Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PREFACE
- Map 1
- Map 2
- U.S. INTELLIGENCE AND THE NAZIS
- INTRODUCTION
- SECTION ONE ESPIONAGE AND GENOCIDE
- SECTION TWO COLLABORATION AND COLLABORATORS
- SECTION THREE POSTWAR INTELLIGENCE USE OF WAR CRIMINALS
- 10 The Nazi Peddler: Wilhelm Höttl and Allied Intelligence
- 11 Tracking the Red Orchestra: Allied Intelligence, Soviet Spies, Nazi Criminals
- 12 Coddling a Nazi Turncoat
- 13 The CIA and Eichmann's Associates
- 14 Reinhard Gehlen and the United States
- 15 Manhunts: The Official Search for Notorious Nazis
- CONCLUSION
- APPENDIX: Western Communications Intelligence Systems and the Holocaust
- TERMS AND ACRONYMS
- SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- RECORD GROUPS CITED
- CONTRIBUTORS
- INDEX
10 - The Nazi Peddler: Wilhelm Höttl and Allied Intelligence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PREFACE
- Map 1
- Map 2
- U.S. INTELLIGENCE AND THE NAZIS
- INTRODUCTION
- SECTION ONE ESPIONAGE AND GENOCIDE
- SECTION TWO COLLABORATION AND COLLABORATORS
- SECTION THREE POSTWAR INTELLIGENCE USE OF WAR CRIMINALS
- 10 The Nazi Peddler: Wilhelm Höttl and Allied Intelligence
- 11 Tracking the Red Orchestra: Allied Intelligence, Soviet Spies, Nazi Criminals
- 12 Coddling a Nazi Turncoat
- 13 The CIA and Eichmann's Associates
- 14 Reinhard Gehlen and the United States
- 15 Manhunts: The Official Search for Notorious Nazis
- CONCLUSION
- APPENDIX: Western Communications Intelligence Systems and the Holocaust
- TERMS AND ACRONYMS
- SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- RECORD GROUPS CITED
- CONTRIBUTORS
- INDEX
Summary
No case illustrates the moral, political, and operational complexities in the postwar intelligence world better than that of Wilhelm Höttl, an SD intelligence officer. Höttl established contacts with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the Army Counterintelligence Corps (CIC), the West German Defense Ministry, and even the KGB. The release of his voluminous CIA Name File, which comprises over 1600 pages, along with previously withheld OSS records, substantially fills out what has been known about Höttl from Army Counterintelligence records. Höttl was an unapologetic Nazi who helped to expropriate assets from and annihilate Jews, particularly in Hungary in 1944. He was, furthermore, an unusually corrupt man who wove intricate lies as he built contacts, stashed secret funds, and enhanced his personal standing. He maintained these traits his entire life. Höttl's career serves as a mirror, reflecting the nature of each intelligence organization that had contact with him. In the end, U.S. intelligence agencies determined to crush him professionally and bury all evidence of contact with him once the possibility was clear that he was working for the Soviets and that his past association with the United States could become public knowledge.
Höttl's Nazi Background
Höttl's SS personnel records comprise one of the longest SS officer files. Born in Vienna in 1915, Höttl became a dedicated Nazi even as a student. His association with Nazi groups began illegally in Austria—even before Hitler's takeover in Germany. In 1931, at age 16, Höttl joined the NS-Schülerbund; he joined the SS at age 18.
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- U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis , pp. 265 - 292Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005