Synopsis

In Chapter 1 (KTB #148) ERICH begins his career as a spy, and he lets us know of his love of beautiful women. In Chapter 2 (KTB #149), he was transferred home to Germany and his shipboard romance with Karen ended. In Chapter 3 (KTB #151) he began his training as a spy – and he learned that a spy who falls in love with an enemy spy – gets shot!

In Chapter 4 (KTB #152) we read where ERICH himself falls for a woman who turned out to be a German spy herself and her job was to lure German spies in training to betray themselves – and ERICH is nearly washed out of spy training. In Chapter 5 (KTB #153) we learned that ERICH was to be in charge of Operation PELIKAN, the plan to blow up the Panama Canal with two Ju 87 STUKA dive bombers brought over on two U-boats. At the last moment, it was thought by the German agency, that someone had tipped off the Americans to this plot, so the plan was scrapped. In Chapter 6 (KTB #154 and KTB #155) we read how ERICH and the Abwehr tried to find him a partner for his mission into the USA with the intended purpose of sabotaging the Manhattan Project – the atomic bomb project in the United States. In Chapter 7 (KTB #156) we read about the Atlantic crossing to the USA where ERICH and Billy were to be put ashore to assault the ‘Manhattan Project’. In Chapter 8 (KTB #157), the two agents landed on the coast of Maine, ready to begin their sabotage of the atomic bomb project. In Chapter 9 (KTB #158) ERICH gets the shock of learning that Billy has taken all the money and the diamonds, and deserted not only the mission, but ERICH as well.

In the first part of Chapter 10 (KTB #159) ERICH is trying desperately to find Billy – and get his $60,000 and diamonds back. In the balance of Chapter 10, we see how ERICH outwitted Billy and got his suitcases, filled with money and spy equipment back – at Billy’s expense but in the meantime to nobody’s surprise, ERICH has found another woman. In chapter 11, ERICH is doing well with this new woman, an old contact is going to tell him about the Manhattan Project - but his time is running out and Billy is about to betray him to the F.B.I.

In Chapter 12, ERICH was happily spending Christmas with Joan, but his tour of duty as a spy – and his life, were almost over. He was arrested by the F.B.I. and headed for the gallows. In Chapter 13, he's grilled by the F.B.I. In Chapter 14, he faces the probability of the hangman. In Chapter 15, he's sentenced to death.

Chapter 16 (III): Sized Up by the Hangman

“Hi Edward,” called Johnny. “Would you like to have a word with the chaplain?”

“No,” I replied.

“Don’t be a fool,” he said. “He’s a nice chap. I can thoroughly recommend him.”

The parson wore the uniform of an Army captain. He was tall, slim and broad shouldered, and somehow combined the figure of a baseball player with the nobility of a gentleman rider – and he didn’t seem a bit pious. That was why I took to him immediately.

“This is a terrible business,” he began. He walked up and down. “We can speak about it quite openly. It’s easier to talk about death than to die. That’s where you’ve got the advantage of me straight away.”

“Well said, Captain,” I replied. He smiled.

“I am only a captain as a side-line,” he said. “You know of course that I’m a priest. The uniform is just camouflage.”

“There’s no need for you to camouflage yourself,” I replied.

We shook hands. For the first time in days I felt relaxed. For the first time I forgot what lay in front of me.

“I don’t want to get on your nerves,” said the priest, “and don’t worry, I’m not going to preach a sermon to you. Unfortunately, everything that’s coming is your own affair. Somehow you’ve got to come to terms with it yourself. I only wish I could help you a little.” He looked at his fingernails. “Easy to talk, isn’t it?”

“But you talk well, Captain.”

We then went on to talk about baseball and gangster films. After half an hour he made to go but I asked him to stay. The soldier from the kitchen brought my mid day meal.

“I could eat a second portion,” I said, smiling.

“Well, look now. At last he’s seeing reason,” he said.

We ate together. The priest told me his name and where he came from. He had in fact been a baseball player at the university and a well known member of the team. He’d wanted to be an engineer.

“And why did you become a priest?”

“That’s a long story,” he said, “and you probably won’t understand it. I was not what you might call a friend of the Church.”

“What happened?”

“I became a priest in spite of that. My young sister died. How shall I explain it to you? I loved her more than anything else in the world. I used to cut lectures and go for walks with her. At five, she was a real little lady. She had real charm. I just don’t know how to explain it to you. You can’t imagine how sweet she was.”

“And then?”

“She was run over by a lorry. Seven years ago. I think I lost my reason for a while. My parents had been dead for a long time and I had been alone in the world with my sister. There was no consolation for me. Not a glimmer of understanding. To this day I don’t know how I survived that period. It took me months, years even, to get over it.”

I had kept my eyes averted and now I looked at his face. Every word he spoke was genuine, direct, convincing. He got to his feet and paced up and down. His face, while for a few moments had looked rigid, became animated again.

“Then you see,” he said, “I became a priest. For just that reason, really – just to be able to stand by people who have to get through something like I had been through, to help them keep their grip.”

“Yes,” I replied.

“You see,” he continued, “you’re one of those who’ve somehow got to get through a spot like that.”

“I think I’ll manage,” I replied. “And even if I don’t, it won’t do anyone else any harm.”

He was quiet. We smoked away, sitting together on the bed, so closely that our shoulders touched. “Have you ever prayed?” he asked me.

“Yes, of course, but it’s a long time now, when I was a child. When I grew up, I forgot how to pray.”

“That’s how it is with so many people,” he said. “They just forget but it often comes back to them again.” He stood up. “I’ll come again tomorrow – that is, if it’s all right with you. I’ll come any time you want to see me.” We shook hands.

Prayer…..could I pray? Should I pray? Ought I to pray? I tried to remember how it had been when I was a child, the organ playing in church and the parson giving the blessing. I was wearing my first dark blue suit with long trousers, and the burning candles were giving off that holy fragrance which all my life I had avoided.

I tried to remember the words of the prayer, but it was a long time before I could recall them, and then I could not get them past my lips. All the same, I determined I would try to pray.

“Our Father,” I said to myself, “which art in Heaven.” I said it again and again, mechanically, dully, until it began to take on some meaning. Who had thought of prayer in the terrible time just past? Reich Security had abolished all such things – God, Heaven, the work of Christ. There was only one thing it was unable to abolish; death, dying, the end. Death took no account of Reich Security.

It was now two o’clock in the afternoon. Once more Johnny was relieved. There was a good deal of scurrying about in the cell block of Fort Jay today and I could hear the soft thudding of rubber boots in the corridor all the time. My new warder was very correct. I wanted to smoke, but I had no matches. I called him. He did not answer. Perhaps he was afraid of reprimand.

At about three o’clock in the afternoon the officer of the guard came to see me. “Everything all right?” he asked.

“Yes, so far,” I said.

“Good.”

“I could do with a glass of whisky,” I said.

“Apart from freedom, that’s the only thing I can’t give you, but” he reflected for a moment, “perhaps we can go along to my office for one. I know what it’s like without a drink.” He sat down on my bed. “Have you had a word with the chaplain?”

“Yes.”

“I’m glad.”

A G.I. ran excitedly along the corridor. Suddenly I heard shouts. I strained to hear what was happening but I couldn’t gather what it was all about. The captain got up with a sigh. A G.I., red in the face, rushed into the cell. He was about to blurt out something, but the officer motioned to him and they withdrew into a corner.

I had gotten into the way of lip reading and I kept my eyes on the mouths of the soldier and the officer as they spoke. Something quite extraordinary must have happened, something which had cut right across the normal routine of Fort Jay.

I watched the G.I.’s lips and I thought I had grasped what he was saying. Yes, I did understand – but surely it couldn’t be true!

The G.I. had said: “Roosevelt is dead.”

The whole of America heard this same piece of news at that moment…..Roosevelt is dead. The man in the White House had died from a hemorrhage of the brain. Roosevelt was dead……..

The officer came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “This is a bit of luck for you,” he said

“Why,” I asked.

“The President is dead. That means that there will be four weeks state mourning.”

“And what’s the use of that to me?” I asked.

“During the period of state mourning no death sentences will be carrier out.” The officer left.

I could hardly believe my ears. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had done me a good turn……….

We begin Chapter 17 in KTB #177 next month. This is great first person history and we thank ERICH for writing it all down, and we thank FRANK WEINGART (842-1988) for getting us a photocopy of the entire book “Spy for Germany”.

Spy for Germany

Chapter 7: To America by Submarine (KTB # 156)
Chapter 8: The Landing in America (KTB # 157)
Chapter 9: Tricked by Billy in NYC (KTB # 158)
Chapter 10 (I): I Work Out My Own Situation (KTB # 159)
Chapter 10 (II): I Work Out My Own Situation (KTB # 160)
Chapter 11 (I): Billy Betrays Me to the F.B.I. (KTB # 161)
Chapter 11 (II): Billy Betrays Me to the F.B.I. (KTB # 162)
Chapter 12 (I): Love -- and then Arrest! (KTB # 163)
Chapter 12 (II): Love -- and then Arrest! (KTB # 164)
Chapter 13 (I): Grilled by the FBI (KTB # 165)
Chapter 13 (II): Grilled by the FBI (KTB # 166)
Chapter 13 (III): Grilled by the FBI (KTB # 167)
Chapter 14 (I): In the Shadow of the Hangman (KTB # 168)
Chapter 14 (II): In the Shadow of the Hangman (KTB # 169)
Chapter 15 (I): Sentenced to Death (KTB # 170)
Chapter 15 (II): Sentenced to Death (KTB # 172)
Chapter 15 (III): Sentenced to Death (KTB # 173)
Chapter 16 (I): Sized Up by the Hangman (KTB # 174)
Chapter 16 (II): Sized Up by the Hangman (KTB # 175)
Chapter 16 (III): Sized Up by the Hangman (KTB # 176)