The Devil's Doctor Felix Kersten and the Secret Plot to Turn Himmler Against Hitler

404 Pages·2002·6.24 MB·English

by  John H. Waller

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T H E
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Devil's Doctor
Felix Kersten and the Secret Plot
to Turn Himmler Against Hitler
John H. Waller
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To those who died or suffered as a result of Nazi tyranny in World War II

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Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
1. Felix Kersten: A Man of Influence
2. Kersten's Dutch Connection
3. Walter Schellenberg: Senior Nazi Intelligence Officer
4. Rendezvous at Zhitomir: Genesis of High Treason
5. Helsinki
6. Searching for Contacts with the West
7. Saving Switzerland
8. Turkey and the Balkans
9. Hitler Unfit to Rule
10. The Astrologer
11. Himmler, the Man
12. Enter the OSS
13. Hewitt Reports to President Roosevelt
14. Murder Plot Puts Kersten at Risk
15. Jews in Jeopardy
16. Negotiations with the Devil
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17. Eleventh-Hour Rescue of Jewish Captives
18. Schellenberg Tries to Negotiate Surrender in Scandinavia
19. Himmler's Demise
Epilogue
Appendix 1: The Image of Europe
Appendix 2: Russia Wanted to Attack Poland together with Germany
Appendix 3: The Dutch Art Treasures
Appendix 4: My Journey to Finland
Appendix 5: Final Report on the Deliverance of the Warsaw Men
Appendix 6: Discussions on Peace with Mr. Hewitt
Appendix 7: An Account of Schellenberg's and Bernadotte's Efforts to Free Nazi
Death Camp Victims
Appendix 8: The Reichsführer SS and Chief of German Police
Appendix 9: Subject: Activities of Dr. Felix Kersten, Stockholm, SAFEHAVEN
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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Acknowledgments
IN RESEARCHING THIS BOOK, the extensive documentation of World War II
intelligence activities held by the U.S. National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) proved to be particularly valuable. The declassified
Office of Strategic Services (OSS) documents cataloged in Record Group 226
was dramatically augmented by the release in June 2000 of some four hundred
thousand heretofore classified documents. These documents from the OSS and its
temporary successor, the Strategic Services Unit (SSU; 1945-1946), were
declassified as the result of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act as implemented
by a Nazi War Criminal Records Inter-Agency Working Group (IWG) and the
mandated actions of the National Archives and the Central Intelligence Agency.
The senior National Archives executive associated most closely with wartime
intelligence documents is Mr. John Taylor, who has for many years enjoyed the
admiration and gratitude of researchers, including myself, interested in this
aspect of history.
I also wish to thank Miss Maria Waller, the talented researcher who combed
the National Archives for valuable source material for my project. Another
volunteer at the National Archives who has been most helpful to me is Mr.
Burton Gerber, whose knowledge of Nazi intelligence activities during World
War II and command of the German language also proved valuable.
I wish to express my deep gratitude for the editorial help and online library
searches for material on my subject provided by Ms. Stephanie Robinson.
For illustrations I am deeply grateful for photos and other documentation of the
Kersten story provided by Mr. Arno Kersten, son of Felix Kersten, and his
widowed mother, Mrs. Felix (Irmgard) Kersten. They were both most gracious
and generous.
Other sources of photographs appearing in this book to whom I am exceedingly
grateful are Ms. Diane Tachmindji, Mr. Angus Thuermer, and the talented author
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of two books on the OSS, Ms. Elizabeth McIntosh.
For translations from the German and Swedish I have been fortunate in having
available to me the skills of Dr. William Haskett, Ms. Larilyn Andare, Mr. Karl
Richter, Mr. Angus Thuermer, and Mr. Andreas Zellhuber. I offer my thanks and
gratitude to them all.

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