Hitler's Traitor

This is a great book, and once again I must disagree respectfully with the average reviewer in the case of one of Louis Kilzer's books! Incidentally, I don't know Mr. Kilzer personally, but I do know of his journalistic accomplishments and salute him for this and for writing yet another very remarkable book, Churchill's Deception: The Dark Secret That Destroyed Nazi Germany! I believe some reviewers did not pay careful attention to his evidence and the suspenseful details in the narrative. I believe that in the zeitgeist of our times, Mr. Kilzer simply did not demonize Adolf Hitler enough, as is expected of all writers discussing any details in the life of the German Chancellor. We can objectively discuss Stalin's industrialization record, Five-Year Plans, and military record, but not so Hitler's. It is not politically correct!

And for the record, let me categorically state that Hitler was a monster, yes a monster, but no worse than Joseph Stalin, who, at least quantitatively in the number of atrocities and murders of innocent victims, vastly outmatched Hitler, in both war or peacetime perversity.  That said, Mr. Klizer does provide evidence, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Martin Bormann was indeed the spy-traitor, "Werther," spying from deep inside the Third Reich. He was the only person that was able to attend all the meetings in question, or if not, to have his informants and official stenographers record in minute details the German High Command's top secret transactions and military plans. Thus he was capable of relaying information to the Russians, even before the German generals were able to review and put them into action! Not even Ultra, the secret decoding of the German Enigma code, Winston Churchill's secret weapon at Bletchley Park, was able to provide this information and feedback!

Werther was not only able to have secret German military plans radioed to Moscow Center via the master spy Rudolf Roessler (code name "Lucy") and his spy ring in Switzerland immediately after Wehrmacht conferences were over, but also let Stalin know who attended the conference and what each of the conferees stated. Werther was even capable of answering specific questions posed by Moscow center (i.e., "Gisela," the young, attractive, secretive, Jewish, Russian Spymaster, Maria Poliakova). Kilzer shows that only one man was in the key (and only position), where he was able to do so, and that man could have only been Martin Bormann, the Fuhrer's trusted secretary!

Hitler was ruthless, but despite what we may have been led to believe, unlike Stalin, he was not a paranoid individual, and he allowed treasonous activity to thrive within the military (e.g., Generals Ludwig Beck and Georg Thomas), the police (e.g., Heinrich Muller, left-wing, head of the Gestapo and creator of the funkspiel, radio playback messages to Moscow), and even German military Intelligence (e.g., the official Hans Bernd Gisevius, General Hans Oster, and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr).

It was not until this serious attempt on his life by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg at the Wolf's Lair on July 10, 1944, that Hitler struck back with a vengeance against the conspirators. Only then (and as the Third Reich rapidly crumbled) did he become sadistically vindictive and unforgiving against his opponents within the German military. And yet, he never distrusted Martin Bormann, the "faithful" secretary, "who could get things done." On April 30, 1945, as he prepared for death, Hitler made Bormann the executor of his will and praised him as his "most faithful party comrade."

But Admiral Canaris, himself an honorary member of the Black Orchestra, suspected Bormann, the "Brown Bolshevik." One of Bormann's mistresses was a communist operative in the German resistance, but that was not then known, and he was not suspected. Some of the surviving top Nazis did come to suspect Bormann's betrayal to the Russians--- but only as the piece meal revelations came to light at the Nuremberg war crime trials, as they were being prosecuted. On the stand, when the prosecutor asked if he believed Bormann was dead, Reichsmarshall Hermann Goring replied, "... I hope he is frying in hell. But I don't know."

What information did the spy-traitor, Werther, provide to Moscow Center that was so vital to the Soviets? No less than very detailed and specific military intelligence that led to the defeat of the Wehrmacht at the pivotal Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-43 and the decisive Battle of Kursk (i.e., the largest tank battle in history) during the spring and early summer of 1943, from which the Third Reich did not recover the initiative in the Eastern front.

The only question remaining for this reviewer is this: Why did Bormann not seek a timely escape route to communist Russia before the final collapse of the Reich? That is the 64 million dollar question. He might have been guarding his identity even from the Soviets. To escape, he attempted, but to surrender, he probably thought, would be futile! He had interpreted and carried out the Fuhrer's order of genocide of the Jews during the Holocaust and the elimination of the Ukrainians during the Wehrmacht drive to the east. And his betrayal was ideological, but we will probably never have all the answers.

Thumbs up! This non-fiction, suspense thriller is recommended for both history buffs and spy aficionados, as a book that merits reading in the realm of Soviet-Nazi World War II espionage, for those with an ear for the deadly symphonies of betrayal played by the Red and Black Orchestras.

ISBN-13 : 9780891417101
Publisher : Random House Publishing Group
Publication date : 09/05/2000
Author : Louis C. Kilzer

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

"Red Orchestra" (Rote Kapelle) is the label given to spy networks operated in Germany and Europe by the Red Army during WWII. Many of these operations were very successful, particularly the "Lucy" net, which targeted the highest German command circles. Kilzer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, revisits this arena with an entertaining synthesis of evidence about the activities of these spies, extensive accounts of relevant military history, and informed speculations about causes and effects, motives and behaviors. He offers some startling conclusions, based on declassified U.S. archival material and published disclosures and analyses accumulated over 50 years. While Kilzer shows that most of Hitler's senior compatriots were traitors in some sense, still subservient to Hitler but devoted to their own views of German interests, Kilzer reasons that two of the highest placed officials must have also functioned as Red Army agents: Martin Bormann, secretary and second in command to Hitler and head of the Nazi chancellery, and Heinrich M ller, commandant of the Gestapo. The book's title encapsulates Kilzer's claim that Bormann was the chief informant whose existence has been posited for some time, but whose identity has been a mystery. The text is fluent, comprehensive and annotated, but not without a few disappointments: occasional lapses into hyperbole, and inattention to sorting the hypothetical from the demonstrable when sourcing conclusions. The narrative is multidimensional, however, showing the under-appreciated significance of Rote Kapelle and winningly conveying the author's fascination with a challenging historical puzzle. Illus. not seen by PW. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Martin Levin

Kilzer's aim is to solve a baffling riddle of World War II. Namely, how Adolf Hitler's military orders made their way to Joseph Stalin's headquarters almost immediately after being issued. He calls his mind-boggling investigation "a conspiracy in search of a theory." The winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and a George Polk Award, Kilzer is a crackerjack investigator, and he delivers a gripping, true-to-life thriller. Historians have familiarized us with the British code-breaking successes that helped win World War II. But the "culture of treason" that surrounded Hitler is less familiar. According to Kilzer, an ingenious spy apparatus centered on a spy, code-named "Werther," who funneled vital intelligence to a network in Switzerland that forwarded it to Stalin. Who was Werther? The author nominates Martin Bormann, Hitler's second in command. And he has no shortage of witnesses to support his claim. Kilzer says the detailed information provided by Werther enabled the U.S.S.R. to win the tide-turning battle of Stalingrad. So why wasn't Werther acclaimed more generally? Good question. According to the author, the reasons were political. The "overwhelming propaganda was that the plotters against Hitler were heroes who wanted only to stop a vicious tyrant, not aid one just as bad. Who wanted to say that the man most responsible for the Holocaust after Hitler was really an agent of Joseph Stalin?"