The Untold Story of Jan Willem ter Braak (a.k.a. Engelbertus Fukken)

Spion tegen Churchill by
Jan Willem van den Braak
(to be published 2017)

A friend of mine has been in touch with an author named Jan Willem van den Braak, a dogged researcher who has been tracing the story of a doomed Abwehr spy, Jan Willem ter Braak (no relation to the dogged researcher). Confusing, no?

Jan Willem ter Braak (the spy) was found shot in the head in early April 1941, in a an air raid shelter in Cambridge, England. MI5 determined that ter Braak (real name Engelbertus Fukken) had parachuted into England in early November 1940 and lived in Cambridge undetected.

They theorized that, despite having a wireless transmitter, he had failed to make contact with his handlers in the German Abwehr. Running short on funds, MI5 guessed that ter Braak had shot himself in the air raid shelter.

Much speculation has swirled around ter Braak since then. Did he really fail to make contact with the Abwehr? What was his mission? Did he really commit suicide? Author van den Braak has apparently dug up more on ter Braak than other researchers. His book on ter Braak, Spion tegen Churchill (Spy against Hitler) will be published in April 2017 in Dutch.

Spion tegen Churchill - back cover

Alas... this blogger isn't fluent (or conversant) in Dutch, so we can only hope that a review in English will highlight some of van den Braak's discoveries.

Some information can be found on this Dutch site which quotes the Cambridge News.