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would then receive letters back such as "Development of Diesel
Engines." The spies came to the office to deliver blueprints, wartime information, and other sensitive information regarding the United States. However, the office was outfitted with hidden microphones and two-way mirrors, so FBI agents would be able to film the meetings for future use. Using the office, the FBI were able to obtain countless hours of incriminating footage. For example, the group's leader Fritz Joubert Duquesne was caught discussing how fires could be started at industrial plants to slow production, and showed photographs of blueprints for a new bomb being built in the United States. In different footage, a spy explains his plan to bomb a building, going as far as bringing dynamite and detonation caps to Sebold's office.
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radio station, and established contact with the Abwehr's radio station in
Germany, posing as part of Sebold's spy ring. For 16 months this radio station was a main channel of communication between German spies in New York City and the Abwehr. During this time, the FBI's radio station transmitted over
279:
In
September 1939, a Dr. Gassner visited Sebold in Mülheim and interrogated him regarding military planes and equipment in the United States. He also asked Sebold to return to the United States as an espionage agent for Germany. Gassner and another man, a "Dr. Renken", told him that they would expose
356:
for a company under the name "Diesel
Research Company". This office provided a seemingly safe space where Nazi spies felt comfortable meeting with and discussing their plans with Sebold. The office also allowed spies to send letters to manufacturers like Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, where they
287:
After the threats to his family, his life, and his citizenship, Sebold agreed to cooperate with the Nazis. He was then sent to a seven-week training program in
Hamburg, Germany, where he learned to operate a clandestine shortwave radio, which he would set up when he returned to the United States.
400:
Duquesne provided Sebold with information for transmittal to
Germany during subsequent meetings, and the meetings which occurred in Sebold's office were filmed by FBI Agents. Duquesne, who was vehemently anti-British, submitted information dealing with national defense in America, the sailing of
438:
When the trial ended, Sebold disappeared. He entered a government witness protection program and moved to
California under another assumed identity. He had countless jobs, even trying to be a chicken farmer, but could never hold down a job and was constantly plagued by bad health. Additionally,
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On one occasion, Duquesne provided Sebold with photographs and specifications of a new type of bomb being produced in the United States. He claimed that he secured that material by secretly entering the DuPont plant in
Wilmington, Delaware. Duquesne also explained how fires could be started in
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Sebold was tasked to meet with various spies, pass along instructions to them from
Germany, receive messages in return, and transmit them back in code to Germany. The intention was to pull off the efforts of spies who were passing technological secrets to the Germans during World War II.
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journalist and was the "master coordinator" of the Nazi spies operating in the United States. He contacted aircraft and other technology companies and requested information that he claimed he would use for his lectures. Any plans or photos that he received were sent to the
428:, beginning 3 September 1941. The jury found all 14 guilty on 13 December 1941. The 33 members of the Duquesne Spy Ring were sentenced to serve a total of over 300 years in prison. Duquesne was sentenced to 18 years in prison. The Duquesne Spy Ring remains the largest
319:. He told the Consul that he had been blackmailed into becoming a German spy but that he was a loyal American citizen and wanted to cooperate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States. The U.S. government agreed.
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industrial plants. Much of the information
Duquesne obtained was the result of his correspondence with industrial concerns. Representing himself as a student, he requested data concerning their products and manufacturing conditions.
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300 messages containing falsified or useless information to Germany, and received 200 messages from Germany. Through Sebold, the U.S. identified dozens of German agents in the United States, Mexico and South America.
364:
Mugshots of Duquesne Spy Ring members. In his office and with cameras secretly rolling, Sebold met with a string of Nazis who wished to pass secret and sensitive national defense and wartime information to the
389:
At their first meeting, Duquesne was extremely worried about the possibility of listening devices in Sebold's office. He gave Sebold a note suggesting that they should talk elsewhere. After relocating to an
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agent who said that Sebold would be contacted in the near future due to the knowledge he obtained while working in United States aircraft factories. Sebold proceeded to Mülheim where he obtained employment.
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letters from his family back in Germany explained that the Nazis still wanted to exact their revenge, leaving him in a constant state of fear. Sebold was diagnosed with manic depression and committed to
204:
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Sebold was instructed by the Abwehr to contact Fritz Joubert Duquesne, code-named DUNN, a German spy in New York. Duquesne had been a spy for Germany since World War I; before that, he had been a
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information that he had omitted from his U. S. citizenship application about serving time in a German jail unless he agreed to assist them. Renken was in fact Major Nickolaus Ritter of the
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In his office and with cameras secretly rolling, Sebold met with a string of Nazis who wished to pass secret and sensitive national defense and wartime information to the Gestapo.
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As a result of the massive investigation, when the United States entered the war the FBI was confident that there was no major German espionage network hidden in U.S. society.
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when he visited Germany after being pressured by several high-ranking Nazi members. He informed the American Consul General in Cologne before leaving Germany and became a
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In June 1941, the FBI arrested 33 German agents that were part of Sebold's network. Nineteen of the agents arrested pleaded guilty. The remainder were tried in
235:. In June 1941, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested all of the agents. They were convicted and sentenced to a total of 300 years in prison.
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247:. After emigrating to the United States in 1922, he married and worked in industrial and aircraft plants throughout the United States and
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on February 8, 1940. There, Sebold (with secret help from the FBI) set himself up as a consulting diesel engineer, with an office in
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codes and the use of microphotographs. Sebold was given the alias "Harry Sawyer", the code name TRAMP, and Abwehr number A.3549.
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753:
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ships to British ports, and technology. He also regularly received money from Germany in payment for his services.
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Double Agent: The First Hero of World War II and How the FBI Outwitted and Destroyed a Nazi Spy Ring
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Double Agent: The First Hero of World War II and how the FBI Outwitted and Destroyed a Nazi Spy Ring
729:
700:. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2008. p. 44.
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215:; March 10, 1899 – February 16, 1970) was a United States citizen who was coerced into becoming a
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He returned to Germany in February 1939 to visit his mother in Mülheim. Upon his arrival in
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Ritter gave Sebold final instructions before he left for the United States, including
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With the assistance of the FBI, "Harry Sawyer" was able to obtain an office in
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251:. On February 10, 1936, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
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According to the birth certificate provided by the City Archives of Mülheim
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Hitler's Intelligence Chief: Walter Schellenberg: Walter Schellenberg
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William Sebold and his wife photographed in New York City, 1937.
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The Duquesne Spy Ring • The 33 Members of the Duquesne Spy Ring
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in 1965. Five years later he suffered a heart attack and died.
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155:
742:
Reinhard R. Doerries; Gerhard L. Weinberg (October 18, 2013).
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Hitler's Spies, Germany Military Intelligence in World War II
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is a thinly disguised version of the Duquesne Spy Ring saga.
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Books detailing Sebold's career as a double agent include:
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Sebold served in the German army engineering corps during
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A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century
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Passport to Treason: The Inside Story of Spies in America
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589:. 12 March 1985 – via Freedom of Information Act.
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432:case in U.S. history that ended in convictions.
408:In May 1940, FBI agents on Long Island set up a
307:Before leaving Germany, Sebold visited the U.S.
275:Surveillance photographs of Sebold and Duquesne.
227:. With the assistance of another German agent,
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377:. In the United States, Duquesne had been a
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36:
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855:World War II spies for the United States
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697:The FBI: A Centennial History, 1908-2008
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631:The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide
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359:
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845:Federal Bureau of Investigation agents
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870:German emigrants to the United States
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850:German Army personnel of World War I
769:Richelson, Jeffery T. (1997-07-17).
599:
341:
315:, and insisted on speaking with the
802:. Simon and Schuster. p. 188.
512:, FBI Special Agent - 1938 Rumrich-
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728:from websites or documents of the
628:Theoharis, Athan G. (1999-01-01).
14:
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19:For the writer and academic, see
724: This article incorporates
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574: This article incorporates
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498:FBI Counterintelligence Division
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587:Federal Bureau of Investigation
865:World War II spies for Germany
796:Duffy, Peter (July 22, 2014).
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634:. Greenwood Publishing Group.
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503:British Security Co-ordination
1:
748:. Enigma Books. p. 141.
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213:Gottlieb Adolf Wilhelm Sebold
52:Gottlieb Adolf Wilhelm Sebold
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775:. Oxford University Press.
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472:, written by Peter Duffy.
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110:Helen Lena Buchner Sebold
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730:United States Government
483:The House on 92nd Street
303:Contacts U.S. consulate
726:public domain material
576:public domain material
418:Federal District Court
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229:Fritz Joubert Duquesne
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860:People from Mülheim
480:The 1945 thriller,
441:Napa State Hospital
322:Sebold sailed from
267:Coerced into spying
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166:Service years
116:Espionage activity
809:978-1-4516-6795-0
755:978-1-936274-13-0
707:978-0-16-080954-5
661:"America's Spies"
607:. Da Capo Press.
348:Duquesne Spy Ring
342:Duquesne Spy Ring
326:, and arrived in
233:Duquesne Spy Ring
200:William G. Sebold
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187:Duquesne Spy Ring
84:February 16, 1970
30:William G. Sebold
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354:Times Square
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332:Times Square
324:Genoa, Italy
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221:double agent
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86:(1970-02-16)
21:W. G. Sebald
835:1970 deaths
830:1899 births
601:Kahn, David
373:spy in the
245:World War I
824:Categories
521:References
239:Early life
182:Operations
122:Allegiance
99:Occupation
58:1899-03-10
463:Alan Hynd
430:espionage
410:shortwave
384:Wehrmacht
336:Manhattan
309:Consulate
205:‹See Tfd›
169:1939–1941
603:(1978).
492:See also
426:New York
422:Brooklyn
365:Gestapo.
223:for the
174:Codename
713:May 11,
392:automat
260:Gestapo
133:Germany
66:Mülheim
806:
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752:
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638:
611:
514:Greibl
476:Film:
282:Abwehr
209:German
156:Abwehr
152:Agency
143:
107:Spouse
664:(PDF)
578:from
177:Tramp
804:ISBN
777:ISBN
750:ISBN
715:2016
702:ISBN
671:2023
636:ISBN
609:ISBN
516:Ring
371:Boer
81:Died
48:Born
334:in
311:in
225:FBI
217:spy
160:FBI
102:Spy
826::
679:^
650:^
585:.
538:^
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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