REVELATIONS OF KAREL KAPLAN

Created: 6/29/1977

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

CEN. (AL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY. C5

'UN IBIt

MEMORANDUM

Ad M

Director

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Mr. Eugene C. Peterson Intelligence Division

Revelations of Karel Kaplan

FOR THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS-

Kith reference to your memorandum of7 entitled "Karel Kaplan, Internalzechoslovakia" nd the memorandum from this"Reports on Noel Field and thehe attached items are being forwarded for your information.

Khcn the other articles from the Italian periodical Panorama become available they too will be forwarded.

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51

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

C. iOSOS

turn

MEMORANDUM FOR: Director

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Eugene C. Peterson Intelligence Division

of Karel Kaplan

reference to your memorandum of7 entitled "Karel Kaplan, Internalzechoslovakia" and the memorandum from thison Noel Field and thehe attached items are being forwarded for your information.

Khen the other articles from the Italian periodical Panorama become available they too will be forwarded.

FOR THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS:

Attachments:

As stated above.

I

60

o C 'If J

Part II. ame; Rosenberg

]

A file in the Prague archives on Julius Rosenberg, executed in the United States3 for espio- age on behalf of" the Soviet Union. It had been gathered emarkableay two Americano dealt with thecase.

'The natter is extremely delicate. It lends itself too readily to nanipulttion of every tort. And besides, it's not in ray field. pecialist in Czech history, an tellnow about the history of the coramunint movement,now nothing about American history."

This was the first response of historian and Czech communistKarel Kaplanarried the firstf Kaplan's recollections on Stalin and his decision toar in Europe), when, during ono ofonversations in hia little apartment in Munich, where he now lives with his wife, Vilma, the name Rosenberg came up.

It vas the PANORAMA correspondent who first- mentioned the name of the American couple, both committed communists, who wereto death3 for atomic espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. There was talk of the political trials induring the years8 during the Stalinist era, and the Rosenbergs were cited as an example of political trials on the other side of the wall. "Maybe there is something in the Traguc archives that relates to this,aid Kaplan, who knows those archives as no one elso can. He is in fact one of the very few peoplefive or six in allvho had freeto those fileshole year, fromS to What does Kaplan know about the Rosenberg case? It was not easy to get him to tell.

Karelistorian with an internationola Party official8hen expelled likeOubcek's people, at the time of the Prague

consultant for historical sciences to the Central Conaitteo of the Czech CP, was, in that spring given an assignment of extreme delicacy and cnora>ous political importance toby his top superiors in the Party: to write theitivc history of tho political trials, the story of how tho #reamocialist Czechoslovakia had been turnod into tragedy.

Alreadyiliar with the history of tho trials, in which ho was concerned bothistorian andolitician3 ouv*rd, Kitflaiimself suddenly given complete

PfOAWUlE

mI*

freedom, alone with his colleagues, to examine tens of thousands of potentially explosive documents, on which no one had everbeen permitted to lay hands. They contained dAna-Insnot only against Czech leaders like former President Klo-mcnt Cottwald and hie son-in-law, former Defense Minister Aloxej Copicka, but laid serious charges against the Soviet Union

"Tho name of Rosenberg was one of many that passed before my eyes," Kaplan says. But that was notas looking for. ausedoment becauseemembered what thecase had meant to us,aplan recalls.

The answers Kaplan and his colleagues were looking for, gatheredypewritten pages, never saw the light of day. The known as the Tiller report (Jan Pillar, ember of the Central Committee Presidium, was responsible for laboras until now remained secret: in theondensed version of it was published, the only Legmentu to slip through the meshes of the Party until now.

Tho Soviet invasion of8 and Dubcek'sonths later with the present Party secretary general and Custav Rusak, was what prevented publication of tho report. An PANORAMA readers could see for themselves from the historical essay in our last issue, both the Soviets and Czechs had good reasons to keep the report under wraps.

After much insistence, Kaplan agreediscusclon of the Rosen-bore case with two American professors invited to Munich by PANORAMA. They were David Kennedy of Stanford Univeraitypecialisth century American political and Allen Wcinstein of Smith College, in Massachusetts, who brought suit to obtain most of the FBI files on thecase and is nowook about it. The discussion took placeunich hotel onarch. In mid-April,met with Kaplan again. Shortly thereafter someleaks passed across the Atlantic and give an inaccurate picture of tho information on the Rosenberg case in Karelpossession.

PANORAMA: It may well be impossible to talk about the Rosenberg case withoutit emotional, pro or con. Believing or not believing in the innocence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg is in factatter of faith than of Concrete legal proof. It was so, according to many of tho scholars who have dealt with the matter, even for tho judges who decidud tho fate of the two "By your betrayal you havo changed the course of history to the detriment of youraid Judge Irving R. Kaufman from the bench where he presided over tho court. Those wcro high-sounding phrases, hut, accordingot of people, they only thinlyack of solid facts on which to baso the harsh sentence.

" (> .

KENNEDY: That's true. Itighly politicalou must keep in mind that American public opinion vas strongly oriented, after the experience of war and victory, toward ato tho isolationism of the 'thirties. Let the rest of the world, particularly Europe, stew in its own juice, was the attitude of tho average American during those years. President Harry Truman, Secretary of.State George C. Marshall andDean Achcson, decided on the contrary to take on arole in world politics. Honce you had, first of all, the tough talk of the Truman Doctrine, astutely designed to scare the American electorate to death. Then there was the political manipulation of some court cases, those of Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs above all, for political purposes. These were not trumped-up trials, but even so they helped awakenopinion to what the group then running things in Washington then considered the coiununist peril*

KAPLAN: You might perhaps say that even in the United States there were those who played the political role created inby Public Prosecutor Josef Urvalek, the prosecuting attorney in the Rudolf Slansky trial.

KENNEDY: Certainly, even though the overall situation in the two countries was different. America, right after the war,rief period of euphoria. We had von. We had the atom bomb. We were the strongest of all,ere all-powerful.

Then9 came the shock of the coup d'etat in Prague. the year was out, the Russians exploded their first andittle while later, in the springWar broke out. The American dreamastingby American omnipotence was shattered. Thoasking why and, as often happens, the easiest and mostanswer was: find the traitors. It was the old, of history as the doing of conspirators. Looktraitors1 And this soon became the warhorse of thewho were in the opposition at the time. That wasgot to McCarthyism and the charge of treason levelledentire Democratic Party, which had been in power foruninterrupted years. The Rosenberg case has to be lookedthis

PANORAMA: Afterear's of impassioned debate between those who think the Rosenbergs were innocent and those who think they vere guity, do you know anything new about "the Rosenberg case?

WEINSTEIK: Not much so far, since all the investigations have been concentrated, not on the case per se, but on the trial and on the very harsh sentence which was, to say the least, an But almost nobody has dug into all the things that happened prior to the trial, or into how the FBI happened, in it

hunt for apics who may have passed

to pick on Julius and Ethel Rosenborg. SCCrcts to the USSR,

PANORAMA: Cr.nted that the trial vas heavily tainted by the prevailing political climate, there is still the troublesome unanswered question: wero they guilty OP were they Snoce^t?

WEIKSTEIK: No historian can makeudge and handentence. That is what the court, arc for. The historian can and must investigate. And insofarman say that nothing inave examined up to now, proves that the Rosenberg's were innocent.

PANORAMA: Are there additional pieces of evidence of guilt, besides those introduced at the trial?

WEIKSTEIK: Incredible though it may seen, the FBI had evidence that would have been of great help to the prosecution, and did not use it. For example, etter seised on IS0 in the house of David Greenglass and written by Crccnglass's wife, Ruth, to Crccnglass while he was workingechanic at the secret nuclear base at Los Alamos in Now Mexico, where they build the bombs that were dropped on Japan.

Creenglass,ergeant 'in the army, knew absolutely nothing as to what the pieces he was making under the direction of thewere to be used for, nor did he know the reason for all the secrecy that surrounded the base. It was his brother-in-law Julius Rosenberg vho explained it to himi "Julie (that's what everybody in the family called him) vas here and told me what you are probably workingrote Ruth Greenglass to heron Well, the prosecution would certainly have scored some heavy points by asking Julius Rosenberg how in the world he happened to know, ecret no otherknew, vith the exceptionew dozen people in

PANORAMA: Why in the world wasn't the letter produced and placed in evidence by the prosecution?

WXINSTEIK: That is one of the many mysteries surrounding the Rosenberg case. hall explain it in ray book. I'd like to ask Professor Kaplan now if he has anything to tell us. After all, we are in tho same boat': ave had access tosecret documentsawsuit under American lav, and he has had the same kind of access thanks to the particularn which his country found itself

PANORAMA: Professor Kaplan,now that you don't liko to talk about this matter. But you must be aware of the historical of your testimony. Up until now, in fact, allabout the Rosenberg case has como from American, or at least from Western sources.

KAPLAN:ave already said, the Rosenberg case is veryit is not my specialty, andnow aboutearnt by chance. Anyway, there is in the archives of the Centralof the Communist Party inile on Juliusset up priorhe file isolder whichnotes and details relating to an intelligence network set up by the Czech secret services in the United States

PANORAMA: What does all that mean?

KAPLAN: ouldn't say for sure. as never directly concerned with the Rosenberg case, norave foreseenonto that particular file during ray researchowever, as interested in .the intelligence network set up by the Prague secret services in the United Statesas looking into it in connection with the Field case, which was indeed of great importance in shedding broad daylight on thetrials),an offer some theories.

The fact that this file exists may mean either that the Czechs were indeed in contact with Julius, or that they wanted to make Contact with him. And here again it is impossible to makebased on guesswork.

PANORAMA: Rather that proof, what we have here are strongto support one point: Julius Rosenberg was known to the Prague secret services even before he became, following his arrest inrotagonist in the dramas played out on the front pages of every newspaper in the world.

KAPLAN: Certainly, even though what is in the Prague archives does not constitute proof that Rosenbergpy for

PANORAMA: At this point, though, there are some things to clear up. The Rosenbergs were found guilty on charges of spying for the USSR during the period when David Greenglass was at Losos, that is,4 And at that time the SVAB intelligence agency was not yet active in the United States, since it was not founded Furthermore, during the trial, in Marchhere was talk of contacts between Juliusand Soviet diplomat. Anatoly Yakovlcv, but never any mention of Czech agents.

WEINSTEIN: Julius Rosenberg began passing information to thoat the beginning of the war. Minor stuff, potty Industrial espionage. It should be emphasized furthcrmore that thetates and the Soviet Union were allies theno-quarter war against nazism and fascism. And that Julius Rosenberg and his wife (Ethel's rolo in this whole business has yet to be cleared up), night perfectly well have folt that ho wasuasi legal action. Tho USSR then was in fact no longerthe one country to have ndopted the political ideology in which he but was also co:njiiittcderculean ci'fort shoulder to bhouldcr with the United States.

And then, into the life of Julius. Rosenberg, vho was certainlypy on the level of Rudolf Abel, reat event, one destined to change his existence totally, and tragically: by one of those imponderable and perhaps random decisions of tr.ili-tary commands, hie brother-in-law, David Greenglass, was sent to Los Alamos. Suddenly, in the oyes of his Soviet frionds, Roson-berg became an important porsonagc- Maybe he even thought so himself. Anyway, there is nothing to indicate that Julius, once the war was over, ceased his activities as an informer, and it is quite possible that he had contacts with Czech agents as well.

the

PANORAMA: But why did the Soviets have to use/Czechshey had maintained direct contact for atears, ao they could perfectly well have continued thca.

KAPLAN: The.entire system set up by the Czech secret service in the United States had, as one of its principal aims, to provide aid and support for the Soviet spy system. Czechoslovakia stilloalition government, was stillommunist country, and so its diplomats were not nearly so closely watched, in the United States or elsewhere, as were the Soviets.

The Czech role may have been to stand in for their Sovietin making certain contacts, or to provide local agents with the funds required for operations. Itollaboration between Prague and Moscow that wont beyond the area of action of the intelligence services. Nor is it even certain that thiswas imposed by Moscow. Quite the contrary. For many Czechs during those years, it was what you mightoint of honor to help the Soviets in their battles on the international level.

VEINSTEIN: The contact between Julius Rosenberg and the Czech services in America explains one point in the Rosenberg affair that has hithertoystery: why in the world, according to the testimony given at the trial by David Grccnglass, would Julius Rosenberg have told his brother-in-law, ino flee to Mexico and from there,topover in Switzerland or Sweden, to head for Czechoslovakia? In Prague, according to his testimony at the trial, Grecnglass was to get in touch with the Soviet ambassador.

PANORAMA: This sheds light on one detail of tho affair. But, on the whole, does the document Professor Kaplan saw in thechives explain what in many ways is still the- mystery of the Rosenbergs, or doesn't it? Does it tell is whether the Rosen- ergs were guilty, or not?

WFINSTCIK: The proof that the Prague intelligence peoplo knew Rosenberg prior to his arrestery important dimension to the mihappy affair, one which none of those who havo been looking

O

into the case, whether they leaned toward innocence or cui.lt, had dreamed they would have to -take Into consideration. And for that matter, it should have been impossible, working as we do with Western material only.

KENNEDY: ust layremise. The new revelation Dr. Kaplan has imparted to us and which we believe bocause we have nc reason to doubt, his word/ obviously docs not change thenegative judgment we have formed as to the imposition of the death sentence. Having saidhould like to remind you that the Rosenberg case left two great questions unanswered: did the Rosenbergs really pass information to the Soviets, crc they actually guilt of treason? Was the information really important?

I'AXORAMA: The majority of scientists questioned on that point agree that it was not- Basically, it consisted of sketches drawn from memoryergeant whose scholastic record wasbut brilliant.

Y: Bo that-as it may, the answer to the second question is highly technical. A* for the first question, though, as to whether they were guilty or innocent, it seems clear to me that what Professor Kaplan has told us confirms the theory shared by many (and, epeat, quite independently of any opinion as to the trial), that the Rosenbergs were indeed involved infor the USSR. ee it, in the present state of ourof the case, thisevelation of the utmost Importance.

VEINSTEIN: hould like to add that it is not possible now, and perhaps it never will be possible to know exactly what thedid. ould also emphasize the point that you have" to distinguish between the guilt of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and the unbelievable and cruel death sentence. But, having said -that,hould like to say thatave learned fromKaplan, as to whose intellectual honusty there can be no doubt whatever, is of ex-traordinary historical significance.

Spy Hunt

The Rosenberg case is linked with the history of the atomic bomb, with the sense of safety which the possession of the terrible new weapon gave the American public for several years, and with tho sense of loss that struck them when the United Statos' treat rival, tho Soviet Union, exploded itB first nuclear device in the fall Only treason on the part. communists and infiltration of Soviet spies inany Americans bo-liovcdj could hove given the Russians the atomic secret. And that is how the hunt for tho traitors began.

ritish ncientifit Klaus Fucks, who had worked on the American atom bomb at Losasforge. Fuchs confessed.

Vhcclinc, West Virginia,nknown Republican Senator, Joseph McCarthy, for the first time .lrcd charges of

communism" and "treason- againstunidentified Stateofficials. Overnight, McCarthy, whose charges turned ou? in -ost cases to be baseless, ational celebrity.

Philadelphia, FBI agents arrested Harryhemist, who confessed to having worked with Fuchs in atomic espionage for the USSR.

New York,avid Crconglass,ergeant at Los Alamos during the war, charged with having passed atomic information to Coldas arrested. Shortly thereafter, he "told what he knew."

New York, The FBI arrested Creenglass's brother-in-law, Julius Rosenberg,achine-shop owner, who had been fired5 from an array desk job because heommunist.

New York, ugust: Julius Rosenberg's wife, Ethel, Crconglass' sister, was arrested.

Laredo, Texas, ugust: Escorted tu the border by the Mexican police, Morton Sobell,niversity classmate of Julius Rosenberg's, was arrested.

New York, The trial of Rosenberg and Morton So-bell, on charges of atomic spying for the USSR. The events date back to the days when. and the USSR were allies against nazism, but the climate now is very different, and the charge is pitiless. "Their loyalty went not to our country, but tosaid prosecuting attorney Irving Saypol in his summation to the jury. David Creenglass accused Julius of persuading him to pass along atomic secrets at Los Alamos. Cold admitted again having picked up intelligence from Fuchs and Creenglass. The charges said that the intelligence was passed on to SovietAnatoly Yakovlcv. Emanuel Dloch, the Rosenbergs* defonso counselawyer for the CP of America, argued that theagainst his clients, unlike those against Cold and Creen-gla.-is, were invalid.

5 Judge Irvin R. Kaufman pronounced the deathon Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Morton Sobcll gotears. All three protested their innocence

Committees for the Rosenbergs' de fense were formed. More than inhere the earlier Algor Hiss cose had somewhat sated the public's interost, the pro-innocence campaign built up in Europe.

The death sentence was confirmed on appeal.

Attorney Bloch, as American law allows, tried to persuade Judge Kaufman to reduce the sentence. Why didn't the Rosenbergs plead guilty, andighter sentence? Bloch explained to the judge, "deep down in their hearts they believe they are innocent.?

Two Kobe! Priie-winners, Harold Urey and Albort Einstein, ask clemency for the Rosenbergs. The pro-innoceocewas still growing.

For the third time, the Supreme Court, despiteopinions from two of the justices, refused to hear the case.

"Once again we solemnly declare ourrote the Rosenbergsetter asking for clemency fromDwight D. Eisenhower. onfession could save thea from the electric chair. elephone line was kept open in the prison in caseast-minute clemency decision.

Having refused to make any cbnfession, thedied in the electric chair, while in Washington, London, Paris, Rome, and Stockholm silently weeping crowds mourned their passing. They faced the end, wrote the NEW YORK TIMES, omposure that astonished all present."

Almostears have gone by since that day, but the Rosenberg Case, the most controversial of all the postwar espionage cases, tftill enthralls and touches people all over the world. There have been countless pleaseview of the trial. "History Will vindicateaid Ethel Rosenberg before she died. "Therote the American weeklyittle while ago, "lie in an Uneasy grave."

PART IV: REVELATIONS FROM CSSR ARCHIVES (conclusion)

Triple Play for Stalin, by Karel Kaplan]

tTaxt] The whole truth about the Field Case. Washington

charged hi* with spying for the Soviet Union. The oviets were trying to make him confess he wasfor Allen Dulles. Actually, heool in Stalin's hands, used to unleash one of the most massive purges in the communist world.

Heecret agent, but who was he working for? He was used in the most cynical possible wayigantic political game. But by whom? The Americans or the Soviets?

Forears, now, these questions about tho incredible affair. diplomat Noel Haviland Field, who disappeared in Prague9 and surfaced again,ears lator, in Budapest, have been waiting for an answer. Nobody has been able top with the answers until now. So impenetrable was the cloud of dust andkicked up around Field thntustot ofin Washington were accusing him of spying for the USSR, over in Budapest the secret service and Soviet agents were usingto make hiin confess that hepecial agent for Allen Dulles, the Crey Eminence of American espionage.

-Numerous inquiries caneead end. Two books about the affair, ono by Flora Lewis,EW YORK TIMES reporter, entitled "Red Pawn: Tho Story of Koeloublcday,5 and one by BritishStowartperation Splintertoughton,, came to diametrically opposite conclusions: he war. an ignorant tool in Soviet hands, according to Flora Lewis,isturbing clement used by Allen Dulles to put an end to tho political careers of Eastern European communist leaders, according to Steven.

Karel Kaplan, the historian and former communist leader who8 had access to the secret archives of tho Czech CPow has the final word about the Field case. It was the Soviets, says Kaplan, who made use of that idealistic and soma- hat ingenuous American, and who transformed an intellectualentle eyeenerous heort,yed-in-the-wool communist who had worked for the Moscow secret services during the 'thirties, into the number one prosecution witnesswithout his knowledgein the dreadful political trials thot transpired93 in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Bulgaria.

Itellish plr.n, one in which Stalinersonal hand, and one which worked perfectly.

"ricLosOTE

The Kremlin's aim9 was the full and absolute affirmation of Soviet power in all of Eastern Europe. To do this, Stalin had to break with his own communist ruling class, and replace it with more pliable men.

Field knew almost all the communist leaders, whom he had helped during the war when they were fleeing to escape Hitler's police. The plan the Soviet secret service come up with, despite its cruel cynicism, was little short of genius: pass Field off as an American spy, in direct contact with Dulles, and got him to list dozens, hundreds of names. Every nameeath sentence pinned to it.

"To those of us who were working on the Filler report on thetrials inecalls Kaplan, who for the past several months has been living in Munich, "shedding light on the Field case was of the utmost importance: it would have enabled us to add one more crucial bit of evidence to prove that thowas wholly responsible for the deaths and persecution of thousands of sincere communists."

During tho investigation of the Field case, whose findings were publishedage study originally attached to the Piller report (Study no y the working group prepared for theCommission of the Central Committee) several details came to light in connection with Alger Hiss, one of Field's friendsolleague at the State Department in Washington, who was found guilty of espionage when he was tried andetition for review of his case.

Karel Kaplan's two proceeding articles, one on Stalin and one on the Comintern, and the discussion; of tho Rosenberg case have been picked up and commented upon in the press all over the world. The essay on Noel Field, which Kaplan wrote on the basis of thehe examined in the secret archives in Prague, is the last of the scries written by the Czech historian: orld-widefor PANORAMA readers.

Mario Margiocco.

End of a

onths he was held they tried everyonzech secret police chief Karel Svab reported in9 directly to President Klcmcntno matter what they did to him, he confessed nothingnot already -

The object of all this attention, both from his torturers in the Hungarian police and from two very high-ranking Czech officials,year-old American communist, toll, thin, intellectual-looking. ypical American, cordial, kind, onderful smile. lie would look you tttrai^ht in the eye in an open and friendly way." That's how he is remembered many years later by

the tenants of tho apartment building in Marseilles where he was living

His name, Noel Haviland Field, never attracted the notoriety of his friend and colleague, Alger Miss, or the tragic renown, in connectionhameful trialruel death sentence, of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. And yet, strange though it may seem to someone who has never dug deep into the records of thecases of the immediate postwar years and of the political trials toward the end of the 'forties, the case of Noel Field, hxs wife llertn, and her brother Hermann, rucial role in the history of the Soviet bloc. Born of the cold war, it helped to fuel and inflame the conflict between the two rival superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union.

In the summer it was not only two very high Czechlike Cottwald and Svab who were interested in Field. From the Kremlin, Stalin himself was following developments day by day, determined, with his secret service, to exploit the American idealist to set up the hideous machincery for political trials of the Eastern European communist leaders and to show everybody, especially those party members who might have notions aboutfrom Moscow, who was really boss cast of tho Elbe.

Just having known Field, even years before, fpr thousands ofHungarian, Bulgarian, Chechoslovakian, Polish, and Eastcommunists, meant arrest, torture, long prison sentences and, in many cases, death.

But who was Noel Field? Was hoangerous American agentirect line to Allen Dulles,"head of American espionage in Europe during World War II, as Moscow wanted people to bcliove? To find out, and to understand the political and police machinery which, from the very beginning, determined tho course of the whole affair, we have to goew steps, and sec Koel Fieldthe crisis in his life as an active American communist, when tho outbreak of the cold war, 7S, shook his world to ita foundations and drove him, unknowingly, straight into the trap set for hist by the Soviet secret service.

It hadong, cold, winter and, early in April, it was -still snowing on the mountains around Lake Geneva. Noel Field spent loug hours pondering his future, thinking back over tho war yenrs and their horrors and their great hopes, and turning over and over in his mind the menacing unknowns of the present.

By now he had time to think. ew months earlier, in the board of the Unitarian Service Committee had informed him from Boston that he was no longer head of the AmericanChurch Rescue Mission, set up in Europe at the outbreak of the war to succor the victims of foscism.

Enthusiastic and^edicated, convinced thatTyo was serving anotumanitarian ideal, and well supplied with funds. Field had transformed the USC into one of tho mostaid centersar-torn continent. But in the spring8 there was no longer any room in the organization for aintellectual who stood accused by those who had escaped from the clutches of the Gestapo, of always giving precedence to the communists.

To Field, the loss of his job was the final bit of proof, if he had needed any more, of the endream he and many otherAmerican intellectuals had cherished for years: that ofthe wartime alliance between the United States and the Soviet Unionolid and lasting friendship in the name of freedom and progress for the people.

What to do? Field had to decide, inhether to stay in Western Europe and lookob as correspondent for some American newspaper, or to go through what the former British Prime Minister, Churchill, ears before dubbed the Iron Curtain, and settle in one of the new socialist countries. There he had many friends, whom he had aided during the war.with every kind of assistance, with money and introductions into allied circles in Europe, could perhaps repay those favors somehow. The Soviets themselves owedonsiderable debt of gratitude which. Field was sure, they would-certainly not overlook.

The fact was thatears, 3oel Field,oung diplomat who had signed on in the State Department6 as deputy vice consul to the Western European Office, had collaborated with the Kremlin's intelligence services. Hishad had nothing to do with greed for money or cynicalto his own country's interests, but stemmed from hisrooted in3 decision of the "leftist"of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to recognize the Bolshevikof the USSR, that the United States and the Soviet Unionommon mission to save the world from the abyss into which capitalism and the imperialism of tho European powers were driving it. In those months, the USSRrowing admiration in Noel Field, so great as to move him to approve its^ cial, and economic objectives as well as the concrete steps of Soviet policy throughout the world.

He was suppo rted in those convictions3 by several friends whom Field and his wifo, Herta,oung German womantrong and determined character, bound to her husband'by ties not only of deep affection, but by shared political ideas, had met in Washington. Foremost among these friends were Hodc and Paul two Gcrrsan who hadairsbrcadth escape from the Fuhrcr's bloodhounds, and Alger Hiss,rilliant young attorney who worked for the Agriculture Department.

After leaving Germany, theings had done'a lot of traveling, and they had more than ideological tics with Moscow. In America, where llcdo Massing arrivedollowed shortly thereafter by her husband, theypecific secret mission to perform for the USSR intelligence service: they were to recruitsources in Washington among politicians and bureaucrats. They also helped recruit Field. This has been described inbooks, including Hcdewn "This Documents in the Czech archives conform this. Alger Hiss, by now about to bo transferred to the State where he was towift and brilliant career, as was shown during his trial already had relations with the Soviet security services.

The Massings did not know Hiss. It was Field who introduced them, inviting them all to dinner at his house in the springccording to what Hcde Massing testifiedhen she had already abjured communism, at that dinner party there was actually little verbal clash between her and Hiss, since both of them wanted to get exclusive rights to Field's collaboration (this episode is recounted inook). The two intelligence networks, the one Hiss was in contact with and the one the Mas-sings wore setting up, were in fact keenly interested in theon American foreign polucy which Field, once his initial fear and reluctance had been overcome (at first he would merely pass on verbal summaries of the material that'came across hisas beginning to supply to them.

6 Field decided to leave the United States and transfer, stilltate Department official,ob^ at the League of Nations in Geneva. Tho post offered to Field in Cenova wasthe disarmament section, and one which, the 'idealistic Field was convinced, would help to drive away the gathering storm clouds of another war.

Unforeseen Event

In Geneva, the Fields settledovely house. Villa La Chotte, in tho little town of Vandoeuvres just outside the city. Inwiss city Field was put in touchew representative of the Soviet security agency, and began to work with him. That did not last long, however, because the agent quarreled with theand was liquidated. Not long after that, inop agent in Soviet militaryeneral Walter Kri-vitsky, made contact with Field and invited the American diplomat to come to Paris. According to the general, this trip, called for onew hours' notice, was necessary because one of the top men in the Soviet intelligence aiervicc had defected, andhad to be done (other sources say it was to bo actualeliminationEd.). Krivitsky and Field reached ayrccmcnt on the overall operation, and then tho grner.nl put Field In touch with an agent who explained to the diplomat what his role was to be. Dut an unforeseen event, which watt to have futurein Field's relations with the Soviets, cancelled the whole

business: Krivitsky himself defected to tho Americanservice, and woundears later shot to death with ain his roommall Washington hotel. < '

The plan to get rid of the traitor, of course, was out in the open, and therefore had to be scratched. Field, who knew nothing about tho dofcction, thought the general had been discovered and lost all contact with the Soviet intelligence people. Only later did ho find out why tho Soviets had not thought of sending another agent to get in touch with Field: the fairly murky role that American had played in two events as suspicious as may be called for prudence. Some people in Moscow, in fact, thought that Field might have helped Krivitsky defect.

That Field was nevertheless quite uninvolvcd in the whole thing was demonstrated by the fact that in8 ho and Herta light-hoartcdly took off ontrip to Moscow, as tourists. Had he had anything whatever to do with the Krivitsky offair. Field wouldnot have been so rash as to venture into the very den of the Kremlin's secret service.

During that short stay in the Soviet capital, the Fields again ran into the Msssincs. With their help, Field tried again to join the American Communist Party, and this time he succeeded, at least partially. He was not admittedull member, but onlypecial affiliate run directly by tho Comintern, the Communist Third Internationale, and kepteven from the leaders of tho American CP. The Soviets in fact had no interest in allowing people like Field to make their CP membership known, and for that reason they had instituted secret membership, via the Comintern, some time before. During that stay in Moscow, Field was alsoassword with which he could identify the Soviot agent who would bo sent to renew contact with him.

Shortly after his return to Geneva, the league of Nations shut- up shop, as it was foundering in the worsening climate of war. Early in the spring9 Hitler invaded and dissolved the State of Czechoslovakia. Noel's brother, Hermann Field, who was in London, left for Poland to work for the British Trust,umanitarianthat managed to savo hundreds of Czechs from thehes of the Gestapo. 1 Noel and his wife Horta, too, after joining the Unitarian Service Committee (whose headquarters was Marseille), could plunge enthusiastically into tho work ofwar victims.

For Field, this vas the beginningong period of frenzied work. He traveled constantly between France .and Switzerland and took advantage of that foct to act as courier among various groups in the anti-fascists struggle. He made contact with tho leaders of communist and antifascist groups all over-Europe, particularly with the Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, "and Germans. Field did not want to be confinedupporting role, but longed to be on the front lines in the struggle against Hitler.

Ho considered it altogether natural and in harmony with Soviet foreign policy to carry on the gathering of intelligence about the political, economic, and military situation in the nazi-occu-picd territories and to pass on that intelligence to anypower that might indicate interest in having it. ho would have preferred to work with the Soviets, but that direct link seemed to have been severed, at least for the time being. oscow agent had turned up, with thepassword. He had asked whether Field was still disposed to collaborate and, upon receiving an affirmative reply, ordered the American diplomat to drawetailed report on his meeting with Krivitsky and on his own activities over the past several years. Field hesitatedoment in agreeing to the collaboration or in doing what had been asked of him. When he handed in the report he was told to wait for further contact, but he waited in vain.

While the Soviets did not seem particularly interested in Field's offer of collaboration,egree of interest in the intelligence collected by the hundreds of people Field had known as director of the USC was manifested by the American intelligence services, the OSS (Office for Strategic Services), predecessor of theCIA, whoso Berne office was run during tho war by Allen Dulles, who later became director of the CIA. Field sent them

some information, data of at best limited importance and helpful

only in the military struggle against Nazism.

Toward the end of the war Field also went to Paris with afrom Dulles, intending to seterman Anti-fascists Committee for Eastern Europe. Tho suggestion, as recounted by American historian Arthur Meyer Schlesinger, oung corporal in the Paris OSS, did not arouse much enthusiasm: the

idea was to set up an organism which, relying mainly on refugees, would gather intelligence of all kinds about Germany and about the territories still occupied by the Germans. So the last 2

years of tho war passed in constant traveling from one refugee

camp to another, visits to hospitals, and growing hopes for the

final victory of the anti-fascists forces.

The Letter to Dulles

In during the final weeks of the conflict, Field did .something destined,ew years, to change his existence totally and to subject him to unimaginable trials. Of itself, it was innocuous enough: justetter asking that backing be given Tibor Szonvi ungarian anti-fascists and communist who wns later to die on the gallows when the Stalinist trials hit his country. The letter was addressed to somebody with whoa it was quitein those days, evenommunist like Field, to have Allen Dulles. To mako sure Dulles got it, Field pave the letterwiss acquaintance, togetherovering" "Dear Sir? nclose tho letter for'Mr. Dulles which Ithis morning. Sincerely, . Field."

CSC aid to the victims of fascism did not end with the termination ef hostilities. And Field, who had always given the communists most among the antifascists his organization helped, continued to do so. In some Eastern European countries, ho oven nonaged toommunist onto tho USC board. In Chechoslovakia, for example, the job was held6 by Cejna Psvlik,eteran cormunist activist who had taken part in the October Revolution in Russia, and one of his jobs was to provide Field with information as to the country's economic and social situation. Pavlik had reported this activity of his both to Jaromir Dolansky andSiroky, both of then very high ranking officials in the Czech Communist Party, both of whoa told him to go right ahead with it.

Furthermore, immediately after the war, and still in contact with the European communist leadership groups. Field was able to meet in Switzerland with several of the foremost figures in the Czech -CP, among then Arthur London, the future deputy foreign minister and ono of the three acquitted among then trial in the Slanaky case, Evzen Klinger and Otto Kosta, both high ranking officials in the Ministry of Information.

All this activity cametop at the end as wo have seen, when Field was fired. At this point, in addition to the matter of finding another job, there vas another more urgent at the all American sojourn permits for Europe lapsed. In order to be able to stay in Europe' and vork as a as was Field's intention, youew Americanpermit, vhich was hard to got nowot of stories about Field's CP membership were beginning to circulate in or else youew sojourn permit for ono of the new Eastern countries. What to do?

Field's uncertainty case to an end vith the arrival in Svitzerland inS. with an invitation to come to Czechoslovakiarize for all he had done during the war, of Klinger and Kcsta. Field, delighted at the prospect, accepted tho invitationonth later leftengthy visit to Prague and Warsaw. His objective: toojourn permit andob.

He hoped to get all this without difficulty in the East. He maderounds of friends he had made during the war, all of themdown important jobs. He considered, eginning,downhile in Prague andook forabout the people's democracies. He had alreadythe necessary

Among the people Fiold saw in Prague was Vilcmember of the Party CC,ember of parliament, and editor-in-chief of RIDE PRAVO, Rudolf Margolius, who9 was to be named deputyfor Foreign Trade and- was to climb the scaffold with Rudolf Slnnsky, Karel Markus, Alice Kohnova, and Gircla Kischova. AH gave him letter* of recommendationojourn permit.

Some of thorn, according to records in the CC archives in Prague, passed on what they knew about the intentions of tho American guest to Bcdrich Ccminder, secretary of the Party's Centrala man very close to Soviet political circles and tosecurity people*

In Poland, too. Field asked his old friends for help. He made contact with Jakub Derman,ember of the Politburo, in charge of intelligence, and then thean in Poland. Dermanto help him. In September he contacted Leo Bauer, anofficial in the German CP, who gave him word from Eastleader Paul Marker, whom Field had helped to escape to Mexicoord that there would be no obstacles to his joining the Party.

In October and the so-called "intelligence sector" (Evldencnaf the general secretariat of the Czech CP, headed by Svab. gathered information about Field. To do this, Svab's men turned to the American's friends and acquaintances, all of whom had nothing but good things to say about him. Somebody even came up with the letter sent on8 to Ccminder from the central office of the Unified Party of East Germany (SED), signed not only by Marker but also by another top party leader, Franz Dahlem, asking that American communist Field be granted permission to stay temporarily in Czechoslovakia.

*

During that same period Svab tapped A. Jandus, of the "partysection, to tail Field. Jandusoman,ember of the CP, who knew Field well, and from her he found out that Field "for his book, needed to make the acquaintance of someof the opposition." That thero were already some suspicions about Field, perhaps stemming from this very eagernesshis to meet representatives of an opposition'which, since the coup d'etat of no longor officially existed, is evidenced in the report drafted later, in Junehen Field had already been arrested. "Our prudence in dealing with Field has provedaid the report, "in light of the copyighly interesting letter found in Pavlik's safe-deposit box (Pavlik-Politzer was arrestod later, at the time of the Slansky 'trialEd.) The letter ia addresser to 'Dear Leo* (probably Leo OauerEd.). Field confided to Leo that he had pulled all tho strings he could tozech sojourn permit, and complained that even so, he had notFrom the Archives of the Czech CP Central Committee, Files from tho Interior)

In any case, whether they actually had some doubts about Field or whether, after they had arrested him, they wore trying to show thot they had had, the men of Svab's section, in Octoberane out in favor of granting, the sojourn permit, thereatch: Field would first have to answer some questions put to him by the secret police. It was on thisthat Field told the- Prague intoU igence people about his past

'collaboration with the Soviet intelligence agencies, as emerges from the transcript of the questioning, and askedeeting with somebody from the Moscow intelligence headquarters. At this point, however, the Prague intelligence people, who had bconto enlist Field as one of their own agents, lost all interest in him. They were not about to get into competition with their Soviet colleagues and snatch an agent away from thea.

The upshot of the questioningeport from the regionalpolice official of the Prague section, in which it wasthat X. Field has socialisthe date of thereport ishortly thereafter Fieldisa validtho following May, and immediately left for France andto settle his affirs there before establishing permanent residence in tho new people's democracies of the Casta

Meanwhile several things of extreme importance to the future of Noel Field and that of his wife, llcrta, had been happening. About come of them, which were headlined in all the papers. Field was completely aware. About others, planned in deep secrecy by the espionage headquarters of the Eastern countries, he was completely in the dark-Three months before he got his visa from the Czech authorities, while he was staying in Warsaw in Field had found out that the Massings had testified before the. House Un-American Aotivities Committee, having meanwhile abjured communism and ser vercd all ties with the Soviet Union. Field, although there was no formal evidence to support it, was sure that the Massings, in their depositions, had mentioned him, too, and in fact this strong suspicion had spurred hia to even greater efforts to obtain the longed-for sojourn permit from some Thoso since, onths after the alarming news about the Massing testimony, the American press had informed Field of anotherevent involving him: onctober, in fact, the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE had published the news that the HUAC had released the so-called Chambers deposition,age document including, in addition to accusations lodged against American communists hv ex-crnm-and journalist Whittaker Chambers, an additional early deposition from the Massings. Then, in December, Chambers produced further -documents which he had had in his possession for years,howed that during the 'Thirties there had been two groups ofagents operating inside the Stato Department, one headed by Alger Hiss, the other by Noel Field. Clearly, this increased Field's insecurity and convinced Iliaif indeed hehat he could never return to the United Stctos. And when he refused the official summons to return to America, where the Congressional investigating committee wanted to question him, that road was cut off forever. He even considered, as ho said later under questioning by the Hiu-.garian police, the possibility that the American police might try to kidnap him or silence him

forever.

0

The actual attack, though, came from another quarter, from the quarter he had served, not from the one he was working against.

i

The Czech secret police had begun to take an interest in Field, who bade fair toood agent in future, baek in Aprilore or less at the some time when Kosta and Klinger, unaware of the secret service plans, had gono to Switzerland to invite Field to Czechoslovakia.

The Prague secret services were looking for collaborators among American citizens. They had actually sent some of their agents to the United States, amongoman member of the CCP who hadember before the war, and who had spent some of the war years in America. She wasery capable person, nor suited to this very "delicate sort of work. In view of theshe was encountering, she had herself asked to be relieved of her mission and brought home. The only fruit of her work hadew reports on the situation in American intellectual and progressive circles in which, among others, she had mentioned Field's name (she had known him for years)ossible collobo-rator with the Czech secret services. She had also suggested that Field be recruited into the secret service and officially given the mission of organizing the intelligence network among his own fellow-citizens.

She was not tho only ono to mention Field's name to the topin the secret services. In the summbcrhile the former American diplomat was in the Eastern countries, he was recommended as an agentot of-other people who knew him well. Via Arthur London, the letter Field had written to Dulles at the end of the war had come back to Czechoslovakia. In Prague, the letter was received by the security forces, specifically by the official in tho Czech secret services who was working withintellectuals and who was interested in Field.

Onecret police official, by the name of Wehlc, who was later hanged during the purgos, was telling his colleaguas that Field knew Dulles. The proof? etter, hle, written by Field at the end of the war. Even though the official wasAllen Dulles with his brother, John Foster Dulles, theSecretary of Stato, the name Dulles was automaticallyin tho Eastand not without reason'with tho idea of peril and throat.

But Wehlc had not found out about the letter from London. had already spoken to the Czech authorities about thefrom Field tocopy of the

letter, which was later to be the prime pieco of evidence of Field1 collaboration with Americanad already been scut to

Prague in the spring8 by the Soviet intelligenceCentral Europe, whose hcadquartcrsm run by General in Vienna. Why that

The explanation, After lengthy examination of all the documents relating to the political trials in Czechoslovakia, seems pretty simple today: Soviet intelligence, probably on direct orders from Stalin, was already laying the groundworkreattrial in the people's democracies, and had already given some thought to assigning Noelole in this grand stage production.

The trouble for the Soviets was that nobody in Prague wasby the letter, and nobody there attached too much importance to at. Notwithstanding their having received the copy of the let-tor sent them by the Soviets, the Czech police8 actuallyisa to Field, ao we have already seen, thus confirming his statusocialist.

In view of the skimpy results he had achieved in Prague, Belkin and his men went prospecting elsewhere and, since the famous Field letter to Dulles dealt with the Hungarian communist loader Szonyi they turned to Budapest. One of the leaders in tho Czech secret police, I. Milcn,of whose jobs was to keep in touch with the Hungarians, stated later that he had learned from his Hungarian colleague. Colonelhat the whole Field matter had popped out of "Field's lettor to Allen Dulles, which dated back to tho end of the war and which had fallen into the hands of theintelligence people. now that the same letter, or one likeaid Milcn, "was also in the hands of our secret (Archives of the CCP CC, File G, Commission I,

In the latter half of Szucs arrived in Prague. He had corac to ask his Czech colleagues' help in shadowing and perhaps arresting Noel Field. From the notes made onanuary by the ttecrot servico man in Slovakia, Valasck, concerning that meeting, wc find that the help was to consist in arresting Field andhia over to tho Budapest people.

During that period Field's friends in Czechoslovakia and Hungary lready knew that he was suspected of spying on the people'socracics and on the USSR. The news had come from Budapest. The Czech President, Klemont Gottwald, tried to call his country's intelligence sleuths off the matter, and showed no desire toField's arrest. Later on, of course, he changed his mind,ad this to say about his decision: "If even General Belkin has verified the facts in this matter, do what they ask."

at the invitationepresentative of Czech Noel Field went to Le Dourgct airportis, and boarded Air Franceon-stop to Prague. Wholly in the

dark as to what was Going on, he kissed his wife Hcrtaromising that they would soon be together for good, in the Czech capital. Here, meanwhile, the stage was being set, down to the last detail.

Tho Interior Ministry informed the Hungarians of Field's arrival, and asked that SzucS_ come immediately, bringing with him the evidence of Field's criminal activities. The ministry people also wanted Matyas Rakosi, the leader of the Hungarian communists who officially had the final word in this matter, toequest directly to Gottwald to use the Prague police to make the arrest.ay, Gottwald received the following telegram: "Please comply with our request and arrest Field, recently returned to Prague. Rakosi."

e>

Onay, the Czech secret service arrested Field and immediately shipped hin- off to Budcpest. Two weeks later, fromoay, the representative of the Soviet police. General Belkin, stayed on Prague. He was there in his capacity as responsible for the safety of the Soviet delegation to the Czech communist congross-He talked with the Prague loaders about, among other things, the "Field case," since he was concerned with itpecialto Hungary. The leader of tho Hungarian Party delegation also mentioned the matter to tho Czech representatives.

In Budapest tho Hungarian secret police, working with the Soviet advisers, particularly UVn^CHOV and Makarov, tried out several interrogation procedures on Field, using cruel tortures. But nothing worked. They could not get him to confess his'spying for Dulles, much loss having setetwork of agents in the people's democracies for the purpose of cutting the Eastern countries off from the Soviet Union.Even Colonel SzueS "like Svab, marvelled at Fiold's having stood up under so much and such dreadful torture without confessing anything.

All the butchers found out was that Field had collaborated with Soviet intelligence and about the pressures brought to bear on .Field by the American authorities, beginning in tho summer to get him to come home. They were given reason to recollect the unflagging aid Field had given during the war to the onti-fas-cists, and particularly to communists. They got an explanation as to why Field had written that famous letter to Dulles. Thcy wrenched from him information about tho book ho was writing, and the names of those who had given him completely innocuoustion about the development of the people's democracies.

They alsoengthy list of communist leaders, practically all of tnosc Tield had known and helped during the warhis was the origin of tho list of people who became, thank* to

encu, suspect of espionage

vas

Sovietuspect of espionage oY-'subversion. for Field, all unknowing, to have Mentioned theirDulles letter became tho foundation on which to buildpolitical trial of the Sscrctary of tho Hungarian Lazslo Rajk, which ended in three death sentences, that of Tibor l"

A Cruel Came

Neither Fiold nor his wife, nor yet his brother, Hermann, who as we shall sec had been arrested after him, ever appeared before the court, either on charges or as witnesses. They were kept in tho shadows, utcd, and not only in Hungary, but in Bulgaria, in East Germany, and in Czechoslovakia, as mysterious witnesses who had testified for the prosecution. No lessop people in the East German CP, for example, were stripped of their office and imprisoned solely for having known Field briefly in tho past.

Why this apparently absurd behavior on the part of the secretin Hungary and in the other countries, particularly in the Soviet Union, who were actually the stage directors and producers of the Field case?

First of all, the Field case was the contribution of the Soviet secret police, working with their opposite numbers in the people's democracies, to demonstrating the inherent Tightness of theformulas and tho political line of tho Cominform. support was needed for Stalin's line on tho heightening of the class struggle and on the penetration by enemies into the communist world, and evidence was required to back the charge that American imperialists were trying to isolate and separate thodemocracies from the Soviet Union; lastly, the Soviets could use some emphasis on their chargo that the Yugoslav leaders were anti-Soviet, imperialist agents. All these ideological andformulas with which Marxism-Leninism was then being interpreted were the fruit of the cold war and, at the sane time, constituted the facade designed to mask tho real intentions of Soviet policy, which was then one of preparation for war on tho United States.

Set against this background, the Field character offered several potentials for profitable use. Most important of all, though, ita chance to strike at the heart of the whole ruling classstern Europe, whom he had known during the war. It was tho most effective, albeit the cruellest way to root out any vestige of re -

ystance to the new lines of Soviet policy and to rid tho apparatus and sometimes the earthof people who, for one reason or

ahCther, ,lo longer enjoyed Moscow's full confidence.

IT IpJmore than likely thnt, in tho Field affair, tho not

j* bloodless struggle during those years between the American and intelligence forcesart. The American police

had dircovcred ffS espionage system ofield had been part. It is true thatad not been operating for more thanears, but the men who unleashed thecampaign in the United States exploited it to fuel their hysterical attacks on tho USSR. The Scviet police respondedand this isguess that certainlyound oney picking all their cards up from the table sndew game. They turned their own agent into anagent. They sacrificed their own man, who for one thing was of no more use to them and toward whom, over the Krivitsky affair and in the wake of the "Massings1 hey had some suspicious, and they turned himoviet agentpy for American imperialism. And since Field's whole family hadone way and another, at least through their political activism, the whole family was caught up in the pitiless game.

Horta Field, worried to death over her husband's disappearance, and not having heard from him sinceay, arrived in Prague in August, accompanied by her brother-in-law, Hermann Field. They searched desperately among their friends in Prague, trying to pick up some trace of him. Hcrta had already written, when her husband had first vanished, to Arthur London, deputy foreign mhe had said in her letter, "that he has fallen into some trap set for him by agents of the Americanonray."

From the moment they entered Czech territory, the police hadthe Fields' every move. Ms.Field, who had told both London and Markus she was coming, met with the two communist leadersotel where the police had installed hidden microphones.

From the tapes of that conversation, which were immediatelyby the secret service and is now in tho Party archives in Prague, we see Ms. Field's deep concern for her husband's safety. The lady, completely unaware of the cruel design of the people who had orchestrated the whole affair, announced her desire to seek help fromironicallythe Czech secret service. She wasthat, after the Massing and Alger Hiss cases, her husband had been kidnaped by the American police, and that sooner or later he would be haled before an American tribunal. She did not know what to do: all she hoped was that she would somehow be able to help -her husband, even in such extraordinarily difficult circumstances as political kidnaping. She asked tho secret service to confirm or deny tho kidnaping theory, so that, if necessary, she couldassive press campaign to save Field from the American judges. Both London and Markus approved her decision to ask the Czech intelligence people for help.

described in detail the

-

:

Her information also coincided with what Noel had told hisin Budapest. Even the lists of names which the twowere more or less identical. In the end, the Czech police promised to help find Noel Field, and assured Herta that they would keep her informed: actually, they were very careful not toinger, fearing that Herta and Hermann would mount acampaign that would have ruined, or at least complicated' the plan that had been laid to make Noel Field the accuser in all the political trials.

thereafter, onugust, Hermann went to Warsaw, where heot of people. But, as he was preparing to return to Prague, he was arrested, repeatedly interrogated by the Polish and thrown into jail.

The noose was about to tighten around Hermann, too.

Onugust the headpecial section of tho Centralof the Czech CP,apel, asked Party Secretary Slansky there was any reason why Herta Field should not be arrested. Almostimilar query came from Budapest. The decision, in view of the importance of the case in which, asknew, Stalinersonal interest, was left up to Cott-wald. The Czech communist loader and President of the Republic gave his consent oi;ugust, butecommendation that the secret services not get involved in the affair. By the time it was framed, however, that recommendation had already beenead letter by events, because the Czech secret police were up to their necks in the business by

Onugust, through some friends who already knew the truth, the police told Herta that they had managed to get news of her husband, and informed her that they would take her to where Noel vas. Herta, with several police officials, set offar for Bratislava. There she was taken into custody by the Hungarian police. In the following weeks every attempt on the part of Elsie Field, Hermann's wife, to find out what had become of her husband, was in vain. The United Statos consular authorities, underfrom the public to explain the mysterious disappearance of three American citizens, one after the other, tried in vain to find out what was going on. Erika Glaser, oung Germanwhom the Fields had met in Spain during the final months of tho civil war and had sheltered as their own daughter on several occasions, determined to try to find them: she disappeared in Berlin in and wound up in Siberia.

ears, even though their name still sent terror into the hearts of all who had known them or even heard of them, the fields seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Hermann was the first to be hoard of: he left the Polish prison of Micdzsyn at the end of4 and, after receiving an

indemnity of $SO,(Tj from the Polish CovcrnaO.t, returned to the Unitedhere he is now teaching architecture.

Tho last ono to regain freedom, hen Khrushchev's de-Stallnisation campaign was already dismantling most of the police apparatus established during the dark Stalin years, was Erika Gla-scr. Meanwhile, on Budapest Radio announced* that "it was no longer possible to sustain the charges laid in the past"-against the Fields, and Noel and lierta were freed too.

ecision that was somewhat surprising at the tine, theynot to go back to the United States and settled down insteadretty little hillside house on the outskirts of Budapest, where Noel died and where Herta lives still.

They still professed unwavering faith in the political creed to which they had devoted their ontire lives. "Doth of us feel the symptoms of premature oldield wroteriendOut faithettere added, in that same letter, "has never left us."

COPTRICIIT: World Panorama, Arnoldo Mondadori Spa,

CSO:4

Original document.

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