Ilu OOPY: el,dEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE:
SUBJECT;
Germany
RE
: .Interrogation of. Subject.
nd"In compliance with reauPit
,tod
.tf.Cpamor.dln8 Officer, thisggg^ssff
Lorralienor.
ubJ
ivilian cloths,. he ^ ^
(public school) nt tlally as follow:
Subject's fathero.xmur.ist. While ntommunist sport organization. RrT7whnh:ro thnt !ubjfctbocame acquainted with Frledrlch -aiTZwhooader in the- oolltlcol activities of Roteport,
shortly after Subject's conoletlon of
Sub1Pnt wo^l tl^SPfillpd.in because of theh,until0
llrtne" Wehrmacht to assist in thethe Reich. He received hl^baslc training withsent to the Balkan*
: n^fp2vj; oia Subject
Subject was wounded on the. Russian fron He.iratospital tf^^MMBrnVtind oventupUv
onvalescent center stgtut in Fob 4o" Seek-
to*lSnt^n'kfehrmacht, Subject volSntf'red2p t0 fle^t. Belgian partisans. In Augis group
fjir*. he .fighting;had stopped.- While wandering about in "Sjjoni he was accostederman-customs officer ond-CP wh6 a'ofaQr-ded Identification papers.eserter. Subject shotlcial and escaped Intcr'Shc 'woods. About two hours
ParllSan8 and; confessed that he had STwJSS-JSS^ and;that heeserter from the Wehrmacht,
,H0 Uved wlth thom ftna worked with
a *uarduc post for the ero^p ^ ormer luxambsurg police
the Germans and did minor nets of sabc-
Belgium, and controls in Belgium"were
jhe*!ovubject decided to return to
co
T
' N
CON.FIJJ
than ln Germany. Carefully avoiding police controls, Subject went to Karlsruhe by foot and train where he livedormer female acquaintance who gaveet of her brother's civilian clothes, the brother being ln the ffehrmacht Towards the end of Decubject made hia way to Mannheimivilian where he Immediately contacted comrade RITZ whohim that the old group had been broken up by the police butew one called EDELWEISS had formod and was active. RITZ was an employee of public utilities and apparently exempt from the draft.
i. s.
obtained forelfij pass Identifying himzechoslovakia.', worker andalse "Arbeltsbuch"'. WhileohnheiinauBTEctr slept in the air-raid shelter at RITZ's residence and ate his meals with RITZ and various members of the organization. Hia chief work consisted tn carrying messages between RITZ and others ln Mannheim and surrounding towns. Subject does not know from whom RITZ received Instructions.
One of Subject's first Jobs was toetter to Speyer and receive another In exchangeirl at the railway station there (see attached Annexe of Subject's At another tine heetter to Darmstadt and exchanged lt for anotheritlar Jugent waitingonument in the Longe Ludwig platz. assword and the special Edelweiss insignia of the Mannheim group were also used on this occasion. Subject, at one period of time, worked directly under Ar.na RITZ {see attached An..exe), sister of Frledrich HITZ, who also appears toeader in the Organisation, Other |missions of Subject included the shadtowlng andof certain individuals designated by RITZ or his sister, and carrying of verbal notices of secret meetings to foreign workers and others.
The membership of the organization conslsta of Hitler Jugend, girls of the BdX and foreign workers ln plants and Industry. The former attempt minor acts of sabotage at dumps and on engines of ffehrmacht and Nazi vehicles. They distribute leaflets, paint slogans on buildings, etc. The olderttempt sabotage within plants and seek to obtain weapons through black market. Subjeot believes that the Mannheim group has one woaoon for evory three or four members, the totalbeingersons. The foreign workerssabotage by creating "accidents" and by making themselves sick. One method is to smoke cigarettes which have been soaked in hair oil, toever. Another is tc apply aor. parte of the body-to cause the auplled part to swell up with symptoms similar to rheumatism of the Joints, which baffles the doctors. Subject himself has purchased the ingredients of mustard flour and vinegar, mixed the preparation and delivered it to RITZ for distribution.
In Novubject woarled of being simply an undercover messenger for. the Mannheim group, and told RITZ that he was goingrip of his own. He, cane to Speyer where he was keptonthoman friend. It was here that hehe would attempt to bring the Americans Into contact with
RITZ and hie group ln order to further the movement and to In--
his prestige with the group ao uhat he could participate more'directly In its activities, eoe destroyed
;hii, false pass and Arbeltsbuch, buticture from his SoJJibuch which he hoped to .use, to get'.into American PW. Avoiding areas wh^ch appeared to be active, he croe-
paei'.^he linea soxowhera between Realch, and Mondoff. In Lorraine.
He remained.in the area for about thirty days living with farmers, and representing himself as an Alsatian workerfrom Gertiany. Or. the strength or his story, and stating that he wanted to visit his wife near Colmar, the Gendarmerie of Rodemeck Issuedasser Passer to travel to Metz. Or.ane approached two American soldiers and Informed them that heeserter from the German Army. The soldiers took him to Morsbach where heInterrogated and relieved of his photo, his pass and oaDcrs bearing addresses of friends in Germany. He was then taken to SarrebourgW.
CONCLUSION AND RECOwlvENDATIoN:
Assuming that Subject's story regarding his communist and EDELWEISS activities are true, and there is no evidence to believe otherwise, lt Is not likely that Subject is on agent of GiS. Had tne Germans captured him, they probably would have used him to ruthlessly exterminate RITZ and his group, and then executed him. Further, as an enemy agentprobably would have comeoreign worker rather thanw, andt have related hl3 EDELWEISS andxperiences. Subject does "not appear to be intelligent enough toalse background with the detail and consistency he has thus far shown.
It is recommended that Subject be referred to SCI foi. further information and possible exploitation.
AGENT'S NOTES:
During several interrogations. Subject has remained consistent with his original statement, attached hereto as Annexe Subjectoor memory which seems to be genuine rather thand his rate of intelligence is not high. It is easy to believe that he was used by RITZ and his groupessenger and under cover mar..
The picture of EDELWEISS differs here from information regarding EDELWEISS PIRATEN as previously known, in that the Mannheim grouc appears to be entirely communistic and dominated by mature leadership, with the younger Hitler boys and girlsinor role. Subjectthat the group contains no Catholics because Catholics and Communists do not tolerate each other, their ideaologios being opposed. If ourIs correct, then the Mannheim group, with its soecial Edelweiss insignia and close security controlsightly knit organization not similar to orllied to the EDELWEISS PIRATEN previously reoorted. Thla easily leads to the conclusion that the 'Mannheim commiL.istt, and possibly others, have taker, over the name and oartial membership of EDELWEISS PIRATEN in order to dominate it and use lt as cover for communist ana underground activities.
APPROVED;
KENNETH CROWS'.;Col, Infantry Commanding
WILLIAM C. KANDT Sp. Agent. CIC
(CI) File
2
ANNEX A
WRITTEN STATEMENT (Translated):
In the0 aboutember of amovement in the city of Mannheimas inducted D Into the army on the Afterould not be concerned with anything anymore.Inurlough and was told that the largest part of the Organi.- -satlor. had been arrested, but desolte thati the work was still being oarrled on. Nothing more was told to me at that time. Eurly lnas wounded in Russia and wassentilitary hospital In Germany. Fromaa discharged und sent tof MMMV Belgium. At the end ofot biteesert from the Army andisappeared. andered around Belgium till the end of October orf November and then made my way towards Germany; ade my way towards Alsace through Luxembourg .by way of Didenhoffenrrived at. Fromeaded towards Mannheim. rrivedade an effort to contact the people of the Organization till knew from the old days. ound -somebody and he told meew group had formed which would carry on the worK. He confided to me the name of this group which was called "Edelweiss".Upon my questions he went on to explain the purpose of this grouo and the people in lt. ecognized some of the names.he mentioned0 He cold me these things because heus one of the fairh ful and would remain so. He turned down an activefor melways had to remain undercover. The assignments of this grouo as faras led to know are the following: First, the smuggling of weapons to the foreign workers and to aid them in their escape out of Germany. Also another assignment is to write on the walls of buildings at nightrunning in the following sense: "Stop the war, we wantr "We are starving andend thetc. 2r.ave myself read an inscriptionall saying the Hitler Regime must go, then the war will be over. The groups have even gone to theof trying to demolish by the uso of explosives munitions deoots with the aid of foreign workers. In other words these people from one word have taken the task of destroying and hindering everything which furthered the continuance of the war. These people have never been in accord with Hltlerism and are entirely weury of the war.
The groups consist primarily ofoys who are true enough to tho 3dM and HJ but throughof membership and Che fact that they. themselves havelpate Inand finally through'the realizationteed-lees sacrifice, theso boysirls, with an inner striving for peaoe and freedom have.tf.ken up the struggle for theirome have even volunteered Into the Army in order to obtainther material.- Old people who still work In Industrie? are also included.- They in particular bring about the concoct between the foreign workers and the groups. OfI can name two people. They ore: Fried-rich RITZ, Monnheim.nd Anna Rltz, Mannheim, Laurlentusstr. To the best of my knowledge theexists chiefly in Manr.heia where the headquarters are located.; It also functions ln Ludwlgshaven, Speyer, Heldlcarmstadt and welnhelm. Since late October, movement* have started in Stuttgart and Tueblngen. Innow of one woman who is employed at Rob. Laz. I, Tigerwalk-kaserne,o. not know where she lives. In Mann-
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now of the following noo^s. The abovez is in charge of the boys and anna RITZ Inthe girls- Anna RITZ herselfailed for li yearsof distributing airplane leaflets criticisingand for belongingommunistic movement-. in She has five girls who are In thecarry the following nicknames: GERDA, MAGDALEN HILDE and OOOU 3esides these there are in theLleselo not knowaddress by memory astaken from me by the.Amerlcins uoon myad written down but did not kr.ow byalso takenrom me.. The groups practice theion in. their work and almost never divulge names. concerned who are leaders are known to each otherothers carry out assignments according to the orders ew comrade who wishes to Join is first tpstedinquiries and observing him. When the same ishe is then inducted but does not at first learnmore exceotuaes of persons which arefor him to know. .If nr. order hns to beone group to another1assword is used forBeauty of theAlpS, and Our Struggle is apassword. The password is changed almost everygroups carry tun Edelweiss under the collar ofor pinned to the shirt. The Edelweiss looksthe-ff *
The dots are green, brown and yellow. The stem is made-of metal andink or white stripe running down the center.
I myself have carried material in an envelope, (the contente ofid not know) to another group. It whs dono in the following manner!
I was informed to hide the envelopend in case of running into the Gestapo or'some ether difficulty tolt in anyee fit. hs told to go to thetation in Speyer and to lookirluenchen Illustrlerten. she* was to being by the right hand side of the door. My password was "Lebvohl"'. et everything at the specified time, passed the t'rl, fiuld the paasword and strolled slowly, out'of thep of thestation in front oftood and waited. hort time the girl', approached. Sheonversation and after,Sclf that we were unobserved, showed me the Edelweisf. ave herenvelope; she gave me one and we ported agui... Thus the organization does its work.ave said beforo arid hi*.ve experipr.ced the mentioned dlatrlo*trengthersons, as far as RITZ explulned to me, they are DO* armed, neithernow exactly whether they make use cf widestadio transmitters.
It was told to nc that the hopee of these people lie in establishing contact with the Americans, and obtain aid from them* mphasize again that these groups are extra cautious as they are required to be so and therefore very difficultrangers to come li: contact with them. However their work ic Very efficient endecause they are constantly being
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COM
preached to by the old or.es that lt Is their freedom andof the homelandhere is left to salvage. this It is clear to the youth that the presenthas nothem, but misled them.. The leaders, asthey have arms and the opportunity, have n, plan to openq.-japs with the aid of tho foreign workprs,release the inmates. By this method they hooe toft revolution and consequently end the war. Fronhowever, the right man would be missing uponundertaking. The only possibilityocontact with these people Is the following. As soonsong of the Edelweiss is repeatedly sungafe by of young people lt is instantly knownroupEdelweiss vre prese.-t. However, this will only bewhoever Is informed, onversation Is then startedthe colors of tho Edelweiss (as it is worn in Now the reactions of tho group areoneign to go out to the lavatory. Thereask what Is dtmsndsd of him. Another method withthat when these peoplo are gatheredjife. and athe Organization enters, he will observe and listenthe If he trusts one of them ho will,conversation with the 6tr-.nger and then brook offthe same realize with whom ho had nnyhen observedertKln length of time tilln AftT thnt he is ueked if he Isy to accopt . He declares ho Is ready and participates. Is he informed of the most essential things thatfor him to know. By this ranthod thoits fighters but in that method they.are againln All other
Original document.
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