After a gap of almost seven years, I finally made it back to the National Archives at Kew. Between Covid-19 travel restrictions and personal events, the last seven years have been a bit of a blur, and international travel kept getting pushed onto the back burner. But in November 2025, the stars aligned and I […]
Back to the Files: A Quiet Week at the National Archives Read More »
N.B. I had done an earlier post on Josef Emil Roos in 2020, available here.This current one expands on his life story. Across four decades, Josef Emil Roos turned paper into power—until the paper stopped moving. In 2020 I traced the path of Emil Josef Roos as a shadowy swindler orbiting the likes of Hans
Emil Josef Roos, Revisited: New Swiss, German, and Dutch Files (1901–1941) Read More »
This is the Addendum of a five-part series on the Sommerfeld family,tracing the right-wing affiliations of Harald Tobler and hints of Yvonne’s involvement with the French military.Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 4 is here. Part 5 is here. I was sure that I had finished the Sommerfeld
Sommerfeld Addendum: A Right-Wing Agitator and Suspicions of French Intelligence Read More »
A few years ago, Nick Hinton, a fellow researcher, discovered a couple of fascinating photographs of Robin W.G. Stephens in an antique photo album of the Wana Column from 1920–1921. The photographs were taken by renowned photographer R.B. Holmes. The photo album was listed on the Peter Harrington Gallery’s website as being for sale (£2250).
Hunting for Robin W. G. Stephens in the Waziristan Archives Read More »
This is Part 5 of a five-part series on the Sommerfeld family, tracing the later life of Yvonne Sommerfeld and her son Edgar.Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 4 is here.N.B. An Addendum can be found here, touching on Yvonne’s French military connections. We now turn to the
Yvonne Sommerfeld: The Chaos of a Borderless Life Read More »
This is Part 4 of a five-part series on the Sommerfeld family, focusing on Margarete Sommerfeld and her daughter Evelyne,who spent a decade caught in the Swiss welfare system.Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 5 is hereN.B. An Addendum can be found here, touching on Yvonne’s French military
Evelyne and Margarete Gundelfinger: A Childhood in the Files Read More »
This is Part 3 of a five-part series on the Sommerfeld family, focusing on Georg Sommerfeld’s path from bookseller to scandal and decline in Switzerland.Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 5 is hereN.B. An Addendum can be found here, touching on Yvonne’s French military connections. Setting the Stage:
From Wanted Man to Bookseller: The Reinventions of Georg Sommerfeld Read More »
This is Part 2 of a five-part series on the Sommerfeld family, tracing the fates of the wider family—so many of whom were caught up in the Holocaust.Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 5 is hereN.B. An Addendum can be found here, touching on Yvonne’s French military connections.
Yvonne Sommerfeld’s Family: Survival and Loss Under the Third Reich Read More »
This piece is a follow-up to my 4-part series on Werner Adolf Goldstein.Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here & Part 4 is here. In earlier posts (see above), I explored the gold-related frauds of Josef Jakobs and Werner Goldstein based on Josef’s MI5 interrogations as well as brief notices
Independent Confirmation: Swiss Newspapers on the Jakobs–Goldstein Fraud Read More »
When I first tried using ChatGPT for historical research, I called it a complete waste of time. It invented sources, botched facts, and turned one MI5 officer into a Frankenstein composite of random facts. I closed the tabs and went back to sifting through archives. Two years later, the Swiss Archives dropped a mountain of
Working with Swiss Archive Documents: Human + AI in the Trenches Read More »