The Fellowship
Page 33
He told them everything he knew, holding nothing back.
At night, the doctor tended to his wounds. Wolf asked about the Black Order, but the doctor didn’t seem to know what he was talking about. And Sister Klara did not return.
On the third day, Wolf decided he had had enough.
“I have done my duty,” he told the Americans. “Now I should like to be repaid in kind.”
The olive skinned one lit a cigarette. He looked at his companion, who gave a nod of approval. “We’ve already made arrangements. You’ll be taken overland through the Alps tomorrow. We have a contact there that will take you to Spain. From there, you’ll be taken to Washington D.C. for further debriefing.”
It was not what Wolf had expected. He felt suddenly winded. “I want asylum here,” he said. “Not America.”
He wanted to know about the ossuary. He wanted to see what was really in the Vatican archives. He wanted to know the truth. He deserved that much.
“Look kid,” the American said, interpreting Wolf’s silence as defiance. “If you don’t want to cooperate in D.C., we can send you to a work camp in Alabama, but you’re not gonna like it.”
“I want to see Heinz Lang,” he told them.
He could tell by the looks on their faces that they had either met Lang or knew of him. The olive-skinned one whistled for the Swiss Guard. Wolf was taken back to his room, where he sat detailing his thoughts in the notebook where he had documented the vision and the prophecy.
*
The cell door opened sometime after ten. Two Swiss Guards pushed a figure inside the room. Wolf took the candle from the bedside and raised it. It was Lang.
His friend’s hands were cuffed before him. He was dressed in white linens identical to those Wolf had been wearing since his arrival. Wolf got up and embraced him. Lang’s return touch was merely cordial.
“Are you hurt?” Wolf asked.
“No.”
“Have you talked to the Americans?”
“As little as possible.”
“We have to help them,” Wolf said. “Better that the Americans drink themselves into a stupor at the Haufbrauhaus than the Godless Russians.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
“They want to send me to America, Heinz. I told Sister Klara that I want to learn about the Black Order and about the ossuary.”
“You have to forget about that,” Lang said. “The Black Order doesn’t exist.”
“What are you talking about? You saw them!”
“I saw nothing. One of the monsignors here said the Black Order was shut down centuries ago.”
“And you believed him? Don’t deny your own experience! They hit us in Paris and Venice. If they are real, then the ossuary has to be real.”
“It was just the Resistance,” Lang said. “A well-organized insurgency. That is all.”
“Heinz, listen. I had a vision. God spoke to me.”
Lang stood and headed for the door. Wolf sprung from his chair and grabbed Lang by the arm, toppling him over with his enthusiasm. Something metal clanged in the near-darkness. Lang scrambled to his knees, searching the dark floor for the object.
Wolf found it first. He stood, holding the shiny object up to the light. It was a long key inscribed with the papal crest.
“Heinz,” Wolf said. “How did you get this?” Even with such limited visibility, he could make out the terror on Lang’s face. “Why would you have a key like this?”
And suddenly Lang was screaming for the guard. Wolf moved in to silence his friend, and the two boys were soon wrestling on the floor. “Was it you, in Paris?” Wolf asked as the door flew open behind them. Wolf threw a punch, splitting Lang’s lip. “Did you tell them we were coming? Did you help them murder Hoffman?”
The guards separated them. One of the guards held Wolf on the ground, and he looked on as Lang got up of his own free will and stood in the doorway. “Blessed be the Lord, my rock,” Lang said, “Who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle. My loving kindness and my fortress. My stronghold and my deliverer. My shield and He in whom I take refuge.”
“Do not hide behind scripture!” Wolf screamed. And then he began to feel the heat on his skin. His cheeks and palms were suddenly wet. But unlike Venice, he did not feel at peace. He felt as if all of Europe’s rage was contained within him, bursting to get out.
And when his palms began to bleed once more, and the crimson tears fell from his eyes, he expected Lang and the guards drop to their knees and pray as the hooded ones had in San Giacometto. But they did not. Horrified, they groped for the door handle, found it, and escaped outside, locking it behind them.
PART III
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
CLASSIFIED MEMORANDUM
TO: Deputy Director, FBI (100-428091)
FROM: SAC JC Wilson
SUBJECT: INTERNAL SECURITY
There are enclosed herewith to the Bureau three copies, and to the New York Division one copy, of a report received from CG 5724-S* on February 9, 1943. This report deals with the findings of a three-day debriefing of SS Unterscharführer Sebastian Wolf, who surrendered himself to American authorities at the Vatican in January 1943 after capture by an unidentified group (possibly Vatican Intelligence or an affiliated insurgent organization).
Debriefing began on Vatican premises on January 3, 1943. Post-debriefing, Subject was originally scheduled for transfer to POW farm labor camp in Murdoch, Nebraska. Request for transfer to Washington D.C. was granted on grounds that subject possessed unusually candid details about high-ranking Nazi government leaders and operations. Debrief continued in Washington D.C. on February 18 after Mr. Wolf was successfully evacuated to Spain en route to the United States. The following report includes relevant military details under consideration by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Army Air Corps.
3 – Bureau
1 – New York
1 - Chicago
SYNOPSIS OF MILITARY INFORMATION HEREIN
Summary follows. Details copied to Army Air Corps for possible use in Strategic Operations.
Sebastian Wolf drafted at age 15 from the Reich School, a top Nazi political training academy in Feldafing, Germany. Subject detailed names and locations of instructors and locations of 12 additional “Hitler Schools.”
Subject named 26 SS officers and 142 Ahnenerbe members, including highly detailed information regarding duties, ranks, and physical descriptions.
Subject reports food rationing in Germany to a greater degree than previously believed. Confirms reports of poor harvest previous year.
Subject reports Hitler Youth seen near anti-aircraft batteries in central Munich and various points in Brenner Pass (Alps) to protect key rail lines.
Subject denies knowledge of camps imprisoning ethnic minorities but claims to have known Catholic priest imprisoned at Dachau Camp near Munich and personally witnessed Jehovah’s Witness labor camp inmates working near Wewelsburg.
Claims aircraft engine factory operational within old BMW plant (Munich) and detailed locations of six additional munitions plants near Frankfurt.
Confirmed existence of “breeding” programs to encourage population growth among ethnically desirable couples. Claims mother worked at one such camp (possible contact).
VALUE ANALYSIS
Opinion of intelligence value: HIGH/SUSPECT
Sebastian Wolf conveys an unusually high degree of potentially valuable internal SS/Ahnenerbe operational information. Subject appears both highly intelligent and highly charismatic, although given to occasional erratic behavior, perhaps as a symptom of battle fatigue. However, value of information is unusually detailed in relation to subject’s seniority, calling into question validity of claims. Subject explained this by citing high casualty rate on multiple war fronts, apparently depleting draft pool, along with elite status of political institution attended.
In addition, subject’s outlandish claims abo
ut occult rituals within the Nazi party are also suspect.
Subject repeatedly asked if meeting with Nobel Prize winner Karl Landsteiner could be arranged upon arrival in U.S. Wanted to discuss unnamed subjects relating to “blood sciences” and “D-N-A.”
Subject left the Vatican under duress. Demanded access to unnamed “Holy Relic” before acquiescing to evacuation demands on January 8, 1943.
RECOMMENDATION
Wolf is only existing POW claiming to have personally worked with Heinrich Himmler since invasion of Poland in 1938. If sane, ongoing insight highly valuable for duration of war.
Recommend admit to federal facility in D.C. area for psychiatric evaluation. Further decision pending outcome of diagnosis.
62-43899-7789
MEMORANDUM TO
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FBI
SUBJECT: Sebastian Wolf Escape
On March 17, 1943 POW Sebastian Wolf (see CG 5724-S*) escaped from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Washington, D.C. where he had been under psychiatric evaluation after intelligence debriefing.
Agents surveilling suspected Nazi sympathizers and other subversive organizations in surrounding area were put on notice. There were no contact reports.
On March 23, Mr. Wolf was apprehended at the Rockefeller Institute laboratory in New York. Police report Mr. Wolf appeared at the Institute demanding to see Karl Landsteiner, a blood science specialist who won a Nobel Prize in 1930. Mr. Landsteiner is Professor Emeritus at the Rockefeller Institute and spoke with Mr. Wolf briefly before excusing himself to call police.
Landsteiner claims not to know Wolf. His statement that he left Europe prior to Wolf’s birth checks out.
Landsteiner claimed Wolf alarmed him when he said that he had recently been in Wewelsburg, Germany with Dr. Gustav Hahn, who was one of Landsteiner’s professional rivals in Germany. Hahn is a known anti-Semite whom Wolf had previously linked to a “Blood Science Research Group” that reports personally to Heinrich Himmler and other high-ranking Nazi figures.
Landsteiner said he then excused himself to phone the police. His assistant, John Hafner, said the following: “He told me that Dr. Hahn and others had completed research demonstrating that ethnic identity could be identified by blood analysis and, in the near future, would be identifiable through DNA analysis. He said the purpose of his visit was to get Landsteiner’s professional opinion on whether this science could be applied to other kinds of research. I told him that we were not interested in Nazi research, especially as it related to racial matters.”
Wolf was returned to federal custody pending further investigation and psychiatric analysis.
It is requested that you advise me at your earliest convenience as to whether further investigation of this individual’s knowledge of contemporary German medical theory, or Professor Landsteiner’s, as it corresponds to the war effort, should be investigated by the Bureau.
C.E. Longsmith
Special Agent in Charge
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, New York
62-43899-7789
Office of Strategic Services
Official Memo
CLASSIFIED
DATE: April 2, 1945
TO: Office of the Secretary of War
SUBJECT: Operation Paperclip
This is a formal request on behalf of the OSS for the immediate and undivided services of POW Sebastian Wolf (see CG 5724-S*).
Given the American advance on the Rhineland, and the Russian advance in the east, the OSS has concluded that simultaneous occupation of German territory by both American and Soviet forces is inevitable. Of chief concern is the acquisition of German scientific and engineering knowledge, especially related to rocket science knowledge and hardware; jet aircraft design and hardware; nuclear fission science and materials; cryptography research and decoding devices; and certain medical and biological research and advancements, especially relating to genetics, breeding and biological weaponry.
The OSS’s goal is to ensure that such knowledge is acquired and owned wholly by the United States. Therefore, the OSS is proceeding with Operation Paperclip immediately.
It is the belief of the OSS that Mr. Wolf’s background could be leveraged to help establish relationships with members of the German scientific community. It is our understanding that Mr. Wolf has been cleared psychologically and is not considered a security threat.
Please advise me immediately as to Mr. Wolf’s whereabouts so that he can be activated and deployed.
Sincerely
James McAvoy Wyeth, Deputy Director
Office of Strategic Services
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE GROUP
CLASSIFIED MEMORANDUM
February 06, 1946
SUBJECT: Consultancy for Sebastian Wolf
This is a formal request to grant political asylum for Sebastian Wolf (see CG 5724-S*) and install him as a temporary paid consultant to the newly formed Central Intelligence Group as agents monitor the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany.
As previously discussed, Mr. Wolf has repeatedly provided valuable intelligence information despite original fears that he suffered from delusions as a result of battle fatigue. The fact remains that the majority of Mr. Wolf’s claims made upon capture have since been confirmed by the War Department/OSS.
Mr. Wolf has been invaluable to efforts to import German scientific knowledge, including human resources, to the United States, in some cases acting as chief translator/liaison. Furthermore, since the occupation, Mr. Wolf has helped authorities find and recapture confiscated treasure from former Nazi Germany, including artwork and jewels. This includes several paintings now hanging in federal buildings.
Given his cooperation with the United States since his capture, it is the opinion of this office that Mr. Wolf would be in mortal danger if repatriated to Germany.
If permitted to remain in the United States, Mr. Wolf intends to fulfill any request of service to the Central Intelligence Group before pursuing a career as an Episcopal priest.
Please advise at your earliest convenience.
UPDATE TO FILE 62-43899-7789
CLASSIFIED AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
Date: Friday, November 19, 1973 - 9:04am - 9:39am
Participants:
Location:
FIRST 3:12:35 RECORDING: INAUDIBLE
3:12:36 PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS
Wolf: It’s my personal belief that God has given us science so that we can better understand Him.
Wolf: I didn’t realize that,
Wolf: Very interesting.
Wolf: Not necessarily, sir. I believe religion can get in the way of following Jesus.
Wolf: [laughs] I think the conversation is the main attraction, sir.
Wolf: I di
d what I could to help.
Wolf: I’d be happy to have the discussion. I think we can come to some sort of understanding.