The Three Barons

by J. W Lateer

  The Nazi Connection and George

  de Mohrenschildt

  In late 1940, George attended a showing of a “daring” documentary shown at the Ritz-Carlton in New York. It was a film produced by his supposed cousin named Berend Rudoph Konstantin Maydell or Count Maydell. Although Maydell is classified as a fifth cousin according to some, author Mellen writes that Maydell was of no relation at all to the de Mohrenschildts.

  The film was called “Spain in Arms” and it glorified the Spanish Civil War, sympathizing with the Franco victory. This film was produced by a company called Film Facts, Inc. The film had a musical score, sound effects and narration and had been showing in cities across the U.S. Sounds expensive. According to JFK researcher John Bevilaqua, Count Konstantin was a spy who was working for a Nazi German Intelligence Chief, General Reinhard Gehlen, who himself was a high officer in the Nazi Abwehr or spy community. Interestingly, Gehlen, throughout the War, served on the Eastern Front.

  The connection between de Mohrenschildt and this film raises more questions than it answers. First, why was George viewing a pro-fascist propaganda film in the first place? Did he have pro-fascist friends who invited him? The film was being shown at the Ritz-Carlton, so this implies that there were wealthy pro-fascists who arranged for this showing.

  Author Mellen writes that the Film Facts company was organized by Pierpont Morgan Hamilton, a grandson of J. Pierpont Morgan. This raises an explosion of contradictions. In her description, Mellen describes Film Facts, Inc. as struggling financially and thus suggests that Pierpont Morgan Hamilton was a financial fly-by-night like de Mohrenschildt. Actually, per Wikipedia, Pierpont Morgan Hamilton was a well regarded WW I pilot for the Army Air Service. He was described as the scion of the Alexander Hamilton-descended family as well as the J.P. Morgan family.

  Between the Wars he was an international banker, presumably either with J.P. Morgan or with Morgan contacts. J.P. Morgan was considered the exclusive international bank for Great Britain. It is extremely unlikely that Pierpont Morgan Hamilton would have deliberately affiliated himself with a Nazi spy like Maydell. In fact, early in 1942, Hamilton went back into active duty with the U.S. Army Air Corps. His immediate assignment was in Air Corps Intelligence as liaison with the Royal Air Force.

  If Hamilton had worked with Nazi spy Maydell through Film Facts, Inc. then Film Facts, Inc. could very well have been a front corporation for the British SOE under Sir William Stephenson. The British would have been trying to ensnare Nazi spy Maydell, in which they apparently succeeded.

  But let’s look at the role in this of George de Mohrenschildt. De Mohrenschildt was in the U.S. as a Polish citizen with a resident visa as a Pole. His biographers report that, after seeing the film by Maydell, he wanted to do the same sort of thing. So he contacted the Polish consulate. At that time, Poland-proper was soon under occupation by Hitler. So the Polish consulate he contacted would have been the Polish Government-in-Exile, located in London, and must have been financed by the British. If there were money to be spent on propaganda films, it would have been British money.

  The reporting by the biographers on the subject of the timing of this period is confusing. In the narrative about George’s Polish citizenship, the fact is that at this time, Poland was being overrun by Hitler and partitioned between Germany and Russia. There is no information whatsoever as to how this affected de Mohrenschildt, either philosophically or in terms of his legal status and papers.

  Biographer Mellen reports that the success of George’s proposed film called “Poland Forever” was dependent on receiving footage of the actual fighting from Germany. If Poland were occupied by Hitler, then the footage must have been found somehow in occupied Poland, either the German occupied part or the part occupied by Russia. These facts involving de Mohrenschildt and the film must have happened after Poland was occupied. Otherwise, there would have been no film of the fighting involving Poland.

  De Mohrenschildt’s father was still living in Nazi Germany. There are some claims that his father, after the war, was recruited by post-war German intelligence. We know that post-war German intelligence was being run by either the CIA, the British SOE, General Reinhard Gehlen or a combination of these. It looks like his father may have been his contact to supply the film footage from Nazi Germany.

  The film footage destined for George de Mohrenschildt from Germany was seized by British Intelligence before it arrived in the U.S. All of this makes it look like British Intelligence considered de Mohrenschildt to be in the same category as Maydell; i.e.; a Nazi spy whom they were trying to ensnare or entrap and hand over to U.S. authorities.

  Quoting biographer Weiford, George contacted the Polish Consulate and convinced them to finance the studio and production costs at Cine-Laboratory for a short 45 minute film to be called “Poland in Arms.” Supposedly, George did all the film cutting, production, and editing for this film. Later in life, he would list this as one of the major things he had accomplished in life that could be verified and proven.

  George de Mohrenschildt told the Warren Commission that he thought that Maydell was a White Russian who thought he could get the return of his Russian estate with the help of the Germans. This sounds more like the life story of George de Mohrenschildt.

  In 1942, de Mohrenschildt went traveling in the South with a woman named Lilia Larin. He stopped in Corpus Christi, Texas where he got in contact with Baron George Edward Farenthold, a local businessman. The two got together in a bar in Corpus Christi, where George was noticed loudly voicing pro-German sentiments.

  From there, George traveled to Mexico with Lilia Larin. After arriving in Mexico City, he was ordered to leave Mexico by a high Mexican official. Biographer Weiford tends to blame all these security-related government actions taken against de Mohrenschildt on either romantic rivalries over a woman or the ethnic prejudices of the FBI. But where there’s smoke, there’s fire when it comes to the involvement of de Mohrenschildt and these allegations of Nazi spying.

  After receiving his orders to leave Mexico, George was confronted by an FBI “hold” order forbidding him to re-enter the U.S. The grounds for this were that George was “a Nazi sympathizer or possibly an agent.” Weiford presents this as groundless. When he finally re-entered the U.S. at Laredo, Texas, he was interviewed by Captain Mellick of the U.S. Military Intelligence Division.

  J. Edgar Hoover responded to a request for information by Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle, Jr. about whether de Mohrenschildt should be allowed entry to the United States. This meant that the case of de Mohrenschildt had reached the very top level of the State Department. In mid-September, 1942, the Office of Military Intelligence issued a report on de Mohrenschildt which listed his associations with Carmen Barnes and Bertram Wolff, who were on security watch lists. A “refusal” or “lookout” was put on his passport file, based on a suspicion he was a Nazi agent.

  George then went back to New York and re-connected with a friend by the name of Pierre Freyss who was reportedly working in the oil business and at the same time working for French Intelligence. Again, the relationship between Freyss, France and the German defeat and occupation of France is treated by biographer Weiford as if it never happened. Just as the question of the occupation of Poland is never discussed regarding George’s supposed Polish citizenship, the question of whether Freyss continued with French Intelligence when France became Vichy France is never even brought up. So the issue of a French Intelligence connection on the part of de Mohrenschildt is problematic. His connection with Nazi Count Maydell is, however, quite solid.

  The State Department, the FBI and the INS all conferred and they all agreed that if de Mohrenschildt ever left the U.S., he should never be allowed to return. Biographer Weiford makes the assumption that these professionals simply didn’t know what they were doing and they didn’t like George’s German-sounding accent.

  Upon returning to New York, de Mohrenschildt tried to join the OSS, but was refused, again, upon the conclusion of the
investigators that he was either a Nazi sympathizer or a Nazi spy. He moved into a rooming house. Also living at the rooming house was a friend of Grace Buchanan Dineen. Grace was later convicted of espionage for Germany and sentenced to twelve years in prison. The name of this friend of Dineen was Patricia Deuel. At this time, De Mohrenschildt was again reported to the FBI by a man named Clifford Pinchot and another by the name of Pierre Haas as being a likely Nazi agent.

  Returning to New York City from a temporary stay in Venezuela, he learned that his friend Baron Konstantin Maydell had been released from Ellis Island Prison by a Federal Judge after serving only four years.

  In 1944, George decided he needed more schooling. The de Mohrenschildt family knew both Alexis Wirren who had started the Russian Student Fund and Alexandra Tolstoy, daughter of Leo Tolstoy, who had started the Tolstoy Foundation in 1939 to help assimilate Russians into American society. With a small stipend from these sources, George was able to enroll at the University of Texas in Austin and he then earned his master’s degree in petroleum geology.

  George de Mohrenschildt had petitioned to become a U.S. citizen in 1943 but his petition was only granted in 1949. After WWII he had moved to Venezuela where he worked for Pantepec Oil, a company owned by the family of William F. Buckley. It was revealed years later that Buckley was a sometime CIA agent after graduating from Yale. In 1950, George launched an oil investment firm with his step-nephew Edward Hooker (the cousin of the Rockefellers) with offices in New York City, Denver and Abilene, Texas. The Hooker connection to the Rockefellers was through George’s brother Dimitri.

  In May, 1946, George and his brother Dimitri attended the wedding of his Rockefeller-related nephew Edward Gordon Hooker. One of the ushers at the wedding was future U.S. President George H.W. Bush. Bush had been a close friend of Dimitri since rooming with Edward Hooker at Andover prep school.

  In August, 1946, George made a move to Rangely, Colorado where he was to have the only job in his life where he achieved any degree of success and stability. Rangely was a rough, western, frontier-type of place where the oilfields were for the first time being explored and exploited. George work as a Field Engineer. In Rangely, he met William Charles “Ted” Savage who would prove to be his true (possibly best) friend for the next 30 years. Over the years, there were a large number of people that George described as close friends. But the difference between friendship and financial and other dependency, in the case of George de Mohrenschildt, is hazy.

  As previously mentioned, in early 1950, George contacted Edward G. Hooker and they started an oil promotion partnership and drilled wells in the Southwest and Midwest. Also at this time he met Sam Ballen, owner of High Plains Natural Gas, who became along with Savage, an enduring long-term friend of George over the following years.

  George

  de Mohrenschildt Moves to Dallas

  The next information reported by author Nancy Wertz Weiford is some of the most significant information in the entire JFK assassination literature. It has been neglected and unreported by all other researchers. She explains that in Dallas there were two Eastern Orthodox churches. The St. Nicholas Church in Dallas had been formed through a man known as Metropolitan Anastasy. Anastasy had authority over all Russians of his religion who lived outside of Russia. Its membership was limited to those Russians who were, or were descended from, escapees from the Bolsheviks. These were defined as “White Russians.” The leader of this church was the well-known JFK assassination figure Paul Ragiorodsky who was probably, based on overwhelming evidence, a player in the JFK assassination.

  The second church was St. Seraphim, which was formed through the Metropolitan Leonty which represented the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in North America. The leader of this church in Dallas was George Alexandrovich Bouhe who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1904. Bouhe fled Russia in 1924, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1939. Bouhe’s profession was that of an accountant in Dallas.

  George de Mohrenschildt was introduced into Dallas society through both Ragiorodsky and Bouhe. Author Weiford really whets the appetite of the JFK reader when she throws out this intriguing bit of information about the two Eastern Rites and the two Churches.

  If the St. Nicholas Church in Dallas was made up only of “victims” of the Bolsheviks, one wonders how many people were in that Church? The church is still in existence. According to the St. Nicholas website, the church was founded in the early 1900’s and “died out in the 1960’s.” According to researcher Jim DiEugenio, the Russian Orthodox Church was a recipient of CIA funds. Author Alan Allen reports that there were 25 families who made up the membership of St. Nicholas in Dallas. All of these families were “victims” of the Bolsheviks, (i.e. they had lost their cushy lifestyle with servants and peasants waiting on them hand and foot). So what were the sermons about each week? Probably the same topic: Joe Stalin.

  So we have to add a third nest of politico-religious extremists to the list of JFK suspects. JFK researchers already know about the right-wing Protestant Evangelical extremists like Billy James Hargis and Gerald L.K. Smith who flooded the airwaves in Texas and elsewhere with religious paranoia. They were sometimes called “The Christian Fright-Peddlers.” Then we also have the militant Catholic fanatics which include Joe McCarthy, Pat McCarran, Congressman Charles J. Kersten, Cardinal Spellman, the FBI-connected Father John Francis Cronin and finally, Thomas J. Dodd.

  Now we can add the congregation of St. Nicholas.

  In 1952, de Mohrenschildt settled in Dallas where he took a job with oilman Clint Murchison. In Dallas, he joined the Petroleum Club, joined the Dallas Council of World Affairs and taught at a local college. George’s associates in Dallas included oilmen Paul Ragiorodsky, George Bouhe and Lawrence Orlov. Ragiorodsky hired George for an oil industry consulting job for a brief time, but he reportedly had a low opinion of George according to those who knew both of them.

  In 1959, George married Jeanne Le Gon, who was his fourth wife. The prior three wives had not worked out well, but Jeanne Le Gon was the perfect wife for George and they stayed married for many years. From 1960 to 1961, George and Jeanne claimed to have walked 5000 miles from the Mexican Border to the Panama Canal.

  What is seldom mentioned by JFK researchers is that the background of Jeanne was the heritage of the Russians from Harbin, China. In his book The Russian Fascists, author John J. Stephan reveals the story of Anastase Vonsiatsky of Connecticut, easily the most open and notorious White-Russian gangster ever to operate in the U.S. Vonsiatsky was from Harbin, China and author Stephan equates Russian fascism with those who came from Harbin. Why did George and Jeanne have such a wonderful relationship despite George’s terrible track record as a husband? It would be fertile ground to explore, whether de Mohrenschildt’s wife Jeanne had her own connection to political intrigue, independent of her marriage. This is another door which, to the knowledge of this writer, has never been opened.

  In the de Mohrenschildt biographical manuscript edited by Michael Rinella, it is clear that George was only one of a succession of Oswald babysitters. He first visited Lee Harvey Oswald in the company of Col. Lawrence Orlov, a person of Russian or Polish ancestry with even closer ties to CIA agent J. Walton Moore than George and Jeanne.

  We will later examine the question of whether Orlov, who had a Jewish wife and a Jewish father was actually deliberately involved with LHO by George in order to implicate a person of the Jewish faith, as was done in the case of Jack Ruby. Oswald had numerous babysitters in the Dallas White Russian community (and even outside that community) in the persons of Ruth Paine and Michael Paine. J. Walton Moore was the full-time CIA representative in Dallas. Moore is a major suspect in many books on the JFK assassination, but there has never been a smoking gun discovered regarding Moore and the assassination. Over a four-year period, George and his wife Jeanne had exchanged dinner engagements with Moore in each other’s homes.

  The rest of the story of George de Mohrenschildt is well known to JFK readers and need not be re
peated here. Suffice it to say that George de Mohrenschildt scandalized people in Dallas by greeting his Jewish acquaintances with “Heil Hitler.” He once gave a speech which glorified the history of Hitler’s Vlasov Army. This created a major disturbance among George’s social circle in Dallas. Given his history and background, it seems beyond doubt that de Mohrenschildt was a Nazi sympathizer and certainly had some connection to Nazi Germany, either through his own connections or through his father who lived there from the 1930’s until he died.

  There were multiple situations involving George de Mohrenschildt that suggest he might have been on a CIA mission. One was the walking tour through Mexico and Central America. George and Jeanne just happened to be in Guatemala where the CIA-funded Cuban Exiles were training for the Bay of Pigs invasion. When he returned from the walking tour, he wrote up a 600-page book including information on social conditions in Central America. He tried to sell this book to the U.S. State Department.

  In 1963, when JFK was looking for a plan to remove the Haitian dictator Francois Duvalier, George de Mohrenschildt was in Washington, driving around in a convertible with Clemard Charles, a Haitian who was being proposed by some as a replacement for Duvalier. Were all of these very unusual situations just co-incidences?

  In the Spring of 1963, George was involved with the “backyard photos” showing Oswald with the rifle. He also was involved with the reported role of Oswald in the alleged shooting incident involving General Edwin Walker. Since there is conflicting information about whether Oswald ever even had that rifle in his possession or as to the time when he acquired it, it is possible that George was requested to lie to the authorities to some extent about the photos and the rifle.