Josef Jakobs - 1898-1941 - Page 8 of 56 - The story behind the last person executed in the Tower of London.

Was German Spy Josef Jakobs imprisoned at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp?

June 14, 2021 / Places / 7 minutes of reading

I’ve known for a few decades that Josef Jakobs claimed to have been imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. I’ve always wondered if his claim was true. Lt. Col. Robin W.G. Stephens, commandant of MI5’s secret interrogation centre certainly believed it was true. But it’s always been a niggling question in my mind. Every year, however, […]

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The Gestapo Orders that Sealed the Fate of Gustav Goldemann

June 7, 2021 / People / 15 minutes of reading

Gustav Goldemann was the ill-fated Jewish German in-law of German spy Josef Jakobs. Goldemann was swept up in a transport of Jews from Berlin to Riga in 1942. He would never return. I published an earlier blog about Goldemann’s life, as best as I could piece it together based on readily accessible information on the

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The Comical Humour of MI5 Cartoons

May 31, 2021 / People / 8 minutes of reading

I never really thought of MI5 as having a sense of humour. That was, until I received an email from Dr. Nicholas Hiley who kindly shared some MI5 cartoons from the First World War which seem to suggest that at least some of the MI5 officers had a sense of humour! Nick had initially written

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Edward Brereton Goodacre: The Literary Historian who became a Wartime Intelligence Officer

May 24, 2021 / People / 24 minutes of reading

How did literary historian, Edward Brereton Goodacre, become an intelligence officer and interrogator of spies with MI5? That’s what I want to know. Although I doubt that I will ever learn the answer. I wrote about Goodacre several years ago but I thought I might try to expand on what we know about this enigmatic

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What Happened to Stephen Stratford’s Study Room?

May 17, 2021 / Websites / 3 minutes of reading

For a few years now, I’ve noticed that a helpful website on spies from the two world wars has been offline. Stephen Stratford’s site had a wealth of information on a variety of topics having to do with British Military and Criminal History. I was most interested in the spy information but I’ve seen links

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Book Review – Anna’s Spuren by Sigrid Falkenstein – 2012

May 10, 2021 / Books / 6 minutes of reading

The Book Annas Spuren: Ein Opfer der NS-“Euthanasie” (Anna’s Traces: A Victim of Nazi “Euthanasia”). Sigrid Falkenstein. Herbig, Stuttgart. 2012. Introduction A few months ago, I faced the uncomfortable possibility that Josef’s sister, my great aunt, may have met an unnatural fate at the Hufeland Hospital in Berlin-Buch. Maria Jakobs was sent to the hospital

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On the Firing line with the Germans - LoC

Irving Guy Ries – an Early Victim of Identity Theft

May 3, 2021 / People / 15 minutes of reading

For over 100 years, the list of German spies executed by Britain has included the name of a German-American, Irving Guy Ries. While many sources acknowledge that this name was a pseudonym, they simply note that the man named Ries did not wish his real name divulged in order to avoid embarrassing his family. Over

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The Many Faces of Robin W.G. Stephens

April 26, 2021 / People, Robin William George Stephens / 6 minutes of reading

A few months ago, I came across this blog post on Huntercombe (Camp 020R) by Tony Percy on his Coldspur site. The post had a number of stunning photographs of a group of officers, including R.W.G. Stephens, inspecting the troops at Camp 020 (Latchmere House). I asked Tony if he could put me in touch

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Book Review – Spy! – Six Stories of Modern Espionage – Richard Deacon & Nigel West – 1980

April 19, 2021 / Books, Robin William George Stephens / 11 minutes of reading

The Book Spy! Six Stories of Modern Espionage. Richard Deacon and Nigel West. British Broadcasting Corporation, London. 1980. Background Given how much controversy the 1980 Spy! television episode on Camp 020 aroused… I thought I would try and track down the accompanying book, written by Richard Deacon and Nigel West. I found one online and

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The Four German Abwehr Operatives who Ran the “Finishing School” for Spies in The Hague

April 12, 2021 / People, Things / 17 minutes of reading

It must take a certain type of individual to mentor and train a man as a spy. Watching them depart on their mission, knowing that the likelihood of success is excruciatingly slim. Knowing that they have essentially been sent on a one-way suicide mission. Such were the men stationed at Abteilung I of the German

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