It is said that George De Mohrenschildt held the key to solving the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Hours before an investigator from the House of Representatives was to have questioned him, he was dead. It was known that De Mohrenschildt had worked for several intelligence agencies. He had played many roles. Was one of them controlling Lee Harvey Oswald? THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OFA KEYJFK WITNESS AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT BY MARK LANE ntil George De Mohrenschildt House Select Committee, in Manalapan, died in the spring of 1977 few Florida, during the evening of March 29, Americans had ever heard of 1977. That meeting never took place. Uhim. Among those intrigued by his ca- De Mohrenschildt was already dead-from reer were students of the assassination a gunshot wound inflicted several hours of President John F. Kennedy, for De earlier. Mohrenschildt had acted as if he were Upon hearing of the death, Represen- Oswald's control agent. Oswald re- tative Richard Preyer, chairman of the sponded to De Mohrenschildt's com- Committee said, "He was a crucial wit- mands. Had it not been for De Mohren- ness for us, based upon the information schildt, Oswald probably would not he had." The news media focused briefly have been employed at the Texas School but intensely upon De Mohrenschildt Book Depository in Dallas on Novem- and his possible role in the assassina- ber 22, 1963. tion. De Mohrenschildt had been a spy for Willem Oltmans, a Dutch journalist, several countries, evidently rounding had given information to the Committee out his career with the Central Intelli- shortly before De Mohrenschildt's death. gence Agency. Clay Shaw, whose rela- He returned to Washington after the tionship with the CIA dates back to death to testify again. De Mohren- 1955, had been in contact with Oswald schildt's death had released Oltmans in New Orleans in the summer of 1963. from his promise not to divulge certain When Oswald was moved to Dallas, De information. Mohrenschildt took over. Oltmans revealed that De Mohren- Although De Mohrenschildt appeared schildt, whom he had known for ten before the Warren Commission in 1964, years, had told him that there had been the attorney for the Commission, pur- a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy portedly investigating the death of the and that he had played a part in the con- President, failed to ask De Mohren- spiracy. He also told him that Oswald schildt the kind of significant and prob- had acted "at my guidance and at my in- ing questions that would induce the structions." De Mohrenschildt said that witness to provide important answers. CIA and FBI personnel were involved as Twelve years later, in 1976, the well. House of Representatives established a Oltmans also stated that De Mohren- Select Committee on Assassinations to schildt was "petrified" that he would "be investigate the murders of President killed or disappear like other witnesses Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, who were connected with the Kennedy Jr. This committee was formed because assassination." it was clear that thirteen years after the Within days, a posthumous effort to President's murder, the American public discredit De Mohrenschildt was begun, was still doubtful of the conclusions ar- with the assertion that he had spent rived at by the Warren Commission: some time as a mental patient in the that there was no conspiracy; that Lee Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Harvey Oswald had acted alone. At the same time, the New York Times De Mohrenschildt was to be questioned began the effort to discredit Oltmans. In by Gaeton Fonzi, an investigator for the a front-page story the Times quoted an 41 De Mohrenschildt was attending a party when a radio broadcast the news.... He paled and then blurted out, 'Could it have been Oswald?' ... He had begun to talk about Oswald's connection more than one hour before the rest of the world was to hear the name. anonymous "FBI spokesman" who said schildt worked for Fraiss in intelligence plications whatsoever? that De Mohrenschildt had "been inter- activities within the United States. He De Mohrenschildt: No; it was purely viewed extensively by the FBI and functioned through the Information and business. testified before the Warren Commis- Economics Department of the French In- Jenner: And your second venture in sion, and all of his information was not telligence Unit. This unit had organized Yugoslavia for the Cardwell Tool Cor- pertinent to the assassination." The un- Polish residents of the United States to poration, that was strictly business? named FBI source was further quoted: gather intelligence about foreign oil De Mohrenschildt: Yes. "All of the information coming from shipments and reserves in Texas and Jenner: No politics involved? Mr. Oltmans about Mr. De Mohren- other states. De Mohrenschildt: No. schildt is all new to us and probably to The "FBI spokesman" relied upon by Jenner: Have you ever been in any re- reality." the New York Times was quite correct spect whatsoever an agent? It was hardly logical for the FBI to of- in believing that De Mohrenschildt's De Mohrenschildt: Never have. fer a blanket clearance to De Mohren- testimony before the Warren Commis- Jenner: Representing— schildt. Agents of the FBI had arrested sion did not prove that he had been in- De Mohrenschildt: Never, never. him during World War II and charged volved in the assassination. However, Jenner: Any government? him with being a Nazi spy. the FBI also knew that De Mohren- De Mohrenschildt: You can repeat it De Mohrenschildt's background was three times. described by the media as having been Jenner: Any government? "colorful." According to a recently de- De Mohrenschildt: No. I could take classified FBI document, De Mohren- what you call the Fifth Amendment, schildt conducted himself as if he were a but frankly, I don't need to. Nazi. For a time he had greeted his Jenner: I should say to you, Mr. De friends regularly with a hearty "Heil Mohrenschildt, that any time you Hitler." He lectured to a club which had think that your privacy is being undu- many Jewish members about the fine ly penetrated or that you feel that qualities he had found in Heinrich your constitutional rights might be in- Himmler. He spoke of the excellent vaded or you feel uncomfortable, you treatment that the French had received are free to express yourself. in the Nazi Occupation during World De Mohrenschildt: You are more than War II. He predicted that the United welcome. I have never been an agent States would be defeated by the Nazis. of any government, never been in the During the summer of 1941, De pay of any government, except the Mohrenschildt stayed at the home of American Government, the ICA. And Patricia Devel in Washington, D.C. except being in the Polish Army—five Miss Devel was observed by FBI agents dollars a month. in the company of Grace Dineen, who George De Mohrenschildt may have Well, maybe I made a mistake. subsequently admitted that she had been been just as involved in the Kennedy Maybe I am working for the Haitian a German spy during World War II, and assassination as the man on the right. Government now. It is a contract. But had been convicted of conspiracy to it has no political affiliations. commit espionage, and sentenced to schildt had committed perjury before Jenner: Subject to that. twelve years in a federal penitentiary. the Commission. De Mohrenschildt: Again, no political The year after her conviction, Dineen De Mohrenschildt was gently ques- angle to it. implicated Miss Devel as being "terribly tioned by Warren Commission counsel However, a CIA memorandum for J. anti-American" just before the United Albert Jenner when he appeared before Lee Rankin, General Counsel of the States entered the war. the Commission in 1964. At that time, Warren Commission, released on Oc- In 1944, one of De Mohrenschildt's De Mohrenschildt, who had been ar- tober 1, 1976 reveals that De Mohren- associates, Konstantin Maydell, was rested as a Nazy spy and certified schildt was known to the CIA as a result charged by the Federal Government without doubt as having been a French of his sojourn to Yugoslavia in 1957 on with being a "dangerous enemy alien" spy for four years, denied that he had behalf of the International Cooperation involved in pro-Nazi activities. De ever been "in any respect whatsoever an Agency (ICA)" and that the "CIA Head- Mohrenschildt had worked in partner- agent." The colloquy follows: quarters" sent the 'Dallas representative ship with Maydell producing propagan- Jenner: So this venture in Ghana had who called on the De Mohrenschildt's in da films. One of the Maydell propagan- no political aspects whatsoever? the early part of 1957." The CIA report da films was produced in support of the De Mohrenschildt: No. continues: Fascist regime of Generalissimo Franco Jenner: It was entirely and exclusively In the course of several meetings the in Spain. for business, as you have explained? CIA representative obtained foreign The FBI also was concerned at the De Mohrenschildt: A hundred percent intelligence which was promptly dis- time about De Mohrenschildt's relation- business. seminated to other federal agencies in ship with Pierre Fraiss. The FBI had Jenner: Except that you were working ten separate reports. The Dallas repre- determined that Fraiss was the head of for the International Cooperation Ad- sentatives continued informal, occa- French intelligence within the United, ministration when you were in Yugo- sional contact with the De Mohren- States from 1941 to 1945. De Mohren- slavia first, that had no Political im- schildt's until the autumn of 1961.