Re: U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis, by Richard Breitman, No
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Part 3 of 3
The FBI, meanwhile, was very familiar with Lebed. In May 1951, the CIA asked Hoover if the Bureau wished to use Lebed, who, the Agency said, was "active for many years in Ukrainian resistance movements." [146] Since this seems to be a rare case of the CIA offering to share an agent, the Agency might have been hoping to enlist the FBI's aid against a snowballing INS investigation. The FBI looked into Lebed's past as best it could by retrieving information it received in 1943 from British intelligence concerning Ukrainian terrorism and Lebed's role in the Pieracki assassination. It also examined a small trove of captured German General Staff documents from 1943 and 1944, which revealed German appreciation with the work of the UPA while mentioning Lebed by name. [147] The New York field office also questioned a Ukrainian informant, Peter Jablon, a former member of the OUN security service, who claimed that Lebed was a German collaborator and assassin who would "use American intelligence for his own benefit." [148]
Still, Hoover gave orders that Lebed, owing to his anti-Communism, should be interviewed with a view toward possibly "developing [him] as a potential source of information concerning Ukrainian groups ... in the United States." When questioned, Lebed gave the FBI a sanitized version of his past. [149] When asked about Jablon's charges, Lebed said that Jablon was a "strange man" who seemed to be pathologically ill. [150]
There is no evidence that the FBI ever used Lebed, but there is no evidence that it helped the INS much, either. When asked in May 1951, the Bureau told the INS that they had no objection to the latter's investigation of Lebed, and Jablon's statements of a year earlier were even provided to the INS. [151] Later, when Dulles requested permanent resident status for Lebed, the INS forwarded the Dulles letter to Hoover and asked Hoover to reply to the INS "with any comments you desire to make." [152] Since the FBI had already shared the Jablon statements, INS surely expected a measure of support. Hoover, however, replied that "based on the available information [the FBI] has no comments to make." [153] Hoover could have shared a great deal of information from German staff records and from British intelligence, but these are not in Lebed's INS file.
In the following months, the FBI continued to collect information on Lebed, including interviews with Jablon in 1953. The FBI also found Army Intelligence reports that confirmed parts of Jablon's statements, which the FBI sent to the CIA but not to the INS. [154] Lebed, meanwhile, continued to work for the CIA. The full extent of his activities as "Foreign Minister" may never become known, but FBI surveillance of hi m gives some idea. Partly, Lebed lectured at prestigious universities such as Yale on such topics as biological warfare used by the Soviet government in the Ukraine. [155] From 1956 to the mid-1960s, Lebed was active as the chief of a firm in New York called the Prolog Research and Publishing Association, which apparently directed agents in Eastern Europe and which, according to some, received its funding from the CIA. In any event, Lebed does not seem to have read any manuscripts for the press. [156]
FBI files on Nazi collaborators in the United States are an important source of information about the wartime and postwar activities of these figures, most of whom are nor mentioned prominently, if at all, in secondary literature or even in German wartime records. For example, there is more information on the wartime activities of Lebed in FBI records than in the records of the German General Staff itself.
Examining these records, one can reach conclusions about the FBI's position -- and that of other U.S. agencies -- regarding Nazi collaborators after the war. The Bureau was vigilant during World War II in watching Axis officials, spies, bank accounts, and businesses in the entire Western Hemisphere. After the war, it remained vigilant only to a point. [157] The newly released records do not demonstrate that the FBI planned or condoned the immigration of lesser Axis officials and collaborationists who had slipped into the United States. Nevertheless, once these men were in the United States, the FBI, as the nation's chief federal law enforcement agency, did not create for itself an especially distinguished record.
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Notes:
1. This was the official Hymn of the American Branch of the Hungarian Warriors Comradeship Association, described in this chapter.
2. Such was the tenor of Congressional discussions leading to the Holtzman Amendment of 1978 and the creation of the Office of Special Investigations within the Department of justice in 1979. Both steps aimed to correct INS mistakes. Allan A. Ryan, Quiet Neighbors: Prosecuting Nazi War Criminals in America (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984), chapter 2.
3. FBI records from the war years contain voluminous material on FBI investigations of Nazi spies, German businessmen, and German sympathizers in the United States and in Latin America during the war. Such records are beyond the scope of this study, but they make possible significant new scholarship on German activity in the Western Hemisphere.
4. For the most part, records involving these operations were not declassified under the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act unless suspected Nazi war criminals were involved.
5. Report by Fred R. Woodward, II Mar. 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-35311-2, box 71.
6. The CIC report was received by the FBI Newark field office on 5 Nov. 1954. FBI ( Newark field office) memo to INS, 28 Oct. 1954, NA, RG 65, 105-35311, box 71; Report by Fred R. Woodward, 11 Mar. 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-35311-2, box 71; Report by Robert E. Mangan, 6 May 1955, NA, RG 65,105-35311-7, box 71.
7. Eli Rosenbaum (Director, United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Office of Special Investigations), interview with author, 13 Nov. 2003.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Report by Mervyn E. Hogan, Newark field office, 12 Aug. 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-35311-9, box 71.
11. Report by Robert E. Mangan, 6 May 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-35311-7, box 71. Information garnered later determined the following: John had become mayor of the Stolpce region when German occupation forces arrived there in late June 1941. He served at the pleasure of the Germans until their retreat in July 1944. During John's mayoralty, Jews were confined to a ghetto that John -- at the German behest -- ordered built in the fall of 1941. He identified Poles who could be a political threat to the Germans. He passed German orders, such as the Jewish star decree, to lesser mayors in the Stolpce region. He was also in office as the entire Jewish population of the Stolpce region was used for slave labor and executed in shooting operations carried out by the Germans and Byelorussian auxiliaries between 1941 and 1943. Indeed, by August 1943, the Germans on the spot could report that "The District of Stolpce is ... free of Jews." Schultz (Hauptwachmeister d. Schutzpolizei u. Posternfuhrer, Stolpce) to Gebietsfuhrer Baranowitsche, 8 Aug. 1943, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, RG 002M, roll 4. For the context of this document in the case of John Avdzej, I benefited from an interview with Eli Rosenbaum, 28 Oct. 2003.
12. SAC Newark to Hoover, 10 Oct. 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-3531 1-10, box 71.
13. Hoover to SAC Newark, Nov. 1955, ibid.
14. See, for example, the case of Ludwig Miechciski, who was accused of having collaborated with the Germans in the killing of Jews in Podhajce, Poland. The FBI questioned him thoroughly, but in the face of his denials, they could take the case no further. NA, RG 65, 105-10074, box 65.
15. See chapter 8.
16. Summary in Ryan, Quiet Neighbors, 142-153.
17. Artukovic received bail in September 1951, which would have allowed him to flee the United States had he wished. He also received the benefit of the doubt when he denied all responsibility for Ustasa crimes. In addition, he was granted the argument that the 1901 U.S. extradition treaty with Serbia was void owing to the federal status of Yugoslavia. Most importantly, he was granted a stay of deportation on the argument that the crimes of which Yugoslavia had accused him were "political" in nature and that he would suffer political (i.e., Communist) persecution if he were to return; Ryan, Quiet Neighbors, 155-85.
18. Hoover to [excised] 9 July 1951, NA, RG 65, 100-361810-EBF 123, box 75. Copies of This is Artukovic are included in this FBI file. See also "FBI Accuses Titoists of Smearing," The Register (Santa Ana, CA), 17 June 1958; and "Reds Want Him," The Washington Post, 19 Sept. 1957.
19. Hoover to [excised), 11 May 1951, NA, RG 65,100-361810-123, box 74-75.
20. See the CIA Current Intelligence Digest of 13 Apr. 1961, NA, RG 65,100-361810-1, box 74.
21. On Pearson and Salinger, see W. R. Wannall to Asst. Director William C. Sullivan, 7 June 1962, NA, RG 65, 100-361810-56, box 74-75. For "Facts on Himmler of Yugoslavia," see The Washington Post, June 25, 1962. The FBI had on occasion listened in on Pearson's telephone conversations and read his letters. See Athan Theoharis, From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover (Chicago: I. R. Dee, 1991), 205-08; 279-80, 342.
22. Los Angeles field office report, LA Report, 8-14-63, NA, RG 65,100-361810-2, box 74- 75.
23. On the Szalasi government and the Holocaust in Hungary in general see Randolph L. Braham, The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary, 2 vols., condensed edition, (1981; Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 2000.)
24. Three lengthy background reports on the MHBK's activities in Europe are as follows: CIA Intelligence Report of 11 Oct. 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-14, box 1; Brigadier General John Weckerling, Chief Intelligence Division, Department of the Army to Director, FBI, undated, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-12, box 1; CIC Memo of 20 Aug. 1953, "Activities of Vienna Intelligence Branch of Hungarian Emigre Organization (M.H.B.K.)," NA, RG 65, 97-2994- 23, box 1.
25. On the organization of the Kopjas, see also the Strategic Services Unit report from X-2, Italy, "The Kopjas Movement," 13 June 1946, which states that at that time, some Kopjas were in Austria. NA, RG 226, entry 211, box 48, folder 5, field HQ file, JRX-3547 WN-20455.
26. CIC Memo of20 Aug. 1953, "Activities of Vienna Intelligence Branch of Hungarian Emigre Organization (M.H.B.K.), NA, RG 65, 97-2994-23, box 1.
27. CIA to Director, FBI, 21 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-5 box 1; CIA Intelligence Report of 11 Oct. 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2944-14, box 1; Saint Washington to Saint London, 8 Nov. 1945, NA, RG 226, entry 109, box 146; "First Detailed Interrogation Report on Lt. General Vasvary, Josef, 1 SC/CSDICISD 50, 27 Dec. 1945, NA, RG 226, entry 109, folder XX 10561-79; FBI memorandum of 15 Jan. 1959, NA, RG 65, 97-2994, box 1.
28. Report by Elmer M. Roth, 22 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-4, box 1. Report by Elmer Roth, 3 Nov. 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-10, box 1.
29. CIA to Director, FBI, 21 May and 21 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-5, box 1. According to the CIA, the MHBK maintained a strategic office under General Lajos Nadas, a former member of the Hungarian General Staff of German (Swabian) Heritage who, according to a reliable FBI informant, "exhibited most rabid pro-Nazi tendencies during World War II." In fact, OSS had known in 1945 that Nadas had been Szalasi's military adviser. Report by James L. Startzell, 2 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-3, box 1; British "Derailed Interrogation Report," 6824 DIC (MIS)/EI 36, 11 June 1945, NA, RG 332, box 93. Six sources were interrogated.
30. The text of the letter is reproduced in SAC New York to Director, FBI, 28 Sept. 1949, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-64, box 1.
31. By 1955 the MH BK had eighteen such offices, most notably in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and St. Louis. See NA, RG 65, 97-2994-33, box 1.
32. W. F. Kelley, Assistant Commissioner, Enforcement Division, Central Office, INS to Director, FBI, 20 Feb. 1951, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-16, box 1.
33. Report by James L. Startzell, 2 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-3, box 1.
34. See Hoover's handwritten note on Agh to Hoover, 9 May 1955, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-33, box 1.
35. Report by Elmer M. Roth, 22 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-4, box 1.
36. SAC New York to Director, FBI, 6 Feb. 1951, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-15, box 1.
37. Received by the FBI in Feb. 1954, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-20, box 1.
38. Agh had in fact sponsored a Hungarian blood drive on the radio as early as 1951. Hennrich to Bellmont, 1 Nov. 1951, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-20, box 1.
39. Speech printed in Hungarian Fidelity, 6-7. The final paragraph is from Agh's description of the MHBK, 2.
40. For the explanation, see Agh's invitation, sent to the FBI Philadelphia field office, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-38, box 1. The mixture of Hungarian and U.S. symbols was present in other MH BK publications sent to the FBI.
41. Belmont to Ladd, 25 Jan. 1954, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-26, box 1; FBI to Shanley, 28 Jan. 1954, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-27, box 1.
42. Hoover to SAC Cincinnati, 27 June 1955, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-34, box 1.
43. Though the FBI files contain little on Agh's other governmental contacts, it is clear that Agh lobbied others, even within the Congress, possibly for money that could be used for intelligence gathering in Europe. In April 1952, Congressman Charles J. Kerstein of Wisconsin wrote a friendly letter to Agh, claiming, "I cannor over estimate the value of your work. It is most important to register ... individuals who have had substantial experience in warfare against the Soviets. And also, it is highly important to keep information compiled on military preparations behind the Iron Curtain." Kerstein to Agh, 23 Apr. 1952, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-68, box 1.
44. FBI to Shandley, 28 Jan. 1954, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-27, box 1. See also NA, RG 65, 105-11669-88, box 1.
45. FBI to Shanley, 28 Jan. 1954, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-27, box 1.
46. Numerous witness testimonies corroborate one another. For details, see United States Department of Justice, INS, file A-6-801-064, Newark, 7 Oct. 1960, report by William B. Taffett, Special Inquiry Officer. I am indebted to the staff of the Office of Special Investigations, Department of Justice, for providing me with this report.
47. J. Goldberg, Asst. Dist. Director for Citizenship, DOJ, INS, to SAC Newark, 25 May 1959, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-51, box 1.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid. It is difficult to say how INS investigators learned of the admission to Roth. INS investigators in Newark learned it from the FBI field office there. See Goldberg to Hoover, 14 July 1958, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-42, box 1.
50. For the initial inquiry, see Goldberg to Hoover, 14 July 1958, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-58, box 1. For the comment on Roth's testimony, see SAC Newark to Hoover, 17 Nov. 1958, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-48, box 1.
51. Hoover to Yeagley, 14 Sept. 1959, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-60, box 1.
52. Donahoe to Belmont, 13 Oct. 1959, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-65, box 1.
53. United States Department of Justice, INS, file A-6-801-064, Newark, 7 Oct. 1960, report by William B. Taffett, Special Inquiry Officer. I am indebted to the staff of the Department of Justice Office of Special Investigations for providing me with this report.
54. United States Department of Justice, Board of Immigration Appeals, 11 Aug. 1961. The Department of Just ice Office of Special Investigations kindly provided me with this report.
55. Examining Officers Memorandum Re: Laszlo Agh, 2 Dec. 1959; Examining Officers Memorandum Re: Laszlo Agh, 21 Apr. 1961. I am indebted to the staff of the Office of Special Investigations, Department of Justice , for providing me with these documents.
56. CIC, Trieste, 16 Jan. 1950, NA, RG 263, Viorel Trifa Name File.
57. On his role in Italy, see ibid. For summary, see Ryan, Quiet Neighbors, chapter 8.
58. U.S. Embassy Bucharest to Secretary of State, No. 2280 of 12 Apr. 1979, NA, RG 59, Viorel Trifa Collection, DQ-017.
59. EE-J.C. Campbell to VD, 6 Aug. 1951, NA, RG 263, Viorel Trifa Name File.
60. [excised] to [excised] 25 Mar. 1951, NA, RG 263, Viorel Trifa Name File.
61. Trutza's own commentary is in Report by Anthony S. Fernandez, Cleveland field office, NA, RG 65,100-225319-1-37, box 31.
62. Acheson was convinced on good evidence that the Patriarch Justinian himself was completely subservient to the Communist government in Romania. Acheson to U.S. Legation Bucharest, 19 Oct. 1950, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-1-2, box 31.
63. Report by Robert W. McCaslin, Washington field office, 23 June 1951, NA, RG 65, 100- 225319-1-21, box 31.
64. James Ganterbein, Charge d'Affaires, Bucharest, to Acheson, 28 Nov. 1950, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-1, box 31. See also Trutza's assessment, Report by Anthony S. Fernandez, Cleveland field office, NA, RG 65,100-225319-1-37, box 31.
65. On Justinian, SAC Washington field office to Hoover, 5 June 1953, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-3-87, box 31; Report by Paul M. W. Sterner, 24 Aug. 1953, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-3-93, box 31. On the peace tour, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-1, box 31.
66. O'Hara was the former Regent of the Apostolic Nunciature in Bucharest. Expelled by the Romanian Government in 1950, he now served in that capacity in Dublin. Kirk was the former head of the Roman Catholic Mission for Europe. See Hoover's correspondence with the Legal Attaches in London and Madrid, of Apr., May, and Nov. 1952 in NA, RG 65, 100- 225319-2, box 32.
67. SAC Washington to Hoover, 6 Oct. 1951, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-1-5, box 158.
68. Ibid.
69. Telegram received by Archbishop Mstyslav Skrypnyk and John Theodorovich, 19 Mar. 1952, NA, RG 263, Viorel Trifa Name File.
70. The State Department attempted to delay the consecration ceremony after receiving information on Trifa from Dr. Charles Kremer, President of the United Romanian Jews of America. Theodorovich refused to delay the ceremony, however. See Washington field office to Hoover, 23 Apr. 1952; Hoover to Assistant Attorney General James McInerney, 26 Apr. 1952; State Department Memorandum of Conversation between Father John Hundiak and A.G. Sherer (East Europe Desk), 8 Apr. 1952; all in NA, RG 65,105-14006-25-(31-34), box 158.
71. NA, RG 65, 105-14006-2-(42-43), box 158.
72. SAC Cleveland to Hoover, 25 Sept. 1952, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-3-(58-59), box 159.
73. Hoover to Legal Attache London, 24 Apr. 1952, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-2, box 32.
74. SAC Detroit to Hoover, 19 Nov. 1952, Hoover to SAC Detroit, 22 Jan. 1953, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-2-69, box 32; W.A. Brannigan to A. H. Belmonr, 16 Jan. 1953, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-2-72, box 32.
75. Report by Edgar A. Begholtz, 30 Apr. 1953, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-81, box 32.
76. Warren Olney III, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, to Hoover, 26 Aug. 1953, NA, RG 65,100-225319-3-94, box 32; SAC Detroit to Hoover, NA, RG 65,100-225319- 3-99, box 32.
77. Guy Hottel, SAC, Washington to Hoover, 12 Dec. 1950, NA, RG 65,105-14006-1-1, box 158.
78. Memo by J.C. Campbell (East European Desk) 6 Aug. 1951, forwarded to FBI, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-1- 2, box 158.
79. [Excised], Acting Assistant Director, CIA, to Commissioner, INS, 25 Sept. 1951, NA, RG 65,105-14006-1, box 158; SAC Washington to Hoover, 31 Mar. 1952, NA, RG 65,105- 14006-1-24, box 158.
80. Report by Julius A. Bernhard, Portland, OR, 15 Apr. 1952, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-1-25, box 158.
81. The text of the pamphlet, Communistic Attempts the Gain Control Over American Church Organization: The Facts Behind the Romanian Orthodox Missionary Episcopate in America, published in 1952 by the Public Relations Office of thc Romanian Orthodox Episcopate in America, is in the Episcopate's communication to Hoover, 31 Mar. 1952, NA, RG 65, 105- 14006-3, box 159.
82. Hoover to John W. Ford, 30 Apr. 1953, NA, RG 65-105-14006-3, box 159. On the Romanian Government's use of Church positions in 1953, the CIA reported in June that the 1948 appointment of Archimandrite Martinian Ivanovici in Paris by the Romanian Ministry of Cults was backed by the former head of Romanian intelligence, Emil Bodnaras. See NA, RG 65,105-14006-3-73, box 159.
83. CIA Deputy Director of Plans to Hoover, 16 Oct. 1953, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-3-80, box 159.
84. Detroit field office to Hoover, 20 Oct. 1954, NA, RG 65,105-14006-3-92, box 159.
85. The seventy-page report by Paul E. Bowser of the Detroit field office containing the Trifa interview of 19-21 Feb. 1955 is dated 10 May 1955, NA, RG 65,105-14006-4-102, box 159.
86. SAC Washington to Hoover, 1 June 1955, NA, RG 65,105-14006-4-105, box 159.
87. FBI Washington to Hoover and Detroit field office, telegram of 28 Apt. 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-3-97, box 159; SAC Washington to Hoover, 13 May 1955, NA, RG 65, 105- 14006-3-100, box 159.
88. Washington field office to Hoover, 12 June 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-4-108, box 159.
89. Hoover to Nixon, 16 June 1955, ibid. There are no actual reports of Martin's moral character, but the FBI file on Trifa does point out that, since September 1951, there had been twenty-two reports based on Martin's information received by the FBI, NA, RG 65,105-14006-4- 110, box 159.
90. SAC Detroit to Hoover, 27 Dec. 1956, NA, RG 65,105-14006-4-126, box 159.
91. Hoover to SAC Detroit, 1 Apr. 1957, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-4-127, box 159.
92. Trifa to Johnson, 3 Dec. 1963, NA, RG 65,105-14006-4-145, box 159.
93. See the excellent analysis of Rech and Sokolov in Robert E. Hertzstein, "Anti-Jewish Propaganda in the Orel Region of Great Russia, 1942-1943: The German Army and its Russian Collaborators," Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual 6, chapter 2.
94. Vladimir Sokolov, et al., Petitioner v. United States of America, U.S. 87-323 (1987).
95. Alexander Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 1941-1945: A Study of Occupation Policies, 2nd ed. (1957; Boulder, CO: Westview, 1981), 525-27; Christopher Simpson, Blowback: Americas Recruitment of Nazis and its Effects on the Cold War (New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988), 220-22; United States, Department of State, Office of Intelligence and Research, "NTS- The Russian Solidarist Movement," External Research Paper Series 3, No. 76, 1951; Boris Dvinov, Politics of Russian Emigration (Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation Study No. P-768, 1955), 113-94.
96. Vladimir Sokolov, et al., Petitioner v. United States of America, U.S. 87-323 (1987).
97. The basics of Sokolov's biography can be pieced together in his FBI file, NA, RG 65, 100- 100-409764 (and enclosures), box 39.
98. SAC New York to Director, FBI, 8 Mat. 1966, NA, RG 65,100-409764-11, box 39. See also the report to the Director, FBI, 17 Apt. 1959, NA, RG 65,100-409764-8, box 39.
99. SAC New York to Director, FBI, 19 Nov. 1954, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-4, box 39.
100. SAC New York to Director, FBI, 2 July 1954, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-2, box 39.
101. Ibid.
102. Sokolov was released the same evening. See NA, RG 65, 100-409764-5, box 39.
103. Hoover to SAC New York, 23 Mat. 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-7, box 39.
104. Report by Robert J. Jackson, 22 Jan. 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-6, box 39.
105. Report by Helmut C. Labusch, 20 Jan. 1959, ibid.
106. Report by William T. Ryan, 2 Dec. 1958, ibid.
107. The comment as well as those from Vera Schwartz, Mark Weinbaum, and Alexander Dallin, are in Report by Harold Palatsky, 21 Nov.-2 Dec. 1958, ibid.
108. Dallin, German Rule in Russia.
109. Oktan, and in this case Sokolov as well, were part of abortive efforts by the German Ministry of Propaganda to establish a basis of Nazism within Russian groups. Oktan, a former Soviet journalist-turned-collaborator, led the League for the Struggle against Bolshevism. See Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 525n1.
110. In this connection, Sokolov's rather speedy naturalization on 21 May 1957 also raises interesting questions. For his sworn statement of 19 Apr. 1957, see Report by Harold Palatsky, 21 Nov.-2 Dec. 1958, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-6, box 39.
111. For the Sokolov interrogation, see the Palatsky reports cited above, 15-18.
112. Hoover to SAC New York, 23 Mar. 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-7, box 39.
113. Report by Special Agent Paul Garrity, 16 June 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-9, box 39; SAC New York to Director, FBI, I Dec. 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764, box 39.
114. Most of the documentation on Sokolov's FBI activity while at Yale is either redacted or withheld as irrelevant to the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. See, however, Director, FBI to SAC New Haven, 25 May 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-12, box 39.
115. Simpson, Blowback, discusses the Lebed case with the aid of the dossier kept on Lebed by Army CIC (part of which was provided by FOIA requests, all of which is now declassified thanks to the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act), a dossier on Lebed kept in the Israeli Holocaust archive at Yad Vashem provided by Lebed's former ally Mykyta Kosakivs'kky, and interviews conducted with Lebed himself.
116. The variety of Ukrainian nationalist groups and the split within the OUN between the more radical Bandera faction and the more moderate Mel'nyk faction is discussed in detail in John A. Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism, 1939-1945 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955), 31ff.
117. On OUN contacts before the war and in 1939, see Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 114-19; Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism.
118. For the Declaration of the Ukrainian State Government sent to Adolf Hitler under a congratulatory letter of "sincere gratitude and admiration for your heroic army," see Ukrainische Regierung, No. 1/41 , 3 July 1941, Bundesarchiv (Berlin) R 43 II/ 1500. See also Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 119-22.
119. German police reports dated October 1941 report that "fanatic" Bandera followers, organized in small groups, were "extraordinarily active" against Jews and Communists. See Philip Friedman, "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations during the Nazi Occupation," YIVO Annual of Jewish Social Science 12 (1958-1959) 266n 12.
120. Ereignismeldung UdSSR Nr. 126, 29 Oct. 1941, document 4134 of the unpublished materials in United States us. Otto Ohlendorf, quoted in Friedman, "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations," 268n 15.
121. Friedman, "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations," 283n54.
122. See the Einsatzgruppen reports from the West Ukraine from July 1941 to July 1943 in Bundesarchiv (Berlin), R 58/219, R 58/221, R 70/31, R 58/220, R 58/217, R 58/215, R 58/698, R 70/204, R 58/220, R 70/31. On the use of Jews by the UPA, see Friedman, "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations," 284-85.
123. Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism, 102-7, 117.
124. Belmont to Hennrich, 5 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-2, box 128. The German originals of this material are in NA, RG 242, T-76, roll 565, frame 673ff. The translated version studied by the FBI are in Turner to Whitson, 11 May 1945, NA, RG 65, 105-9571- 17, box 126. See also Frontaufklarungskommando 305 bei Heeresgruppe Nordukraine Br. B. Nr. 2399/44g, 21 Sept. 1944, Bundesarchiv (Berlin), R 70. On the murder of Jews connected with the UPA see Friedman, "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations," 285-86, and n. 61
125. Reichsminister for the Occupied Eastern Territories Nr. P 918 a/44g., 18 Sept. 1944, NA, RG 242, T-78, roll 565.
126. Frontaufklarungskommando 305 bei Heeresgruppe Nordukraine Br. B. Nr. 2399/44g, 21 Sept. 1944, Federal Republic of Germany, Bundesarchiv (Berlin), R 70. See also Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism, 128-32.
127. On the formation of the UPA and UHVR, see Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 620-22; and Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism, chapter 6. By the fall of 1943, the Bandera group was in control of the country districts of Volhynia and southwestern Polessia, while the Germans controlled the towns in the region. The Soviets advanced into Volhynia in February 1944.
128. Card Ref D 82270, 22 July 1947, NA, RG 319, IRR, entry 134B, Mikola Lebed.
129. CIC memo of 10 Nov. 1947, ibid.
130. GID/OPS/CIS D-201967, 21 Nov. 1947, ibid.
131. Eli Rosenbaum, interview with author, 28 Oct. 2003.
132. For this rendering of the facts, see the memo by Special CIC Agent Camille S. Hadju of the 970th CIC Detachment, 17 Nov. 1947, with enclosures, NA, RG 319, IRR, entry 134B, Mikola Lebed. A translated synopsis of Lebed's booklet UPA was ordered by the FBI and can be found in NA, RG 65,105-12528-9, box 128.
133. Ellington D. Golden, HQ Counterintelligence Corps Region IV, 970th crc Detachment, TV-2872, 18 Nov. 1947, NA, RG 319, IRR, entry 134B, Mikola Lebed.
134. Memo by R. F. Carroll, NA, RG 319, IRR, entry 134B, Mikola Lebed; Memo by Special CIC Agent Daniel Barna, 19 Apr. 1948, ibid.
135. The date is confirmed in Dulles to Mackey, 5 May 1952, NA, RG 263, Mikola Lebed Name File.
136. Munich to Special Operations, [excised], 18 May 1949, ibid.
137. CIA [excised] to Commissioner for Immigration and Naturalization, 20 June 1949, ibid.
138. Mitchell S. Solomon, Investigator, INS, to T. Avery, Asst. Chief, Investigations Section, 20 Mar. 1951, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 118.
139. CIA, Col. Sheffield Evans to Commissioner INS (Ann. W.W Wiggins), 3 Oct. 1951, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 11.
140. W. W. Wiggins, Chief, Investigation Section, to W. F. Kelley, Asst. Commissioner, Enforcement Division, 4 Oct. 1951, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 118.
141. W F. Kelley to Director CIA, 12 Oct. 1951, ibid.
142. Edwards to Wiggins, 9 Feb. 1952, ibid.
143. Commissioner for Immigration and Naturalization to Attorney General, 13 Feb. 1952, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 118; Argyle Mackey to Director CIA, 27 Feb. 1952, ibid.
144. Dulles to Mackey, 5 May 1952, NA, RG 263, Mikola Lebed Name File. There is a copy of this letter in Lebed's FBI file, as well. For Lebed's admission to the Pieracki assassination, see the MI-5 records in the FBI file. Lebed would deny complicity when questioned by the INS in April 1952. See Questionnaire Submitted to Mr. Lebed, 8 Apr. 1952, NA, RG 263, Mikola Lebed Name File.
145. Wiggins to Kelley 13 May 1952, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 118.
146. Robert A. Schow, Assistant Director, CIA, to Director, FBI, 1 May 1950, NA, RG 65, 105- 12528-1, box 129.
147. Belmont to Hennrich, 5 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-2, box 128. The German originals of this material are in NA, RG 242, T-76, roll 565, frame 673ff. The translated version studied by the FBI are in Turner to Whitson, 11 May 1945, NA, RG 65, 105-9571- 17, box 126.
148. Belmont to Hennrich, 5 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-2, box 128. See also FBI report of 2 Feb. 1951, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-6X, box 128.
149. FBI Report of 3 Aug. 1950, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-4, box 128.
150. FBI Report of 2 Feb. 1951, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-6X, box 128.
151. C. H. Pennington, Chief, Investigations Section, to Mackey, 17 May 1951, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 118.
152. Kelley to Hoover, 13 May 1952, ibid.
153. Hoover to Mackey, 20 May 1952, ibid.
154. A translation of the 24 July 1952 article, "A Tragic Anniversary," Novoye Russkoye Slovo (New Russian Word) is in NA, RG 65, 105-12528-14, box 128; FBI New York Report of 5 June 1953, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-15, box 128; Hoover to Director, GA, 12 Aug. 1953, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-18, box 128; see unsigned report "Mykola Lebid" in Albert H. Mackenzie to Brigadier General Mark McClure, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2, Department of the Army, 22 Sept. 1953, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-19, box 128.
155. "Underground Ukraine War Bared Here," New Haven Journal-Courier, February 14, 1951; Jaro Halat, "The Assassin and the Admiral," The New Leader, 28 July 1951, 10. Halat was another pseudonym for Peter Jablon.
156. Director, FBI to SAC New York, 20 June 1962, NA, RG 65, 105-12528, box 39; Director, FBI to SAC, New York, 28 June 1965, ibid. On CIA funding, see Joe Conason, "To Catch a Nazi," Village Voice, Feb. 11, (1986), 21.
157. On German youth see NA, RG 65, 100-197219. On Bormann, see NA, RG 65, 65- 55639.
The FBI, meanwhile, was very familiar with Lebed. In May 1951, the CIA asked Hoover if the Bureau wished to use Lebed, who, the Agency said, was "active for many years in Ukrainian resistance movements." [146] Since this seems to be a rare case of the CIA offering to share an agent, the Agency might have been hoping to enlist the FBI's aid against a snowballing INS investigation. The FBI looked into Lebed's past as best it could by retrieving information it received in 1943 from British intelligence concerning Ukrainian terrorism and Lebed's role in the Pieracki assassination. It also examined a small trove of captured German General Staff documents from 1943 and 1944, which revealed German appreciation with the work of the UPA while mentioning Lebed by name. [147] The New York field office also questioned a Ukrainian informant, Peter Jablon, a former member of the OUN security service, who claimed that Lebed was a German collaborator and assassin who would "use American intelligence for his own benefit." [148]
Still, Hoover gave orders that Lebed, owing to his anti-Communism, should be interviewed with a view toward possibly "developing [him] as a potential source of information concerning Ukrainian groups ... in the United States." When questioned, Lebed gave the FBI a sanitized version of his past. [149] When asked about Jablon's charges, Lebed said that Jablon was a "strange man" who seemed to be pathologically ill. [150]
There is no evidence that the FBI ever used Lebed, but there is no evidence that it helped the INS much, either. When asked in May 1951, the Bureau told the INS that they had no objection to the latter's investigation of Lebed, and Jablon's statements of a year earlier were even provided to the INS. [151] Later, when Dulles requested permanent resident status for Lebed, the INS forwarded the Dulles letter to Hoover and asked Hoover to reply to the INS "with any comments you desire to make." [152] Since the FBI had already shared the Jablon statements, INS surely expected a measure of support. Hoover, however, replied that "based on the available information [the FBI] has no comments to make." [153] Hoover could have shared a great deal of information from German staff records and from British intelligence, but these are not in Lebed's INS file.
In the following months, the FBI continued to collect information on Lebed, including interviews with Jablon in 1953. The FBI also found Army Intelligence reports that confirmed parts of Jablon's statements, which the FBI sent to the CIA but not to the INS. [154] Lebed, meanwhile, continued to work for the CIA. The full extent of his activities as "Foreign Minister" may never become known, but FBI surveillance of hi m gives some idea. Partly, Lebed lectured at prestigious universities such as Yale on such topics as biological warfare used by the Soviet government in the Ukraine. [155] From 1956 to the mid-1960s, Lebed was active as the chief of a firm in New York called the Prolog Research and Publishing Association, which apparently directed agents in Eastern Europe and which, according to some, received its funding from the CIA. In any event, Lebed does not seem to have read any manuscripts for the press. [156]
FBI files on Nazi collaborators in the United States are an important source of information about the wartime and postwar activities of these figures, most of whom are nor mentioned prominently, if at all, in secondary literature or even in German wartime records. For example, there is more information on the wartime activities of Lebed in FBI records than in the records of the German General Staff itself.
Examining these records, one can reach conclusions about the FBI's position -- and that of other U.S. agencies -- regarding Nazi collaborators after the war. The Bureau was vigilant during World War II in watching Axis officials, spies, bank accounts, and businesses in the entire Western Hemisphere. After the war, it remained vigilant only to a point. [157] The newly released records do not demonstrate that the FBI planned or condoned the immigration of lesser Axis officials and collaborationists who had slipped into the United States. Nevertheless, once these men were in the United States, the FBI, as the nation's chief federal law enforcement agency, did not create for itself an especially distinguished record.
______________
Notes:
1. This was the official Hymn of the American Branch of the Hungarian Warriors Comradeship Association, described in this chapter.
2. Such was the tenor of Congressional discussions leading to the Holtzman Amendment of 1978 and the creation of the Office of Special Investigations within the Department of justice in 1979. Both steps aimed to correct INS mistakes. Allan A. Ryan, Quiet Neighbors: Prosecuting Nazi War Criminals in America (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984), chapter 2.
3. FBI records from the war years contain voluminous material on FBI investigations of Nazi spies, German businessmen, and German sympathizers in the United States and in Latin America during the war. Such records are beyond the scope of this study, but they make possible significant new scholarship on German activity in the Western Hemisphere.
4. For the most part, records involving these operations were not declassified under the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act unless suspected Nazi war criminals were involved.
5. Report by Fred R. Woodward, II Mar. 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-35311-2, box 71.
6. The CIC report was received by the FBI Newark field office on 5 Nov. 1954. FBI ( Newark field office) memo to INS, 28 Oct. 1954, NA, RG 65, 105-35311, box 71; Report by Fred R. Woodward, 11 Mar. 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-35311-2, box 71; Report by Robert E. Mangan, 6 May 1955, NA, RG 65,105-35311-7, box 71.
7. Eli Rosenbaum (Director, United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Office of Special Investigations), interview with author, 13 Nov. 2003.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Report by Mervyn E. Hogan, Newark field office, 12 Aug. 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-35311-9, box 71.
11. Report by Robert E. Mangan, 6 May 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-35311-7, box 71. Information garnered later determined the following: John had become mayor of the Stolpce region when German occupation forces arrived there in late June 1941. He served at the pleasure of the Germans until their retreat in July 1944. During John's mayoralty, Jews were confined to a ghetto that John -- at the German behest -- ordered built in the fall of 1941. He identified Poles who could be a political threat to the Germans. He passed German orders, such as the Jewish star decree, to lesser mayors in the Stolpce region. He was also in office as the entire Jewish population of the Stolpce region was used for slave labor and executed in shooting operations carried out by the Germans and Byelorussian auxiliaries between 1941 and 1943. Indeed, by August 1943, the Germans on the spot could report that "The District of Stolpce is ... free of Jews." Schultz (Hauptwachmeister d. Schutzpolizei u. Posternfuhrer, Stolpce) to Gebietsfuhrer Baranowitsche, 8 Aug. 1943, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, RG 002M, roll 4. For the context of this document in the case of John Avdzej, I benefited from an interview with Eli Rosenbaum, 28 Oct. 2003.
12. SAC Newark to Hoover, 10 Oct. 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-3531 1-10, box 71.
13. Hoover to SAC Newark, Nov. 1955, ibid.
14. See, for example, the case of Ludwig Miechciski, who was accused of having collaborated with the Germans in the killing of Jews in Podhajce, Poland. The FBI questioned him thoroughly, but in the face of his denials, they could take the case no further. NA, RG 65, 105-10074, box 65.
15. See chapter 8.
16. Summary in Ryan, Quiet Neighbors, 142-153.
17. Artukovic received bail in September 1951, which would have allowed him to flee the United States had he wished. He also received the benefit of the doubt when he denied all responsibility for Ustasa crimes. In addition, he was granted the argument that the 1901 U.S. extradition treaty with Serbia was void owing to the federal status of Yugoslavia. Most importantly, he was granted a stay of deportation on the argument that the crimes of which Yugoslavia had accused him were "political" in nature and that he would suffer political (i.e., Communist) persecution if he were to return; Ryan, Quiet Neighbors, 155-85.
18. Hoover to [excised] 9 July 1951, NA, RG 65, 100-361810-EBF 123, box 75. Copies of This is Artukovic are included in this FBI file. See also "FBI Accuses Titoists of Smearing," The Register (Santa Ana, CA), 17 June 1958; and "Reds Want Him," The Washington Post, 19 Sept. 1957.
19. Hoover to [excised), 11 May 1951, NA, RG 65,100-361810-123, box 74-75.
20. See the CIA Current Intelligence Digest of 13 Apr. 1961, NA, RG 65,100-361810-1, box 74.
21. On Pearson and Salinger, see W. R. Wannall to Asst. Director William C. Sullivan, 7 June 1962, NA, RG 65, 100-361810-56, box 74-75. For "Facts on Himmler of Yugoslavia," see The Washington Post, June 25, 1962. The FBI had on occasion listened in on Pearson's telephone conversations and read his letters. See Athan Theoharis, From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover (Chicago: I. R. Dee, 1991), 205-08; 279-80, 342.
22. Los Angeles field office report, LA Report, 8-14-63, NA, RG 65,100-361810-2, box 74- 75.
23. On the Szalasi government and the Holocaust in Hungary in general see Randolph L. Braham, The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary, 2 vols., condensed edition, (1981; Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 2000.)
24. Three lengthy background reports on the MHBK's activities in Europe are as follows: CIA Intelligence Report of 11 Oct. 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-14, box 1; Brigadier General John Weckerling, Chief Intelligence Division, Department of the Army to Director, FBI, undated, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-12, box 1; CIC Memo of 20 Aug. 1953, "Activities of Vienna Intelligence Branch of Hungarian Emigre Organization (M.H.B.K.)," NA, RG 65, 97-2994- 23, box 1.
25. On the organization of the Kopjas, see also the Strategic Services Unit report from X-2, Italy, "The Kopjas Movement," 13 June 1946, which states that at that time, some Kopjas were in Austria. NA, RG 226, entry 211, box 48, folder 5, field HQ file, JRX-3547 WN-20455.
26. CIC Memo of20 Aug. 1953, "Activities of Vienna Intelligence Branch of Hungarian Emigre Organization (M.H.B.K.), NA, RG 65, 97-2994-23, box 1.
27. CIA to Director, FBI, 21 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-5 box 1; CIA Intelligence Report of 11 Oct. 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2944-14, box 1; Saint Washington to Saint London, 8 Nov. 1945, NA, RG 226, entry 109, box 146; "First Detailed Interrogation Report on Lt. General Vasvary, Josef, 1 SC/CSDICISD 50, 27 Dec. 1945, NA, RG 226, entry 109, folder XX 10561-79; FBI memorandum of 15 Jan. 1959, NA, RG 65, 97-2994, box 1.
28. Report by Elmer M. Roth, 22 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-4, box 1. Report by Elmer Roth, 3 Nov. 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-10, box 1.
29. CIA to Director, FBI, 21 May and 21 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-5, box 1. According to the CIA, the MHBK maintained a strategic office under General Lajos Nadas, a former member of the Hungarian General Staff of German (Swabian) Heritage who, according to a reliable FBI informant, "exhibited most rabid pro-Nazi tendencies during World War II." In fact, OSS had known in 1945 that Nadas had been Szalasi's military adviser. Report by James L. Startzell, 2 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-3, box 1; British "Derailed Interrogation Report," 6824 DIC (MIS)/EI 36, 11 June 1945, NA, RG 332, box 93. Six sources were interrogated.
30. The text of the letter is reproduced in SAC New York to Director, FBI, 28 Sept. 1949, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-64, box 1.
31. By 1955 the MH BK had eighteen such offices, most notably in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and St. Louis. See NA, RG 65, 97-2994-33, box 1.
32. W. F. Kelley, Assistant Commissioner, Enforcement Division, Central Office, INS to Director, FBI, 20 Feb. 1951, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-16, box 1.
33. Report by James L. Startzell, 2 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-3, box 1.
34. See Hoover's handwritten note on Agh to Hoover, 9 May 1955, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-33, box 1.
35. Report by Elmer M. Roth, 22 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-4, box 1.
36. SAC New York to Director, FBI, 6 Feb. 1951, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-15, box 1.
37. Received by the FBI in Feb. 1954, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-20, box 1.
38. Agh had in fact sponsored a Hungarian blood drive on the radio as early as 1951. Hennrich to Bellmont, 1 Nov. 1951, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-20, box 1.
39. Speech printed in Hungarian Fidelity, 6-7. The final paragraph is from Agh's description of the MHBK, 2.
40. For the explanation, see Agh's invitation, sent to the FBI Philadelphia field office, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-38, box 1. The mixture of Hungarian and U.S. symbols was present in other MH BK publications sent to the FBI.
41. Belmont to Ladd, 25 Jan. 1954, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-26, box 1; FBI to Shanley, 28 Jan. 1954, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-27, box 1.
42. Hoover to SAC Cincinnati, 27 June 1955, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-34, box 1.
43. Though the FBI files contain little on Agh's other governmental contacts, it is clear that Agh lobbied others, even within the Congress, possibly for money that could be used for intelligence gathering in Europe. In April 1952, Congressman Charles J. Kerstein of Wisconsin wrote a friendly letter to Agh, claiming, "I cannor over estimate the value of your work. It is most important to register ... individuals who have had substantial experience in warfare against the Soviets. And also, it is highly important to keep information compiled on military preparations behind the Iron Curtain." Kerstein to Agh, 23 Apr. 1952, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-68, box 1.
44. FBI to Shandley, 28 Jan. 1954, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-27, box 1. See also NA, RG 65, 105-11669-88, box 1.
45. FBI to Shanley, 28 Jan. 1954, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-27, box 1.
46. Numerous witness testimonies corroborate one another. For details, see United States Department of Justice, INS, file A-6-801-064, Newark, 7 Oct. 1960, report by William B. Taffett, Special Inquiry Officer. I am indebted to the staff of the Office of Special Investigations, Department of Justice, for providing me with this report.
47. J. Goldberg, Asst. Dist. Director for Citizenship, DOJ, INS, to SAC Newark, 25 May 1959, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-51, box 1.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid. It is difficult to say how INS investigators learned of the admission to Roth. INS investigators in Newark learned it from the FBI field office there. See Goldberg to Hoover, 14 July 1958, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-42, box 1.
50. For the initial inquiry, see Goldberg to Hoover, 14 July 1958, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-58, box 1. For the comment on Roth's testimony, see SAC Newark to Hoover, 17 Nov. 1958, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-48, box 1.
51. Hoover to Yeagley, 14 Sept. 1959, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-60, box 1.
52. Donahoe to Belmont, 13 Oct. 1959, NA, RG 65, 97-2994-65, box 1.
53. United States Department of Justice, INS, file A-6-801-064, Newark, 7 Oct. 1960, report by William B. Taffett, Special Inquiry Officer. I am indebted to the staff of the Department of Justice Office of Special Investigations for providing me with this report.
54. United States Department of Justice, Board of Immigration Appeals, 11 Aug. 1961. The Department of Just ice Office of Special Investigations kindly provided me with this report.
55. Examining Officers Memorandum Re: Laszlo Agh, 2 Dec. 1959; Examining Officers Memorandum Re: Laszlo Agh, 21 Apr. 1961. I am indebted to the staff of the Office of Special Investigations, Department of Justice , for providing me with these documents.
56. CIC, Trieste, 16 Jan. 1950, NA, RG 263, Viorel Trifa Name File.
57. On his role in Italy, see ibid. For summary, see Ryan, Quiet Neighbors, chapter 8.
58. U.S. Embassy Bucharest to Secretary of State, No. 2280 of 12 Apr. 1979, NA, RG 59, Viorel Trifa Collection, DQ-017.
59. EE-J.C. Campbell to VD, 6 Aug. 1951, NA, RG 263, Viorel Trifa Name File.
60. [excised] to [excised] 25 Mar. 1951, NA, RG 263, Viorel Trifa Name File.
61. Trutza's own commentary is in Report by Anthony S. Fernandez, Cleveland field office, NA, RG 65,100-225319-1-37, box 31.
62. Acheson was convinced on good evidence that the Patriarch Justinian himself was completely subservient to the Communist government in Romania. Acheson to U.S. Legation Bucharest, 19 Oct. 1950, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-1-2, box 31.
63. Report by Robert W. McCaslin, Washington field office, 23 June 1951, NA, RG 65, 100- 225319-1-21, box 31.
64. James Ganterbein, Charge d'Affaires, Bucharest, to Acheson, 28 Nov. 1950, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-1, box 31. See also Trutza's assessment, Report by Anthony S. Fernandez, Cleveland field office, NA, RG 65,100-225319-1-37, box 31.
65. On Justinian, SAC Washington field office to Hoover, 5 June 1953, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-3-87, box 31; Report by Paul M. W. Sterner, 24 Aug. 1953, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-3-93, box 31. On the peace tour, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-1, box 31.
66. O'Hara was the former Regent of the Apostolic Nunciature in Bucharest. Expelled by the Romanian Government in 1950, he now served in that capacity in Dublin. Kirk was the former head of the Roman Catholic Mission for Europe. See Hoover's correspondence with the Legal Attaches in London and Madrid, of Apr., May, and Nov. 1952 in NA, RG 65, 100- 225319-2, box 32.
67. SAC Washington to Hoover, 6 Oct. 1951, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-1-5, box 158.
68. Ibid.
69. Telegram received by Archbishop Mstyslav Skrypnyk and John Theodorovich, 19 Mar. 1952, NA, RG 263, Viorel Trifa Name File.
70. The State Department attempted to delay the consecration ceremony after receiving information on Trifa from Dr. Charles Kremer, President of the United Romanian Jews of America. Theodorovich refused to delay the ceremony, however. See Washington field office to Hoover, 23 Apr. 1952; Hoover to Assistant Attorney General James McInerney, 26 Apr. 1952; State Department Memorandum of Conversation between Father John Hundiak and A.G. Sherer (East Europe Desk), 8 Apr. 1952; all in NA, RG 65,105-14006-25-(31-34), box 158.
71. NA, RG 65, 105-14006-2-(42-43), box 158.
72. SAC Cleveland to Hoover, 25 Sept. 1952, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-3-(58-59), box 159.
73. Hoover to Legal Attache London, 24 Apr. 1952, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-2, box 32.
74. SAC Detroit to Hoover, 19 Nov. 1952, Hoover to SAC Detroit, 22 Jan. 1953, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-2-69, box 32; W.A. Brannigan to A. H. Belmonr, 16 Jan. 1953, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-2-72, box 32.
75. Report by Edgar A. Begholtz, 30 Apr. 1953, NA, RG 65, 100-225319-81, box 32.
76. Warren Olney III, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, to Hoover, 26 Aug. 1953, NA, RG 65,100-225319-3-94, box 32; SAC Detroit to Hoover, NA, RG 65,100-225319- 3-99, box 32.
77. Guy Hottel, SAC, Washington to Hoover, 12 Dec. 1950, NA, RG 65,105-14006-1-1, box 158.
78. Memo by J.C. Campbell (East European Desk) 6 Aug. 1951, forwarded to FBI, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-1- 2, box 158.
79. [Excised], Acting Assistant Director, CIA, to Commissioner, INS, 25 Sept. 1951, NA, RG 65,105-14006-1, box 158; SAC Washington to Hoover, 31 Mar. 1952, NA, RG 65,105- 14006-1-24, box 158.
80. Report by Julius A. Bernhard, Portland, OR, 15 Apr. 1952, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-1-25, box 158.
81. The text of the pamphlet, Communistic Attempts the Gain Control Over American Church Organization: The Facts Behind the Romanian Orthodox Missionary Episcopate in America, published in 1952 by the Public Relations Office of thc Romanian Orthodox Episcopate in America, is in the Episcopate's communication to Hoover, 31 Mar. 1952, NA, RG 65, 105- 14006-3, box 159.
82. Hoover to John W. Ford, 30 Apr. 1953, NA, RG 65-105-14006-3, box 159. On the Romanian Government's use of Church positions in 1953, the CIA reported in June that the 1948 appointment of Archimandrite Martinian Ivanovici in Paris by the Romanian Ministry of Cults was backed by the former head of Romanian intelligence, Emil Bodnaras. See NA, RG 65,105-14006-3-73, box 159.
83. CIA Deputy Director of Plans to Hoover, 16 Oct. 1953, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-3-80, box 159.
84. Detroit field office to Hoover, 20 Oct. 1954, NA, RG 65,105-14006-3-92, box 159.
85. The seventy-page report by Paul E. Bowser of the Detroit field office containing the Trifa interview of 19-21 Feb. 1955 is dated 10 May 1955, NA, RG 65,105-14006-4-102, box 159.
86. SAC Washington to Hoover, 1 June 1955, NA, RG 65,105-14006-4-105, box 159.
87. FBI Washington to Hoover and Detroit field office, telegram of 28 Apt. 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-3-97, box 159; SAC Washington to Hoover, 13 May 1955, NA, RG 65, 105- 14006-3-100, box 159.
88. Washington field office to Hoover, 12 June 1955, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-4-108, box 159.
89. Hoover to Nixon, 16 June 1955, ibid. There are no actual reports of Martin's moral character, but the FBI file on Trifa does point out that, since September 1951, there had been twenty-two reports based on Martin's information received by the FBI, NA, RG 65,105-14006-4- 110, box 159.
90. SAC Detroit to Hoover, 27 Dec. 1956, NA, RG 65,105-14006-4-126, box 159.
91. Hoover to SAC Detroit, 1 Apr. 1957, NA, RG 65, 105-14006-4-127, box 159.
92. Trifa to Johnson, 3 Dec. 1963, NA, RG 65,105-14006-4-145, box 159.
93. See the excellent analysis of Rech and Sokolov in Robert E. Hertzstein, "Anti-Jewish Propaganda in the Orel Region of Great Russia, 1942-1943: The German Army and its Russian Collaborators," Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual 6, chapter 2.
94. Vladimir Sokolov, et al., Petitioner v. United States of America, U.S. 87-323 (1987).
95. Alexander Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 1941-1945: A Study of Occupation Policies, 2nd ed. (1957; Boulder, CO: Westview, 1981), 525-27; Christopher Simpson, Blowback: Americas Recruitment of Nazis and its Effects on the Cold War (New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988), 220-22; United States, Department of State, Office of Intelligence and Research, "NTS- The Russian Solidarist Movement," External Research Paper Series 3, No. 76, 1951; Boris Dvinov, Politics of Russian Emigration (Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation Study No. P-768, 1955), 113-94.
96. Vladimir Sokolov, et al., Petitioner v. United States of America, U.S. 87-323 (1987).
97. The basics of Sokolov's biography can be pieced together in his FBI file, NA, RG 65, 100- 100-409764 (and enclosures), box 39.
98. SAC New York to Director, FBI, 8 Mat. 1966, NA, RG 65,100-409764-11, box 39. See also the report to the Director, FBI, 17 Apt. 1959, NA, RG 65,100-409764-8, box 39.
99. SAC New York to Director, FBI, 19 Nov. 1954, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-4, box 39.
100. SAC New York to Director, FBI, 2 July 1954, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-2, box 39.
101. Ibid.
102. Sokolov was released the same evening. See NA, RG 65, 100-409764-5, box 39.
103. Hoover to SAC New York, 23 Mat. 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-7, box 39.
104. Report by Robert J. Jackson, 22 Jan. 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-6, box 39.
105. Report by Helmut C. Labusch, 20 Jan. 1959, ibid.
106. Report by William T. Ryan, 2 Dec. 1958, ibid.
107. The comment as well as those from Vera Schwartz, Mark Weinbaum, and Alexander Dallin, are in Report by Harold Palatsky, 21 Nov.-2 Dec. 1958, ibid.
108. Dallin, German Rule in Russia.
109. Oktan, and in this case Sokolov as well, were part of abortive efforts by the German Ministry of Propaganda to establish a basis of Nazism within Russian groups. Oktan, a former Soviet journalist-turned-collaborator, led the League for the Struggle against Bolshevism. See Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 525n1.
110. In this connection, Sokolov's rather speedy naturalization on 21 May 1957 also raises interesting questions. For his sworn statement of 19 Apr. 1957, see Report by Harold Palatsky, 21 Nov.-2 Dec. 1958, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-6, box 39.
111. For the Sokolov interrogation, see the Palatsky reports cited above, 15-18.
112. Hoover to SAC New York, 23 Mar. 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-7, box 39.
113. Report by Special Agent Paul Garrity, 16 June 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-9, box 39; SAC New York to Director, FBI, I Dec. 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764, box 39.
114. Most of the documentation on Sokolov's FBI activity while at Yale is either redacted or withheld as irrelevant to the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act. See, however, Director, FBI to SAC New Haven, 25 May 1959, NA, RG 65, 100-409764-12, box 39.
115. Simpson, Blowback, discusses the Lebed case with the aid of the dossier kept on Lebed by Army CIC (part of which was provided by FOIA requests, all of which is now declassified thanks to the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act), a dossier on Lebed kept in the Israeli Holocaust archive at Yad Vashem provided by Lebed's former ally Mykyta Kosakivs'kky, and interviews conducted with Lebed himself.
116. The variety of Ukrainian nationalist groups and the split within the OUN between the more radical Bandera faction and the more moderate Mel'nyk faction is discussed in detail in John A. Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism, 1939-1945 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955), 31ff.
117. On OUN contacts before the war and in 1939, see Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 114-19; Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism.
118. For the Declaration of the Ukrainian State Government sent to Adolf Hitler under a congratulatory letter of "sincere gratitude and admiration for your heroic army," see Ukrainische Regierung, No. 1/41 , 3 July 1941, Bundesarchiv (Berlin) R 43 II/ 1500. See also Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 119-22.
119. German police reports dated October 1941 report that "fanatic" Bandera followers, organized in small groups, were "extraordinarily active" against Jews and Communists. See Philip Friedman, "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations during the Nazi Occupation," YIVO Annual of Jewish Social Science 12 (1958-1959) 266n 12.
120. Ereignismeldung UdSSR Nr. 126, 29 Oct. 1941, document 4134 of the unpublished materials in United States us. Otto Ohlendorf, quoted in Friedman, "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations," 268n 15.
121. Friedman, "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations," 283n54.
122. See the Einsatzgruppen reports from the West Ukraine from July 1941 to July 1943 in Bundesarchiv (Berlin), R 58/219, R 58/221, R 70/31, R 58/220, R 58/217, R 58/215, R 58/698, R 70/204, R 58/220, R 70/31. On the use of Jews by the UPA, see Friedman, "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations," 284-85.
123. Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism, 102-7, 117.
124. Belmont to Hennrich, 5 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-2, box 128. The German originals of this material are in NA, RG 242, T-76, roll 565, frame 673ff. The translated version studied by the FBI are in Turner to Whitson, 11 May 1945, NA, RG 65, 105-9571- 17, box 126. See also Frontaufklarungskommando 305 bei Heeresgruppe Nordukraine Br. B. Nr. 2399/44g, 21 Sept. 1944, Bundesarchiv (Berlin), R 70. On the murder of Jews connected with the UPA see Friedman, "Ukrainian-Jewish Relations," 285-86, and n. 61
125. Reichsminister for the Occupied Eastern Territories Nr. P 918 a/44g., 18 Sept. 1944, NA, RG 242, T-78, roll 565.
126. Frontaufklarungskommando 305 bei Heeresgruppe Nordukraine Br. B. Nr. 2399/44g, 21 Sept. 1944, Federal Republic of Germany, Bundesarchiv (Berlin), R 70. See also Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism, 128-32.
127. On the formation of the UPA and UHVR, see Dallin, German Rule in Russia, 620-22; and Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism, chapter 6. By the fall of 1943, the Bandera group was in control of the country districts of Volhynia and southwestern Polessia, while the Germans controlled the towns in the region. The Soviets advanced into Volhynia in February 1944.
128. Card Ref D 82270, 22 July 1947, NA, RG 319, IRR, entry 134B, Mikola Lebed.
129. CIC memo of 10 Nov. 1947, ibid.
130. GID/OPS/CIS D-201967, 21 Nov. 1947, ibid.
131. Eli Rosenbaum, interview with author, 28 Oct. 2003.
132. For this rendering of the facts, see the memo by Special CIC Agent Camille S. Hadju of the 970th CIC Detachment, 17 Nov. 1947, with enclosures, NA, RG 319, IRR, entry 134B, Mikola Lebed. A translated synopsis of Lebed's booklet UPA was ordered by the FBI and can be found in NA, RG 65,105-12528-9, box 128.
133. Ellington D. Golden, HQ Counterintelligence Corps Region IV, 970th crc Detachment, TV-2872, 18 Nov. 1947, NA, RG 319, IRR, entry 134B, Mikola Lebed.
134. Memo by R. F. Carroll, NA, RG 319, IRR, entry 134B, Mikola Lebed; Memo by Special CIC Agent Daniel Barna, 19 Apr. 1948, ibid.
135. The date is confirmed in Dulles to Mackey, 5 May 1952, NA, RG 263, Mikola Lebed Name File.
136. Munich to Special Operations, [excised], 18 May 1949, ibid.
137. CIA [excised] to Commissioner for Immigration and Naturalization, 20 June 1949, ibid.
138. Mitchell S. Solomon, Investigator, INS, to T. Avery, Asst. Chief, Investigations Section, 20 Mar. 1951, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 118.
139. CIA, Col. Sheffield Evans to Commissioner INS (Ann. W.W Wiggins), 3 Oct. 1951, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 11.
140. W. W. Wiggins, Chief, Investigation Section, to W. F. Kelley, Asst. Commissioner, Enforcement Division, 4 Oct. 1951, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 118.
141. W F. Kelley to Director CIA, 12 Oct. 1951, ibid.
142. Edwards to Wiggins, 9 Feb. 1952, ibid.
143. Commissioner for Immigration and Naturalization to Attorney General, 13 Feb. 1952, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 118; Argyle Mackey to Director CIA, 27 Feb. 1952, ibid.
144. Dulles to Mackey, 5 May 1952, NA, RG 263, Mikola Lebed Name File. There is a copy of this letter in Lebed's FBI file, as well. For Lebed's admission to the Pieracki assassination, see the MI-5 records in the FBI file. Lebed would deny complicity when questioned by the INS in April 1952. See Questionnaire Submitted to Mr. Lebed, 8 Apr. 1952, NA, RG 263, Mikola Lebed Name File.
145. Wiggins to Kelley 13 May 1952, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 118.
146. Robert A. Schow, Assistant Director, CIA, to Director, FBI, 1 May 1950, NA, RG 65, 105- 12528-1, box 129.
147. Belmont to Hennrich, 5 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-2, box 128. The German originals of this material are in NA, RG 242, T-76, roll 565, frame 673ff. The translated version studied by the FBI are in Turner to Whitson, 11 May 1945, NA, RG 65, 105-9571- 17, box 126.
148. Belmont to Hennrich, 5 June 1950, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-2, box 128. See also FBI report of 2 Feb. 1951, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-6X, box 128.
149. FBI Report of 3 Aug. 1950, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-4, box 128.
150. FBI Report of 2 Feb. 1951, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-6X, box 128.
151. C. H. Pennington, Chief, Investigations Section, to Mackey, 17 May 1951, NA, RG 85, INS File-Lebed, A7 320 118.
152. Kelley to Hoover, 13 May 1952, ibid.
153. Hoover to Mackey, 20 May 1952, ibid.
154. A translation of the 24 July 1952 article, "A Tragic Anniversary," Novoye Russkoye Slovo (New Russian Word) is in NA, RG 65, 105-12528-14, box 128; FBI New York Report of 5 June 1953, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-15, box 128; Hoover to Director, GA, 12 Aug. 1953, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-18, box 128; see unsigned report "Mykola Lebid" in Albert H. Mackenzie to Brigadier General Mark McClure, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2, Department of the Army, 22 Sept. 1953, NA, RG 65, 105-12528-19, box 128.
155. "Underground Ukraine War Bared Here," New Haven Journal-Courier, February 14, 1951; Jaro Halat, "The Assassin and the Admiral," The New Leader, 28 July 1951, 10. Halat was another pseudonym for Peter Jablon.
156. Director, FBI to SAC New York, 20 June 1962, NA, RG 65, 105-12528, box 39; Director, FBI to SAC, New York, 28 June 1965, ibid. On CIA funding, see Joe Conason, "To Catch a Nazi," Village Voice, Feb. 11, (1986), 21.
157. On German youth see NA, RG 65, 100-197219. On Bormann, see NA, RG 65, 65- 55639.