Nicholas Kinsey's Blog, page 6

11 – WARTIME SWEDEN

This week we are talking about my new novel An Absolute Secret which is in editing and due out in April. This is a spy thriller set in wartime Sweden that tells the story of British SIS officer Peter Faye who is sent to the British Legation in Stockholm in 1943 to spy on the famous German Intelligence Officer Karl-Heinz Kramer. It is based on a true story. And believe it or not, it has a connection to Canada!

Some of you may remember the film noir movie The Third Man directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene. It starred Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles and Trevor Howard. It told the story of Holly Martins who was given a job in post-war Vienna by his friend Harry Lime, but when he arrived in town he found Lime dead. He then met with Lime’s friends and tried to investigate the murder. The movie came out in 1949 and was an immediate hit. It showed the dark streets of Vienna at the start of the Cold War where opportunist racketeering thrived in the black market.

Greene researched his script by travelling to Vienna and was given tours of the city, its sewers, and its less reputable night clubs. He also met with Peter Smolka, the Eastern European correspondent for The Times who told him stories about the black market. Smolka was an interesting character, an NKVD agent code-named ABO born in Vienna who was recruited by Kim Philby (The Cambridge Five) in 1933. So if you have seen the movie, this is what Stockholm looked like during the war years.

The novel takes the spectator on an exciting ride through the minefield of wartime intelligence operations when Stockholm was a bourse for foreign intelligence and German war booty. As you know, Sweden was a neutral country during WW2. Many people have said that Sweden actually benefitted from the war just like Switzerland. When the war broke out in 1940, the Swedish government was actually quite pro-German. A Waffen SS contingent was formed under the name Wiking and Nordland and a number of Swedes and Scandinavians joined the war against the Soviet Union starting in 1941.

The major contribution of Sweden to the German war effort was the transportation of iron ore across Northern Sweden from Norway to the Baltic seaport of Lulea where the iron ore was shipped to Germany. This was a huge advantage for German industry since the iron ore did not have to travel the North Sea route to German ports which were exposed to allied bombing. In addition, the Swedish government allowed German soldiers to travel across Sweden by rail from Norway. Of course, it is highly likely that Hitler would have invaded Sweden if the Swedes had not been so helpful.

But Sweden was also very useful to Nazi Germany in its currency exchanges (exchanging gold, silver, diamonds and artworks for hard currency). As the war wound down, Sweden and Switzerland became extremely important to German trade.

Don’t hesitate to leave some comments below. Have you watched The Third Man movie? What is your favorite spy movie?

Next time we will talk about the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union.

Talk to you soon,

11 – WARTIME SWEDEN

This week we are talking about my new novel An Absolute Secret which is in editing and due out in April. This is a spy thriller set in wartime Sweden that tells the story of British SIS officer Peter Faye who is sent to the British Legation in Stockholm in 1943 to spy on the famous German Intelligence Officer Karl-Heinz Kramer. It is based on a true story. And believe it or not, it has a connection to Canada!

Some of you may remember the film noir movie The Third Man directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene. It starred Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles and Trevor Howard. It told the story of Holly Martins who was given a job in post-war Vienna by his friend Harry Lime, but when he arrived in town he found Lime dead. He then met with Lime’s friends and tried to investigate the murder. The movie came out in 1949 and was an immediate hit. It showed the dark streets of Vienna at the start of the Cold War where opportunist racketeering thrived in the black market.

Greene researched his script by travelling to Vienna and was given tours of the city, its sewers, and its less reputable night clubs. He also met with Peter Smolka, the Eastern European correspondent for The Times who told him stories about the black market. Smolka was an interesting character, an NKVD agent code-named ABO born in Vienna who was recruited by Kim Philby (The Cambridge Five) in 1933. So if you have seen the movie, this is what Stockholm looked like during the war years.

The novel takes the spectator on an exciting ride through the minefield of wartime intelligence operations when Stockholm was a bourse for foreign intelligence and German war booty. As you know, Sweden was a neutral country during WW2. Many people have said that Sweden actually benefitted from the war just like Switzerland. When the war broke out in 1940, the Swedish government was actually quite pro-German. A Waffen SS contingent was formed under the name Wiking and Nordland and a number of Swedes and Scandinavians joined the war against the Soviet Union starting in 1941.

The major contribution of Sweden to the German war effort was the transportation of iron ore across Northern Sweden from Norway to the Baltic seaport of Lulea where the iron ore was shipped to Germany. This was a huge advantage for German industry since the iron ore did not have to travel the North Sea route to German ports which were exposed to allied bombing. In addition, the Swedish government allowed German soldiers to travel across Sweden by rail from Norway. Of course, it is highly likely that Hitler would have invaded Sweden if the Swedes had not been so helpful.

But Sweden was also very useful to Nazi Germany in its currency exchanges (exchanging gold, silver, diamonds and artworks for hard currency). As the war wound down, Sweden and Switzerland became extremely important to German trade.

Don’t hesitate to leave some comments below. Have you watched The Third Man movie? What is your favorite spy movie?

Next time we will talk about the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union.

Talk to you soon,

WARTIME SWEDEN

This week we are talking about my new novel An Absolute Secret which is in editing and due out in April. This is a spy thriller set in wartime Sweden that tells the story of British SIS officer Peter Faye who is sent to the British Legation in Stockholm in 1943 to spy on the famous German Intelligence Officer Karl-Heinz Kramer. It is based on a true story. And believe it or not, it has a connection to Canada!

Some of you may remember the film noir movie The Third Man directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene. It starred Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles and Trevor Howard. It told the story of Holly Martins who was given a job in post-war Vienna by his friend Harry Lime, but when he arrived in town he found Lime dead. He then met with Lime’s friends and tried to investigate the murder. The movie came out in 1949 and was an immediate hit. It showed the dark streets of Vienna at the start of the Cold War where opportunist racketeering thrived in the black market.

Greene researched his script by travelling to Vienna and was given tours of the city, its sewers, and its less reputable night clubs. He also met with Peter Smolka, the Eastern European correspondent for The Times who told him stories about the black market. Smolka was an interesting character, an NKVD agent code-named ABO born in Vienna who was recruited by Kim Philby (The Cambridge Five) in 1933. So if you have seen the movie, this is what Stockholm looked like during the war years.

The novel takes the spectator on an exciting ride through the minefield of wartime intelligence operations when Stockholm was a bourse for foreign intelligence and German war booty. As you know, Sweden was a neutral country during WW2. Many people have said that Sweden actually benefitted from the war just like Switzerland. When the war broke out in 1940, the Swedish government was actually quite pro-German. A Waffen SS contingent was formed under the name Wiking and Nordland and a number of Swedes and Scandinavians joined the war against the Soviet Union starting in 1941.

The major contribution of Sweden to the German war effort was the transportation of iron ore across Northern Sweden from Norway to the Baltic seaport of Lulea where the iron ore was shipped to Germany. This was a huge advantage for German industry since the iron ore did not have to travel the North Sea route to German ports which were exposed to allied bombing. In addition, the Swedish government allowed German soldiers to travel across Sweden by rail from Norway. Of course, it is highly likely that Hitler would have invaded Sweden if the Swedes had not been so helpful.

But Sweden was also very useful to Nazi Germany in its currency exchanges (exchanging gold, silver, diamonds and artworks for hard currency). As the war wound down, Sweden and Switzerland became extremely important to German trade.

Don’t hesitate to leave some comments below. Have you watched The Third Man movie? What is your favorite spy movie?

Next time we will talk about the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union.

Talk to you soon,

10 – THE INTERROGATION BY MI5

We believe that the imposter Rudolf Hess was interrogated by the very best people at MI5. Somebody like Lt-Colonel Robin ‘Tin Eye’ Stephens. Stephens wore a Gurkha uniform and monocle and was an expert interrogator born in Egypt and educated at a Lycée Francais, before spending years as an officer among the Gurkhas, the elite regiment of Nepalese troops in the British army. He spoke seven languages including Urdu, Arabic, Somali, French and, of course, German. He was xenophobic, hated homosexuals and Germans alike, and had a record of breaking down even the most hardened of spies.

Lt-Colonel Robin ‘Tin Eye’ Stephens

Stephens would have examined every detail of Hess’s previous life. No decoy or Hess double could have withstood five minutes under this kind of professional scrutiny (childhood in Egypt, education in Germany, pay, housing, insurance, parents, co-workers, etc.). Every facet of a man’s life would be examined under a critical eye and Hess’ life was well known to his interrogators since he was a public figure and had been on a podium with Hitler for almost 20 years. It is almost inconceivable that the MI5 did not discover the truth about the man.

Even in the first few days in Scotland, the Hess double had already made numerous elementary errors about his past. To a medical professional, he gave the wrong age and declared that he has been one of four children when the real Hess had only one brother and one sister. The real Hess was a well educated, even brilliant writer and thinker, cool and reserved, the man in British hands spouted political arguments with the reasoning of a child. The real Hess was once called the “conscience of the Nazi party” and was a vegetarian, the man in the cell in Scotland was no intellectual and would eat anything displaying horrendous table manners. The real Hess loved to play tennis, but the man in Scotland had no knowledge of the sport.

Another question is how this man got to Scotland in a Messerschmitt plane leaving from Augsburg in Southern Germany without refueling? The D model had a range of some 700-850 miles and the flight to Scotland would take him over 1200 miles. Hess was photographed climbing into a Series D model in Augsburg but later parachuted out of a Series E2 model in Scotland.

It seems self-evident that MI5 would have learned the truth about Hess which is one of the reasons that I wrote this novel. It’s hard to believe, however, that the British government would knowingly send an imposter to Nuremberg for a war crimes trial unless it was expedient to do so. Of course, every intelligence service in the world lies to its citizens and feigns ignorance when it is useful to do so. Remember the case of the arms of massive destruction hidden in Iraq by Saddam Hussein.

If there was ever a mystery about an imposter, this is it!

10 – THE INTERROGATION BY MI5

We believe that the imposter Rudolf Hess was interrogated by the very best people at MI5. Somebody like Lt-Colonel Robin ‘Tin Eye’ Stephens. Stephens wore a Gurkha uniform and monocle and was an expert interrogator born in Egypt and educated at a Lycée Francais, before spending years as an officer among the Gurkhas, the elite regiment of Nepalese troops in the British army. He spoke seven languages including Urdu, Arabic, Somali, French and, of course, German. He was xenophobic, hated homosexuals and Germans alike, and had a record of breaking down even the most hardened of spies.

Lt-Colonel Robin ‘Tin Eye’ Stephens

Stephens would have examined every detail of Hess’s previous life. No decoy or Hess double could have withstood five minutes under this kind of professional scrutiny (childhood in Egypt, education in Germany, pay, housing, insurance, parents, co-workers, etc.). Every facet of a man’s life would be examined under a critical eye and Hess’ life was well known to his interrogators since he was a public figure and had been on a podium with Hitler for almost 20 years. It is almost inconceivable that the MI5 did not discover the truth about the man.

Even in the first few days in Scotland, the Hess double had already made numerous elementary errors about his past. To a medical professional, he gave the wrong age and declared that he has been one of four children when the real Hess had only one brother and one sister. The real Hess was a well educated, even brilliant writer and thinker, cool and reserved, the man in British hands spouted political arguments with the reasoning of a child. The real Hess was once called the “conscience of the Nazi party” and was a vegetarian, the man in the cell in Scotland was no intellectual and would eat anything displaying horrendous table manners. The real Hess loved to play tennis, but the man in Scotland had no knowledge of the sport.

Another question is how this man got to Scotland in a Messerschmitt plane leaving from Augsburg in Southern Germany without refueling? The D model had a range of some 700-850 miles and the flight to Scotland would take him over 1200 miles. Hess was photographed climbing into a Series D model in Augsburg but later parachuted out of a Series E2 model in Scotland.

It seems self-evident that MI5 would have learned the truth about Hess which is one of the reasons that I wrote this novel. It’s hard to believe, however, that the British government would knowingly send an imposter to Nuremberg for a war crimes trial unless it was expedient to do so. Of course, every intelligence service in the world lies to its citizens and feigns ignorance when it is useful to do so. Remember the case of the arms of massive destruction hidden in Iraq by Saddam Hussein.

If there was ever a mystery about an imposter, this is it!

9 – HESS & CHURCHILL

Rudolf Hess was Hitler’s deputy and best friend for some twenty years. After hearing Hitler speak in a small Munich beer hall, he joined the Nazi Party on July 1, 1920, becoming the sixteenth member of the party. When Hitler was jailed in the 1920s in Landsberg prison, Hess was jailed with him and helped him write his infamous book Mein Kampf which is today a bestseller in Germany.

Adolf Hitler, Emile Maurice, Hermann Kriebel, Rudolf Hess and Friedrich Weber inside the Landsberg prison (picture: Heinrich Hoffmann, 1924)

Rudolf Hess was a bit of a deception for the British Secret Services. He was examined by the highest level of the British government, a certain Ivone Kirkpatrick who had been First Secretary at the British Embassy in Berlin from 1933 to 1938. The man quickly provided reassurances to Churchill and the government that they had hooked the real Rudolf Hess and not some impersonator.

In 1941 Churchill was desperately trying to lure the Americans into a war that Britain was losing on every front. Now Hitler had sent a peace envoy to sabotage his efforts. The day after the news broke, Hitler flew into a rage over the disappearance of his deputy and was clearly fearful that Hess would reveal Nazi plans to invade Russia during the summer.

So Churchill locked Hess up in the London tower and let MI6 have a go at him. The results of the interrogation were never revealed and Churchill prepared special accommodation for the prisoner. Hess was put in Camp Z, a fortified manor house near Mytchett southwest of London where he would be protected by the Scots Guards in case a Nazi commando came looking for him, but also any word he uttered would be recorded by special microphones hidden throughout the building. Churchill’s instructions were very clear: he was to have food, books, writing materials and limited recreation, he was to be cut off from all communication (newspapers, radio) with the outside world, and was to receive no visitors without Foreign Office approval. Finally, he was to be treated as a very special prisoner of war and possibly a war criminal.

Churchill’s approach was clearly to delay and hide the man away. He certainly didn’t want Hess talking to journalists about peace proposals when he was trying to salvage his disastrous policy of war with Hitler.

Playing Rudolf Hess has been published!

 

I am happy to announce that my novel Playing Rudolf Hess is out on Amazon and Booklocker. The price is US$19.95 for paperback and US$4.99 for the ebook. The various ebook choices will be available in a week or two. On the Booklocker site (www.booklocker.com) you can download an excerpt of the first three chapters.

Tell me what you think about it!

 

9 – HESS & CHURCHILL

Rudolf Hess was Hitler’s deputy and best friend for some twenty years. After hearing Hitler speak in a small Munich beer hall, he joined the Nazi Party on July 1, 1920, becoming the sixteenth member of the party. When Hitler was jailed in the 1920s in Landsberg prison, Hess was jailed with him and helped him write his infamous book Mein Kampf which is today a bestseller in Germany.

Adolf Hitler, Emile Maurice, Hermann Kriebel, Rudolf Hess and Friedrich Weber inside the Landsberg prison (picture: Heinrich Hoffmann, 1924)

Rudolf Hess was a bit of a deception for the British Secret Services. He was examined by the highest level of the British government, a certain Ivone Kirkpatrick who had been First Secretary at the British Embassy in Berlin from 1933 to 1938. The man quickly provided reassurances to Churchill and the government that they had hooked the real Rudolf Hess and not some impersonator.

In 1941 Churchill was desperately trying to lure the Americans into a war that Britain was losing on every front. Now Hitler had sent a peace envoy to sabotage his efforts. The day after the news broke, Hitler flew into a rage over the disappearance of his deputy and was clearly fearful that Hess would reveal Nazi plans to invade Russia during the summer.

So Churchill locked Hess up in the London tower and let MI6 have a go at him. The results of the interrogation were never revealed and Churchill prepared special accommodation for the prisoner. Hess was put in Camp Z, a fortified manor house near Mytchett southwest of London where he would be protected by the Scots Guards in case a Nazi commando came looking for him, but also any word he uttered would be recorded by special microphones hidden throughout the building. Churchill’s instructions were very clear: he was to have food, books, writing materials and limited recreation, he was to be cut off from all communication (newspapers, radio) with the outside world, and was to receive no visitors without Foreign Office approval. Finally, he was to be treated as a very special prisoner of war and possibly a war criminal.

Churchill’s approach was clearly to delay and hide the man away. He certainly didn’t want Hess talking to journalists about peace proposals when he was trying to salvage his disastrous policy of war with Hitler.

Playing Rudolf Hess has been published!

I am happy to announce that my novel Playing Rudolf Hess is out on Amazon and Booklocker. The price is US$19.95 for paperback and US$4.99 for the ebook. The various ebook choices will be available in a week or two. On the Booklocker site (www.booklocker.com) you can download an excerpt of the first three chapters.

Tell me what you think about it!

 

8 – MURDER AND DECOY

As soon as we accept the reality of a Hess imposter or double, the story takes a very unique turn. We now have a man trying to hide his identity from Britain’s secret services. We have a man trying to dupe the British government with a peace plan. We have a man who is serving as a decoy for the death of the real Rudolf Hess. Who killed the real Hess? Who organized the flight of the imposter to Scotland and trained the man?

Himmler (left) with Hitler

We suppose Himmler and the S.S. are behind the plot. They are the ones who locate the Hess look-alike, train the man to be a decoy and send him to Scotland. Dr. Thomas surmises that Himmler’s goal was to get rid of a political rival and at the same time launch peace overtures to the British. Himmler felt that Germany’s chances of succeeding in a war with Russia would improve if Britain was out of the war.

It is quite common for criminals in murder cases to use a decoy to deflect blame from themselves.  A man kills his wife in the home and then to fool the police, sends a decoy with his wife’s credit card to a distant city while the husband at home calls the police. The police suspect the husband, but a stolen credit card quickly puts them on a false trail. No one can ignore factual evidence and decoys are very effective for building bullet-proof alibis. So our theory is that Himmler used this common deception to deflect suspicion from the government and the party by convincing the German public that Hess had flown the coop. A perfect crime and coverup, if ever there was one. There was never any danger that the fugitive Hess would reveal Nazi plans for the Russian invasion in July 1941 since he had no knowledge beyond what his masters had fed him.

I will be giving a free seminar starting in the spring on Rudolf Hess : the imposter story and the murder of the imposter which is not discussed in my novel. This is a fascinating subject: a detective story with a lot of mystery.

It won’t be long now before you can order the book on Amazon, Ingram, Indigo, Barnes and Noble, or any other online bookstore.

8 – MURDER AND DECOY

As soon as we accept the reality of a Hess imposter or double, the story takes a very unique turn. We now have a man trying to hide his identity from Britain’s secret services. We have a man trying to dupe the British government with a peace plan. We have a man who is serving as a decoy for the death of the real Rudolf Hess. Who killed the real Hess? Who organized the flight of the imposter to Scotland and trained the man?

Himmler (left) with Hitler

We suppose Himmler and the S.S. are behind the plot. They are the ones who locate the Hess look-alike, train the man to be a decoy and send him to Scotland. Dr. Thomas surmises that Himmler’s goal was to get rid of a political rival and at the same time launch peace overtures to the British. Himmler felt that Germany’s chances of succeeding in a war with Russia would improve if Britain was out of the war.

It is quite common for criminals in murder cases to use a decoy to deflect blame from themselves.  A man kills his wife in the home and then to fool the police, sends a decoy with his wife’s credit card to a distant city while the husband at home calls the police. The police suspect the husband, but a stolen credit card quickly puts them on a false trail. No one can ignore factual evidence and decoys are very effective for building bullet-proof alibis. So our theory is that Himmler used this common deception to deflect suspicion from the government and the party by convincing the German public that Hess had flown the coop. A perfect crime and coverup, if ever there was one. There was never any danger that the fugitive Hess would reveal Nazi plans for the Russian invasion in July 1941 since he had no knowledge beyond what his masters had fed him.

I will be giving a free seminar starting in the spring on Rudolf Hess : the imposter story and the murder of the imposter which is not discussed in my novel. This is a fascinating subject: a detective story with a lot of mystery.

It won’t be long now before you can order the book on Amazon, Ingram, Indigo, Barnes and Noble, or any other online bookstore.

7 – BRITAIN’S SECRET SERVICES

What did MI6 or MI5 think about Hess?

MI5 had a special branch in 1941 known as B Branch whose job was to handle suspected German agents. They had some very competent people, although many were rank amateurs in intelligence gathering. Men like John Cecil Masterman, Frank Foley, T.A. Robertson, and ‘Tin Eye’ Stevens who all spoke German and were familiar with every aspect of German society. Masterman was behind the Twenty Committee (XX – Double Cross system) who were so successful during the war turning German agents into doubles and sending disinformation back to their handlers in Germany.

Tower of London

After a few days in Scotland, the authorities moved Hess south to the Tower of London and then to Mytchett Place near Farnborough in Surrey, known as Camp Z.

 

Mytchett Place, “Camp Z”
MI5

It was here that MI5 would have examined every detail of Hess’s previous life. No decoy or Hess double could have withstood five minutes under this kind of professional scrutiny (childhood in Egypt, education in Germany, pay, housing, insurance, parents, co-workers, etc.). Every facet of a man’s life would be examined under a critical eye and Hess’ life was well known to his interrogators since he was a public figure and had been on a podium with Hitler for almost 20 years. It is almost inconceivable that the MI5 did not discover the truth about the man.

 

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the book (It is freely available for subscribers of this blog, so grab your copy now if you haven’t already done so). The text is now complete and going to the publisher this week. The book should be out by December 15.