Digging up information on the activities of World War II secret services is challenging because… well… a lot of the documents were/are secret! The British MI5 files have been slowly released to the public domain over the last 15 years, which has been extremely helpful in researching the German spies, including Josef Jakobs. But what […]
The Lost Files of Abwehr Ast X Read More »
Hamburg has proved to be a stubborn nut to crack. Very stubborn. During the last few years of writing this blog, I’ve been tackling various locales, people and objects, trying to deepen my own understanding of the role they played in the story of German spy, Josef Jakobs. Most of my blogs have focused on
Abwehr Locales in Hamburg Read More »
In late September, 1940, three spies landed on the Banffshire coast in a rubber dinghy. Dropped off by a flying boat from Norway, the two men and one woman would not remain undiscovered for very long. François de Deeker (real name Karl Theodore Drücke) and Vera Eriksen (a.k.a. Vera von Schalburg, Vera von Stein, Vera
Tales of the Spies – The Mysterious and Beautiful Vera Read More »
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in researching the story of Josef Jakobs, it’s that sometimes you have to go sideways in order to go forwards. I’ve hit a lot of brick walls in my years of research, and oftentimes have experienced a breakthrough by focusing my research elsewhere. One of the obvious sideways alternatives
Tales of the Spies – Double Agents Read More »