The Nazi Spy Ring in America: Hitler's Agents, the FBI, and the Case That Stirred the Nation

by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

Overview

The first full account of Nazi spies in 1930s America and how they were exposed.

In the mid-1930s just as the United States was embarking on a policy of neutrality, Nazi Germany launched a program of espionage against the unwary nation. The Nazi Spy Ring in America tells the story of Hitler’s attempts to interfere in American affairs by spreading anti-Semitic propaganda, stealing military technology, and mapping US defenses.

This fast-paced history provides essential insight into the role of espionage in shaping American perceptions of Germany in the years leading up to US entry into World War II. Fascinating and thoroughly researched, The Nazi Spy Ring in America sheds light on a now-forgotten but significant episode in the history of international relations and the development of the FBI.

Using recently declassified documents, prize-winning historian Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones narrates this little-known chapter in US history. He shows how Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the Abwehr, was able to steal top secret US technology such as a prototype codebreaking machine and data about the latest fighter planes.

At the center of the story is Leon Turrou, the FBI agent who helped bring down the Nazi spy ring in a case that quickly transformed into a national sensation. The arrest and prosecution of four members of the ring was a high-profile case with all the trappings of fiction: fast cars, louche liaisons, a murder plot, a Manhattan socialite, and a ringleader codenamed Agent Sex. Part of the story of breaking the Nazi spy ring is also the rise and fall of Turrou, whose talent was matched only by his penchant for publicity, which eventually caused him to run afoul of J. Edgar Hoover's strict codes of conduct.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647120047
Publisher:	Georgetown University Press
Publication date:	09/14/2020
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	104,567
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 6.10(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones is emeritus professor of history at the University of Edinburgh. He has authored or edited fifteen books, including The FBI: A History, In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence, and The CIA and American Democracy.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Lonkowski’s Legacy

2. Jessie Jordan

3. Murder in the McAlpin

4. Enter Leon Turrou

5. Crown Identified

6. Tales of Hofmann

7. Avoiding a High Court Trial

8. What Griebl Knew

9. Miss Moog Says No

10. A Season of Inquiry

11. The Flight of the Spies

12. Blame Games

13. Dismissed with Prejudice

14. Seeking the Evidence

15. The Nazi Spy Trial

16. Of Propaganda and Revenge

17. Spy Sequels

18. The Case Named for Duquesne

19. Pfeiffer’s Story

Dramatis Personae

Notes

Bibliography

Index

What People are Saying About This

Hugh Wilford

The 1938 Nazi spy affair was an event of world-historical significance. Here, an eminent intelligence historian, writing with tremendous verve and wit, tells the whole story for the first time, revealing a complex web of intrigue, sex, and betrayal.

Bradley W. Hart

This excellent history reads like a thriller and compels the reader from its first page to the last. By exposing the nefarious plans of Hitler's international spy network, Jeffreys-Jones makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of how World War II was fought in the shadows and reminds us that the plots, betrayals, murders, and mayhem of real life can rival the creations of the best Hollywood screenwriters.

Kathryn Olmsted

Kidnapping plots, honey traps, ace detectives–this untold story of a Nazi espionage ring has all the elements of a good spy novel. Besides spinning a great yarn, Jeffreys-Jones also shows how the discovery and revelation of these plots had profound historical consequences for America’s role in the world.

Douglas M. Charles

Renowned historian of the FBI and American intelligence Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones tackles the 1938 Abwehr spy ring, writing an engrossing tale of international intrigue and investigation. He both sheds new light on an underappreciated subject, and forces us to reinterpret its significance both to the FBI’s history and shifting American opinion towards the war.

Editorial Reviews

07/13/2020

Historian Jeffreys-Jones (We Know All About You) delivers a solid rundown of the unmasking of a German espionage network in the U.S. prior to WWII. Tracking the spy ring’s origins to the arrival of Abwehr agent Leon Lonkowski in New Jersey in 1927, Jeffreys-Jones explains how spies gathered information at U.S. naval shipyards, airplane factories, arms research facilities, and military bases. Documents and parcels were sent back to Germany via ocean liners and through a hairdresser in Scotland, who forwarded them to intelligence officers in Hamburg. One such message, intercepted in 1938 and decoded by British agents, outlined a plan to steal America’s east coast defense plans. Alerted by MI5, American authorities launched an investigation headed by FBI agent Leon Turrou, who had previously helped to crack the Lindbergh kidnapping case. Though four Nazi spies were eventually convicted and sentenced to prison, Turrou ran afoul of FBI officials for selling his story of the case to the New York Post. Jeffreys-Jones, however, credits him with helping to awaken the American public to the Nazi threat and with galvanizing support for U.S. military and intelligence services. Though his prose rarely soars, Jeffreys-Jones packs the narrative with fine-grained details and memorable character sketches. Espionage buffs will want to take a look. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Clear, structured, and lively, the book and its intrigues are fascinating. Jeffreys-Jones humanizes all involved, revealing the motivations of spies and government investigators alike. The Nazi Spy Ring is an engaging account of interwar espionage that played out in newspapers across the world.

Foreword Reviews

This is an entertaining tale that doubles as an important work of scholarship.

Economist

Simply stated, The Nazi Spy Ring in America: Hitler's Agents, the FBI, and the Case That Stirred the Nation is an inherently fascinating and impressively documented history told in the kind of narrative storytelling style that will engage and hold the reader's rapt attention from beginning to end.

Midwest Book Review

Careful documentation ... lends authenticity to a fast-paced plot: Jeffreys-Jones is a thorough researcher who plumbed sources from New York City court records to Gestapo files in Germany to write a book that I was sorry to see end.

World War II

The Nazi Spy Ring in America brings many scenes to life with novelistic detail

Washington Independent Review of Books

A very good read, suitable for all audiences.

Choice

The Nazi Spy Ring in America will be of interest to anyone interested in the Abwehr or espionage. Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones tells a complex story well.

Cryptologia

This is an entertaining tale that doubles as an important work of scholarship.

The Economist

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