The Nazi Spy Ring in America: Hitler's Agents, the FBI, and the Case That Stirred the Nation

by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

Speedy cars and faster women, British secret agents and Nazi spies, stolen American blueprints hidden in violin cases and specially adapted umbrellas. This is the story of the Nazi spy ring that operated in America in the 1930s.

Receiving orders via a hairdressing salon in an unfashionable quarter of Dundee, the ring's eccentric cast included Scotland's Jessie Jordan and Germany's Jenni Hofmann, who were beauticians who spied; the Long Island musician Willy Lonkowski, who was otherwise known as Agent Sex; Ignatz Griebl, a German-American anti-Semite; Kate Moog, one of President Roosevelt’s former nurses, who became the madame of a honey-trap brothel in Washington; and Bremen-based masterspy Eric Pfeiffer, who organised the theft of American military secrets. But on the eve of the Second World War, following a tip-off from MI5, who had been tracking Jessie Jordan in Scotland, the FBI were finally able to bring the group to justice.

In Ring of Spies, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones reveals how this case helped to awaken America to the Nazi menace, and how it skewed American opinion to favour Britain and France, thus spelling the end of US neutrality.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Audiobook, War, Politics, Espionage

1 pages, Audio CD

First published June 1, 2020

About the author

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones was born in Wales and grew up in the ancient town of Harlech. He attended the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, then the Universities of Michigan, Harvard and Cambridge, where he obtained his PhD. He was active in anti-apartheid, anti-Bomb, anti-Vietnam War and pro-civil liberties campaigns and aimed at a career in politics, but then settled down to family life and scholarly pursuits. He was a Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh, where he is now emeritus. He played rugby in Wales, England and America, and remains a keen fan, his other interests being opera, vegetable gardening, and snooker.
Rhodri’s latest book, published in different formats in the United States and the UK, tells the story of how FBI detective Leon Turrou hunted down a German spy ring in 1938 and then conducted an effective propaganda campaign against the Nazis. He is currently writing a history of the CIA, and researching the Glasgow background of the private detective Allan Pinkerton.
For further information:
“Learning the Scholar’s Craft" (2020): https://hdiplo.org/to/E221
Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodri_...

Reviews

[Hugh Heinsohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

More interesting than exciting. A bit academic in style. Worth reading, however, for its view into the politics of the era, how the German spy networks operated, and into the mind of J Edgar Hoover.

[Daniel Farabaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would describe this as a well written and solid book. It does a very good job with the details and people involved and the prose is effective. The author is never able to make a case that the cases are significant in a larger scheme.

[Scharenjo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative but dryly written. At times, the author is very hard to follow.I would hardly categorize this as "a page turner."

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a detailed history of persons and events around the Rumrich spy case. In 1938, eighteen individuals in the United States were indicted on charges of spying for Nazi Germany. The case resulted in four criminal convictions. The case was named after Guenther Gustave Maria Rumrich, a United States Army sergeant turned deserter who pleaded guilty to espionage and agreed to testify on behalf of the US government. All four individuals served time in prison, with sentences ranging from two to six years. The book includes backgrounds on all key figures and what happened after the trial and even after serving their terms. In The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide, the case is called "the first major prewar espionage case". Intelligence was gathered by FBI detective Leon Turrou, who wrote articles about his experiences as a detective. These articles became the book Nazi Spies in America, in turn, became the movie Confessions of a Nazi Spy .

While reading this Havana syndrome which I previously doubted appears to be getting legs. This book is about pre-war espionage when Nazism was even esteemed in some quarters and isolationism reigned in others. Are we in a pre-war period now with Putinist support embedded and quiet espionage afoot? Is some Turrou even known at work only to be known later?

You can support my reviews with purchases made on Amazon through this link.

[Paul Vogelzang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of my work for Smithsonian Associates, the book was provided to me by the publisher. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed it and will interview author, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, which I'm excited about!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history of the pre-war efforts by the Germans to recruit and build a spy network inside the United States.

[Linda]

Recommended by The Economist August 15, 2020 issue:

https://www.economist.com/books-and-a...