Rudolf Roessler

Rudolf Roessler (Rößler) (November 22, 1897 – December 11, 1958) was a Protestant German and a dedicated anti-Nazi.[1] During the interwar period, Roessler was a lively cultural journalist, with a focus on theatre.[2] In 1933 as a refugee he moved to Switzerland and established a small publishing firm in Lucerne known as Vita Nova that published exiled writers.[3] Late in the summer of 1942, Roessler ran the Lucy spy ring, an anti-Nazi Soviet espionage operation that was part of the Rote Drei[4] while working for Rachel Dübendorfer through the cut-out Christian Schneider.[5] Roessler was able to provide a great quantity of high-quality intelligence, around 12000 typed pages,[1] sourced from the German High Command of planned operations on the Eastern Front, usually within a day of operational decisions being made.[5] Later in the war, Roessler was able to provide the Soviet Union with intelligence on the V1 and V-2 missiles.[6]

Rudolf Roessler
Roessler along with Xaver Schnieper who is not shown being escorted by Swiss authorities in 1953 during his arrest.
Born22 November 1897 (1897-11-22)
Kaufbeuren, Bavaria
DiedDecember 11, 1958(1958-12-11) (aged 61)
Kriens
NationalityGerman
Other namesLucy or Lucie
CitizenshipGerman.
OccupationJournalist, Publisher, editor Agent
Years active1939-1943
OrganizationRote Drei

Early life

Rudolf Roessler was born on November 22, 1897 in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria.[7] He was the son of a Protestant Bavarian Forestry Official.[8] Roessler graduated from high school in Augsburg at the age of 17.[2] Following the start of World War I Roessler was drafted into the German Army in 1916[2] and served as a soldier in Berlin.[9]

After the end of the war in 1918, he studied theology in Augsburg.[10] Roessler, a liberal conservative became a pacifist and an opponent of Nazism.[11] He started working as a journalist at the Augsburger Postzeitung,[12] a German daily newspaper that was one of the most important Catholic newspapers in Germany until it was banned by the National Socialists in 1935 and the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, a daily newspaper printed in Bavaria.[13] In 1922, Roessler founded the Augsburger Literary Society.[13] In 1928, he became director of the Christian-conservative Dt. Bühnenvolksbund in Berlin, a association for the advancement of German theatre stage people.[13] For the next two years, Roessler edited the magazines Form und Sinn (Form and Sense) and the Deutsche Bühnenblätter, a theatre magazine[13] and was co-editor of the Nationaltheater.[13] In 1930, he co-wrote Thespis : das Theaterbuch (Thespis: the theater book) along with several other people including the German art historian Oskar Fischel, German writer Walther Holländer and Austro-German writer, poet and art critic Theodor Däubler.[13]

In Berlin, he was a member of the Herren Klub, a prestigious gentleman club, where he met senior officers from the military, many who would later become his contacts within German and assist with the disclosure of classified information.[11] Vita Nova primarily published German writers in exile.[14] In 1933, he was expelled from the Dt. Bühnenvolksbund by the Nazis.[15]

In January 1934 and while still in Berlin, he co-founded the Vita Nova publishing house in Lucerne, Switzerland along with the Catholic bookseller Josef Stocker and the financier Henriette Racine.[13] Stocker had been encouraged to help co-found the publishing firm by Jesuit priest and theological philosopher Otto Karrer.[16] Vita Nova published some fifty brochures and books attacking both the Nazis and Communism, contrasting them with the positive values of the other Germany and Russia.[16] The wee firm also published books that were critical of Francoist Spain.[16] Indeed, the firm provided the only real publishing house for exiled Christian, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox writer and playwrights to publish their work.[16]

In May 1934, Roessler emigrated to Switzerland as a refuge with his wife Olga,[13] with the help of his friend, Xavier Schnieper, who Roessler had met during his studies in Drama[17] in Germany.[18] The Nazi regime subsequently withdrew his German citizenship in 1937.[13] In 1939, Roessler became a member of the group that was associated with the left-wing Catholic journal Die Entscheidung (Decision)[13] that was published by Xavier Schnieper.

World War II
Organisational diagram of the core members of the Red Three in Switzerland.
An Unexpected Visit, 1934. An artist of the same name, Rudolf Roessler was able to render the refined atmosphere of the interiors in the affluent class of the interwar period. Note the newspaper on the floor: the print media was then of incredible social importance and power.

On 30 May 1938, Roessler was visited by German generals and two of his contacts Fritz Thiele and Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, who would eventually become the officer in charge of the intelligence department of Army Group Centre in the Eastern Front.[19] Roessler was provided by Enigma machine and the latest shortwave transmitter and told to listen for messages from Thiele who was stationed in the Bendlerblock. The messages were to sent using the call-sign RAHS.[19] A typical day for Rudolf Roessler was to receive transmissions via the Broadcasting Center during his work day, and rebroadcast this information to the Russian military after leaving work for the evening.

In the summer of 1939, Xavier Schnieper approached Roessler and invited him to work for Swiss Intelligence.[7] Roessler accepted the position on the condition that the offer was official.[7] At that time, Schnieper was working as a junior officer in the Swiss Intelligence agency Buero Ha at the time located near Teufen and he introduced Roessler to Major Hans Hausamann.[20] Roessler was one of the most important sources of intelligence for the Bureau Ha.[21]

During his career, Roessler provided intelligence to the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, at the minimum.[22]

Operation Citadel

In early March 1943, Hitler planned a massive counteroffensive against the Kursk salient known as Operation Citadel in the hope of turning the tide in the east.[23] On 15 April 1943, Hitler signed Order Number 6 to begin the offence.[23] Within 24 hours of the attack Alexander Foote had informed Soviet intelligence.[23] Roessler's intelligence wasn't only strategic in nature.[23] He supplied the Soviets with detailed information on the new German Panther tank.[23]

Roessler's Sources in World War II

The record of messages transmitted show that Roessler had four important sources.[24] Three and a half years before his death, Roessler did reveal that four of his informers had been high-ranking figures in the German general staff and civil service. These code names were Werther, Teddy, Olga, and Anna.[24] Roessler stated that these were

Arrest

Paul Böttcher, Rachel Dübendorfer, the courier Tamara Vigier, Roessler, and Christian Schneider were arrested on 19 May 1944.[25] On the 22–23 October 1945, the Swiss military court sentenced each to two years.[25] Roessler was incarcerated at the prison of Lausanne until his release on 8 September 1944.

After World War 2
A period copy of Bertolt Brecht's Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera), music by Kurt Weill, performed in Berlin in 1928, burnt in the public square on 10 May 1933. Brecht, like many left-wing intellectuals, had left Germany three months earlier.

Roessler was arrested again on 9 March 1953,[15] at the same time as Xavier Schnieper.[13] Under interrogation Roessler admitted that he had been contacted by Karel Sedlacek in 1947,[13] who at the time was the Czech Military Attaché in Bern.[26] Sedlacek knew Schnieper well and he also knew that both Schnieper and Roessler as free-lance journalists would be struggling to make ends meet.[17] Sedlacek had ordered Roessler via an intermediary, to reactivate this wartime Rote Kapelle contacts. Roessler, by virtue of his wartime reputation, was giving a sweeping brief. He was told to report all military and air matters in Western Europe, including the U.K. and Spain, and in particular to concentrate on U.S. Forces and U.S. Intelligence Services.[26] Roessler trial was held on 2 November 1953, where he was charged with spying on West Germany for Czechoslovakia. He was sentenced to twenty-one months in prison, minus the time he in detention awaiting the trial.[13] Roessler was imprisoned for nine months and released in early 1954.

After he was released from jail, Roessler spent his last years living quietly in Kriens. He continued to write.[13] His articles, that were unsigned, appeared in the Lucerne daily newspaper, the Social Democrat Freie Innerschweiz.[27] Roessler continued to argue against the re-militarization of Germany and for international solidarity.[13] The articles can be split into two categories.[27] The first category was short articles of one to two pages and that focused on a part of a larger topic. The second and more important was articles that were on a specific areas of interest, ran to four or five pages and covered subjects within economic, social, colonial and security policy.[27] These bigger articles often contained a number of abbreviations that were subject to change, so it was not possible for the reader to determine who the author was.[27] Roessler was disillusioned with the Cold War, particularly after his trial, particularly when he was accused on spying in favour of the Soviet Union.[27] Therefore, his work at the newspaper was not formally recognised. Even this obituary failed to mention his work there.[27]

Roessler was not a Social Democrat.[27] So it was difficult to determine how his political analysis was affected by his articles being published in a social democratic daily newspaper, as other sources on his life, politics and cultural outlook have so far been lacking. In a telephone call to the Freie Innerschweiz on 29 May 1991, his friend, Xaver Schnieper confirmed that Roessler would certainly not have written anything that contradicted his opinion.[27]

Roessler was committed to the socially disadvantaged, combined with a criticism of the idea that technology and armament were the only way to a better world. He had aversion to the hysteria of the Cold War and its associated militarism that made his appear more left-wing today, than many social democrats at the time.[27]

Analysis

There is a number of sources that claim that the Red Three was functioning before the war and that Roessler as Lucy, sent information to the Soviets that provided advanced warning of Hitlers impending attack on Russia.[28] However, on examination of the radio messages that were transmitted by the group, proves that Rachel Dübendorfer didn't form a clandestine relationship with Roessler until the late summer of 1942.

Roessler value to the Red Three and the Soviets derived entirely from his sources in Germany. This context is probably misleading, as the CIA believed that the German sources gave their intelligence to Swiss General Staff, who in turn supplied Roessler with information that the Swiss wanted to pass to the Soviets.[29]

Literature
  • C.P.S. "Le Jugement Contre Roessler Et Schnieper." Tribune De Lausanne 6 November 1953: n. pag. Print.
  • Sandor Rado: The Jovial and Worldly Spy. Vol. 30. 1986. Print.
  • "Soviet Agents' Work Revealed." Prescott Evening Courier [Prescott, Arizona] 9 July 1953: 8. Print.
  • "Top Soviet Spy Goes on Trial." Sarasota Herald-Tribune [Sarasota, Florida] 2 November 1953: 1. Print.
  • "Alexander Rado." Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 15 November 2013. Web. 27 December 2015.
  • Ambrose, Stephen E. Ike's Spies. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company Inc, 1981. Print.
  • Bauer, Eddy, Peter Young, James Lawton Collins, and Correlli Barnett. Illustrated World War II Encyclopedia: An Unbiased Account of the Most Devastating War Known to Mankind ... Contains the Original Text Previously Published in the United Kingdom plus Background Articles by a Group of Distinguished Historians ... Enlivened with Color Photographs Recently Uncovered. Place of Publication Not Identified: H.S. Stuttman, 1978. Print.
  • Hastings, Max (2015). The secret war : spies, codes and guerrillas 1939-45. London: William Collins. ISBN 9780007503742. OCLC 934038363.
  • Rossé, Christian. "Le Service De Renseignements Suisse Face à La Menace Allemande, 1939-1945." Ivresdeguerre.net. 8 May 2007. Web. 27 Dec. 2015.
  • "'Rote Drei' Agent Files." The National Archives. N.p., May 2004. Web. 27 December 2015.
  • "Rudolf Roessler." SpyMuseumcom the 1 Resource for Espionage on the Web. 19 March 2015. Web. 27 December 2015.
  • Time-Life Books, ed. WW II: Time-Life Books History of the Second World War. 1st ed. New York: Prentice Hall, 1989. Print.
  • Volkman, Ernest. "Rudolf Roessler: The Enigma of Lucy." Spies: The Secret Agents Who Changed the Course of History. New York: J. Wiley, 1994. 237-46. Print.
  • Ziemke, Earl Frederick. The Soviet Juggernaut. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life, 1980. Print.
  • Accoce, Pierre; Quet, Pierre (1972). A man called Lucy. A Berkley medallion book. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. OCLC 3998850.

See also
  • Vita Novi Swiss publishing house created by Roessler

References
  1. Time Inc (12 May 1967). LIFE. Time Inc. p. 10. ISSN 0024-3019. 00243019. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  2. Kellerhoff, Sven Felix (4 July 2013). "Rudolf "Lucy" Rössler, der beste Weltkriegs-Spion" (in German). History: Axel Springer SE. Die Welt. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  3. Jeffery T. Richelson (17 July 1997). A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century. Oxford University Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-19-976173-9. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  4. Tittenhofer 2011.
  5. Bauer, Arthur O. "KV 2/1627 - Rudolph ROESSLER". The National Archives, Kew. p. 14. Retrieved 2 July 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. Kellerhoff 2013.
  7. Kesaris 1979, p. 344.
  8. Jefferson Adams (1 September 2009). Historical Dictionary of German Intelligence. Scarecrow Press. p. 373. ISBN 978-0-8108-6320-0. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  9. Volkman 1996, p. 239.
  10. Accoce, Pierre; Quet, Pierre; Sheridan, Alan (1968). A man called Lucy; 1939-1945. A Berkley Medallion Book. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc. OCLC 953164692.
  11. Christer Jörgensen (2004). Hitler's Espionage Machine: German Intelligence Agencies and Operations During World War II. Spellmount. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-86227-244-6. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  12. Accoce & Quet 1967, p. 29.
  13. Max Huber (2003), "Rudolf Rößler", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 21, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 751–752; (full text online)
  14. Killy, Walther; Vierhaus, Rudolf (30 November 2011). Plett - Schmidseder. Walter de Gruyter. p. 389. ISBN 978-3-11-096630-5. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  15. "Werther hat nie gelebt" (in German). Spiegel-Verlag. Der Spiegel. 10 July 1972. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  16. Conzemius, Victor (January 1989). "Otto Karrer (1888-1976): Theological Forerunner of "Aggiornamento"". The Catholic Historical Review. Catholic University of America Pre. 75 (1): 55–72.
  17. Tittenhofer, Mark A. (22 September 1993). "The Rote Drei: Getting Behind the 'Lucy' Myth" (PDF). CIA. CIA Library. Phase II: Lucy's Post-War Operation. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  18. Janusz Piekałkiewicz (1974). Secret Agents, Spies, and Saboteurs: Famous Undercover Missions of World War II. Morrow. p. 203. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  19. Christer Jörgensen (2004). Hitler's Espionage Machine: German Intelligence Agencies and Operations During World War II. Spellmount. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-86227-244-6. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  20. Tittenhofer, Mark A. (22 September 1993). "The Rote Drei: Getting Behind the 'Lucy' Myth" (PDF). CIA. CIA Library. The Stage and the Actors. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  21. Campbell, Kenneth J. (2011). "A Swiss Spy". American Intelligence Journal. National Military Intelligence Foundation. 29 (2): 159–162.
  22. Tittenhofer, Mark A. (22 September 1993). "The Rote Drei: Getting Behind the 'Lucy' Myth" (PDF). CIA. CIA Library. The Peddlers. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  23. Christer Jörgensen (2004). Hitler's Espionage Machine: German Intelligence Agencies and Operations During World War II. Spellmount. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-86227-244-6. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  24. Tittenhofer, Mark A. (22 September 1993). "The Rote Drei: Getting Behind the 'Lucy' Myth" (PDF). CIA. CIA Library. Lucy's Sources in World War II. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  25. Tittenhofer, Mark A. (22 September 1993). "The Rote Drei: Getting Behind the 'Lucy' Myth" (PDF). CIA. CIA Library. Sissy and Paul. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  26. Bauer, Arthur O. "KV 2/1627 - Rudolph ROESSLER". The National Archives, Kew. p. 5. Retrieved 2 July 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  27. "PA 215 Roessler, Rudolf: Manuskripte für die "Freie Innerschweiz", 1938-1958 (Akzession)". State Archives of Lucerne. Staatsarchiv des Kantons Luzern. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  28. Tittenhofer, Mark A. (22 September 1993). "The Rote Drei: Getting Behind the 'Lucy' Myth" (PDF). CIA. CIA Library. The Radio Messages Examined. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  29. Kesaris 1979, p. 345.

Bibliography
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.