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 »
I have been wanting to watch the film, Edward VIII: Britain’s Traitor King, for several years and finally found the chance to sit down and have a look. The former King Edward VIII has always intrigued me. One wonders how differently history might have played out if he hadn’t abdicated. This film makes me wonder
Film Review – Edward VIII: Britain’s Traitor King (2022) Read More »
Introduction For more than a decade, the name “van Hees” has been a thorn under my skin—a mystery I kept picking at, to no avail. Josef told his MI5 interrogators that van Hees had betrayed him to the Gestapo in 1940. He gave a good description of the man: a First World War veteran, a
Albert van Hees: The Man who Betrayed Josef Jakobs Read More »
The Book Beating the Nazi Invader: Hitler’s Spies, Saboteurs and Secrets in Britain 1940; Neil R. Storey; Pen & Sword Books; 2020. Summary From there, the reader is introduced to Nazi Party activities in London prior to the war. Most of these were directed at current or former German nationals, and MI6 felt it was
Book Review – Beating the Nazi Invader – Neil R. Storey (2020) Read More »
This post follows up on my earlier overview of the spies sent by Germany to Ireland during the Second World War Henry Obed is one of the unlikeliest spies of the Second World War. Born to an Indian Muslim family in 1895, Henry was a restless and ambitious young man. He found his way to
Henry Obed: An Indian Spy in the Shadows of Empire Read More »
Most accounts of Gösta Caroli’s capture in September 1940 note that he was apprehended by a farmer in Northamptonshire. This is true enough—but “farmer” hardly does Clifford Charles Beechener justice. He was also a celebrated steeplechase jockey, a respected trainer with winners to his name, and a man whose photograph had appeared in the sporting
The Farmer Who Wasn’t: Clifford Beechener, Jockey, Trainer, Spy-Catcher Read More »