namely Bulgaria, Iran, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and Vichy France. Additional case studies include topics such as the German attempts to cultivate Arab nationalism, focusing on German involvement in the coup in Iraq against the pro-British government, and the wartime state of Croatia, whose creation was made possible by Germany, with the rivalry between Germany and Italy for control being a major focus. The book also includes a case study exploring the unique position of Finland among German allies as a democracy and how the country was essentially fighting a very different war from Nazi Germany. This will be of interest to students and academics with an interest in power dynamics in World War II, economic, political, strategic, and alliance theory, and scholarly debate on Nazism and Europe.
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)
Hitler’s path to war consisted of two different stages that paralleled the internal development of Germany. From 1933 to the end of 1936, he created a diplomatic revolution in Europe. From a barely accepted equal, Germany became the dominant power on the continent. With the remilitarization of the Rhineland, the stalemate in the Spanish Civil War, the forming of the Axis, and the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact, the first phase was completed. In the second phase, the diplomatic initiative in the world belonged to Germany and its partners. Germany’s march toward war therefore became the central issue in world diplomacy.
