CAMP 020
INTERIM REPORT
ON THE CASE OF HERMANN GISKES
INTERIM REPORT
ON THE CASE OF HERMANN GISKES
24.5.1945
Date of arrival at Camp 020: 24-5-1945.
NAME: GIKES, Oberstltnt.
CHISTIAN NAMES: Hermann.
ALIASSES: Dr. GERHARDT, Dr. GERMAN, GLUCK.
SPY NAME:
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: 28-9-1896 Krefeld.
NATIONALITY: German.
OCCUPATION: Regular Army Officer.
DATE OF ARRIVAL IN CAMP 020: 24-5-1945.
HEIGHT: 5' 11 1/2"
Build: Well Build.
HAIR: Light brown, greying, receding on forehead, bald on top.
FACE: Oval, long nose, wart on right cheek.
EYES: Blue.
PYSICAL: 3 vaccination scars.
PECULARITIES: left upper arm; scar; right wist; scar right knee; mole right buttock.
LAST PERMANENT ADDRESS: Hamburg, Mittelweg 10.
LANGUAGES: German, some French, some English.
FATHER: Wilhelm Giskes (died 1939).
MOTHER: Maria (nee BERMES) (died 1918).
BROTHER: Mario, aged 52.
SISTERS: Antonia, aged 50; Irmgard aged 36.
WIFE: Anna (nee Nolten)
CHILDREN: -
IDENTITY DOCUMENTS: None.
EARLY LIFE.
1896. Born on 28th sept. in Kreveld (Rheinland); son of merchant Wilhelm GISKES and Maria, nee BERMES.
1902. Preparatory school in Krefeld.
1905 - 1910. Gymnasium in Krefeld.
1911 - 1912. Geynasium in Karthaus near Trier (matriculated).
1913 - 1914. Höhere Handels Fachsschule (commercial college) in Krefeld.
1914. 1st October, army volunteer with Field artillery Regt. 81 in Hagenau (Alsace).
1914, December, transferred to the 2 Bavaria Ski Bn.
1915. Campains in the Carpathians, South Tyrol and Sebia.
1916. Western Front (Rheims, Verdun) severely wounded mid-July/ Bavarian Militärverdienstorden 3rd Class with
swords and Iron Cross 2nd class.
1917. March, reserve Lieutnant. Instructor with the Gebirgs-Jäger-Ers. Bn. in Immenstadt (Allgau), unfit for service at
the front until April 1918.
1918. Mother died.
1918. From April till 12th Octover on the Western front with Inf.Reg. 471 (Rheims, Argonnes, Marne, Rheims) as Coy.
Commander of the 10 Coy; in October as 2nd in command. French prisoner -of-war at Vaudetre.s. Suippe on
12th October. Subsequently in an officers POW camp at Chateauroux (Indre).
1919. In officers camp at Chateaurouz (Indre).
1920. Released from POW camp, went to Krefeld. Entered father's business (Tabacco Factory, Wilh. GISKES, Krefeld).
1921 - 1926. Partner in abobe firm.
1925. December, married Anna, nee NOLTEN, from Krefeld, daughter of Ferdinand Nolten, owner of saw-mill in
Krefeld. Wife now living in Schaephuysen, Krs Moers, Rhineland.
1926 - 1938. Own business: importer of leaf tobacco and dealer in tobacco produts, with resisence in Krefeld.
1936. Compulsory training as Res. Offz. with I.R. 39 Wesel. (Oberlt.d.R.)
1938 Compulsory training as Res. Offz. with I.R. 77 Cologne (Hauptm d.r.)
1938. In August met an old skiing friend, a certain Hauptm. FELDMANN, who had become a regular officer in the
German Army in 1935. FELDMANN suggested to GISKES that he should rejoin the Army and explained that he
was in the Abwehr in charge of Referat III-F of AST Hamburg and a new referat III-C (2) was being formed in
which there would be a vacancy for a Captain.
GISKES at the time was not fully aware of the functions of the Abwehr and decided to think the matter over. In
September 1938, however, he had taken his decision and applied for reinstatement in the German Army; his
reasons were, the increasingly difficult economic conditions in the tobacco trade due to import restrictions and
the constant friction between himself and the local Nazi chieftains owing to his refusal to join the party on
religious and political grounds.
1939. Father died.
1939. His application was accepted and he was instructed to report to Leiter Hamburg on 1st January 1939 for six
month's probationary service. He was given the rank of Hauptmann.
REFERAT III-C.
On arrival in January he found that he was to work in REFERAT III-C (1) under a certain Hptm. U?ECKER who was the only other officer in the section. The responsibility of this referat were threefold:
a.
The internal and office security of various Government departments (civil and military) in Whrkreis 10. In each office there was a representative of the Abwehr who sent in to III-C (1) regular routine reports on the care of secret documents and office security generally.
b.
The security of various protected places in Wehrkreis 10, such as certain factories working on armaments, shipyards, etc. Any foreigner who wished to visit places of this nature had to obtain a permit which was only issued after joint enquiry by III-C and the Stapo.
c.
Preparations for the mobilising of extra personnel for AST Hamburg on the outbreak of war.
Nothing of interest happened for the next four months and GISKES spent the time reading regular routine reports from the various Abwehr representatives mentioned above.
At the end of April GISKES was made Leiter of Referat III-C (2) which took over the security of protected places from III-C (1). The referat was responsible only for the investigation of suspected espionage within the protected places and if on enquiry was established that an incident demanded further investigation III-C (2) worked with the relevant branch concerned i.c. Stapo, III-Ru, III-H, etc.
If it was dicovered that a foreign power was involved the investigation was made in conjunction with III-F, which, however, being understaffed delegated a certain amount of the work to III-C (2).
The case of the Sanatatsfeldwebel.
It was reported to GISKES that a certain young German was very friendly with a female french employee at the French Consulate General at hamburg and had accompanied the latter on a trip to the Riviera. The young German had apperently told the french girl that he was employed in a certain chemical factory in Hamburg and expected soon to be made a director. This factory was engaged in Government work and it was considered worth while to make enquiries. It transpired, however, that the man in question was a Sanitatsfeldwebel emloyed in the offices of Wehrkreis 10 and had never worked in the factory. On the outbreak of war the man was sent to the Polish front but at the request of III-H was brought back for enquiries of which GISKES never learned the result.
Emplyee at British Consula's.
In the summer of 1939 an acquaintance reported to GISKES that an remplyee (name unknown) at the british Consulate General at Hamburg was taking an undue interest in the movements of the German Navy and current Merchant ship building. Surveillance was kept and in conjuction with III-M an enquiry was started but before any decision could be reached the war broke out and the man in question left in company with the other members of the staff for Holland. GISKES believes that the man was subsequently employed at the British Consulate in Stochholm or Copenhagen.
The case of the French Consul General.
In the summer of 1939 the French Consul general left Hamburg hurried and an associate of his, a Captain of a German merchant-ship was arrested. On interrogation the leaater admitted that he had been charged by the Consul to obtain information about the boom across the Ems.
Journey to The Hague.
In June 1939 orders were received to hand over counter-espionage work in Holland to AST Münster. Up to this time both Hamburg and Münster had been working in Holland but it was now decided that Hamburg should hand over its agents to Münster. Owing to lack of officers at Hamburg GISKES (the only officer available) was sent in company with Major von ROSENBERG of III-F Münster to hand over a certain agent (name forgotten) to the latter and collect 2.500 Dutch Fls. from the agent which had been advanced by Hamburg. GISKES introduced the man to ROSENBERG but discovered that the man was not in a position to return the money. GISKES learned later that the man had been seen in the company of people known to be working for the British Passport Control Office (P.P.C.O.) at The Hague and that he had been dropped.
The case of JANSSEN.
A Dutchman named JANSSEN acted as a "boite aux lettres" for FELDMANN at Nijmegen and was also employed by the P.P.C.O. at The Hague. This man was taken over by Münster in the summer of 1939. Prior to being taken over, however, JANSSEN had reported to FELDMANN that he had been instructed by the P.P.C.O. to arrange a "boite aux lettres" in Germany for P.P.C.O. contacts from which he was to collect the correspondence. JANSSEN was given by FELDMANN the address of an acquaintance of GISKES:
Anna Maria KORSCHER
Krefeld,
Hammerschmidstrasse 6.
Shortly afterwards the Stapo arrested at Bremen a German believed to be in British service who on interrogation admitted that he had been instructed to use the above address for communication with the P.P.C.O.
GISKES emhasises that KORSCHER was not aware of what was happening and was never connected with the G.I.S. as far as he knows.
Passport Control office at The Hague.
GISKES declares that III-F Hamburg was very well informed about the personnel of the P.P.C.O. and he was shown a cinena film of the staff and employees which had been taken in 1937/1938 from a bulk lying opposite the office at The Hague, (GISKES also remembers hearing that some time in 1938 III-F and III-M Hamburg had supplied to the P.P.C.O. through a V-Mann false plans of the battleship "TIRPITZ") in addition a P.P.C.O. agent named MAINDORF, or MAINHAUS had been arrested at Luneberg in 1938 and executed.
Outbreak of war.
Shortly after the outbreak of war Oberst. von BENTIVEGNI of Abwehr Abt. III started to get together the nucleus of mobile Abwehr Kommandos for the offensive in the west which was to have taken place in November and GISKES was sent to Münster where the trupp that he was to command was forming. Fout Kommandos were to be formed, each with 4 Trupps under command. The estanlishments were to have been:
Kommando.
3 officers (C.O. a major)
20 O.R. (clerks and drivers)
Trupp.
2 officers (C.O. a captain)
8 O.R.'s (including 3 G.R.P.)
Their role was to have been:
1. Security of material.
2. The evaluation of captured documents from the III-F angle.
3. Raids on premises which were thought to be of interest from the III-F point of view.
The offensive however was posponed and these units were gradually allowed to disintegrate, the personnel being absorbed in their original units and so in Januari 1940 GISKES returned to AST Hamburg where in conjunction with a certain Hptm. CHRISTIANSEN he became responsible for the conduct of Referat III-F.
Abwehr situation in Belgium and Denmark.
After Hamburg had handed over its Dutch commitments to Münster in the summer of 1939, it was given the responsibility of Belgium and Denmark and from the III-F point of view special stress was placed on the establishment of contacts with the British Intelligence Service. Hamburg was however not solely respnsible for these two countries as the Nest at Cologne and the AST at Kielh also had interests in Belgium and Denmark respectively. GISKES maintains that at this point very little was known about British activities in these two countries and that in fact the results achiefed up to the time of his departure in the summer of 1940 were very unsatisfactory; he attributes this to the great lack of trained Abwehr officers.
During the period January to May 1940 GISKES can only remember two cases where any positive results were achiefed, details of which are as follows:
1. The French Consulate at Copenhagen.
In the early spring Leiter III Hamburg gave CHRISTIANSEN orders to enquire into the activities of a French Consular office which had been opened at Copenhagen at the outbreak of war. CHRISTIANSEN sent four agents to make enquiries and it was established that in fact the consulate was being used as a cover for espionage activities, but before representations could be made to the Danish Government the problem was solved by the German occupation of Denmark.
RIEKE and FURSTENAU.
Shortly after the outbreak of war a certain RIEKE (surname unknown) arrived in Holland from England and a few days later was joined by a certain FURSTENAU, a German national but of Jewish extraction, also coming from England. (Strange sentence!) RIEKE reported to the German consilate at The Hague that she had been given a mission by the British Intelligence Service and owing to a personal arrangement between the Consulate and FELDMANN, the pair were sent to III-F Hamburg who were looking for just such a contact.
According to GISKES, RIEKE had been blackmailed by the British into accepting a mission, by threats that her liaison with the Jewish FURSTENAU would be made known to the German authorities, thus causing trouble to her relations in Germany, one of whom was a Nazi chieftain in München. RIEKE had had no training and had been given no special mission beyond making a contact at the Palace Hotel in Lugano.
The pair were installed in a flat at Hamburg for foue weeks and later transferred to a flat in Berlin where they were kept under sutveillance as their story was not believed. Some time however in early 1940 RIEKE received via the American Express co. in Berlin a payment of 300 RM. from Switzerland and this tended to make FELDMANN, who was handling the case, believe that something might eventuate. FURSTENAU who was appently a theatrical agent wanted to exploit RIEKE's connection with the British with a view to getting himself financed by the Germans.
It was agreed therefore that FURSTENAU should set up a theatrical agency and be paid 500 RM. per month whilst RIEKE was to receive about the same. The agency was accordingly set up in Milan (Italy was then neutral) and RIEKE made her contact in Lugano and thus contact was established between III-F Hamburg and the British Intelligence Service. RIEKE appentently was given various missions by her contact and a certain amount of information was passed back to the UK, of which two items were outstanding, namely - the detailed German plan for the attack on Norway and Denmark in April 1940, but care was taken that it should arrive at Lugano too late for it to be od use - the location of the HQ of Fliegern General Oberst von RICHTHOFEN shortly before the German offensive in May 1940. This location was given falsely as being at Friedenstadt with the object of making the Allies believe that the main thrust would be further to the east than were it was acually to take place.
All information passed to Lugano was prepared by III-F Hamburg on the instructions of Abwehr abt. III-D.
Towards the end of May GISKES was sent by FELDMANN to Milan to make contact with RIEKE and FURSTENAU as since the beginning of that month the latter had given no sign of life and had not answered telegrams. After an unsatisfactory interview in a hotel at Milan at which FURSTENAU demanded more money, GISKES left and did not see the pair again, but he believes that they were sent to Barcelona where FURSTENAU opened a theatrical agency in the autumn of 1941.
TRANSFER TO PARIS.
On the way back to Hamburg GISKES stopped in Berlin to see Oberst ROHLEDER of Abwehr Abt. III who told him that he was to be transferred to AST Paris, then in the process of forming, and accordingly on June 16th Giskes reported to Major LORSCHEIDER who was to be the Gruppenleiter III of the AST.
AST PARIS.
On reporting to the AST Leiter GISKES was told to take over REFERAT III-C (2) with the rank of Major and work under Gruppenleiter III Major LORSCHEIDER. GISKES at this time was alone in this section but by the end of the year the Referat consisted of 6-8 officers with the relevant number of Abwehr gehilfer.
The Referat which was housed in the Hotel Lutetin was responsible for the investigation of cases of suspected espionage in Paris and the Departments of the Seine and Seine et Cise, with the proviso that any affair which had connections with a foreign power had to be turned over to III-F.
At thjis time the SD and Stapo were only responsible for matters concerning Communists, german emigrants, Freemasons, Jews and Church affairs but encroachment on Abwehr territory was not long delayed.
GISKES claims that during his stay in Paris and indeed during the whole of his service with the Abwehr he took especial care not to have direct contact with agents; orders to the G.F.P., the executive arm of the Abwehr, were given by him in writing.
GISKES declares that most of the reports that reached him were worthless, and that during his stay in Paris only three cases were of any importance, of which details are given as follows:
The DEEGAN SUTTON Case.
Some time in October 1940 a few British evaders from the evacuated B.E.F. were arrested in Paris by the G.F.P. (German Feld Polizei). Investigation showed that they had been helped by the French red Cross and certain persons in the US Embassy in Paris. A V-Mann (a young Russian) was instructed to go to the Embassy and ask for help in escaping to England. This man on presenting himself was put in touch with a certain Mrs. DEEGAN, an American employee of the Embassy, and two secretaries HUNT and CROSS. In connection with his "escape" the Russian visited the Embassy several times and was also able to give GISKES a description of an English employee who rarely left the building. About this time Referat III-F had received reports that a certain SUTTON of the US Embassy was acting as a post box for an espionage group and that messages of an espionage nature were being transmitted by WT from the Embassy.
Surveillance was kep by the G.F.P. and it was found possible to arrest SUTTON on one of the rare occasions when he ventured outside. SUTTON was handed over to III-F for investigation and GISKES believes that he was ultimately condemned to death.
Meanwhile evidence that Mrs. DEEGAN was helping evaders had accumulated and she was arrested in December at her flat. GISKES had two interviews with her and claims that the evidence against her was so overwhelming that she had no alternative but to sign a confession which also implicated CROSS and HUNT.
DEEGAN was released and continued to work for the Embassy but representations were made to the US Government by the German Foreign Office which resulted in her recall to the USA together with CROSS and HUNT.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6-
Secretary of State Cordell Hull said today that the State Department is following closely the case of Mrs. Elizabeth Deegan, clerk in the United States Embassy in Paris, who is being held by the German police in the Cherche Midi prison for questioning. Official reports are lacking here concerning the charges, but it is reported in press dispatches that she is suspected of conniving at the escape of British officers. The embassy, Mr. Hull said, was taking expeditious action and the department in following the case would make suggestions from time to time. Details of Mrs. Deegan's detention were given in a report by the embassy to the State Department today. This was summarized and made public as follows:
"On the morning of Dec. 1 two German civilians, presumably members of the German Secret Police, called at the apartment of Mrs. Deegan and invited her to go to the Cherche Midi prison to visit one or more British prisoners. This was the second time within a week that Mrs. Deegan had been invited by the German authorities to visit acquaintances at the Cherche Midi prison. On Dec. 1 she accompanied the officers.
"Later in the day she returned under escort to her apartment to obtain warm clothing. In the evening a friend of hers received a message from an unspecified source that she was comfortably lodged and that, while it would be impossible for her to be at the embassy for work on Dec. 2, she would doubtless report for duty on Dec. 3.
"Mrs. Deegan did not report for work on the morning of Dec. 3.
"Appropriate action is being taken by the American Embassy in Paris."
The embassy is charged with the duty of caring for British interests in France.
Mrs. Deegan is a granddaughter of the late Jeter C. Pritchard of North Carolina, who was United States Senator from 1895 to 1903 and later a judge of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Her father was the late Thomas Rollins, an attorney, of Asheville, N. C., where her mother now lives. She was born in Biltmore, N. C., and attended St. Genevieve's School in Asheville. She has been employed by the Paris embassy since 1936. Previously she was in the employ of Thomas Cook & Son and then the Paramount Film Company in Paris.
GISKES also remembers that a certain elderly US Colonel, who had been resident at the Ritz for a number of years, was likely concerned in helping evaders. He was arrested and condemned to two years imprisonment in spite of representations that were made by his friend Dr. SCHACHT, bother of SCHACHT the banker.
THE MUSEE DE L'HOMME.
In February 1941 the Sipo informed GISKES that the Jewish Director of the Musee de l'Homme, together with his brother, was working for a Polish Intelligence Service and that the brother was the propietor of a newspaper stall in the hall of the Hotel Magestic, at the time HQ of the Kommandostab and Verwaltungsstab of the Militärbefehlshaber. The two Poles and their father were arrested and a long investigation ensued which had not been completed when GISKES left for Holland.
JACQUELINE DE BROGLIE AND KRAUS+
In the spring of 1941 a certain Flieger Hptm. SCHADE of I/TLW reported to GISKES that a former colleague of his in Siemens Halske named KRAUS wanted to be put in touch with someone who handled espionage affairs. GISKES arranged a meeting with SCHADE at his flat, No.2 Rue de Cinque, for a few days later at which KRAUS was present. The object of KRAUS visit, according to GISKES, was to find out if anything was known against a certain Jacqueline de BROGLIE. GISKES had the De BOROGLIE looked up, and, although finding that nothing was known about her, arranged another meeting with KRAUS about 14 days later at which the latter told GISKES that De BROGLIE had been directly approached at the Ritz by a certain BERNBERG-GOSSLER who asked her when she was going to start work for the G.I.S. GISKES denies that BERNBERG-GOSSLER was a member of the G.I.S. GISKES thereupon decided that the matter must be investigated and on hearing that KRAUS intended to marry DE BROGLIE made the following bargain with him - KRAUS was to report upon DE BROGLIE and her associations to GISKES and the latter in return gave an undertaking to protect his fiancee if necessary. Shortly afterwardsKRAUS reported that De BROGLIE was very busy at her parents' home in neuilly doing sectarial work for a certain Captain COURTOIS and that there were constant comings and goings at the house - chiefly young people of De BROGLIE own age. Enquiries were then set on foot by G.F.P. and Abwehr gehilften to establish the identity of COURTOIS but it was discovered that he left for the unoccupied zone with a married woman. About 10 days later this woman was seen by the G.F.P in Paris and detained for enquiries. She was told that it was known that she had crossed the Line of Demarcation without proper papers and that proceedings would be taken against her with their attendant pubilcity; rather than risk her husband hearing about the trip, the woman gave the Germans a list of addresses that COURTOIS had visited in the unoccupied zone.
A short time later KRAUS told GISKES he had been asked by COURTOIS to take a package to the manager of Gibbs et Cie at Marseilles. GISKES told KRAUS to comply with this request but that naturally he (Giskes) must first see its content. KRAUS accordingly brought along the package which was found to contain information on the position of airfields and other material of military nature. The material was photostatted and the appropriate alterations made, GISKES also inserted the plans of an out od date French tank. KRAUS was then allowed to deliver the package at Marseilles. On two or three subsequent occasions GISKES passed false information to COURTOIS through KRAUS. The house at Neuilly was kept under observation by the G.F.P. and towards the end of June COIRTOIS was arrested when leaving it, and after a short interrogation by the G.P.F. transferred to Fresnes (prison).
A few days later KRAUS reported to GISKES that the arrest of COURTOIS was not known to those at Neuilly and that a man of some importance named Pierre d'HARCOURT @ COLLOMB was on the point of leaving for the unoccupied zone and that he (Kraus) would be dining at a restaurant in the Bois de Boulogne with d'HARCOURT and the actual arrest by G.F.P. took place at a Metro station in the vicinity of the Bois de Boulogne. D'HARCOURT tried to escape and was wounded in the leg, being transferred under guard to a German hospital in the neighbourhood of the Gare 'd Austerlitz. GISKES discovered later that by an oversight d'HARCOURT had been allowed to retain a large sum of money with which he had bribed a German medical orderly to warn his sister of his arrest.
Meanwhile the associates of COURTOIS were being kept under surveillance and in some cases house searches ere carried out. At the house of a certain metrologist named IVERNELL pland of a new bomb sight on which he had been working were found and the matter was referred to SCHADE who offered IVERNELL facilities for continuing his research in Germany and promised him the lives of his associates if he would agree to co-operate. IVERNELL agreed to these proposals (Giskes is not certain if the meteologist was called IVERNELL or EGLISE).
On leaving for The Hague at the end of july GISKES handed over the investigation and interrogation of COURTOIS and d'HARCOURT to Major FEIL of Referat III-F; the latter told GISKES later that the affair had lead to the uncovering of a large Polish Intelligence organisation.
Date of arrival at Camp 020: 24-5-1945.
NAME: GIKES, Oberstltnt.
CHISTIAN NAMES: Hermann.
ALIASSES: Dr. GERHARDT, Dr. GERMAN, GLUCK.
SPY NAME:
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: 28-9-1896 Krefeld.
NATIONALITY: German.
OCCUPATION: Regular Army Officer.
DATE OF ARRIVAL IN CAMP 020: 24-5-1945.
HEIGHT: 5' 11 1/2"
Build: Well Build.
HAIR: Light brown, greying, receding on forehead, bald on top.
FACE: Oval, long nose, wart on right cheek.
EYES: Blue.
PYSICAL: 3 vaccination scars.
PECULARITIES: left upper arm; scar; right wist; scar right knee; mole right buttock.
LAST PERMANENT ADDRESS: Hamburg, Mittelweg 10.
LANGUAGES: German, some French, some English.
FATHER: Wilhelm Giskes (died 1939).
MOTHER: Maria (nee BERMES) (died 1918).
BROTHER: Mario, aged 52.
SISTERS: Antonia, aged 50; Irmgard aged 36.
WIFE: Anna (nee Nolten)
CHILDREN: -
IDENTITY DOCUMENTS: None.
EARLY LIFE.
1896. Born on 28th sept. in Kreveld (Rheinland); son of merchant Wilhelm GISKES and Maria, nee BERMES.
1902. Preparatory school in Krefeld.
1905 - 1910. Gymnasium in Krefeld.
1911 - 1912. Geynasium in Karthaus near Trier (matriculated).
1913 - 1914. Höhere Handels Fachsschule (commercial college) in Krefeld.
1914. 1st October, army volunteer with Field artillery Regt. 81 in Hagenau (Alsace).
1914, December, transferred to the 2 Bavaria Ski Bn.
1915. Campains in the Carpathians, South Tyrol and Sebia.
1916. Western Front (Rheims, Verdun) severely wounded mid-July/ Bavarian Militärverdienstorden 3rd Class with
swords and Iron Cross 2nd class.
1917. March, reserve Lieutnant. Instructor with the Gebirgs-Jäger-Ers. Bn. in Immenstadt (Allgau), unfit for service at
the front until April 1918.
1918. Mother died.
1918. From April till 12th Octover on the Western front with Inf.Reg. 471 (Rheims, Argonnes, Marne, Rheims) as Coy.
Commander of the 10 Coy; in October as 2nd in command. French prisoner -of-war at Vaudetre.s. Suippe on
12th October. Subsequently in an officers POW camp at Chateauroux (Indre).
1919. In officers camp at Chateaurouz (Indre).
1920. Released from POW camp, went to Krefeld. Entered father's business (Tabacco Factory, Wilh. GISKES, Krefeld).
1921 - 1926. Partner in abobe firm.
1925. December, married Anna, nee NOLTEN, from Krefeld, daughter of Ferdinand Nolten, owner of saw-mill in
Krefeld. Wife now living in Schaephuysen, Krs Moers, Rhineland.
1926 - 1938. Own business: importer of leaf tobacco and dealer in tobacco produts, with resisence in Krefeld.
1936. Compulsory training as Res. Offz. with I.R. 39 Wesel. (Oberlt.d.R.)
1938 Compulsory training as Res. Offz. with I.R. 77 Cologne (Hauptm d.r.)
1938. In August met an old skiing friend, a certain Hauptm. FELDMANN, who had become a regular officer in the
German Army in 1935. FELDMANN suggested to GISKES that he should rejoin the Army and explained that he
was in the Abwehr in charge of Referat III-F of AST Hamburg and a new referat III-C (2) was being formed in
which there would be a vacancy for a Captain.
GISKES at the time was not fully aware of the functions of the Abwehr and decided to think the matter over. In
September 1938, however, he had taken his decision and applied for reinstatement in the German Army; his
reasons were, the increasingly difficult economic conditions in the tobacco trade due to import restrictions and
the constant friction between himself and the local Nazi chieftains owing to his refusal to join the party on
religious and political grounds.
1939. Father died.
1939. His application was accepted and he was instructed to report to Leiter Hamburg on 1st January 1939 for six
month's probationary service. He was given the rank of Hauptmann.
REFERAT III-C.
On arrival in January he found that he was to work in REFERAT III-C (1) under a certain Hptm. U?ECKER who was the only other officer in the section. The responsibility of this referat were threefold:
a.
The internal and office security of various Government departments (civil and military) in Whrkreis 10. In each office there was a representative of the Abwehr who sent in to III-C (1) regular routine reports on the care of secret documents and office security generally.
b.
The security of various protected places in Wehrkreis 10, such as certain factories working on armaments, shipyards, etc. Any foreigner who wished to visit places of this nature had to obtain a permit which was only issued after joint enquiry by III-C and the Stapo.
c.
Preparations for the mobilising of extra personnel for AST Hamburg on the outbreak of war.
Nothing of interest happened for the next four months and GISKES spent the time reading regular routine reports from the various Abwehr representatives mentioned above.
At the end of April GISKES was made Leiter of Referat III-C (2) which took over the security of protected places from III-C (1). The referat was responsible only for the investigation of suspected espionage within the protected places and if on enquiry was established that an incident demanded further investigation III-C (2) worked with the relevant branch concerned i.c. Stapo, III-Ru, III-H, etc.
If it was dicovered that a foreign power was involved the investigation was made in conjunction with III-F, which, however, being understaffed delegated a certain amount of the work to III-C (2).
The case of the Sanatatsfeldwebel.
It was reported to GISKES that a certain young German was very friendly with a female french employee at the French Consulate General at hamburg and had accompanied the latter on a trip to the Riviera. The young German had apperently told the french girl that he was employed in a certain chemical factory in Hamburg and expected soon to be made a director. This factory was engaged in Government work and it was considered worth while to make enquiries. It transpired, however, that the man in question was a Sanitatsfeldwebel emloyed in the offices of Wehrkreis 10 and had never worked in the factory. On the outbreak of war the man was sent to the Polish front but at the request of III-H was brought back for enquiries of which GISKES never learned the result.
Emplyee at British Consula's.
In the summer of 1939 an acquaintance reported to GISKES that an remplyee (name unknown) at the british Consulate General at Hamburg was taking an undue interest in the movements of the German Navy and current Merchant ship building. Surveillance was kept and in conjuction with III-M an enquiry was started but before any decision could be reached the war broke out and the man in question left in company with the other members of the staff for Holland. GISKES believes that the man was subsequently employed at the British Consulate in Stochholm or Copenhagen.
The case of the French Consul General.
In the summer of 1939 the French Consul general left Hamburg hurried and an associate of his, a Captain of a German merchant-ship was arrested. On interrogation the leaater admitted that he had been charged by the Consul to obtain information about the boom across the Ems.
Journey to The Hague.
In June 1939 orders were received to hand over counter-espionage work in Holland to AST Münster. Up to this time both Hamburg and Münster had been working in Holland but it was now decided that Hamburg should hand over its agents to Münster. Owing to lack of officers at Hamburg GISKES (the only officer available) was sent in company with Major von ROSENBERG of III-F Münster to hand over a certain agent (name forgotten) to the latter and collect 2.500 Dutch Fls. from the agent which had been advanced by Hamburg. GISKES introduced the man to ROSENBERG but discovered that the man was not in a position to return the money. GISKES learned later that the man had been seen in the company of people known to be working for the British Passport Control Office (P.P.C.O.) at The Hague and that he had been dropped.
The case of JANSSEN.
A Dutchman named JANSSEN acted as a "boite aux lettres" for FELDMANN at Nijmegen and was also employed by the P.P.C.O. at The Hague. This man was taken over by Münster in the summer of 1939. Prior to being taken over, however, JANSSEN had reported to FELDMANN that he had been instructed by the P.P.C.O. to arrange a "boite aux lettres" in Germany for P.P.C.O. contacts from which he was to collect the correspondence. JANSSEN was given by FELDMANN the address of an acquaintance of GISKES:
Anna Maria KORSCHER
Krefeld,
Hammerschmidstrasse 6.
Shortly afterwards the Stapo arrested at Bremen a German believed to be in British service who on interrogation admitted that he had been instructed to use the above address for communication with the P.P.C.O.
GISKES emhasises that KORSCHER was not aware of what was happening and was never connected with the G.I.S. as far as he knows.
Passport Control office at The Hague.
GISKES declares that III-F Hamburg was very well informed about the personnel of the P.P.C.O. and he was shown a cinena film of the staff and employees which had been taken in 1937/1938 from a bulk lying opposite the office at The Hague, (GISKES also remembers hearing that some time in 1938 III-F and III-M Hamburg had supplied to the P.P.C.O. through a V-Mann false plans of the battleship "TIRPITZ") in addition a P.P.C.O. agent named MAINDORF, or MAINHAUS had been arrested at Luneberg in 1938 and executed.
Outbreak of war.
Shortly after the outbreak of war Oberst. von BENTIVEGNI of Abwehr Abt. III started to get together the nucleus of mobile Abwehr Kommandos for the offensive in the west which was to have taken place in November and GISKES was sent to Münster where the trupp that he was to command was forming. Fout Kommandos were to be formed, each with 4 Trupps under command. The estanlishments were to have been:
Kommando.
3 officers (C.O. a major)
20 O.R. (clerks and drivers)
Trupp.
2 officers (C.O. a captain)
8 O.R.'s (including 3 G.R.P.)
Their role was to have been:
1. Security of material.
2. The evaluation of captured documents from the III-F angle.
3. Raids on premises which were thought to be of interest from the III-F point of view.
The offensive however was posponed and these units were gradually allowed to disintegrate, the personnel being absorbed in their original units and so in Januari 1940 GISKES returned to AST Hamburg where in conjunction with a certain Hptm. CHRISTIANSEN he became responsible for the conduct of Referat III-F.
Abwehr situation in Belgium and Denmark.
After Hamburg had handed over its Dutch commitments to Münster in the summer of 1939, it was given the responsibility of Belgium and Denmark and from the III-F point of view special stress was placed on the establishment of contacts with the British Intelligence Service. Hamburg was however not solely respnsible for these two countries as the Nest at Cologne and the AST at Kielh also had interests in Belgium and Denmark respectively. GISKES maintains that at this point very little was known about British activities in these two countries and that in fact the results achiefed up to the time of his departure in the summer of 1940 were very unsatisfactory; he attributes this to the great lack of trained Abwehr officers.
During the period January to May 1940 GISKES can only remember two cases where any positive results were achiefed, details of which are as follows:
1. The French Consulate at Copenhagen.
In the early spring Leiter III Hamburg gave CHRISTIANSEN orders to enquire into the activities of a French Consular office which had been opened at Copenhagen at the outbreak of war. CHRISTIANSEN sent four agents to make enquiries and it was established that in fact the consulate was being used as a cover for espionage activities, but before representations could be made to the Danish Government the problem was solved by the German occupation of Denmark.
RIEKE and FURSTENAU.
Shortly after the outbreak of war a certain RIEKE (surname unknown) arrived in Holland from England and a few days later was joined by a certain FURSTENAU, a German national but of Jewish extraction, also coming from England. (Strange sentence!) RIEKE reported to the German consilate at The Hague that she had been given a mission by the British Intelligence Service and owing to a personal arrangement between the Consulate and FELDMANN, the pair were sent to III-F Hamburg who were looking for just such a contact.
According to GISKES, RIEKE had been blackmailed by the British into accepting a mission, by threats that her liaison with the Jewish FURSTENAU would be made known to the German authorities, thus causing trouble to her relations in Germany, one of whom was a Nazi chieftain in München. RIEKE had had no training and had been given no special mission beyond making a contact at the Palace Hotel in Lugano.
The pair were installed in a flat at Hamburg for foue weeks and later transferred to a flat in Berlin where they were kept under sutveillance as their story was not believed. Some time however in early 1940 RIEKE received via the American Express co. in Berlin a payment of 300 RM. from Switzerland and this tended to make FELDMANN, who was handling the case, believe that something might eventuate. FURSTENAU who was appently a theatrical agent wanted to exploit RIEKE's connection with the British with a view to getting himself financed by the Germans.
It was agreed therefore that FURSTENAU should set up a theatrical agency and be paid 500 RM. per month whilst RIEKE was to receive about the same. The agency was accordingly set up in Milan (Italy was then neutral) and RIEKE made her contact in Lugano and thus contact was established between III-F Hamburg and the British Intelligence Service. RIEKE appentently was given various missions by her contact and a certain amount of information was passed back to the UK, of which two items were outstanding, namely - the detailed German plan for the attack on Norway and Denmark in April 1940, but care was taken that it should arrive at Lugano too late for it to be od use - the location of the HQ of Fliegern General Oberst von RICHTHOFEN shortly before the German offensive in May 1940. This location was given falsely as being at Friedenstadt with the object of making the Allies believe that the main thrust would be further to the east than were it was acually to take place.
All information passed to Lugano was prepared by III-F Hamburg on the instructions of Abwehr abt. III-D.
Towards the end of May GISKES was sent by FELDMANN to Milan to make contact with RIEKE and FURSTENAU as since the beginning of that month the latter had given no sign of life and had not answered telegrams. After an unsatisfactory interview in a hotel at Milan at which FURSTENAU demanded more money, GISKES left and did not see the pair again, but he believes that they were sent to Barcelona where FURSTENAU opened a theatrical agency in the autumn of 1941.
TRANSFER TO PARIS.
On the way back to Hamburg GISKES stopped in Berlin to see Oberst ROHLEDER of Abwehr Abt. III who told him that he was to be transferred to AST Paris, then in the process of forming, and accordingly on June 16th Giskes reported to Major LORSCHEIDER who was to be the Gruppenleiter III of the AST.
AST PARIS.
On reporting to the AST Leiter GISKES was told to take over REFERAT III-C (2) with the rank of Major and work under Gruppenleiter III Major LORSCHEIDER. GISKES at this time was alone in this section but by the end of the year the Referat consisted of 6-8 officers with the relevant number of Abwehr gehilfer.
The Referat which was housed in the Hotel Lutetin was responsible for the investigation of cases of suspected espionage in Paris and the Departments of the Seine and Seine et Cise, with the proviso that any affair which had connections with a foreign power had to be turned over to III-F.
At thjis time the SD and Stapo were only responsible for matters concerning Communists, german emigrants, Freemasons, Jews and Church affairs but encroachment on Abwehr territory was not long delayed.
GISKES claims that during his stay in Paris and indeed during the whole of his service with the Abwehr he took especial care not to have direct contact with agents; orders to the G.F.P., the executive arm of the Abwehr, were given by him in writing.
GISKES declares that most of the reports that reached him were worthless, and that during his stay in Paris only three cases were of any importance, of which details are given as follows:
The DEEGAN SUTTON Case.
Some time in October 1940 a few British evaders from the evacuated B.E.F. were arrested in Paris by the G.F.P. (German Feld Polizei). Investigation showed that they had been helped by the French red Cross and certain persons in the US Embassy in Paris. A V-Mann (a young Russian) was instructed to go to the Embassy and ask for help in escaping to England. This man on presenting himself was put in touch with a certain Mrs. DEEGAN, an American employee of the Embassy, and two secretaries HUNT and CROSS. In connection with his "escape" the Russian visited the Embassy several times and was also able to give GISKES a description of an English employee who rarely left the building. About this time Referat III-F had received reports that a certain SUTTON of the US Embassy was acting as a post box for an espionage group and that messages of an espionage nature were being transmitted by WT from the Embassy.
Surveillance was kep by the G.F.P. and it was found possible to arrest SUTTON on one of the rare occasions when he ventured outside. SUTTON was handed over to III-F for investigation and GISKES believes that he was ultimately condemned to death.
Meanwhile evidence that Mrs. DEEGAN was helping evaders had accumulated and she was arrested in December at her flat. GISKES had two interviews with her and claims that the evidence against her was so overwhelming that she had no alternative but to sign a confession which also implicated CROSS and HUNT.
DEEGAN was released and continued to work for the Embassy but representations were made to the US Government by the German Foreign Office which resulted in her recall to the USA together with CROSS and HUNT.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6-
Secretary of State Cordell Hull said today that the State Department is following closely the case of Mrs. Elizabeth Deegan, clerk in the United States Embassy in Paris, who is being held by the German police in the Cherche Midi prison for questioning. Official reports are lacking here concerning the charges, but it is reported in press dispatches that she is suspected of conniving at the escape of British officers. The embassy, Mr. Hull said, was taking expeditious action and the department in following the case would make suggestions from time to time. Details of Mrs. Deegan's detention were given in a report by the embassy to the State Department today. This was summarized and made public as follows:
"On the morning of Dec. 1 two German civilians, presumably members of the German Secret Police, called at the apartment of Mrs. Deegan and invited her to go to the Cherche Midi prison to visit one or more British prisoners. This was the second time within a week that Mrs. Deegan had been invited by the German authorities to visit acquaintances at the Cherche Midi prison. On Dec. 1 she accompanied the officers.
"Later in the day she returned under escort to her apartment to obtain warm clothing. In the evening a friend of hers received a message from an unspecified source that she was comfortably lodged and that, while it would be impossible for her to be at the embassy for work on Dec. 2, she would doubtless report for duty on Dec. 3.
"Mrs. Deegan did not report for work on the morning of Dec. 3.
"Appropriate action is being taken by the American Embassy in Paris."
The embassy is charged with the duty of caring for British interests in France.
Mrs. Deegan is a granddaughter of the late Jeter C. Pritchard of North Carolina, who was United States Senator from 1895 to 1903 and later a judge of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Her father was the late Thomas Rollins, an attorney, of Asheville, N. C., where her mother now lives. She was born in Biltmore, N. C., and attended St. Genevieve's School in Asheville. She has been employed by the Paris embassy since 1936. Previously she was in the employ of Thomas Cook & Son and then the Paramount Film Company in Paris.
GISKES also remembers that a certain elderly US Colonel, who had been resident at the Ritz for a number of years, was likely concerned in helping evaders. He was arrested and condemned to two years imprisonment in spite of representations that were made by his friend Dr. SCHACHT, bother of SCHACHT the banker.
THE MUSEE DE L'HOMME.
In February 1941 the Sipo informed GISKES that the Jewish Director of the Musee de l'Homme, together with his brother, was working for a Polish Intelligence Service and that the brother was the propietor of a newspaper stall in the hall of the Hotel Magestic, at the time HQ of the Kommandostab and Verwaltungsstab of the Militärbefehlshaber. The two Poles and their father were arrested and a long investigation ensued which had not been completed when GISKES left for Holland.
JACQUELINE DE BROGLIE AND KRAUS+
In the spring of 1941 a certain Flieger Hptm. SCHADE of I/TLW reported to GISKES that a former colleague of his in Siemens Halske named KRAUS wanted to be put in touch with someone who handled espionage affairs. GISKES arranged a meeting with SCHADE at his flat, No.2 Rue de Cinque, for a few days later at which KRAUS was present. The object of KRAUS visit, according to GISKES, was to find out if anything was known against a certain Jacqueline de BROGLIE. GISKES had the De BOROGLIE looked up, and, although finding that nothing was known about her, arranged another meeting with KRAUS about 14 days later at which the latter told GISKES that De BROGLIE had been directly approached at the Ritz by a certain BERNBERG-GOSSLER who asked her when she was going to start work for the G.I.S. GISKES denies that BERNBERG-GOSSLER was a member of the G.I.S. GISKES thereupon decided that the matter must be investigated and on hearing that KRAUS intended to marry DE BROGLIE made the following bargain with him - KRAUS was to report upon DE BROGLIE and her associations to GISKES and the latter in return gave an undertaking to protect his fiancee if necessary. Shortly afterwardsKRAUS reported that De BROGLIE was very busy at her parents' home in neuilly doing sectarial work for a certain Captain COURTOIS and that there were constant comings and goings at the house - chiefly young people of De BROGLIE own age. Enquiries were then set on foot by G.F.P. and Abwehr gehilften to establish the identity of COURTOIS but it was discovered that he left for the unoccupied zone with a married woman. About 10 days later this woman was seen by the G.F.P in Paris and detained for enquiries. She was told that it was known that she had crossed the Line of Demarcation without proper papers and that proceedings would be taken against her with their attendant pubilcity; rather than risk her husband hearing about the trip, the woman gave the Germans a list of addresses that COURTOIS had visited in the unoccupied zone.
A short time later KRAUS told GISKES he had been asked by COURTOIS to take a package to the manager of Gibbs et Cie at Marseilles. GISKES told KRAUS to comply with this request but that naturally he (Giskes) must first see its content. KRAUS accordingly brought along the package which was found to contain information on the position of airfields and other material of military nature. The material was photostatted and the appropriate alterations made, GISKES also inserted the plans of an out od date French tank. KRAUS was then allowed to deliver the package at Marseilles. On two or three subsequent occasions GISKES passed false information to COURTOIS through KRAUS. The house at Neuilly was kept under observation by the G.F.P. and towards the end of June COIRTOIS was arrested when leaving it, and after a short interrogation by the G.P.F. transferred to Fresnes (prison).
A few days later KRAUS reported to GISKES that the arrest of COURTOIS was not known to those at Neuilly and that a man of some importance named Pierre d'HARCOURT @ COLLOMB was on the point of leaving for the unoccupied zone and that he (Kraus) would be dining at a restaurant in the Bois de Boulogne with d'HARCOURT and the actual arrest by G.F.P. took place at a Metro station in the vicinity of the Bois de Boulogne. D'HARCOURT tried to escape and was wounded in the leg, being transferred under guard to a German hospital in the neighbourhood of the Gare 'd Austerlitz. GISKES discovered later that by an oversight d'HARCOURT had been allowed to retain a large sum of money with which he had bribed a German medical orderly to warn his sister of his arrest.
Meanwhile the associates of COURTOIS were being kept under surveillance and in some cases house searches ere carried out. At the house of a certain metrologist named IVERNELL pland of a new bomb sight on which he had been working were found and the matter was referred to SCHADE who offered IVERNELL facilities for continuing his research in Germany and promised him the lives of his associates if he would agree to co-operate. IVERNELL agreed to these proposals (Giskes is not certain if the meteologist was called IVERNELL or EGLISE).
On leaving for The Hague at the end of july GISKES handed over the investigation and interrogation of COURTOIS and d'HARCOURT to Major FEIL of Referat III-F; the latter told GISKES later that the affair had lead to the uncovering of a large Polish Intelligence organisation.
Pierre and Charles d'Harcourt were born in Paris, Pierre on December 11, 1913, and his brother Charles on May 13, 1921.
Pierre and Charles were the eldest sons of Count Robert d'Harcourt, professor of German literature at the Institut Catholique de Paris, author of numerous works, in particular The Gospel of Force published in 1936, which denounced the indoctrination of German youth into Nazi movements and demonstrated the incompatibility between the Christian faith and Nazi ideology.
In 1939, Pierre d'Harcourt was mobilized in a Transport Regiment. Taken prisoner at Calais in June 1940, he managed to escape, went to Pargny where the family château was occupied by the Germans, then to Reims to his uncle Jean de Caraman-Chimay, one of the directors of the Veuve Clicquot champagne house. In Vichy, where his father was in hiding, he was contacted by officials of the Vichy intelligence service (SR), who tasked him with gathering information in Paris. Under the pseudonym “Richard,” he passed this intelligence on to Vichy through a chain of couriers in the Nivernais region, particularly via the prefecture of Nevers. The same network was also used to help Allied airmen cross the demarcation line—a task Pierre d'Harcourt himself carried out several times. In Paris, he made contact with Krauss, an Austrian working at Siemens who could provide him with information about German armor. After a meeting with Krauss, he was arrested on July 9, 1941, at the Porte Maillot metro station. Carrying documents, he tried to flee, but was shot in the leg and lung. Taken unconscious to rue des Saussaies, he was hospitalized at La Pitié, then imprisoned at Fresnes. After numerous interrogations, he was sentenced to death, but in 1942 the sentence was commuted to imprisonment following an intervention with Hitler by Elisabeth Kállay, the wife of the Hungarian Prime Minister.
For his part, Charles d'Harcourt, who had volunteered in an armored regiment and was taken prisoner in June 1940, escaped in July 1940 from the Meucon camp near Vannes. In February 1941, he enlisted in the 3rd Spahi Regiment at Batna in Algeria. Discharged, he returned to mainland France in May 1942 and resumed his studies in Paris. In August 1942, he joined the Défense de la France movement. He transported clandestine newspapers and false identity cards from Paris to Épernay, where he supplied information to Maurice Germain, a member of the Éleuthère network. On July 20, 1943, he was caught in a trap set by agents of the French Gestapo led by Bony and Laffont, at the bookshop Au Vœu de Louis XIII on rue Bonaparte in Paris, which served both as a drop point for the movement and as a distribution center for the Défense de la France newspaper. The trap led to numerous arrests within the ranks of Défense de la France, including that of Geneviève de Gaulle. Charles d'Harcourt was imprisoned at Fresnes, where Pierre had been held since August 1941.
Both brothers were deported.
Pierre d'Harcourt was deported as an NN prisoner on November 29, 1943, to Saarbrücken Neue-Bremm. In December 1943, he was transferred to Buchenwald (prisoner no. 21,521), then to Dora, and finally to Barth, a subcamp of Ravensbrück, where he was liberated on April 30, 1945.
Charles d'Harcourt, imprisoned at Fresnes until the end of December 1943, was then interned at Compiègne and deported on January 22, 1944, to Buchenwald (prisoner no. 43,195), where he was reunited with Pierre. He was liberated at Buchenwald on April 11, 1945.
When Princesse Jacqueline Marguerite de Broglie was born on 5 January 1918, in 16th Arrondissement, Paris, Seine, France, her father, Prince Jean Amédée Anatole de Broglie, was 31 and her mother, Princesse Marguerite Séverine Philippine Decazes de Glücksbierg, was 27.
She married Alfred Ignaz Maria Kraus on 6 October 1941, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Seine, France. She died on 26 February 1965, in Valais, Switzerland, at the age of 47, and was buried in Vedbæk, København, Denmark.
When Alfred Ignaz Maria Kraus was born on 28 November 1908, in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria, his father, Maximilian Kraus, was 31 and his mother, Marie Gabriele Seraphine Klecklerschiller, was 27. He married Princesse Jacqueline Marguerite de Broglie on 6 October 1941, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Seine, France. He died on 20 April 1978, at the age of 69.
(The story told by GISKES agrees in the main with that told by KRAUS but there are certain discrepancies which GISKES explains by the fact that KRAUS was being handled by the Abwehr gehilfen HARCHMANN @ HERBERT and that he, GISKES, cannot remember after so long a lapse of time the chronological sequence of events)
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Pierre and Charles were the eldest sons of Count Robert d'Harcourt, professor of German literature at the Institut Catholique de Paris, author of numerous works, in particular The Gospel of Force published in 1936, which denounced the indoctrination of German youth into Nazi movements and demonstrated the incompatibility between the Christian faith and Nazi ideology.
In 1939, Pierre d'Harcourt was mobilized in a Transport Regiment. Taken prisoner at Calais in June 1940, he managed to escape, went to Pargny where the family château was occupied by the Germans, then to Reims to his uncle Jean de Caraman-Chimay, one of the directors of the Veuve Clicquot champagne house. In Vichy, where his father was in hiding, he was contacted by officials of the Vichy intelligence service (SR), who tasked him with gathering information in Paris. Under the pseudonym “Richard,” he passed this intelligence on to Vichy through a chain of couriers in the Nivernais region, particularly via the prefecture of Nevers. The same network was also used to help Allied airmen cross the demarcation line—a task Pierre d'Harcourt himself carried out several times. In Paris, he made contact with Krauss, an Austrian working at Siemens who could provide him with information about German armor. After a meeting with Krauss, he was arrested on July 9, 1941, at the Porte Maillot metro station. Carrying documents, he tried to flee, but was shot in the leg and lung. Taken unconscious to rue des Saussaies, he was hospitalized at La Pitié, then imprisoned at Fresnes. After numerous interrogations, he was sentenced to death, but in 1942 the sentence was commuted to imprisonment following an intervention with Hitler by Elisabeth Kállay, the wife of the Hungarian Prime Minister.
For his part, Charles d'Harcourt, who had volunteered in an armored regiment and was taken prisoner in June 1940, escaped in July 1940 from the Meucon camp near Vannes. In February 1941, he enlisted in the 3rd Spahi Regiment at Batna in Algeria. Discharged, he returned to mainland France in May 1942 and resumed his studies in Paris. In August 1942, he joined the Défense de la France movement. He transported clandestine newspapers and false identity cards from Paris to Épernay, where he supplied information to Maurice Germain, a member of the Éleuthère network. On July 20, 1943, he was caught in a trap set by agents of the French Gestapo led by Bony and Laffont, at the bookshop Au Vœu de Louis XIII on rue Bonaparte in Paris, which served both as a drop point for the movement and as a distribution center for the Défense de la France newspaper. The trap led to numerous arrests within the ranks of Défense de la France, including that of Geneviève de Gaulle. Charles d'Harcourt was imprisoned at Fresnes, where Pierre had been held since August 1941.
Both brothers were deported.
Pierre d'Harcourt was deported as an NN prisoner on November 29, 1943, to Saarbrücken Neue-Bremm. In December 1943, he was transferred to Buchenwald (prisoner no. 21,521), then to Dora, and finally to Barth, a subcamp of Ravensbrück, where he was liberated on April 30, 1945.
Charles d'Harcourt, imprisoned at Fresnes until the end of December 1943, was then interned at Compiègne and deported on January 22, 1944, to Buchenwald (prisoner no. 43,195), where he was reunited with Pierre. He was liberated at Buchenwald on April 11, 1945.
When Princesse Jacqueline Marguerite de Broglie was born on 5 January 1918, in 16th Arrondissement, Paris, Seine, France, her father, Prince Jean Amédée Anatole de Broglie, was 31 and her mother, Princesse Marguerite Séverine Philippine Decazes de Glücksbierg, was 27.
She married Alfred Ignaz Maria Kraus on 6 October 1941, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Seine, France. She died on 26 February 1965, in Valais, Switzerland, at the age of 47, and was buried in Vedbæk, København, Denmark.
When Alfred Ignaz Maria Kraus was born on 28 November 1908, in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria, his father, Maximilian Kraus, was 31 and his mother, Marie Gabriele Seraphine Klecklerschiller, was 27. He married Princesse Jacqueline Marguerite de Broglie on 6 October 1941, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Seine, France. He died on 20 April 1978, at the age of 69.
(The story told by GISKES agrees in the main with that told by KRAUS but there are certain discrepancies which GISKES explains by the fact that KRAUS was being handled by the Abwehr gehilfen HARCHMANN @ HERBERT and that he, GISKES, cannot remember after so long a lapse of time the chronological sequence of events)
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Pierre d'Harcourt.