CD-996 >- vas vr■-• Er, qr..) f•4I e■11 SECRET ZIC .1It / ▪ W eq, isa 1.a.s CO ROTE KAPELLE Euro aeische S iona at( .et 4-eC-T-1970-- — co cz.
OG (The Red Orchestra - European Espionage)
by General Judge Dr. Manfred ROEDER
Pu lished by Verlag Hans Siep, Hamburg, 1952 36 Pages No Index
The a thor of this book was the German Chief Justice and General Pro ecutor at the "Rote Kapelle" trial. After World War U, he was i prisoned in Nuernberg by the Americans from the autumn of l96 until his release at the beginning of 1949.
His o mion.s and comments about this espionage case are based on his tudy of the documentary material presented to the court.
Was t e SCHULTZE-BOYSEN/HARNACK group simply a German resi tance movement fighting against the Nazi regime? Or was it an spionage network organized by the Soviets and the German Corn unists; did the group exploit the credulity of the German anti- azis while from the start following instructions from Soviet ilitary Intelligence and the Comintern, with the intention of u timately taking over the reins of power in Germany?
The a thor upholds the latter hypothesis and gives his reasons for t s conviction: Already in June 1941, when the German- Soviet war st rted, there were lively, coded, short-wave communicatio s aimed at Moscow originating from Berlin, Paris, Brussels and msterdarn. Further transmissions were recorded from Switzerl nd and the south of France. It was obvious from the similarity of he codes used that the traffic was originating from a centrally di ected network in the service of the USSR.
The a hor rejects the allegation that the name Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestr ) was created by the Gestapo to deride a supposed German resis ance group. On the contrary, the term was invented by the Abwehr The Abwehr directed the search-and-discovery operation agai St this espionage organization and kept the Gestapo informed of it findings. At that time only the Abwehr had the technical capa ility of locating hostile radio stations.