Interesting photos of spys and captured Uboat Crew in US

[tighe_n]

These photos are of a spy that was put to death and of a group of germans that came off a Uboat and were on a mission to cause damage to US industry.

[tighe_n]

spys

[stonemint]

An interesting contrast is the total lack of intestinal fortitude on the part of the US Justice Dept/Pentagon to deal with spies and terrorists (both foreign & domestic) in that manner today....

[Br. James]

Very interesting photos; thanks for sharing them. While the press photo w/caption does not mention the name of the executed spy or the background for his execution, the number of coffins lined up behind the officials waiting to pronounce him dead seems to indicate that that day was expected to have a full agenda!

The mug shots are also quite interesting; five of the six shown were among the eight German saboteurs landed in the US via U-boat in June of 1942 -- four on Long Island and four in Florida. They tell a classic story. Wikipedia, as well as a number of other sources including The History Channel provide details of their individual stories. Left to right, top row to bottom, those pictured are George John Dasch, Heinrich Harm Heinck, Richard Quirin, Werner Thiel and Ernest Peter Burger; the sixth man does not appear to be one of the eight captured saboteurs.

According to Wikipedia, here is the outcome: George John Dasch, Ernst Peter Burger, Edward John Kerling, Heinrich Harm Heinck, Richard Quirin, Werner Thiel, Hermann Otto Neubauer and Herbert Hans Haupt were tried by a military commission appointed by President Roosevelt on July 8, 1942 and convicted of sabotage and sentenced to death. FBI Director Hoover and Attorney General Biddle appealed to President Roosevelt, who commuted the sentence to life imprisonment for Burger, and thirty years for Dasch. The others were executed in the electric chair in Washington D.C Jail on 8 August 1942. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman had both Burger and Dasch released and deported to Germany. They were not welcomed back, as they were regarded as traitors who had caused the death of their comrades. Although they had been promised pardons by Hoover in exchange for their cooperation, both men died without ever receiving them. Dasch died in 1992 at the age of 89 in Ludwigshafen.

A great vignette of history!

Br. James

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

the spy mission in the USA was part of the Reader's Digest selection, and was published in the famous "Secrets & Spies" book in 1964.



I'm pretty sure that many of us in North America and in Europe had this amazing book.

See You

Vince

[tighe_n]

Thank you for the additional info. I think these are original press photos, they are marked "The Evening Bulletin Reference Library" on the back. The one with the SS spy is Dated Jun 29 1945. The other does not have a date.

The SS spy does not give his name on the caption, but it says he was one of six Germans shot by the Ninth Army firing squad on June 14th '45.

So yes, they had a busy day.