Ghost of a Hurt - Bella in the Wych Elm - Rik Rawling (2008)

Ghost of a Hurt: the Mystery of who put
Bella in the Wych Elm (2008)
by Rik Rawlings

During my research into the Bella story, I've come across repeated references to a booklet published by Rik Rawling entitled Ghost of a Hurt. Unable to find a copy online, I reached out to Pete Merrill (co-author of another book on Bella) and got Rawling's contact info. Rawling was kind enough to send me a copy of his booklet in Word format, the published versions all being long since dispersed. The booklet was part of a set which included a compact disc and cassettes.

The document is about 15 pages long and the first third is taken up with Rudolf Hess and his mission to England. In the later two thirds of the booklet, Rawling examines the Bella mystery and suggests there may be a connection with Rudolf Hess - that Bella may have been a German spy sent to Britain in late 1941 to escape the Aktion Hess (retaliation against astrologers in Germany). In the final few pages of the booklet, Rawling examines some other, more recent events surrounding Hagley Wood (abductions, rapes, murders) although their connection to the Bella case is not clear.

Mandrake - basal rosette of lowers with long tap root

I'm not entirely familiar with the occult but Rawling does spend some time exploring the history of the Hand of Glory, and its possible links to the Bella case.

He notes that the Mandrake plant derives its name from the French word - mandragore, which comes from maindeglorie, meaning hand of glory.

So far so good, sounds reasonable... but Rawling then notes that another name for Mandrake is Deadly Nightshade, the Latin name of which is Belladonna. Ah-hah - connection between Hand of Glory & Bella... As an amateur herbalist however, this sounded a bit strange to me, so I did some research.

Deadly Nightshade - tall (2 m) shrub

Mandrake (Genus Mandragora) and English (or False) Mandrake (Genus Bryonia) and Deadly Nightshade (Genus Atropa) are all from separate genera. Mandrake is NOT the same as Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna).

On top of that, Merriam-Webster states that Mandragora is derived from Middle English, from Old English, from Latin mandragoras, from Greek. A bit more digging on Wiktionary reveals that mandragoras originates: from Ancient Greek μανδραγόρας (mandragóras), probably from a non-Indo-European Pre-Greek/substrate. Or, possibly from Old Persian *merdum gija (“plant of humans”). There is no hint of Mandragora being derived from French... or that it means "hand of glory".

The above leaves me wondering how much of the booklet is accurate and how much is based on rumours and/or speculation. Having said that, it was definitely an interesting read! I also loved the cover of the booklet with it's Penguin-esque look to it.

The Spy in the Tower - Reviews and a Request

The Spy in the Tower (cover)
by G.K. Jakobs

The Spy in the Tower has been published for just over six months now and I've received some feedback from a few people, including a maternal uncle who thought he was ordering a "pamphlet" and received a "tome", much to his surprise! It certainly isn't an overnight read but I was hoping that a few people may have had a chance to read through it.

The granddaughter of Lily Knips posted this kind review on Amazon.co.uk:

I am declaring an interest' as I'm mentioned in the book as is my grandmother Lily Knips who formed a relationship with Josef Jakobs 'the spy in the Tower' before finding safety in England as a refugee in 1938 from Nazi Germany.

Giselle Jakobs contacted me a few years ago and brought this extraordinary story to my attention and I was able to help with some aspects of her research.

Over the past five years she has worked tirelessly to create an absorbing book exploring the fate of spies sent over to spy for Germany-in this instance sending information to help the Luftwaffe's bombing raids. They were very often poorly trained. The book is intensely personal as it is about her grandfather and family but it is also extremely well-researched from the point of view of political context, the history of espionage/double agents and MI5 interrogation techniques and objectives.. People involved in this narrative faced challenging and life-threatening choices and situations with varying degrees of courage and manipulation.

Fellow author, David Tremain had this to say on the GoodReads site:

Full disclosure: I have to confess that I was in some way instrumental in helping the author in getting her book published as I believed that it was an interesting story which should become public knowledge.

Joseph Jakobs was yet another pawn in the Germans' game of sending spies to Britain during WW2 and, as the title suggests, he came to a sticky end. His granddaughter, Giselle Jakobs, begins by documenting his early life and how he became involved with the Abwehr and German espionage. Like most spies, his life was chequered by many affairs, illegal dealings, and falling in and out of prison because of them. The beginning of his downfall came when (no pun intended) he parachuted into England in December 1941 to begin his spy mission but injured his ankle in the process. By this time the British (MI5) had already dealt with a number of spies, and so were not sympathetic to his cause, yet at the same time they respected him as a brave man and it was with some reluctance perhaps that they put him on trial. What emerges from this story is how biased the trial was, and how determined the British were to punish anyone who dared to attempt to spy on them. The book raises important questions about the fairness of the Treachery Act and how spies were handled during WW2, as well as comparing Joseph's case with that of others. He died an honourable man. The author's description of his final days spent in prison and his execution by firing squad are incredibly moving, as is his final letter to his wife, a letter she would never see. Anyone interested in wartime espionage should read this book as it is an important contribution to the genre.

Another fellow author, Traugott Vitz, had this to say in an email to me:

Well, now, what would I say if someone asked me, "Tell me about the book you've just read"?...

I loved it. The subject - Spies, World War Two etc - is one that I'm interested in anyway. And since it is well written and readable throughout, you'll lay it down (till next day) only when you're tired from digesting the enormous amount of subject matter. But there's more to it.

The book is incredibly well researched, with footnotes all over the place to corroborate what the author claims to be true. It also shows evidence of careful proofreading. An example: The author - I've been exchanging emails with her - always says her German is rusty and hasn't seen much use since her childhood days. Nevertheless and, given the subject, very naturally, she uses a lot of German expressions and sentences. But I, being a native speaker of German, found only a dozen or so language errors in 448 pages (and some of them must be attributed to her sources, not to herself). I've seen MUCH worse from anglophone authors.

The author dived deep into the parliamentary history and legal intricacies of Britain's War Emergency legislation such as the Treachery Act. She followed every step of the legal proceedings and pointed out where there were weaknesses in courtroom tactics or outright violations of established procedure.

She also followed side issues, like the fate of other German spies, with similar zeal and made good use of the results for her main line of argument. (Which means her book can as well be used as a starting point for research into other cases of "German Spies in Britain".)

Her conclusions are well founded, in my opinion: That the Germans sent Josef Jakobs to Britain not to gain information but as cannon fodder or "canary in the mine". And that the British, under the veil of bewigged and gowned legal procedures, killed him not to atone for his guilt but because it was politically expedient.

And there's still one more layer to that book: When you are writing about your grandfather, it is inevitable that your family history and your own person will be involved and affected. If you don't lay open to the reader in which way this is the case, it will come out in unexpected places. Giselle K. Jakobs has seen that trap, I think. And she decided to lay open to the reader the multi-faceted image she got of her grandfather (not all of the facets being favourable) AND how the research process influenced her in her relation to her family and to her inner self. That is, by the way, a step I'd love to see the authors take in many other books as well - not only when they're researching something as close to home as their own grandpa. There is no such thing as disinterested and impartial historiography, you know.

So - "Spy in the Tower" is a book on a VERY special subject within the already special historical field of "History, Modern, World War Two, Espionage, German, in Britain" and will, for that reason, probably not make the bestseller lists. No matter. But it is also a book which establishes Giselle K. Jakobs as a trustworthy, thorough and thoughtful historical writer. Fellow researchers will notice that and pay their respects. Chapeau!

I do have a request to any of my blog readers/followers who have read the book... could you please post a review either on Amazon (if that is where you purchased your book) or on the GoodReads site. Amazon only allows "verified purchasers" to post reviews on their site but... GoodReads is a nice alternative. Here are some direct links to the book's page on the different Amazon sites:

• Amazon.co.uk - for UK readers
• Amazon.com - for USA readers
• Amazon.ca - for Canadian readers

Thanks so much!

Geheimisse des Towers: Spione und Kronjuwelen - ZDF (2019) - in German

Logo of ZDF (from Wikipedia)

A cousin of mine in Germany made me aware of a German documentary that broadcast on 11 June 2019 in Germany. The show was a four part series on Geheimnisse des Towers (Secrets of the Tower [of London]):

• Geheimnisse des Towers: Spione und Kronjuwelen (Spies & Crown Jewels)
• Geheimnisse des Towers: Verschwörer und Verräter (Conspirators & Traitors)
• Geheimnisse des Towers: Könige und Henker (Kings & Executioners)
• Geheimnisse des Towers: Prinzen und Rebellen (Princes & Rebels)

I watched the episode on Spies and Crown Jewels shortly after it aired via the web and thought they did a fair job of telling the story of Josef Jakobs. They had a nice little piece in which they interviewed Bridget Clifford, curator of the Armouries at the Tower.

I wanted to watch the episode again before writing this blog post but... it is no longer available online. I wrote an email to the broadcasting company (ZDF - Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen - public broadcasting company) and asked for a digital copy to view. They told me that the program was unavailable due to "legal reasons".

The Mystery of Le Touquet Syndicate and Josef Jakobs

There are a few mysteries in Josef's MI5 files, and one of them lies in folder KV 2/25, folio 87a - a memo on 30 May 1941 from H.P. Milmo (B2c) to Mr. Hunter (B6)

Memo from Milmo to Hunter re: Le Touquet Syndicate Ltd.
(National Archives - Security Service file - KV 2/25, folio 87a)

First off, it's important to note that the memo has Josef's Personal File number on it (P.F. 55039), which means it is definitely connected to his case file.

In the memo, Milmo requests particulars of the directors of the "Le Touquet Syndicate Limited". On 4 June 1941, Hunter sends the memo back with an added note to see the attached particulars from Somerset House.

The particulars comprise two pages of information on Le Touquet Syndicate, although the official scanned pdf from the National Archives only includes the first page. The photocopy of the file I obtained in 2003 has the second page, see below.

Briefly. Le Touquet Syndicate Ltd. was a company registered on 9 May 1903 with a nominal capital of £50,000 divided into £1 shares. The object of the company was to acquire the land known as Le Touquet near Calais in France. The first page lists the directors of the company while the second page outlines the distribution of shares.

Le Touquet Syndicate directors - page 1 of Hunter's report
(from National Archives - Security Service file KV 2/25, folio 87a)

Le Touquet Syndicate shares and shareholders - page 2 of Hunters report
(from National Archives - Security Service file KV 2/25, folio 87a)

They mystery lies in the fact that at no point in his interrogations does Josef mention Le Touquet Syndicate. In terms of its placement in the list of folios, this memo falls in that period when MI5 was investigating Niska, Roos, Wolpe and Lincoln Allan Smith. Is there a connection? It's not clear. But let's delve into Le Touquet Syndicate and see what we can find.

Le Touquet History

Allen & Florence Stoneham ca. 1915
at  Étaples, France
(Flickr - Library of Congress - no known
copyright restrictions)

Le Touquet started off as an isolated moor inhabited only by wild animals. In 1837 , Alphonse Daloz and Alyon bought 1,600 hectares of land and tried to set up a distillery and potato industry. In 1855, after many failed attempts, Daloz succeeded in planting a pine forest on some of the land. In 1875, the owner of "Le Figaro" newspaper realised that the Le Touquet area would make a perfect seaside resort and the first villas were built in 1882, the beginnings of Le Touquet - Paris Plage (Paris by the Sea). It served mostly as a summer retreat and was deserted in the winter months, but that all changed when John Whitley and Allen Stoneham bought the land in 1902.

Whitley and Stoneham decided to base the resort on sports and the area acquired a casino, golf course, hippodrome and tennis courts

After the outbreak of World War I, Allen Stoneham offered the area of Le Touquet for the use of the British Armed Forces. Le Touquet, and its glamourous hotels, hosted several military hospitals for wounded British and Canadian troops.  After the war, Stoneham was awarded the Order of the British Empire. His business partner, John Robinson Whitley passed away in 1922.

Canadian Hospital at Le Touquet ca. 1915
(Flickr - Library of Congress - no known
copyright restrictions)

In the 1920s, Le Touquet reached its nadir and hosted princes and politicians, as well as the likes of Noël Coward and the smart set from England. Le Touqet's gaiety vanished with the outbreak of war and it achieved notoriety as the most mined town in France (130,000 mines). After the war, Le Touquet revived some of its liveliness with the creation of a small port. It was once again known as a year round resort and seaside destination of the Opal Coast.

Today, Le Touquet is still a thriving resort with a year-round population of 5,355 that welcomes up to 250,000 people during the summer. It has a reputation as the most elegant holiday resort in northern France, the favourite haunt of rich Parisians. Today, Le Touquet offers guests sand yachting, sailing, riding, three golf courses, a thalassotherapty spa, water park, discotheques, night clubs and casinos.

Le Touquet and the company founded by Stoneham and Whitley seem quite straightforward and benign, but clearly something about the company, or its directors, piqued the interest of MI5. The information that Mr. Hunter tracked down on Le Touquet Syndicate doesn't tell us much, but let's take a look at it.

Company Directors of Le Touquet Syndicate in 1941
On the 3rd of May 1941 the directors and shareholders were:

• Mrs Florence Maine [sic] Louise Stoneham. British. Director of - St. Swithens Syndicate Ltd. [also connected with Le Touquet] (Appointed June 1916)
• Donald Skyring Allen Stoneham. British. Director of - Tramways Syndicate Ltd. [Allen Henry Philip Stoneham had introduced electric trams to Western Australia] (Appointed May 1927)
• Mrs Jean Monica Stoneham. British. No other occupation. (Appointed December 1939)
• All the above are shown as, c/o Gordon Reid. St. Sauriur des Monts, P.Q. Canada
• Vincent Allen Stoneham. British. RAF Station. Coventry. Air Force Officer. (Appointed April 1928)
• Henry Cooke McAlister [sic]. British. 159 Nether Street, N. 12. Chartered Accountant. Partner - Monkhouse Stoneham & Co. (Appointed 5 August 1940)

It is clear that the Stoneham family was still involved with Le Touquet in 1941, although three of the directors would appear to have weathered part of the war in Canada. If we then look at the shareholders of the company, we see the same Stoneham family names pop up, as well as one more.

Shareholders & Shares in Le Touquet in 1941
According to the MI5 document on Le Touquet, there were some "dozens of shareholders in this company". The following were the largest holdings at the time of the last return prior to the MI5 report. A total of 50,000 shares were issued of which:

• 15,000 shares split between
• Donald Skyring Allen Stoneham. Address as above.
• Henry Tudor Crosthwaite. Stockbroker - 10/11 Copthall Avenue. EC.2.
• 13,484 shares split between
• Donald Skyring Allen Stoneham. Address as above
• Florence Maine [sic] Louise Stoneham. Address as above
• Henry Tudor Crosthwaite. Address as above
• 11,000 shares to Florence Maine Louise Stoneham
• 3350 shares to Donald Skyring Allen Stoneham
• 3400 shares to Vincent Allen Stoneham
• 250 shares to Jean Monica Stoneham
• 100 shares to Henry Cooke McAlister [sic]

That totals 46,584 shares leaving 3416 shares to be distributed between lesser shareholders. We now need to take a look at the Stoneham clan where we begin to see the relationships between the company directors and shareholders.

Stoneham Family
With one exception, all of the directors and major shareholders are members of the Stoneham clan, either by birth or marriage. The original co-founder of the company, Allen Henry Philip Stoneham, passed away in 1927 but his second wife, two children and two children-in-law were still involved in the company in 1941.

Allen Henry Philip Stoneham - 1856-1927 (co-founder of the company)

• married 1882 - Jane Harley Cowie - 1853-1899
• Irene Maude Stoneham - 1884-1947
• m1905 - Henry Tudor Crosthwaite - 1871-1956  (major shareholder)
• Linda Harley Stoneham - 1886-1965
• m1911 - Bernard Cyril Windeler - 1887-1961
• Phyllis Marjorie Stoneham - 1889-1958
• m1912 - Roland Clive Wallace Burn - 1882-1955
• married ???? - Florence Marie Louise [maiden name unknown] Stoneham - 1875-1950 (founder's second wife as well as director and major shareholder) 
• Donald Skyring Allen Stoneham - 1903-1969 (director and major shareholder)
• m1932 - Jean Monica McLean - 1908-1985 (minor shareholder)
• Vincent Allen Stoneham - 1906-1982 (director and major shareholder)
• m1946 - Jean M. (nee White) Hosken - 1916-?

That leaves us with Henry Cooke McAllister (1882-?) as director and chartered accountant, as well as a minor shareholder. He does not appear to be related to the Stoneham clan by birth or marriage. McAllister was born in Belfast Ireland in 1882 and by 1901 was already a chartered accountant in Ireland. In 1912, he married Eveline Emelie Kydd (1890-1974) in north London. McAllister served with the Army Service Corps during World War I and, given his background, he might have served as an accountant. After the war, his named appears in relation to the liquidation and bankruptcy of numerous companies, always as a chartered accountant.

I'm not going to delve into the Stoneham clan in any great detail but one item is of note. The co-founder's second wife, Florence Marie Louise Stoneham was born in Montreal, Canada around 1875-1880. This may explain why Florence, her son Donald and Donald's wife Jean (all directors) were apparently living in Canada (or the USA) in 1941.

MI5's Interest in Le Touquet Syndicate
On 11 June 1941, H.P. Milmo of MI5's B2c wrote a letter to Henry Cooke McAllister in which he stated:

Dear Mr. McAlister [sic],

I would very much like to have an early opportunity of talking to you about a confidential matter upon which I think you may be in a position to supply us with some helpful information.

Would it be possible for you to arrange a meeting either at the War Office or at any other address which would be convenient to you?

I will be most grateful if you will telephone me at the above number some time in the course of the next few days.

There is no further reference to Le Touquet Syndicate, the Stoneham's or McAllister in the MI5 documents in Josef's file. We are left with several mysteries:

• What did Josef say that triggered this investigation into Le Touquet Syndicate?
• Given the chronology of the investigation, did it have anything to do with Lincoln Allen Smith?
• What became of Milmo's meeting with McAllister?

Conclusion
On the face of it, Le Touquet Syndicate seems like a completely innocent bystander in the espionage game. Somehow, their name got dragged into Josef's case, but the exact connection is still a mystery. My best guess is that something in the Roos/Wolpe and Lincoln Allen Smith investigation caused MI5 to look at Le Touquet with more interest. It is clear from marginal notes in Josef's case file that Lincoln Allen Smith had his own Personal File (P.F.) in the MI5 registry. What lay therein is unknown.

As an aside, the village/town of Le Touquet does get one another mention in relation to espionage matters. The four hapless spies who landed on the coast of Kent in late September 1940 (Waldberg, Meier, Kieboom and Pons) had apparently celebrated a last meal in Le Touquet and set sail from there.

Sources
Information France - article on Le Touquet
France Today - article on Le Touquet
Le Touquet History - on Web Archive
Wikipedia (French) - Allen Stoneham
Fracedemic - French - history section
National Archives - Security Service file on Josef Jakobs - KV 2/25
Ancestry - genealogy information
Flickr - Library of Congress - pics of Allen Stoneham and Le Touquet

Book Review - Shanghai Remembered - Bert Faulbaum (ed.) (2005)

Shanghai Remembered - 2005
by Bert Falbaum (ed)

The Book
Shanghai Remembered: Stories of Jews who escaped to Shanghai from Nazi Europe. Bert Falbaum (ed.). Momentum Books. 2005.

Summary

I came across this book while researching the stories of the German Jews who got caught up in Niska and Ziebell's passport business.

The book is composed of chapters written by individuals whose families escaped Nazi Europe to Shanghai, one of the only "open" places in the world for desperate Jews. About 20,000 Jews survived the war in Shanghai, although conditions were often quite horrific, particularly after the Japanese entered the war and sequestered all of the European Jewish refugees in the Hongkew Ghetto.

One of the chapters is written by the daughter of Martin Goldstein, the man who acted as a connector between Niska and Ziebell.

The stories are all fascinating, tragic and hopeful. When so many Jews stayed behind in Germany and Austria, reluctant to travel to the notorious Paris of the Orient, a brave few took their lives in their hands and left Europe with very little in the way of material wealth. They would, however, come out of the war with their lives, and many emigrated to the United States.

Several of the stories relate how the Jews had attempted to secure visas to other places, like Bolivia or Chile, sometimes purchasing documents - all of which proved to be false and/or worthless. While the stories don't have a specific reference to Ziebell or Niska, one can easily see that many individuals preyed on desperate Jews.

The many stories, all with their own tones and voices, present a patchwork quilt of life in Germany and Austria before focusing on a rather desperate life in Shanghai. I rather liked this approach of many voices, rather than a single narrative.

Review
I had never heard of Jews escaping Nazi Europe to Shanghai, so this book certainly broadened my horizons. When so many countries reduced immigration quotas and turned away shiploads of Jewish refugees, this story is one of hope.

Review Score
4.5 out of 5 - interesting and very readable.

Book Review - Bella: An Unsolved Murdery - Joyce M. Coley (2007)

Cover - Bella: An Unsolved Murder
by Joyce M. Coley (2007)

The Book
Bella: An Unsolved Murder. Joyce M. Coley. History in Print. 2007.
Summary

This book was written over 12 years ago by Joyce M. Coley, and is often quoted in Bella lore. I ordered a copy from Amazon and read it in less than an hour.

The book is more pamphlet than "book" comprising only 26 pages. It provides an overview of the case but has absolutely no references or footnotes, which makes its value rather limited. How much of what Coley writes is hearsay? How much is first-hand research from primary sources? Hard to say. In many respects then, this book is a compilation of anecdotes, facts, stories and rumours, all woven together into a rather disjointed whole.

Having said that, there are some accounts which are new in their thoroughness - for example the story of Warwick Aston Plant and his mother and the girl who played the piano in their pub (p. 10-12). I've come across bits and pieces of this story before, but the amount of detail presented by Coley is new.

Another account, that of Douglas Osborne and his post-war meeting with Canadian intelligence officers, is also quite extensive.  I admit to being perplexed as to how Canadian intelligence officers would have been permitted to (a) talk about secret matters such as Germans spies and (b) been permitted to take German Secret Service documents back to Canada.

Some of the details are a bit annoying though - for example on page 21, where she notes that journalist Matthew Gull found a reference to a spy called Clara in a Birmingham reference library. More detail would have been helpful.

And then there is some information which is completely false - for example on page 25, the story of the spy found dead in a Cambridge air shelter. This would Jan Willem ter Braak and Coley notes that "this man had letters sent from England, to families still in Germany, through the Red Cross". I have no idea where that information comes from as there is not a hint in ter Braak's files on any letters being found on his person, or in his effects.

Similarly, she notes that Jack Mossop's death certificate stats that he died from an overdose of drugs. This is not accurate and therefore makes me wonder how much of the book can be trusted.

Review
This little booklet is interesting but I'm not entirely sure of how accurate the information is. It would seem to muddy the waters more than anything.

Review Score
4 out of 5 - interesting

Conclusion - Black Market Passport Business

I started this series of blog posts several months ago and had no idea it would lead me on such an epic journey. The stories of those who sought to escape the clutches of the Nazis span the gamut of tragedy to triumph. I have found it exceedingly difficult and emotionally draining to dig into the archives trying to discover who lived and who died.

As for the stories of those who orchestrated this scheme... Christian Friedrich Jürgen Ziebell and Algoth Niska... words fail me. Perhaps Niska thought he was doing a "good" thing in selling passports to rich Jews desperate to leave Nazi Germany/Austria. I have read his own story of his adventures and he comes across as a schemer looking for his next adventure, preferably one where he could get paid handsomely. Selling fake Finnish passports to Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe ticked both of those boxes.

As for Jürgen Ziebell, he was simply in it for the money, of that I have no doubt. His career after the war is just more of the same - seeking wealth and power and using whatever legal or illegal means he could to achieve his aims.

For those who land on this post and want to read the whole series from start to finish, here are some links:

Overview of the passport business - as told by Josef Jakobs
Characters involved - has links to all of the clients as well as organizers of the passport scheme
Jürgen Ziebell - German lawyer, fake and fraud artist
Algoth Niska - Finnish bootlegger, smuggler and adventurer