George John Dasch
Encyclopedia
George John Dasch was a German
spy
and saboteur
who landed on American
soil during World War II
. He helped to destroy Nazi Germany
’s espionage
program in the United States
by defecting to the American cause, but was tried and convicted of treason
and espionage
.
, Germany
. He entered a Roman Catholic seminary at the age of 13 to study for the priesthood. However, he was expelled the following year. Lying about his age, he enlisted in the Imperial German Army and served in Belgium during the final months of World War I
. In 1923 he entered the United States illegally by ship as a stowaway
. Dasch enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army Air Forces and served one year, when he purchased himself out of the Army and received an honorable discharge. He then worked as a waiter in New York City, and in 1930 married Rose Marie Guille, an American citizen. Naturalized an American citizen in 1933, Dasch returned to Germany in 1941.
, Germany
.
The agents received three weeks of intensive sabotage training and were instructed in the manufacture and use of explosives, incendiary material and various forms of mechanical, chemical, and electrical delayed timing devices. Considerable time was spent developing complete background "histories" they were to use in the United States. They were encouraged to converse in English and to read American newspapers and magazines so no suspicion would be aroused if they were interrogated while in the United States.
from the station in Amagansett, New York
spotted Dasch and three others posing as fisherman off the coast of Long Island
with a raft
. He saw that the men were armed and also noticed a submerged submarine. The men offered him a $260 bribe to keep quiet. He took the bribe, but alerted his superiors. A search of the beach revealed concealed explosives, timers, blasting caps, incendiary devices, cigarettes, and the military uniforms.
It was realized that Nazi agents had landed on American soil. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover
were immediately alerted, and the FBI conducted a massive manhunt
. Hoover ordered that all information be kept secret to avoid public panic and to prevent the spies from knowing they had been discovered.
, about defecting
to the United States. Their plan was to surrender immediately to the FBI. However, when they did so, officials did not believe their stories. To prove their collaboration with the Nazis, Dasch dumped $84,000 on the desk of D.M. Ladd, director of the Domestic Intelligence Division. http://www.historynet.com/wwii/bl-germans-invade-america/ Dasch was arrested, and interrogated for eight days. He disclosed the locations of the other men in the sabotage operation, including Burger. He revealed that the goals of the sabotage program had been to disrupt war industries and launch a wave of terror by planting explosives in railway stations, Jewish-owned department stores, and public places.
, and six others – Edward John Kerling, Heinrich Harm Heinck, Richard Quirin
, Werner Thiel, Hermann Otto Neubauer, and Herbert Hans Haupt
(who had landed in Florida
to meet with Dasch and Burger) – were tried by a military commission
appointed by President Roosevelt
on July 8, 1942 and convicted of sabotage
and sentenced to death. FBI Director Hoover and Attorney General Biddle appealed to President Roosevelt who commuted the sentence to life imprisonment for Burger, and thirty years for Dasch . The others were executed in the electric chair
in Washington D.C Jail on 8 August 1942.
In 1949 President Harry S. Truman
had both Burger and Dasch released and deported to Germany. They were not welcomed back, as they were regarded as traitors who had caused the death of their comrades. Although they had been promised pardons by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, both men died without ever receiving them, Dasch in 1992 at the age of 89 at Ludwigshafen.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
and saboteur
Saboteur
A saboteur is someone who commits sabotage.It may also refer to:*Morituri , a 1965 film also known as The Saboteur*Saboteur , a card game by Frederic Moyersoen, published in 2004...
who landed on American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
soil during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He helped to destroy Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
’s espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
program in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by defecting to the American cause, but was tried and convicted of treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
and espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
.
Early life
Georg Johann Dasch was born in SpeyerSpeyer
Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He entered a Roman Catholic seminary at the age of 13 to study for the priesthood. However, he was expelled the following year. Lying about his age, he enlisted in the Imperial German Army and served in Belgium during the final months of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In 1923 he entered the United States illegally by ship as a stowaway
Stowaway
A stowaway is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as an aircraft, bus, ship, cargo truck or train, to travel without paying and without being detected....
. Dasch enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army Air Forces and served one year, when he purchased himself out of the Army and received an honorable discharge. He then worked as a waiter in New York City, and in 1930 married Rose Marie Guille, an American citizen. Naturalized an American citizen in 1933, Dasch returned to Germany in 1941.
Preparation for espionage
Dasch and the others were trained for espionage activities in a German High Command school on an estate at Quentz Lake, near BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
The agents received three weeks of intensive sabotage training and were instructed in the manufacture and use of explosives, incendiary material and various forms of mechanical, chemical, and electrical delayed timing devices. Considerable time was spent developing complete background "histories" they were to use in the United States. They were encouraged to converse in English and to read American newspapers and magazines so no suspicion would be aroused if they were interrogated while in the United States.
Espionage activities
On May 26, 1942, Dasch and his team (Ernest Peter Burger, Heinrich Harm Heink, and Richard Quirin) left by submarine from Lorient, France. They were landed on Long Island, New York shortly after midnight on June 12. They were wearing German military uniforms in case they were spotted. Once ashore, they changed to civilian clothes and buried their uniforms and other equipment. Early that morning, John C. Cullen, a Coast GuardsmanUnited States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
from the station in Amagansett, New York
Amagansett, New York
Amagansett is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet by the same name in the town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 1,067. Amagansett hamlet was founded in 1680.The...
spotted Dasch and three others posing as fisherman off the coast of Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
with a raft
Raft
A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is the most basic of boat design, characterized by the absence of a hull...
. He saw that the men were armed and also noticed a submerged submarine. The men offered him a $260 bribe to keep quiet. He took the bribe, but alerted his superiors. A search of the beach revealed concealed explosives, timers, blasting caps, incendiary devices, cigarettes, and the military uniforms.
It was realized that Nazi agents had landed on American soil. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
were immediately alerted, and the FBI conducted a massive manhunt
Manhunt (military)
Manhunting is the deliberate identification, capturing, or killing of senior or otherwise important enemy combatants, classified as high-value targets, usually by special operations forces and intelligence organizations...
. Hoover ordered that all information be kept secret to avoid public panic and to prevent the spies from knowing they had been discovered.
Defection to the United States
George John Dasch was by now unhappy with the Nazi regime. He eventually talked to one of his compatriots, a naturalized American citizen named Ernst Peter BurgerErnst Peter Burger
Ernst Peter Burger was a German spy and saboteur who landed on American soil during World War II. He was captured but escaped execution. He was deported to Germany in 1948.-Operation Pastorius:...
, about defecting
Defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
to the United States. Their plan was to surrender immediately to the FBI. However, when they did so, officials did not believe their stories. To prove their collaboration with the Nazis, Dasch dumped $84,000 on the desk of D.M. Ladd, director of the Domestic Intelligence Division. http://www.historynet.com/wwii/bl-germans-invade-america/ Dasch was arrested, and interrogated for eight days. He disclosed the locations of the other men in the sabotage operation, including Burger. He revealed that the goals of the sabotage program had been to disrupt war industries and launch a wave of terror by planting explosives in railway stations, Jewish-owned department stores, and public places.
Aftermath
Dasch, Ernst Peter BurgerErnst Peter Burger
Ernst Peter Burger was a German spy and saboteur who landed on American soil during World War II. He was captured but escaped execution. He was deported to Germany in 1948.-Operation Pastorius:...
, and six others – Edward John Kerling, Heinrich Harm Heinck, Richard Quirin
Richard Quirin
Richard Quirin was a German-American executed as an enemy agent for the Germans in World War II. He was one of eight agents involved in Operation Pastorius, and gave his name to the Supreme Court decision on the trial, Ex parte Quirin.-Early life:Born in Berlin, Germany in 1908, Quirin moved to...
, Werner Thiel, Hermann Otto Neubauer, and Herbert Hans Haupt
Herbert Hans Haupt
Herbert Hans Haupt was a German-American United States citizen with dual nationality who was executed as an enemy agent for Nazi Germany during World War II.-Early life:...
(who had landed in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
to meet with Dasch and Burger) – were tried by a military commission
Military tribunal
A military tribunal is a kind of military court designed to try members of enemy forces during wartime, operating outside the scope of conventional criminal and civil proceedings. The judges are military officers and fulfill the role of jurors...
appointed by President Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
on July 8, 1942 and convicted of sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
and sentenced to death. FBI Director Hoover and Attorney General Biddle appealed to President Roosevelt who commuted the sentence to life imprisonment for Burger, and thirty years for Dasch . The others were executed in the electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
in Washington D.C Jail on 8 August 1942.
In 1949 President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
had both Burger and Dasch released and deported to Germany. They were not welcomed back, as they were regarded as traitors who had caused the death of their comrades. Although they had been promised pardons by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, both men died without ever receiving them, Dasch in 1992 at the age of 89 at Ludwigshafen.