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Captain Franz von Rintelen
Captain Franz Dagobert Johannes von Rintelen (1878-1949) was a German Naval Intelligence officer in the United States during World War I.
Von Rintelen came from a banking family with good connecti...view moreCaptain Franz Dagobert Johannes von Rintelen (1878-1949) was a German Naval Intelligence officer in the United States during World War I.
Von Rintelen came from a banking family with good connections in American banking and spoke fluent English. In 1915, he was sent to the neutral United States in 1915 on a false Swiss passport and began operating independently, receiving his funds and instructions directly from Berlin. His mission (under various guises) was to sabotage American ships carrying munitions and supplies to the Allies.
His colleagues were not all pleased with his success, and Franz von Papen (later Chancellor of Germany) sent a telegram to Berlin complaining about him, which was intercepted and decrypted, and von Rintelen was subsequently arrested at Southampton, England, and interned at Donnington Hall for twenty-one months. He was then extradited to the United States, tried and found guilty on Federal charges in New York, and imprisoned in Atlanta, Georgia for three years, after the U.S. entered the war.
He returned to Germany in 1920, a forgotten man. He died in England in 1949.view less
Books by Captain Franz von Rintelen
The Dark Invader: Wartime Reminiscences Of A German Naval Intelligence Officer The Return of the Dark Invader Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings