Simon Emil Koedel

Simon Emil Koedel
Simon Emil Koedel
Born	Simon Emil Koedel; 1881; Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany
Died	1949[1]
	Espionage activity
Allegiance	United States; Germany; Germany
Service years	1912-1918, 1930s-1944
Codename	Agent A2011

Simon Emil Koedel (1881-1949) was a spy for Nazi Germany in World War II.[2][3] Born in 1881 in Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany, and came to the US in 1904.[3] Koedel enlisted in the US Army in 1908 and served until 1911, and in 1912 he became a US citizen.[4] He began spying on American shipping for Germany, and in April 1915 headed for England via Holland. He spied on shipping in England and Scotland until he was arrested in Liverpool. After being deported back to the US, he headed to Germany in 1916 again via Holland. Koedel was then commissioned as a captain in the Germany Army and subsequently returned to the United States.

Nothing indicates that he was placed intentionally as a sleeper. In the contrary case he would inevitably have been on some record and would have been found out, as so many others were. We know very little about this man, but he was in all probability a volunteer, who discovered his love for the German cause late in life. He was not a Nazi, or if he was, he never showed it.

Koedel knew what was good for him. He stayed well clear of the many displays of German folklore and the host of Nazi sympathizers that there were in the US in the days before the war. When World War II came, he was already an old man. That helped maintain his incognito. Nor did he ever associate with other German spies in the US, an altogether incompetent lot. Koedel used his stepdaughter to spy on US and other seamen while in port in New York.[5] He monitored American ports and US military suppliers.[6] One of the most successful spies of the war, Koedel obtained and forwarded to Germany volumes of information about US companies involved in the war effort over many years, but also of Policy, decisions made and to come; information which he obtained by posing as a concerned citizen. He worked on base of a "shopping list", didn't take No for an answer and often wrote to Congressmen and other highly regarded persons who unwittingly helped him through otherwise closed doors.[7]

The scheme Koedel used was ingeniously simple. He left the information in the original envelope, which bore the sender address of US Congress or other reputable markings, and merely changed the destination address to the letterbox in Sweden used for that purpose. That address belonged to Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsfuehrer SS. The US stamps and postmarks were all genuine; the decoy was never challenged. In particular, British censors on the Bermuda islands never opened the letters or researched the backgrounds.

The fact that Koedel worked for the SS rather than for the notoriously inept Abwehr establishment increased his longevity. Abwehr officials had the nasty habit of betraying their own, in an effort to weaken the Nazi regime that they disliked. Adolf Hitler recognized the value of this man, "worth more than an army", and promoted him to Major in 1943. Koedel lived modestly on his own means and does not seem to have received much, if any, money at all from Germany. Cash transfers are a notorious opportunity for leaks in any spy operation. Koedel was finally caught on a Tax matter.

References

Mickolus, Edward F. (2015). The Counterintelligence Chronology: Spying by and Against the United States from the 1700s through 2014. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 9781476662510. Retrieved 14 February 2020. On March 1, 1945, he was convicted of conspiracy to commist espionage [...] He was released a year later, and deported back to Germany. He died a vagrant three years later
Hoover, J. Edgar, ed. (February 1940). "Cooperation Stressed in International Relations Report" (PDF). FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Washington, D. C.: Federal Bureau of Investigation. 15 (2): 16. Retrieved 14 February 2020. In another espionage case, Colombian authorities worked closely with the FBI and as a result the spy, Waldemar Othmer, was apprehended and convicted in the United States of North America. Following out all possible avenues of investigation, information was developed on similar activities of Simon and Marie Koedel. Othmer had reported shipping information from Norfolk, Virginia, and the Koedels had worked in the New York area for the Germans. These three spies received terms totaling 42½ years.
Williams, Michael W. (26 September 2016). "Citizen Spies: Simon and Marie Koedel A father and daughter conducted espionage operations for the Third Reich in the United States.". Warfare History Network. Retrieved 14 February 2020. The Abwehr enrolled Simon Koedel as Agent A2011, the “A” indicating Koedel was a foreign agent. The “2” identified him with the Bremen sub branch soon to be headed by Johannes Bischoff, and the number “11” meant he was one of the first agents recruited for that network.
Miller, Joan Irene (26 October 1984). Spies in America. German Espionage in the United States, 1935-1945 (Master of Arts in History thesis). Portland State University. Retrieved 14 February 2020. Sources agree however, that it was sometime in the middle thirties that Koedel volunteered his services to "Abwehrnebenstelle" Bremen to act as a spy against the United States. Though Koedel had retained his American citizenship, he stated: "I love Germany with all my heart and I am even willing ••• to give my very life for her."
Gilbert, Martin (1989). "3 Finland Defeat, November 1939". The Second World War - A Complete History. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc. p. 37. ISBN 0-8050-0534-X. Retrieved 14 February 2020. On January 3 [1939], German naval Intelligence had received a report from one of its agents in the United States, Marie Koedel, reporting on those American military supplies purchased by Britain which were being loaded at Hamilton dock in Brooklyn, on the ships being loaded, and on their sailing schedules. Marie Koedel was even able to enlist the services of a British sailor who had jumped ship, Duncan Scott-Ford; later he was uncovered, captured, brought back to Britain, tried and hanged. But the information he sent back, as that of Mary Koedel, added to the German understanding of British shipping operations. A considerable amount of German information also came, not from any individual spy, but from a careful reading of the uninhibited American press.
"New York Spies - Simon Koedel". The Gus Neuss Archives of articles related to the Bund at Yaphank. Longwood Central School District. Retrieved 14 February 2020. In the fall of 1939 he began riding the ferries in earnest. He took six and seven trips a week. On the Staten Island boats he scanned busy harbor traffic through field glasses and sneaked into the cabin to make notes on what he saw. [...] Often he rode the Weehawken ferry from 42nd St. and closely watched British freighters lying in the Hudson. He slipped into subways and rode to the bustling Bush Terminal in Brooklyn. There he watched the loading of lend-lease shipments and tried to figure out what was in crates lying on the docks by names of the manufacturers stenciled on the outside.
Breuer, William B. (2003). "A Father-and-Daughter Spy Team". The Air-Raid Warden Was a Spy And Other Tales from Home-Front America in World War II. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 165–167. ISBN 0-471-23488-5. Retrieved 14 February 2020. He was given a commission as a captain and was soon promoted to major because of his innovative and highly productive spying activities. Koedel sought and was granted membership in the American Ordnance Association, [...]. Often he strolled brazenly up to the gates of plants, flashed his Ordnance Association card, and was admitted. Sometimes officials took him on a guided tour of what should have been a topsecret facility. Once he tried this ploy at the Chemical Warfare Center at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, [...] Guards would not permit Koedel to enter. [...] Koedel promptly telephoned an official at the Ordnance Association office in Washington [...] The association official contacted a high officer in the War Department and demanded to know why this [...] loyal booster of a strong national defense was being barred from Edgewood Arsenal. [...] Within hours an officer in the War Department read the riot act to the Edgewood Arsenal commander, and Koedel entered the facility and was given a guided tour. Two weeks later, Abwehr officers in Berlin were reading Agent A-2011’s report on what he had seen and been told at the secret arsenal.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[mickolus2015-1] Mickolus, Edward F. (2015). The Counterintelligence Chronology: Spying by and Against the United States from the 1700s through 2014. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 9781476662510. Retrieved 14 February 2020. On March 1, 1945, he was convicted of conspiracy to commist espionage [...] He was released a year later, and deported back to Germany. He died a vagrant three years later

[2] Hoover, J. Edgar, ed. (February 1940). "Cooperation Stressed in International Relations Report" (PDF). FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Washington, D. C.: Federal Bureau of Investigation. 15 (2): 16. Retrieved 14 February 2020. In another espionage case, Colombian authorities worked closely with the FBI and as a result the spy, Waldemar Othmer, was apprehended and convicted in the United States of North America. Following out all possible avenues of investigation, information was developed on similar activities of Simon and Marie Koedel. Othmer had reported shipping information from Norfolk, Virginia, and the Koedels had worked in the New York area for the Germans. These three spies received terms totaling 42½ years.

[williams2016-3] Williams, Michael W. (26 September 2016). "Citizen Spies: Simon and Marie Koedel A father and daughter conducted espionage operations for the Third Reich in the United States.". Warfare History Network. Retrieved 14 February 2020. The Abwehr enrolled Simon Koedel as Agent A2011, the “A” indicating Koedel was a foreign agent. The “2” identified him with the Bremen sub branch soon to be headed by Johannes Bischoff, and the number “11” meant he was one of the first agents recruited for that network.

[miller1984-4] Miller, Joan Irene (26 October 1984). Spies in America. German Espionage in the United States, 1935-1945 (Master of Arts in History thesis). Portland State University. Retrieved 14 February 2020. Sources agree however, that it was sometime in the middle thirties that Koedel volunteered his services to "Abwehrnebenstelle" Bremen to act as a spy against the United States. Though Koedel had retained his American citizenship, he stated: "I love Germany with all my heart and I am even willing ••• to give my very life for her."

[gilbert1989-5] Gilbert, Martin (1989). "3 Finland Defeat, November 1939". The Second World War - A Complete History. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc. p. 37. ISBN 0-8050-0534-X. Retrieved 14 February 2020. On January 3 [1939], German naval Intelligence had received a report from one of its agents in the United States, Marie Koedel, reporting on those American military supplies purchased by Britain which were being loaded at Hamilton dock in Brooklyn, on the ships being loaded, and on their sailing schedules. Marie Koedel was even able to enlist the services of a British sailor who had jumped ship, Duncan Scott-Ford; later he was uncovered, captured, brought back to Britain, tried and hanged. But the information he sent back, as that of Mary Koedel, added to the German understanding of British shipping operations. A considerable amount of German information also came, not from any individual spy, but from a careful reading of the uninhibited American press.

[6] "New York Spies - Simon Koedel". The Gus Neuss Archives of articles related to the Bund at Yaphank. Longwood Central School District. Retrieved 14 February 2020. In the fall of 1939 he began riding the ferries in earnest. He took six and seven trips a week. On the Staten Island boats he scanned busy harbor traffic through field glasses and sneaked into the cabin to make notes on what he saw. [...] Often he rode the Weehawken ferry from 42nd St. and closely watched British freighters lying in the Hudson. He slipped into subways and rode to the bustling Bush Terminal in Brooklyn. There he watched the loading of lend-lease shipments and tried to figure out what was in crates lying on the docks by names of the manufacturers stenciled on the outside.

[7] Breuer, William B. (2003). "A Father-and-Daughter Spy Team". The Air-Raid Warden Was a Spy And Other Tales from Home-Front America in World War II. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 165–167. ISBN 0-471-23488-5. Retrieved 14 February 2020. He was given a commission as a captain and was soon promoted to major because of his innovative and highly productive spying activities. Koedel sought and was granted membership in the American Ordnance Association, [...]. Often he strolled brazenly up to the gates of plants, flashed his Ordnance Association card, and was admitted. Sometimes officials took him on a guided tour of what should have been a topsecret facility. Once he tried this ploy at the Chemical Warfare Center at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, [...] Guards would not permit Koedel to enter. [...] Koedel promptly telephoned an official at the Ordnance Association office in Washington [...] The association official contacted a high officer in the War Department and demanded to know why this [...] loyal booster of a strong national defense was being barred from Edgewood Arsenal. [...] Within hours an officer in the War Department read the riot act to the Edgewood Arsenal commander, and Koedel entered the facility and was given a guided tour. Two weeks later, Abwehr officers in Berlin were reading Agent A-2011’s report on what he had seen and been told at the secret arsenal.