Richard C. Hottelet
Encyclopedia
Hottelet is the last living journalist from the original 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...
-era group of Murrow's Boys
Murrow's Boys
Murrow’s Boys, or “The Murrow Boys,” were the CBS broadcast journalists most closely associated with Edward R. Murrow during his years at the network, most notably the years before and during World War II....
, journalists tutored and/or encouraged by Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...
at CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
.
Hottelet at United Press
At the start of World War IIWorld 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...
Hottelet worked for United Press
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
. As a correspondent for UP he was arrested by Germans under suspicion of being a spy. He was released in 1941 during a U.S.-German prisoner exchange
Prisoner exchange
A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners. These may be prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc...
.
Hottelet in prison
On Saturday, March 15, 1941 at 7 o'clock in the morning, Richard C. Hottelet was confronted in his 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...
apartment by members of the German secret police. He was taken to the old police presidium
Presidium
The presidium or praesidium is the name for the heading organ of various legislative and organizational bodies.-Historical usage:...
at the Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the City Hall in the southwest.-Early...
in Berlin. Once there, he was informed that he would be held as a "guest" until some certain papers arrived from another department. As a guest Hottelet was finger printed, photographed and placed in a cell in the police prison in the same building.
That first evening, after a dinner of sour cabbage, Hottelet received some preliminary questioning and was denied being told the reason he was being held. The police took his eyeglasses, to prevent suicide, and denied him reading material as well. Hottelet described the first three days of his four month ordeal as "the hardest and longest I ever spent." Hottelet didn't receive a formal questioning session until the following Tuesday.
On Tuesday, March 18, the secret police finally revealed to Hottelet why he was being held, "suspicion of 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...
," they told him. The police, he wrote, were very friendly, "we are your friends and we want to help you," they told him.
Hottelet flatly denied any knowledge or dealings in espionage. The police were not pleased, they threatened him, threatened to use "the brutal methods of the American police," with the help of klieg light
Klieg light
A Klieg light is an intense carbon arc lamp especially used in filmmaking. It is named after inventor John H. Kliegl and his brother Anton Tiberius Kliegl. Modern Klieg lights use a tungsten-halogen filament...
s.
During the weeks at Alexanderplatz, Hottelet endured assorted mental anguish, threats and fear. After one session of questioning beneath the klieg lights a police officer leaned toward Hottelet and asked him if he had heard of a man named Tourou. Hottelet hadn't.
"He was one of the brutal specialists in third degree in the New York police, and we can use exactly the same methods he used on Johanna Hofmann," the interrogator responded.
The first week in prison brought a visit from a member of the American consulate in Berlin. He was given clothing but the toothbrush, soap and toothpaste sent with the clothing were withheld for reasons unknown to Hottelet.
At Alexanderplatz, Hottelet found himself amongst people of many nations and faiths, represented among the population were: Russians, Czechs, Poles, Japanese, Italians and Catholic priests. The first few weeks as a prisoner didn't yield much exercise for Hottelet or his prison-mates. Exercise consisted of one half-hour weekly session of walking around in a circle in a 15 × 40 yard courtyard. As the weather improved those sessions increased to bi-weekly.
The last few weeks at Alexanderplatz were significantly less grueling. Sessions with the secret police became less frequent and Hottelet maintains he was never mistreated. On May 31 he was transferred to the investigation prison, Moabit
Moabit
Moabit is an inner city locality of Berlin. Since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it belongs to the newly regrouped governmental borough of Mitte. Previously, from 1920 to 2001, it belonged to the borough of Tiergarten. Moabit's borders are defined by three watercourses, the Spree, the...
, in another part of Berlin. The building housed about 2000 prisoners in its four-story frame.
Moabit was a much stricter place than Alexanderplatz, no secret contacts with other prisoners, no smoking, but better food. After four weeks at Moabit Hottelet was finally allowed to receive a daily newspaper and two books per week from the prison library. The guards at Moabit always brought him the English selections which were not always pleasing to Hottelet. He once received "The Fuel Problem of Canada," and an 1867 book of verse for young women. Some reading material did please him. Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
, Sir Walter Scott and poetry by Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
. The most interesting reading, he found, was Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's "De Profundis
De Profundis (letter)
De Profundis is an epistle written by Oscar Wilde during his imprisonment in Reading Gaol, to Lord Alfred Douglas. During its first half Wilde recounts their previous relationship and extravagant lifestyle which eventually led to Wilde's conviction and imprisonment for gross indecency...
," which as written as Wilde served a two-year English prison sentence.
The prisoners at Moabit were given work to complete in their cells. The work consisted of "pasting tissue paper over the windows of doll houses and twirling little throwaways for the Reich lottery." At the end of his nine weeks in Moabit, Hottelet collected his full salary of 4½ marks or about $1.80. The prisoners exercised a half hour daily, save for Sundays. Moabit exercises consisted of walking around and calisthenics.
The days became depressing and marked by rigid routine. Military discipline was enforced and prisoners made to take regular army marching orders, though most of the prisoners had military training. Twice a day the prisoners would receive half-gallon jugs of water, with which to wash themselves, their dishes and flush their toilets.
While in prison Hottelet and the other prisoners received "German haircuts" at the discretion of the barber. The hairstyles, needless to say, were less than desirable.
On July 8, 1941 Hottelet was witness to a pleasant surprise. A guard came to his cell door, opened it and told him to pack his things. Hottelet asked if he was being released or transferred and when the guard told him released he was flabbergasted with disbelief.
He collected his belongings and was moved to a transport cell for about an hour. The Germans turned over his money, including his 4½ marks, and valuables and turned him over to the custody of a representative of the American Embassy.
From July 8 to 17 Hottelet left Berlin and lived "incognito" with an American Embassy representative. After his release on July 8 he had no further contact with any secret police or German officials. On July 23 Richard C. Hottelet crossed the Franco-Spanish border.
Hottelet at CBS
Hottelet was hired by Edward R. MurrowEdward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...
in 1944. On D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
he aired the first eyewitness account of the seaborne invasion of Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
; Hottelet rode along in a bomber that attacked Utah Beach
Utah Beach
Utah Beach was the code name for the right flank, or westernmost, of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944...
six minutes before H-Hour. He also covered the Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. Later he parachuted to safety when the plane he was in was shot down by enemy fire.
While working in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, shortly after D-Day, Hottelet received a memo from then General Eisenhower that allowed reporters "to talk freely with officers and enlisted personnel and to see the machinery of war in operation in order to visualize and transmit to the public the conditions under which men from their countries are waging war against the enemy."
Under these conditions with what he called "fussy" censorship rules but not crippling Hottelet set out from the U.S. First Army
U.S. First Army
The First United States Army is a field army of the United States Army. It now serves a mobilization, readiness and training command.- Establishment and World War I :...
press camp in Spa, Belgium
Spa, Belgium
Spa is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liège. It is situated in a valley in the Ardennes mountain chain, some southeast of Liège, and southwest of Aachen. As of 1 January 2006, Spa had a total population of 10,543...
for the Fourth Division headquarters in Huertgen Forest. He was surprised by commanders when he arrived telling him of a German paratrooper landing the night before and a big battle going on to the south.
As it turned out, it was the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge, which Hottelet reported later. Hottelet stayed with CBS for 41 years.
Hottelet was known as one of Murrow's Boys
Murrow's Boys
Murrow’s Boys, or “The Murrow Boys,” were the CBS broadcast journalists most closely associated with Edward R. Murrow during his years at the network, most notably the years before and during World War II....
, an early team of broadcasters who pioneered the industry at the CBS Radio Network
CBS Radio Network
The CBS Radio Network provides news, sports and other programming to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by CBS Corporation, and operated by CBS Radio ....
.
Life after CBS
After leaving CBS Hottelet continued to write op-ed pieces and lecture. As of 2001 he began writing commentary for the Christian Science Monitor, which he continued to do through 2005. Hottelet guest lectured classes in the early 2000s at George Washington UniversityGeorge Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
and participated in the opening of the University's Media and Public Affairs Building in 2002. In March 2005 he accepted a two-year appointment as a GW Welling Presidential Fellow at GWU. He also appeared as a panelist on GW's Kalb Report forum series at The National Press Club. Accepting an award there for his career in journalism on August 10, 2011, Hottelet received a standing ovation for his short acceptance speech: “Thank you very much. I just want to tell you, I tried."
External links
Hottelet reporting on flight over Normandy (audio clip): http://www.sfmuseum.net/realaudio/hottelet.mp3Stop Being a Lone Ranger on Iraq By Hottelet for the Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0805/p09s01-coop.html
Time Magazine: Exchanged Prisoners: