KV-2-944-1-Masser-Camp020-p22a

AOB: As Masser's file series in going into the many details concerning Portuguese East Africa and the South African Union,

I am a German national by birth being born on 17.11.1913 at Sorau, Upper Silesia, Germany. I am at present in custody in No5. Civilian Internment Camp, B.A.O.R. Germany I am married and my wife Christian Lotte Masser nee Steinhauer is resident at Rheydt, Nieder Rhein, Cecillienstrasse 15, Germany.

I arrived in South Africa at the beginning of October 1936, with the intention of taking up farming under the auspices of the 1820 Settlers Association but owing insufficient funds (lack of money), I had to abandon this idea and took a course in commercial flying. At the end of 1937 - September - I qualified for my "B" and was engaged by the "African Flying Services" as a commercial pilot for 3 months. In January 1938, I underwent a Flying Instructors Course with the "School of Aeronautics" at Germinston and was subsequently engaged as a flying instructor by this organisation. I eventually took up a position as a Flying Instructor with the Rand Flying Club at Germiston but after the outbreak of war in September 1939, I had to hand in my pilot's licences. I was unemployed when I was arrested for internment in June 1940. I was first sent to Leeuwkop Internment Camp and later to Baviaanspoort Camp. On the 4.10.1940 I escaped from the Baviaanspoort Camp but was whilst making my way to Johannesburg. I received no assistance from outside in this escape On my return to the camp, I met a German named Herman Henning: he told me that he had been interned because he was a high ranking officer in the Ossewa Brandwag. I became very friendly with Henning because he told me that his friends in the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) would be able to assist the two of us to escape. In the camp, I learned that the Ossewa Brandwag was a pro-German and anti-African Government organisation. I also later learned that Dr. van Rensburg had become the leader of the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag). I heard this from Henning after our joint escape. I knew van Rensburg because I had previously met him in Germany. I will now set out how I met van Rensburg for the first time.

During July 1936 and when planning to go to South Africa, I went to the South African Legation Offices in Berlin and was Dr. Gie and explained to him that I wished to go to the Union. It was at this interview that Dr. Gie introduced me to Colonel van Rensburg : he was in civilian clothes. He listened to my idea of going to the Union and told me that he he could not understand why any young man wished to leave Germany because that country under the Nazi regime was the ideal country for Youth. He went on to say that he hoped to see such a system of Government introduced into his own country, South Africa. He also informed me that he had been attending the german Army Manoeuvres in company of Mt. Pirow (KV 2/908; PF 66920). Van Rensburg told me that he himself was the Secretary for Justice.

During December, 1940, Henning and I effected our escape from Baviaanspoort. The details of the escape were organised by Hennig and once we were out of the camp, we walked for about 2 miles where we were met by Mrs. Bertha Hennig and her son Herman Hennig. The man who escaped with me is no relation to these people. The arrangements for the escape and subsequent contact with the Hennigs were mad through a soldier named Fleming. His nickname was "Fritzchen". The escape took place at night time.

Mrs. Hennig then drove us by car to the farm of a man named Boshoff (Boshof?). I think he was called "Nie Boshoff" (Boshof?). Before arriving at this farm, we first called at the farm of a man named Prinsloo. I do not know what his christian name is. Boshoff was a member of the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) and we remained there for three days and were then taken to another farm near of General Hertzog. The man who harboured us there was known as "Oom Hendrik". Hennig and I eventually parted company as the former said that he was going to see van Rensburg who was then to be appointed Commandant General of O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag). I made my way to Lourenco Marques: the details of that journey are known to Mr. Visser who is taking this statement. I eventually arrived in Lourenco Marques in January 1941 and → reported to the German Consulate.

During July 1941 I decided to try and make my way back to Germany via Lisbon by stowing away on a Portuguese ship from Lourenco Marques. My adventures are known in detail to the authorities and I have been informed that they are not relevant to this statement which I am now making. I was taken off the ship in Cape Town on 31.7.1941 and re interned at Baviaanspoort where I met Lothar Sittig, a German national. I had heard that he was in Louirenco Marques when I was there but I met him for the first time in Baviaanspoort. We were not friendly in the camp but he told me that he had escaped previously from Leeukop and had made his way to the Cape where he had lived on a farm near Cape Town. From there he had made his way to Lourenco Marques. He added that he was tired of sitting in Lourenco Marques and had returned to the Union in order to the farm in the Cape. He never told me that he had come back to the Union for the purpose of contacting van Rensburg and the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag).

IN January 1942 I was arrested and together with Mrs. Hennig and her daughter on a charge of High Treason. The details are known to the authorities. I was subsequently found not guilty and discharged: the charge related to certain information that I tried to smuggle through by the medium of various persons to Lourenco Marques. The shipping information which I tried to send through was obtained by me from an English sailor who shared my cell in the Police station at Cape Town.

Whilst I was in the Fort, Johannesburg, I met amongst others, a man named Rockebrandt. He was detained in connection with a robbery case involved the holding up of a pay car. It was the Venterspost Gold Mine Pay Roll Robbery. Rockbrandt told me that he was a member of O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) and that he and others had carried out the robbery in order to obtain funds for the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag). He gave me no details of the robbery or to whom the money eventually paid. He also told me that he had made a journey to Lourenco Marques about a month earlier. This was the result of, as he said, van Rensburg asking for volunteers were forthcoming because such a mission by anyone except a German would mean certain arrest by the Portuguese Police and return to the Union where the messenger would be handed over to the South African authorities and interned. He volunteered because he knew he would be eventually arrested and interned. he also had the idea of trying to pose successfully as a German national and thuus evade arrest in connection with his mission and also the pay of the robbery. Rockebrandt (Rokkebrandt) told me that he had received the message from van Rensburg and had made his way to Lourenco Marques where he successfully, for a time, posed as a German and had this succeeded in handing them to Galle of the German Consulate. Rockbrandt did not tell me on what the message was written or printed. He didn't mention films. All he told me was that the message related to the impending Madagascar campaign. (The planned Allied invasion of Madagascar) He told me that he had concealed the messages on his person and that they had not been discovered when the Portuguese Police arrested and searched him after crossing the border into Portuguese East Africa.

Rockebrandt told me that van Rensburg had handed the messages to him but that it was a joint van Rensburg/Rooseboom communication with the German Consulate at Lourenco Marques. Rooseboom was at that time working with van Rensburg. I had at that stage not met Rooseboom but Rockebrandt told me that he was a Hollander, a member of the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) and that he had through O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) communication obtained the information about the Madagascar landings from East London & Port Elisabeth. Durban was also mentioned and the information he said to have come from one van Heerden who was a member of the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag).

After I was discharged on the charge of High Treason, I was sent back to Baviaanspoort and later transferred to Andalusia and there for the first time I met Kraizizek (KV 2/2938 - KV 2/2939; PF 66174) a German national. The two of us made immediately to escape which we did on the night of the 10th March, 1943. One Kuehirt escaped with us. We received no outside assistance prior to our escape but a fellow internee Herbert Basson, a teacher from the South West Africa, gave me the address of a confusion following the escaped Kuehirt and I I separated from Kraizizek and we made our way to Potchefstroom where I left Kuehirt. I do not remember the address given to me by Basson. I did not make use of it. I made my way to Pretoria where I contacted Mrs. von Ziegler, whose husband was was in Andalusia, and she arranged for me to be taken to the farm of one Strydom. This was a tobacco farm near Brits. Two men drove us there: they were friends of Mrs. von Ziegler and I later found out from Strydom they were members of the Stormjaers. On our arrival at the farm, my two companions explained to Strydom's who I was and asked him to give me shelter. Strydom agreed to give me shelter and I was accommodated in a rondawel ? on the farm. I think Strydom's christian name was Hendrik. He had a wife and two children. I remained on the farm until the end of May 1943 when Strydom told me that van Rensburg wanted to see me. He then took me by car to van Rensburg's farm which was about 15 miles North West of Pretoria. Strydom had previously told Strydom had previously told me that he was a member of the Stormjaer : he did not tell me why van Rensburg wanted to see me. We arrived at the farm at night time and found Anderson there. Van Rensburg was not there when we arrived so we sat in the lounge and waited for him. We waited for about an hour and then van Rensburg and Mrs. van Rensburg arrived. Van Rensburg greeted me and we spoke about our previous meeting in Berlin. After a few drinks, he took me in his study where he told me that he had heard that I wanted to Angola. I had previously told Strydom that I wanted to go to Angola. I told van Rensburg that his information was correct. He told me that he could give me no assistance on my intended journey as he had no O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) members living on route to Angola. He told me on Kraizizek was alive - I had believed him to have been shot whilst escaping - and handed me a map which I recognised as mine. I had previously drawn the map at Andalusia and had given it to Kraizizek who was carrying it at the time of our escape from the camp. The map reflected the route of my intended journey to Angola. I took the map from van Rensburg who told me that it was no use me waiting for Kraizizek as he intended sending him to Lourenco Marques on a mission. He said that Kraizizek was leaving that day. He said that Kraizizek was in Natal. I told van Rensburg that Kraizizek and I didn't want to go to Lourenco Marques and that we intended to go to Angola. Van Rensburg replied by saying that Kraizizek's mission to Lourenco Marques was of more importance then our proposed journey to Angola and that nothing could be done about stopping Kraizizek. Van Rensburg did not tell me the nature of Kraizizek's mission: he just said that he was sending Kraizizek on a mission to Lourenco Marques. He didn't mention that the mission was to the German Consulate but that was obvious. Van Rensburg told me that he could not even assist me to get through to Lourenco Marques because the few contacts that he had en route were reserved only for special cases of importance and that Kraizizek fell under this classification in view of his mission. Van Rensburg told me (Masser) that I could stay with Strydom as long as I liked and until I had made my own preparation for my journey to Angola. My conversation with van Rensburg was in the German language which we spoke fluently. I did not stay the night on the farm but left with Strydom and returned to Brits.

I lived on Strydom's farm for about 3 weeks and then I decided to leave. Strydom took me by car to the house house of a friend of mine in Ferndale, Johannesburg. My friend, Mr. Walter sheltered me for some days and I then went and lived with Mrs & Miss Wilz (AOB: Kraizizek's fiancé?) at their house in Johannesburg. I had met them at Walter's house and they told me that Kraizizek had also stayed with them. They also told me that Kraizizek was on his way to Lourenco Marques on a mission for van Rensburg. They could give me no details of the mission. They told me that they had asked Kraizizek to present the Leibrandt (https://www.cdvandt.org/robey-leibrandt-(sa).htm) side of his controversy with van Rensburg to the German to the German Consulate at Lourenco Marques. The Wilzes → were pro Leibrandt and anti van Rensburg.

→ were pro Leibrandt and anti van Rensburg. A few days after my arrival at the Wilzes, a man named de Villiers arrived there. He was a friend of the Wilzes and told me that he was a friend of Kraizizek. He said that a certain Wild who had messages from Kraizizek wanted to see me. I went to de Vielliers to the shop of Wild in Johannesburg and there I met him (Kraizizek) and Rooseboom for the first time. My dealings with Wild and Rooseboom's are known to the authorities. I eventually went to Wild's farm near the Pretoria-Johannesburg road and whilst living there, I again met Kraizizek. This was about June 1943. (D2174 D2174return) Apparently, he had not (yet) succeeded in crossing the border into Portuguese East Africa and had returned to Johannesburg. We discussed our proposed trip together to Angola but Kraizizek told me that he first had a mission to perform on behalf of Dr. van Rensburg. He didn't tell me then what the nature of his mission was except that he had to go to the German Consulate at Lourenco Marques. Kraizizek left after staying one night at Wild's farm. A few days later, de Villiers called for me and took me to the house of Joubert at Florida. →

→ He was a school teacher. I did not see any transmitting set at Joubert's house but did see the two aerial poles in his garden. The wire connections led from the poles to Joubert's study. I stayed there for a few days, moved on to Walter's place and then to Wild's farm. It was here that I met Kraizizek again. Before this meeting took place, I got to know Rooseboom much better and he told me all about his quarrel with van Rensburg. He also told me that he and van Rensburg had sent Rockebrandt to Lourenco Marques with information for the German Consulate regarding the Madagascar landing (AOB: invasion) Mrs. Hennig acted as the go-between Rooseboom and van Rensburg when the former sent information to van Rensburg. This was especially so when Rooseboom collected the information regarding the Madagascar landings. Rooseboom also told me that he had reason to believe that van Rensburg had ordered Barnet Basson, on of the Stormjaers, to shoot him (= Rooseboom)

When Kraizizek arrived at the farm he told me (= Masser) that he was on his way to Lourenco Marques. I tried to persuade him to abandon that trip and to go with me (= Masser) to Angola. He then said that he first had to carry out first the mission for van Rensburg. As I doubted what he told me, I questioned him about the mission. Kraizizek then told me that he had to deliver a parcel to the German Consulate. He showed me the parcel and we opened it. The parcel contained a number of developed but not printed exposures. Each section or exposure was about two inch square and the lot were joined together by means of thread fastened through the perforated edges. There was only one packet but there were several exposures. I do not know how many. I held some of the exposures up to the light and saw that photographs had been taken of some document which was covered with figures. I did not see any letters. The figures were grouped in groups of 5 or 6 figures and were typewritten. On each exposure there were about nine rows of figures. I immediately realised that Kraizizek was carrying messages in code but I couldn't decode the messages. After a further discussion, it was decided that Kraizizek should carry out his mission, return to the (South African) Union and the two of us would make our way to Angola. Kraizizek told me that arrangements had been made for Sittig to notify Lourenco Marques by means of wireless that he was coming and that he would be met at the border by someone from the German Consulate to whom he would hand the film.

Kraizizek left Wild's farm in company with a man named Mayer or Meier. He had a farm named "Kambula Grance" on a road between Baulpietersburg and Pietermaritzburg, Natal.

I later heard from Wild that Kraizizek arrived safely in Lourenco Marques. Wild told me that Anderson had given him the information and also that the message had come by wireless to the effect that Dr. Werz had told van Rensburg to have nothing to do with me. I knew at that time, from what Rooseboom and Wild and Kraizizek had told me that Sittig was operating the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) transmitter. They didn't say where the transmitter was situated. A Stormjaer from Pretoria was assisting Sittig in the capacity of a technician. I don't know who this person was.

I still kept moving between Wild's farm, Joubert's house and that of Walter's. It was about July 1943, when O last saw Rooseboom. It was →

→ on Wild's farm. Rooseboom told me that he anticipated death at the hands of the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) and that he had decided to write a full account of his activities and entrust it to Wild who was to keep it and later, after Germany had won the war, hand it over to the German authorities. (AOB: Rooseboom was mentally far too instable, and went on to inform the South African authorities. Rooseboom continued, even after the war the ended, even when Dr. van Rensburg was, for a while, in prison. Its hatred was ill-fully imminent) I (Masser) tried to persuade Rooseboom to surrender himself to the Police so as to safeguard himself from van Rensburg. He said he would surrender surrender himself after his marriage to Miss Goetzee. Rooseboom told me that Barney Basson was living near Wild's farm and that several friends and members of the Stormjaers had warned him to the effect that Basson was out to kill him at the first opportune moment. I (Masser) heard from Joubert and a man named Barnard that Rooseboom was regarded as a great danger to van Rensburg, Barnard was a school teacher, a friend of Joubert's and an intelligence officer in the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag). During my association with Rooseboom, he told me that one of the financial helpers was a Hollander named Vermy who was a diamond merchant and who wanted to help the German cause by sending industrial diamonds to Lourenco Marques. Rooseboom suggested that I should take a parcel of industrial diamonds with me when I made my way out of the (South African) Union and that I should hand them over to the German Authorities when and where I made contact with them over to the German authorities when and where I made contact with them. (A great risk, as nearly all men reaching Portuguese East Africa were sooner or later caught, maybe temporarily. Most of their possessions fell in hands of the Portuguese police and since were lost. However, some survived, but how could they convey these materials at least to Lisbon? In the case of some industrial diamonds, these were deposited at a bank. Remember: all ships heading heading for Portugal were searched by the British in Gibraltar). It was on that occasion that I last saw (AOB: more or less lunatic) Rooseboom.

A few days later, I was at Walter's house when de Villiers came and the two of us went to the House of Vermy where de Villiers introduced me to him. Vermy was a stout man and aged 55 years and lived with his German wife in a house situated between the "Fairhaven" Private Hotel and the Observatorium Curve, Johannesburg. It is a double story house on a street corner; I do not know the exact address. After tea, Vermy took me into a separate room where we were alone and said that he wanted to send industrial diamonds to the value of about £150 to the German Consulate at Lourenco Marques, the German authorities to acknowledge receipt by an agreed message which was to be broadcast by Zeesen (AOB: Zeesen, the broadcast transmitter which also had the program: "Die Heimat Grüßt") Te message was to be a birthday greeting to someone (I (Masser) can't remember to whom) on a particular day of the day of the week. No payment was to be made as far as I know. I agreed to the proposal. Vermy told me that if the German Consulate wanted more diamonds then he - Vermy - would supply them to any authorised messenger from Lourenco Marques. Vermy then handed me a parcel of small greyish coloured stones. I have no knowledge of diamonds. Vermy went out of the room to obtain the stones and returned after a short while. The diamonds were contained in a small cardboard box which was a little bigger than a match box. I took the diamonds and left with de Villiers. Before leaving, Vermy told me, to present the Leibrandt side of the Leibrandt/Van Rensburg controversy to the German Consulate. Vermy was very pro Leibrandt and anti van Rensburg. (https://www.cdvandt.org/robey-leibrandt-(sa).htm)

I returned to the house of Walter, where, a few days later, I received information from Bernard to the effect that van Rensburg intended denouncing me to the Police. I then decided to leave for Lourenco Marques as soon as possible. With the assistance of Wild and others whose names are known to the authorities, I made my way out of the (South African) Union to Lourenco Marques where I reported to the German Consulate and handed the diamonds to Werz who said that it was difficult to get them through to Germany. I later got them back abd them to Werner von Alvensleben (E2175 E2175return). He said that he needed funds for the Free German Movement and would dispose of the diamonds. He didn't say to whom he would sell them/ I didn't receive and money for the diamonds but was supported by the German Consulate as a refugee until I was expelled from Lourenco Marques in November (AOB: with the Portuguese S.S. Quanza in September 1944, with many others like Kraizizek and Werz?)

Whilst I was in Lourenco Marques, I had nothing to do with the receipt or decoding or wireless transmissions from the (South African) Union to Lourenco Marques. I know nothing about these wireless transmissions. The German Consul never trusted me nut I know that Kolb and others at the German Consulate have knowledge thereof.

I have made this statement freely and of my own free will. No pressure has been brought to bear upon me, directly or indirectly.

I am prepared if necessary to proceed to the Union of South Africa and testify in any legal proceedings, which the Government of the Union of South Africa may institute aqgainst van Rensburg or other leading members of the Ossewa Brandwag, in respect to to acts of which I have knowledge.

Statement taken by me in the English language this 26th day of September, 1946, at No. 5 C.I.C., B.A.O.R., Germany.

Copy of cipher telegram to G.S.I.S. (AOB: likely: German Secret Intelligence Service; M.I.6) for Intelligence Bureau, B.A..O.R. (= British Army over the Rhine) dated 7.8.1946.

Reference our telegram DS/2040 of 20th July concerning Herbert Masser and Alois Müller (KV 2/2445; PF 65919) Please telephone answer soonest.

Grateful for urgent information that they are held at BAOR and for details present locations. Very anxious trace Paul Trompke, German Consul General in Lourenco Marques, now believed in Germany, also required as witness. Please take any steps possible to locate him. We are investigation search in American, Austrian and French Zones.

(AOB: to my knowledge: Trompke had been interrogated by the Americans in Germany before, and afterwards was asked where he will live in Germany. Apparently he gave an address. When, later they tried to contact Trompke again, he was entirely unknown to the local and regional administrations. All efforts were fruitless and terminated. In my perception, he left Germany and went to a place where he possessed good contacts. As Trompke, an old type diplomat, had been stationed before also in Latin America, as well as in the Philippines. In the direct post war days there existed possibilities to move to other continents and live with a new identity. Something I cannot prove, but what is not entirely unlikely: Trompke, apparently remained in Portuguese East Africa for some time in the latter country. He was certainly in the position to fabricate a valid passport on any name with Trompke's pass-photo on it. Fore example: Paul Georg Fidrmuc got in late April 1945, a passport valid up to somewhere in the 1950s. Why not Trompke supplying a passport for himself?)

As Kraizizek is a significant source of information, it does make, in my perception, sense to get an impression whom he was, again.

February contd. Nasser again consulted a fortune-teller who reassured him about his future in Germany, and five days later the party left by aeroplane for Barcelona, their passports and tickets being handed to them by Schubeius, On arrival they were met by the German Consul, Geiger, and sent to the Pension Vienna (Wien!). Masser found it hard to live on the 30 pesetas a day allowed by the Consulate

March and after a few days moved, on Geiger's recommendation to another pension, run by a German named Schusser, where he stayed three days before leaving for Germany with the others. (likely by a Lufthansa Flight)

He discovered that this Schusser was the brother of his acquaintance in Abyssinia, but in spite of this mutual tie, Schusser was not prepared to be friendly, and Masser declares that he felt he was being watched the whole time. The only item of interest prior to his departure was that at a party given by Geiger, he learnt that the latter had received a constant flow of information from Lourenco Marques, no details however, being given.

On 3rd March (1945) Mutius, Arco Sinnenberg, Kraizizek and Masser left for Germany by aeroplane, landing unexpectedly at München (Munich), owing to the fact that Allied aircraft were in the vicinity. Arco Sinnenberg took this opportunity to quit the party, which left the next day for Berlin.

On arrival there, Masser and Mutius, who was carrying official mail from Barcelona, decided to go to the Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt), as they had received no proper instructions before leaving Barcelona. At the Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt), Masser was arrested, and conducted by an S.S. man and a civilian to a large building near Wannsee, where he was kept a prisoner for three or four days. He was first interviewed by a civilian who himself to generalities about the warm and later a certain Gessler, who mentioned Haak of Lisbon. No proper interrogation took place, was everybody was to busy moving out (of Berlin) , and eventually, on Masser's saying that he intended to join the Luftwaffe (Masser possessed a South African pilot certificate), he was allowed to go. Masser states that he had no intention of joining the German armed forces.

Masser found lodging near the Zoo, intending to stay a few days and then go to his father at Kottbus (Cottbus). He however, fell ill with Malaria and found it impossible to get quinine without doctor's certificate; he states that he did not dare to visit a doctor in view of the fact that he was avoiding service in their forces. He eventually managed to obtain what he wanted at the pharmacy "Paracelous", near the Zoo station, where he promptly fell in love with the girl who served him, Kristina Steinhauer, and went the same night to stay with her parents at Bloomweg 11, Mariendorf, a suburb of Berlin.

1945 (Contd) Masser mentioned that he intended visiting his father at Kottbus (Cottbus), but the girl's father strongly advised against this, and the grounds that as Kottbus (Cottbus) was close to the Eastern

March Front, police control would be bound to be very strict. Masser accordingly decided to throw in his lot with the Steinhauers, who were in the process of moving to Michendorf, 20 miles South of Berlin. The whole move took some time, and it was not until mid-April that the Steinhauers took up their residence at Michendorf, with an aunt of Kristina's named Meissner.

(AOB: this area was still within the intended Russian Occupation Zone, with all the according tragedies (massively raping of women) happening the days after parts of Germany had been occupied by them)

April Before leaving Lourenco Marques Alvensleben had given Masser the addresses of a friend, Count von Stromberg, and Masser went to visit this man at Welfesholz with view to seeking refuge for the Steinhauer family and himself.

Welfesholz is situated farther to the west, but still amongst the occupied Russian Zone

Though, at least nearer to the Western occupied territories (US, British and French)

He was cooly received by Stromberg but his acquaintance from Abyssinia, Schusser, who was Stromberg's brother-in -law, prevailed upon Stromberg to give them asylum.

Masser then returned to Michendorf via Kottbus (Cottbus), where he spent a few hours seeing his father.

On 23rd April Masser married Kristina Steinhauer at the "Standesamt" of Michendorf. The same evening, hearing a rumour that the British forces were at Brandenburg, the Steinhauers Meisser and Masser decided that rather then risk the advent of the Russians they would try and gain the British lines, so they all set out in the direction of Brandenburg.

The first night was spent at Werder, in company with some Dutchmen who were also making their way to the West, and the second night at Wust (Wüst?), a small village near Brandenburg. Here they fell in with an American pilot named Fred Nachtigal, who was also escaping. Nachtigal was in uniform, and they managed to get some civilian clothes for him. During the day of 24th April they had fallen in with Russian troops, and met a Russian officer who spoke English; this officer, hearing that they wished to go to the British lines, gave them a sort of a pass written in Russian. The situation round Brandenburg was confused, and the stayed at Wust (Wüst?) a few days, but on hearing that the British were at Magdeburg, they decided to make for this town. They got as far as Britz, the party now consisting of only of Masser, his wife and Nachtigal, they having lost the two Steinhauers and Meisser after leaving Wust (Wüst?).

At Britz they again ran into the Russians, who told them that they were evacuating the area, which was to be occupied by the British. The Russians withdrew and the local population told them that German troops retreating before the Americans would soon arrive. They therefore burnt all their identity documents and decided to pose as French refuges returning home. This ruse apparently worked, as although they were stopped on several occasions by German patrols they were allowed to go their way.

1945 (Contd.) They eventually arrived at a village on the Elbe, opposite Magdeburg, and Masser went to the Mayor to get a boat to cross the river. Masser explained to the Mayor that an American Pilot was with his party who, if allowed to cross and contact the U.S. forces, would be able to arrange for the village to be spared. The Mayor agreed, and Masser and his wife crossed and made contact with the Americans. They then returned with some U.S. soldiers to fetch Nachtigal, who had remained behind. All then returned again to the American lines, and Masser and his wife then crossed the Elbe, on American orders, to try to arrange a local surrender. This proved unsuccessful as, although local military commander was agreeable, he was frustrated by some local Nazis. Masser and his wife again managed to cross the Elbe with the help of the Mayor, and again contacted the Americans. Nachtigal meanwhile had disappeared, and the pair (couple) found themselves in an internment camp at Magdeburg, where they spent sixteen days.

Eventually, a Major Giles of the U.S. Army, heard their story and released them, allowing Masser to go and get a certificate of identity; from Stromberg. Having got his certificate Masser and his wife lived in Magdeburg until the Americans withdrew and the town was occupied by the British forces. Giles handed over the pair (couple) to a Major Gibson of the Military Government. Masser was employed by Gibson, and remained in the service of the Military Government until his arrest on 11th September, 1945.

Egocentric, amoral and unbalanced, Masser is in many ways typical of his country and his period; adventurous and, under certain circumstances, probably industrious, his whole character is coloured by a keen interest in occultism as his story has seemingly varied with the stellar configurations - in short, he would appear to be more a case for a psychiatrist than an interrogation officer.

He does not seem to have engaged in organised espionage and, in fact, it is doubtful if even the G.I.S. (German Intelligence Service) would have attempted to make use of such unpromising material. He did, however, attempt to convey information to the German Consulate at Lourenco Marques, for which he was tried - the reasons for his acquittal seem obscure.

In view of the complex character, all information given by him should be treated with the utmost reserve unless corroborated from independent sources.

AOB: Why was Masser still in Spring 1947, in custody at a B.A.O.R. interment camp, in Germany? Especially considering the just given statement/judgement?

AOB: the early days after the closure of hostilities brought a British Superiority Attitude to light; quite many factually suffered from the ability to judge with a vision on the human circumstances. These kinds of apparent shortcomings lasted, generally, for at least a decade.

AOB: these fore called Crown Servants, not really being aware that they were themselves subject of the British Crown. The Germans were free individuals, and without a second agenda - were leaving Germany as to start a new life abroad. In our recent series, we dealt with: Masser, Sittig, Paasche, Kraizizek, they moved to South Africa. But equally, Germans left Germany for a new live in the USA or Canada, but also in Latin America; the latter such as Gimpel, and Zuelsdorff's parents, were forced - by intense diplomatic pressure - on behave of the US Government; to be expelled even if they possessed citizenship. Judging people, whom recently have been repressed - and hiding for some years in succession - without their own free will, under the prisoner regime might very well showing signs of a human crisis; they were often for a longer period in British prison regimes, additionally. Whether someone has Buddhism thoughts in their mind, is nowadays quite 'en vogue' and an intellectual attitude, may even be considered positive (in contrast) - to the narrow minded - as expressed (by some) of the British officers in charge of Camp 020, interrogation and beyond.

Husband: Masser, Herbert (at present in custody) married. 23 April 1945 in Standesamt, Michendorf bei Potsdam.

Mar 1944 - May 1944 At home in Mariendorf - recuperation from illness which had secured exemption at the time of RAD (Reichsarbeitsdienst) Musterung in Brno (Brunn)

May 1944 Received orders and posted to Upper Silesia (Elsenruhe, Rosengrund and Hohenleiben Camps) near Peiskretscham (now Polish called Pyskowice)

June 1944 Discharged for health reasons and sent to Telefon-Fernamt (long-distance exchange), Berlin Charlottenburg (Kriegshilfsdienst). Here she was engaged in connecting long distance telephone calls mostly from Jena and certain towns in Thuringia (Thüringen) e.g. Gotha-Eisenach.

24 Dec 1944 Examined by Arbeitsdienstärztin, Dr. Rauschenbach. This at Höchste Stelle des Gesundheitsamtes (am Tiergarten) and sent home as medically unfit.

Jan 1945 After a month stay at home she received a call-up notice from the Arbeitsamt to report in a week time. To circumvent Factory work after job hunting at various Chemists she finally secured a Praktikantin-Vertrag with the Internationale Apotheke, Potsdamer-Platz through the Apothekenleiter Kerner and went on with the Arbeitsamt which approved the appt. Here she worked as a Dispensary Assistant and Counter Hand.

Masser came to the counter and ordered vitamin drugs, This took place during the afternoon. The next daym towards closing time, Masser offered to accompany her to her home, Blumenweg 11, but was rebuffed.

Since then he appeared regularly about once a day at the shop and spoke with her. After about a week they started having lunch together at a restaurant in the →

→ Potsdamerplatz. Masser was then living in a hotel in Babelsberg *Subject appears to remember the telephone number as Potsdam 23-13).

Mid April 1945 Masser went away for a week, first to Gut Weffelholz (Welfeholz!?) Heddestadt and then to his father in Kottbus (Cottbus?) From the latter he rang up subject (Christine) and told her to meet him at the station the following morning. Shortly before this, subject's work at the Drug-Store had ceased as only first priority workers with red Ausweis were still working. Subject (Christine) met Masser at the Station, which was a small suburban one as the central stations were no longer functioning. She took him to her home and they learnt by telephone that the Hotel accommodation for which he

had paid in advance was no longer available as the Hotel had been commandeered by the Wehrmacht. Masser therefore stayed on the ground floor flat belonging to one Rehbein at the Blumenweg address.

18? Apr 1945 Subject's (Christine's) mother went to Michendorf, bei Potsdam (F2176 F2176return) to stay with a friend of hers named Meissner, Tettostrasse 42. Subject's (Christine's) mother step-father Steiner, (like her own father a Amtsgerichtsrat at Tempelhof) Masser and subject (Christine) left the Blumenweg and joined Frau Steimer at Michendorf.

25 Apr 1945 Subject (Christine) was married to Masser as the Russians were two kilometres away: they left immediately in the direction of Magdeburg. On the first day they reached Werde, where they met subjects mother and her husband (step-father?) .

The following day they set out with a hand cart containing luggage fastened to a peasant cart (Bauernwagen). This was the last time that subject saw her parents. After a time, when they were still some 15 km in front of Brandenburg, Russian tanks came down the road and Masser and his wife hid in a ditch from which they later merged and approached a Russian Officer to whom they stated that they were South Africans. They were transported on a lorry nearly to Brandenburg and given a Laissez-passer. They withdrew to Wust (Wüst?) as Brandenburg was being contested and stayed five or six days with a farmer, Escholz. Then together with a crowd of Dutch, Belgian and French DPs (displaced people) they made their way to Magdeburg where they arrived on 5? May 1945 having crossed the Elbe in a small boat.

For 12 - 14 days, they were held separately as prisoners in the Pölterwerke together with other persons, Military and Civil who had crossed the Elbe (Illegally).

17 May 1945 Subject (Christine) was interviewed by Major Giles of the US Military Government who ordered her to be discharged the following day. She interceeded successfully with him for the release of her husband (Herbert Masser).

24?May 1945 After a week spent at Magdeburg, Seranring 15 with a certain Timme, an acquaintance from the Pölterwerke, Masser had secured a pass to visit the Hartz for five days and a promise of a job on his return. Subject (Christine) the accompanied him to gut Welfelsholz (G2178 G2178return) the estate of Weffelsholz the house of Baron von Stromberg. The ostensible object of his visit being to collect luggage left there during his previous visit and to visit his friend Schusser, former reporter of the Kölnische Zeitung, later contacted in Cologne (see below)

Subject (Christine) fell ill shortly after arrival at Gut Weffelsholz and spent the remainder of her two days in bed. On returning to Magdeburg they found Major Giles gone and Major Gibson in chare of the new British Government Department, After about a week Masser became interpreter to 828 Military Government Department though subject (Christine) cannot state whether this was a result of Major Giles recommendation of of a further ouverture on Masser's part. Some three weeks later subject (Christine) was also employed herself by Mil Gov. She occupied a room with Sergeant McKintosh and the DFutch interpreter, known to her a Peter, and here duties were concerned with issuing of passes etc. to Elbe-crossers. Two before 828 Det Mil Gov left Magdeburg Masser and subject were told by Major Gibson to take the car, put at her disposition by Mil Gov, to the Autobahn cross roads, on the road to Hannover (Hanover). There they waited till midday on →

the third day when Det caught up with them and took them by way of Düsseldorf (Duesseldorf) to Rheydt. Subject (Christine) does not remember dates.

Questioned as to visitors to their flat in Rheydt, subject mentioned only two electricians, Schwabe and Fraentzen and two doctors who attended her when ill. As to excursions subject mentioned the following only, on 8 Sep 1945 she set out with him (Masser, Chrisine's husband) with him in a car with the object of visiting a certain Niensonnen, a girl acquaintance from the Pölterwerke days. Instead, deterred by the heavy traffic at the Rhine bridges, they decided to go to Köln (Cologne) in the hope of meeting his friend Schusser (see above), whom they located by enquiries at the office of the Kölnischer Zeitung and with the aid of a telephone directory (Telefonbuch?) The went to the house, Gilbachstrasse 18 where Schusser was standing in front of the hous with a motorcycle. After drinking tea with Schusser, they returned to Rheydt. The following day they went again to Schusser's house with the object fetching a Buddha which Schusser had promised him the previous day. On 11 Sept 1945 subject was arrested at 1830 hrs on instruction from from the ASO Düsseldorf at her flat and consigned to the Court Jail München-Gladbach. With regard to her husbands account of his activities subject states that he belonged to the Reichswehr and and with 10,000 men fought as officer against the Italians in Abyssinia, here he made the acquaintance of Schusser who is credited with rescuing Masser from Italian imprisonment. On his return to Germany he was expelled from the Reichswehr for fighting against the Allies of Germany. This decided him to leave Germany and try his fortune as a pilot in South Africa. He learnt to fly at Capetown and was later a flying instructor in the same locality. He became associated with the Strasser Gruppe, de (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasser-Krise); and en (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasserism) in the person of Werner von Alvensleben. With regard to to the later history, subject (Christine) mentions an offer from a British Colonel to help him off the ship in Gibraltar, but he adds that this did not come off and Masser went by way of Lisbon and Barcelona to Berlin where he arrived at the beginning of March.

Subject (Christine) the contretemps with the Gestapo which with Masser's own story was embellished.

Subject (Christine) does not confirm Masser's statement that he befriended her in the Apothekary's in order to obtain drugs which normally required a doctor's certificate (Rezept).

Conclusion. Nothing has so far come to light which would tend to implicate this girl in the guilty dealings of her husband. The story of their acquaintance may appear far fetched but in view of the circumstances prevailing at the time in Berlin perhaps not unduly so.

Recommendations. That the question of her disposal be left in abeyance until the other personalities in the case have been elucidated.

Personalities. Schusser, ? Gilbachstrasse 18 Köln (Cologne), former reporter of the Kölnische Zeitung. friend of Masser since Abyssinia and contacted him (1) Mid Apr 1945 in Gut Weffelsholz Hettstedt, Harz and (2) at the above address on 8 and 9 Sep 1945.

AOB: in my perception - a very good source on South African "Nazi sympathisers" is: https://samilhistory.com/tag/dr-johannes-hans-van-rensburg/

It tells us, that The National Party won the elections of 1948 unexpectedly and gave amnesty to Dr. Hans van Rensburg, Robey Leibrandt and other Nazi related individuals. What also is, in my vision, informative: is, that the Ossewa Brandwag organisation consisted of about 300,000 members (of average Afrikaner). It is also evident that some anti-British sentiments were still alive in the average quarters of South African population.

The interrogations at Camp 020 of the three Germans from Lourenco Marques Dr. Luitpold Werz, Walter Kraizizek and Herbert Masser are now nearing completion.

Kraizizek and Masser seem to be telling the truth; the former (Kraizizek) with in the limits of his intellect, and the latter (Masser) within the limits of his capacity for consistency; he is undoubtedly mentally unstable. Werz on the other hand, although he has voluntarily signed a statement that during his time in Lourenco Marques he has consistently engaged in espionage, seems on the face of it to have little of value to offer regarding our interest in German espionage in South Africa. He has admitted that he sent Sittig and Paasche to the (South African) Union and that he believes that Sittig has been operating from the farm of Dr. van Rensburg. He claims, probably rightly, that he only knows this from what Kraizizek told him when he escaped (late June 1943) from the (South African) Union to Portuguese East Africa in 1943.

So far the aim of these interrogations has been based one telegram received some months ago from the South African Government requesting that we should endeavour to extract from prisoners of war → (AOB: is a diplomat a P.o.W. and were the civilians from South Africa; as none had been in regular German payments) (AOB: normally these kinds of matters had to be communicated with the British Foreign Office as well as the Home Office, in advance! Have they, perhaps, skipped this as to prevent legal objections?) → all possible information compromising Pirow (KV 2/908; PF 66920) and Dr. van Rensburg (KV 2/907; PF66175) as having intrigued with the Germans during the war.

Nothing has arisen out of the interrogations of Werz, Kraizizek and Masser (AOB: the latter actually had the least to do with espionage and illicit W/T communications abroad) which would compromise Pirow, but that was only to be expected for he and van Rensburg have for years at logger heads (to strongly disagree).

On the other hand the interrogation have given a wealth of information against van Rensburg and a large number of his followers (AOB: members of Ossewa Brandwag) The value of the information is not so much that it is new to us but that it confirms in every respect the information we had from Most Secret Sources and the information that we received whilst we were represented in South Africa.

It is not without interest that the stories of Kraizizek and Masser regarding their association with Wild confirm what Wild himself told our representative during the time that contact was maintained with him (Wild) and the whole of the story related by Rooseboom (KV 2/941: PF 66179) in the confession which Wild handed over to our representative.

The burden of this story is that Dr. van Rensburg first made contact with the German agent Rooseboom who was sent out to (his) South Africa by the G.I.S. (German Intelligence Service) in October 1939. Several attempts were made by these two to contact the German Consulate in Lourenco Marques in order that wireless communication could be opened up. This association was terminated by Dr. van Rensburg when Sittig arrived in the (South African) Union from Lourenco Marques with complete schedules for the opening of W/T communication with the German Consulate there. From this time onwards van Rensburg steadfastly refused to have anything whatever to do with Rooseboom and he switched his collaboration over to Sittig.

Sittig transmitted from Dr. van Rensburg's farm and was housed and financed by him. At first W/T communication was maintained only with Lourenco Marques until direct communication was established between Sittig and Berlin. (AOB: think of May - June 1943) The information supplied by van Rensburg concerned military, political and shipping matters.

Kraizizek and Masser, who escaped from internment together, have given details of their association with Nazi Afrikaners and of those who assisted them to escape to Portuguese East Africa. They have explained how they were assisted, housed and financed by Wild and confessed to their attempts to assist Rooseboom to re-establish his contact with the Germans, which had been broken since he was thrown over by van Rensburg in favour of Sittig, Anderson (the musician) who is van Rensburg's deputy, and others. (AOB: Rooseboom was professionally a short-hand employee to the South African parliament, and likely a journalist and short of financial resources; in contrast: van Rensburg. Possessed a doctor degree in law, and was very influential in the Ossewa Brandwag organisation. He was on close friendly basis with Field Marshal Smuts, the PM of South Africa. He possessed properties amongst it a farm. This farm had been raided several times, but all in vain, as Sittig had not been caught)

Werz's only information on this story is that he sent both Sittig and Paasche to the South African Union to establish W/T communication with (at least) Lourenco Marques and that he did this in pursuance of a number of requests he had received from Germany for more detailed information about South Africa.

One cannot predict what action the South African Government will decide to take on these reports but they undoubtedly contain the information requested in their telegram regarding the activities of Dr. van Rensburg and a large number of members of the Ossewa Brandwag. As the information contained in them is for the most part already in the hands of ~~General~~ Field Marshal Smuts, there can now no longer be any objection to his using it on the grounds that the source cannot be disclosed (= Most Secret Sources).

The reports are capable of being used by the South African Government in one of two ways. They contain sufficient information against a number of members of the Ossewa Brandwag on which base the interrogation of those who have assisted van Rensburg, Sittig, Paasche, Kraizizek, Masser and others, and arising out of these interrogation action could undoubtedly be taken.

If, on the other hand, Field Marshall Smuts should decide for political reasons that such action would be injudicious, then this information, and that arising out of my interrogations which may be undertaken in South Africa in connection with them, may be used to discredit the Nationalist opposition if it can be shown that they were in sympathy with the treacherous activities of the Ossewa Brandwag.

Some time in late 1942, Masser, whilst in custody (AOB: not for a crime, but only due to the fact he was of German descent) in the Fort of Johannesburg, met with a Dutchman named Rokkebrandt (Rockebrandt?) (not a Dutch name, by the way) who was awaiting trial on a charge of bank-robbery. They discussed the Madagascar landing which had just taken place.

Rokkebrandt (Rockebrandt?) told Masser that he had been arrested in Lourenco Marques where he had posed as a German but that his true identity had eventually been established, and he had been extradited.

Rokkebrandt (Rockebrandt?), according to Masser, had been sent by van Rensburg and Rooseboom to Lourenco Marques with the detailed plans for the invasion of Madagascar. On crossing the border into Portuguese East Africa, Rokkebrandt (Rockebrandt?) was arrested by the Portuguese Police, but on his instance that he was a German named Baenser, he was provisionally liberated and passed on his message either to Werz or Galle of the German Consulate.

In accordance with instructions received by telephone at 18.00 hrs on 11? Sep 1945 the above was arrested at 20.10 Hrs the same day. The arrest took place at the Office of this Det (Department?), München-Gladbach, Viersenerstrasse 217 to which Nasser reported at 16.00 hrs in accordance with arrangements made with Major Gibson O.C. 828 Mil Gov Det Rheydt. During the period preceding his arrest, Masser was entertained on a friendly basis and made the request that a letter which he intended to write Werner von Alvensleben should be posted by the undersigned. This request was granted and Masser wrote the letter, which has been handed to the ASO Düsseldorf. Immediately afterwards he was arrested and searched. After being examined further by the M O (Medical Officer?) on duty 13 F D S , München-Gladbach, Masser was consigned for incarceration to the Guard Room, Y 56 Airfield, München-Gladbach. Where he is at present held. Frau Kristina (Christine) Masser had been arrested at her flat, Rheydt Cecilienstrasse 34, at 18.30 hrs the same day 11 September 1945 and taken to the Gerichts Gefängnis, München-Gladbach where she is being kept strictly segregated. A search was made of the flat which had been locked and sealed, between 10.00 hrs and 12.00 hrs 12 September 1945 Documents found there and in his desk at 828 Mil Gov Det Office were secured and are held at this office in separate covers.

This Det first made the acquaintance of Masser shortly shortly after 828 Det Mil Gov arrived in Rheydt from Magdeburg. It was understood from Major Freemantle, P S O that Masser had been attached in a similar capacity to his Det whilst it was still in Magdeburg, and that he had been screened there before coming to Rheydt. His duties under Major Freemantle were as interpreter to this Officer and in addition he performed preliminary enquiries regarding Fragebogens under the arrangements made for for the employment of a so called "Special Branch" to aid P S O's in this connection. Masser evidently enjoyed the confidence of 828 Mil Gov Det and was employed in Quasi-police duties.

In the course of the "friendly conversation" mentioned above Masser disclosed that he had made previous attempts to contact Werner von Alvensleben but added that these had been unsuccessful. The first attempt took place in Magdeburg where Major Gibson himself was approached the second was through a Sjt Haswell. He did not mention Mckintosh.

With regard to his "Wife" Masser claims that he met her for the first time in Berlin in March, when he was trying to obtain drugs for his malaria. She was then working in a Chemist's in Berlin.

He finally circumvented the regulations which required a doctor's certificate by coming intimate with this girl and by staying at her parents house. When it was apparent that Magdeburg was due to be taken by the Russians, Masser appealed to Major Gibson to be allowed to take his wife, who was afraid of Russian occupation, with him to their new location.

With regard to the personalities mentioned by Masser the following points emerged.

Baron von Stromberg (address contained in the latter already submitted). Masser states that this man also belonged to the free German movement, associated Otto Strasser. Werner von Alvensleben, etc., and that he stayed a short while with him before making his way to Magdeburg.

Lehfeldt, Hamburg-Blankeneses : this man was Oberbürgemeister and head of police in Magdeburg under British Occupation. he is stated to be at present on the staff of the Oberbürgemeiser of Hamburg.

N.B. C C U information discloses that Baron von Stromberg and Lehfeld are or are likely to be covered by C C U.

Granting exemption for curfew and travel restrictions and authorizing the making enquiries on behalf of 828 Mil Gov Det.

Certificate for car issued by 828 Mil Gov Det. Stamped and signed by Major Gibson.

Exemption for his wife, Frau Kristina Masser from curfew restrictions. Stamped but not signed.

AOB: those doing their job in the military services, might often not have been aware what an arrest could cause, in those days.

Mrs. Masser might lose here domicile in Rheydt, their marriage might, eventually, breakdown.

The prospects for the future, their legal rights, being often ignored and: sometimes even being exploited as to put pressure upon individuals.

In the latter case: some kind of document was attached on [ PDF page_56 (further down) page_56return]

Herewith Documents in respect of the a/n who was arrested on instructions from B.A.O.R. (British Army over the Rhine) on 11 Sep 1945 at 1900 hrs in München-Gladbach.

Frau Masser has also been arrested and is held by this HQ during investigation of the a/n's recent activities.

AOB: The next document concerns a licence to let someone, under a kind of arrest, enter the UK, but this also implies that after a certain time he has to leave Britain as well.

When the person to whom this document refers is proceeding under escort, it must be kept in the custody of the escort throughout the journey and delivered at destination to the authority into whose care the person concerned is delivered.

2. Service escort shall be maintained until the person concerned is handed over to the care of Camp 020 (located at Latchmere House, Richmond) (AOB: not a comfortable place to maintain) at London.)

3. The person concerned will remain segregated from the public throughout the journey.

Received 15.9.1945 (WRX-15/0950) (WRX = War Room Type X coded) Case Officer W.R.C.2

Original in File no : PF 66174 Kraizizek Volume 1 Serial (minute? 56a) Receipt Date 10.9.1945

The following is a report on the escape of Kraizizek on 18th March 1943 from the time he left the Andalusia Camp in South Africa to his meeting with Werz in Lourenco Marques in June 1943.

1943 Kraizizek met Hubert (Herbert) Masser in the Camp in 1943, the latter having just returned from serving a term of imprisonment in Pretoria for espionage. Kraizizek had previously met Masser in Baviaansport Camp. Although their plan for escape was a joint effort, yet Masser was obviously the person the person who determined the means, and it was agreed that the two should make their way to Angola (also a Portuguese Colony) via Caprivi Corner (Caprivistrook) ↓

Namibia, was since the end of the First World War, a South African Mandate territory, and then (AOB) is Capivistrook a not un-logical choice

Masser obtained all the necessary information about the outside, maps compasses, and addresses of possible helps, whilst to Kraizizek fell the task of finding the actual route out of the camp.

Another internee, Georg Kuehirt, was allowed to join them at the last minute in order not to upset their plans. →

17th March. On 17th March, according to Kraizizek, the escape took place. The lights had been cut off on the outside and inside of the camp, friends had been posted at several points with crackers to distract the guards' attention, and choosing the appropriate moment, Kraizizek cut the wire, swept away the barbered wire obstacles, and charged the guard waving with a dummy wooden pistol. About four miles from the camp the three trapped and fired on and in the ensuing panic, Kraizizek lost Masser and Kuehirt. Having waited 24 hours where he was, Kraizizek approached a farm described to him by Masser, the name of which Masser had obtained from a man named Basson.

Masser had given Kraizizek an address in Highland North (now forgotten) and he made for this place after dark.

Here he met a German woman who started crying when he told her whop he was. She bagged him to leave at once as her husband. who was interned, had a chance of being paroled, and Kraizizek's presence might ruin everything. . . . The woman telephoned Rahdke . . . Frau Rahdke was the wife of the Principal of the German school in Johannesburg, Georg Rahdke, who was interned with Kraizizek first in Baviaansport Camp, then in Leeuwkop and later in Andalusia.

Kraizizek had only seen her once when she visited her husband at the internment camp. She was a good friend of Masser, whom she often visited his turn of imprisonment. Her husband had taken flying lessons from Masser. Kraizizek told her that he intended going to Angola and asked her if she knew anyone who could find out something about Masser. She promised to approach Jerling, an O.B. General who she knew, in the matter . . .

Von Rensburg then told Kraizizek how difficult it was to obtain national unity and that he had appealed to the other party leader, Pirow, to come together on some understanding, but without success. All von Rensburg hoped was that Germany would win the war.

Talking about Masser, von Rensburg stressed the point that he had to thank him, von Rensburg, for saving his life, because if had not ordered one of his officers, Banie Basson to shoot Lotter, Masser would have been found guilty of espionage. Bason afterwards arrested by the police and imprisoned, later escaping, was never suspected of this murder, according to Kraizizek.

Major Mueller had also called on van Rensburg concerning the general use of the O.B. (Ossewa Branndwag) in South Africa, but van Rensburg had refused. Otherwise, Mueller had received all possible aid in his escape.

Kraizizek mentioned to van Rensburg that Herbert Wild had told him that he would like to join the G.I.S. (German Intelligence Service) as he was in a position to help Germany. Van Rensburg speaking of the difficulties he experienced technically with the transmitter, as he could not get new parts and valves, said that he would be glad to got Wild's services. (Later Werz appointed Wild as an agent, but Wild, influenced by Rooseboom and Masser and wishing to operate alone, refused to work with van Rensburg.)

Von Rensburg then offered Kraizizek money, but Kraizizek refused, accepting nothing from him but the parcel containing the film. Kraizizek cannot say how much money van Rensburg would have given him.

In the course of their long conversation, van Rensburg said that he did not generally approve of the escapes from prison and internment camps, especially approve of escapes from prison and internment camps, especially where Afrikaners were concerned, as they could not get out of the country and just endangered the lives of other people. He had sent an order to the internment camp strictly forbidden attempts to escape. Asked how van Rensburg was able to send his order to the camps, Kraizizek said that anyone was allowed to write to the Commandant and there were many O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) men employed in the administration officers and amongst the guards.

24th May obvious, according to Kraizizek, that they had been denounced by the dip inspector, or some strange coincidence had taken place, because they saw native troops being moved about. They had

27th May to hurry back in order not to be trapped, and arrived on the Zwaziland (Swasiland) border ↓

walking day and night, on 27th May. Oppermann crossed the border while Kraizizek waited for him to come back by car, which he eventually did hours later. The car, driven by a person unknown to Kraizizek, passed the border unchallenged. As Steencamp was still at Oppermann's farm Kraizizek spent the night there and went back to Mayer's farm ('J').

As Steencamp had received orders to bring Kraizizek safely to the border, he had to think of a new scheme. Werz was informed that Kraizizek would come later, but gave instructions that he was to go straight to Lourenco Marques as Werz could not meet him again, his trip to the border having aroused the suspicion of the police.

Steemcamp fixed the date of the next attempt as 10th June. For sentimental reasons Kraizizek wanted to see Maria Wilz again (AOB: Kraizizek once noticed during an interrogation: that Maria was his fiancé) and persuaded Mayer to drive him to Johannesburg. Before this could be arranged however, they went to Wild's farm, arriving on the 5th June, where Kraizizek met Masser and Rooseboom.

Masser told Kraizizek how he had become separated from him in the trap near the camp and how he had walked for days round the Christiana district, trying to contact the address he had received from the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) in the camp, but they had all proved worthless. Masser dared not visit the farm near which they were trapped, but remembered Kraizizek having mentioned a cafe near the railway station in Taungs, where he could at last buy some food, and would not be given away. As the position regarding food was becoming desperate, he walked from Fourteen Stream to Taungs, afterwards going in the direction of Clerksdorp where he hid with a friend.

Kraizizek thinks this man was named Winter and owned a garage. Masser later contacted Ludorff (Ludorf?) to get hold of the Leibrandt dollars in his possession. In this he got in touch with van Rensburg and asked for his help. This van Rensburg agreed to give and Masser was moved to a farm in the bushfield out of reach. Masser was very angry about this, claiming that it was done to prevent Kraizizek meeting him.

Kraizizek told Masser that he, Kraizizek, would have to go to Lourenco Marques on a mission before accompanying him (AOB: Masser desire was to go the Angola and from there trying to reach the Germany controlled territory) He told him that this mission was to take a packet of films to Lourenco Marques, and Masser urged him to show him the films, which Kraizizek did. They were Leica films → (AOB: Leica, a brand name owned by the Leitz Company in Germany, was the inventor of using the cinema film size of 35 mm and covering this in a newly designed cassette. This ingeniously constructed cassette became the world-wide standard for most cameras in the world; up to the final end of the "analogue photography) → covered with code, and as Masser could make no sense of it he said he thought it foolish to risk so much to take such a trifle all that distance. As they had various lines of communication, he argued that the films could be sent by air, but Kraizizek insisted that he must carry out his mission.

Kraizizek's claim that he did not know what these codes where, and suggests, that as the prevailing code were widely known, they were possibly new ones.

Rooseboom then joined in the conversation and asked Kraizizek if he were willing to take diamonds across the border for the use of the German Government as his friend, Vermy, was willing to supply the Reich with a certain amount of stones and was content to wait until after the war for payment. Kraizizek merely agreed to bring this matter before Werz. Word was to be sent back by a relative of Boekersmaar who was shortly going to Lourenco Marques. Kraizizek and this man were to identify each other by the fact that each was in possession of half a broken button.

5th June (contd.) Masser asked Kraizizek to present the following plan to Werz. Arguing from the point of view that van Rensburg was not trusted, Masser wanted to get permission from the Reich to operate a new transmitting service with Wild and possibly Rooseboom as agents. (AOB: significant is, though unknown to Herbert Masser, that the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) distrusted Masser straight from the beginning, and had ordered Werz, in this regard, accordingly. Maybe, they got the information from the former "Reichswehr-Archiv" in which the Officer Herbert Masser had been dismissed from the Reichswehr after his Abyssinia engagements, in the early 1930s) Kraizizek cannot give any details regarding the connections in these three places as Masser did not take him into his confidence regarding them. All he knows is that they were to used the medium of newspaper advertisements, which were mostly inserted in "The Star:; the type of advertisements used were for iron, corrugated iron and tool ? of various measurements.

Wild even offered to conduct an automatic sender for short messages. They had everything worked out in detail about the technical side of it, such as wavelength, code, etc., and Kraizizek was to hand this over at Lourenco Marques. As was not clear about the persons working with the set, ap

art from Masser and Wild, and as he had the impression that they were holding something back, Kraizizek asked Masser if it would not be better if he presented the plan direct himself to Werz.

Masser replied that he could not do this as he had to see van Rensburg on some urgent business and had to go to Capetown later to see a man in connection with the service, whose name he did not dare to disclose to anyone.

Kraizizek spent the 6th June with (his fiancé) Maria Wilz to whom he became engaged; Kraizizek is most emphatic that she had nothing whatsoever to do with his Intelligence activities. Masser had in the meantime found out that Mrs. Wilz was in possession of some dollars which she had bought from Leibrandt and he urged her to give them to Kraizizek. Kraizizek at first refused to take them and she handed tem to Masser who made it clear to Kraizizek that she needed money when trying to reach Germany. Kraizizek had spent most of the £25 obtained in the internment camp buying clothes etc., for the trip and had given about £12 to the wives of the O.B. farmers who had hidden him, and as Masser pointed out that he would not receive much from the Consulate, he accepted $200.

7th June On 7th June Kraizizek left Wild's farm to go back with Mayer to the latter's farm. He had to wait until the 13th before he could leave again with Steencamp for Oppermann's farm where they

13th June spent the night. On the 14th they moved on to another farm nearby where Kraizizek was met by another dip inspector with whom he and Steencamp finally left by car. Kraizizek cannot remember the name of this inspector; he was not an O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) man, but was a dismissed policeman.

14th June It was intended that Kraizizek should be taken quite close to the border, but the Pongola River ↓ →

The Polgola River is located not too far from the Portuguese East African Border with the South African Border

It might seem to be in the nearby vicinity of the Portuguese East African border, but the distance may be still considerable.

→ was flooded and they could not go far by car. Kraizizek therefore had to find his way alone and got lost in the Konsi swamps (see 'M' on map at Appendix B, p.2), but found his way again again and continued his journey by night, hiding during the the day.

He arrived in Lourenco Marques on 21st June and was arrested by the police. His pistol, given to him by Joubert, as well as all his identification papers and coded papers, were taken from him. He managed to conceal the films, which he later handed over to Werz.

Kraizizek was questioned about his route by a man named Scortia (he later disappeared to South Africa) to whom he gave false information about the code telling him it concerned German internees, and dealt with matters which were purely personal and of rather a compromising nature. After spending a night in a cell, he was released and all possessions, except the pistol, were returned to him.

Kraizizek states that he discovered that Scortina was a member of the Portuguese secret police and was in disfavour with a Captain Henriques. He had to leave for South South Africa because he was Anglophile.

22 June On the 22nd June Kraizizek met Werz for the first time and handed the films to him. Werz seemed disappointed that I did not not bring more from South Africa but said that the files were of value to him. He reprimanded Kraizizek for not have turned up at the time arranged, at the border and said how difficult it was to get there by car, and how he had spent the whole night there.

Werz was not interested in Rooseboom, whom he did not like, and merely confirmed that he had been an agent whom he had dismissed. He could, Werz said, have sent valuable information if he had wished.

The news of Masser's radio proposals were not received very enthusiastically, especially in view of the fact that the police had been in possession of plans. On Kraizizek stating that they were in code, Werz showed some scepticism as to their safety. Krayzizek then offered to make the trip again to South Africa with new plans. This was not followed up as Kraizizek had to make the trip to Angola with Masser.

Kraizizek then explained to Werz the advantage of the plan, with three sets transmitting information, especially shipping movements, and said that he would, apart from that, receive all the political news he wanted and could thus form his own opinion instead of receiving only the censored news from van Rensburg. He told Werz the opinions of the Afrikanders who did not like the German propaganda since it merely reported on the O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) and van Rensburg's activities, and since van Rensburg was considered a German Guisling, they did not wish to be rid of the British just to become another "Gau" of the Germans with van Rensburg as Gauleiter. (Kraizizek later reported this to Berlin.)

Kraizizek told Werz that he need not drop van Rensburg entirely but could get all the necessary information from another source. He also told Werz what he had heard from van Rensburg and Anderson (composer) , but Werz laughed and said that Kraizizek had been bluffed. Werz did and, though, → that he would consider it but it was impossible

22 June that he would consider it but it was impossible at the moment because Kraizizek was not going back to South Africa as Werz just had sent a man from the Consulate over. Werz enquired if Kraizizek had met him at van Rensburg's farm. This man was Nils Paasche, but Kraizizek had never heard of him before.

Werz was aware of the difficulties van Rensburg had with the transmitter and accepted Wild at once, giving an order to the effect to van Rensburg. Wild, however, as stated above, did not want to work with van Rensburg.

Kraizizek reported to Werz Masser's anxiety about the documents he had been ordered to take from the German Consulate in Lourenco Marques to the German Legation in Lisbon. Masser had got as far as Capetown when he was detected, but he managed to stowaway aboard a Portuguese steamer with the help of the Germans. Werz replied that the documents reached the German Legation in Lisbon safely.

Their further conversation consisted of political matters and Kraizizek tried to make Werz understand that he was making a mistake in backing van Rensburg and thus hampering unification of the South African nationalists. (AOB: Kraizizek neglected the fact that van Rensburg was on very friendly basis with Field Marshal Smuts, the latter was the key character to resist British desires to eliminate the wireless stations in South Africa. And successfully, something that Rooseboom, Wild and others never could have accomplished! Kraizizek might even not have known how significant the cordial friendship between Smuts (also Prime Minister) and van Rensburg had been) He said he considered it would better merely to conduct national propaganda as far as Germany was concerned, and leave it it to the Afrikanders to choose by the Reich, which personally Kraizizek doubted, as he had heard through Consul General Trompke that Werz, as Vice Consul, had absolutely free hand as far as Africa was concerned.

After this conversation Kraizizek left Werz, having spent about three-quarters of an hour with him.

Masser was born in Kottbus (Forau; AOB: the only reference I could find on Forau in Rumania; though Masser's father lived in Kottbus), Silesia?? in 1913. Having matriculated (AOB: equal to 'A Level' in the UK; facilitating access to the University), he entered the German Army in the Signal Corps, where he took several courses in Intelligence work. After satisfying the authorities as to his ability, he was given the rank of Leutnant and with other German officers, to Abyssinia as a member of the so-called "Swedish Military Mission" 1935 (AOB: on Google I could not trace a secure reference on a "Swedish Mission" during the Italian - Abyssinian hostilities and war; thus Kraizizek might have misunderstood Masser). Following Italy's invasion of Abyssinia, Masser was ordered to leave Addis Ababa and report back to Germany. He considered, however, that his duty lay in carrying his work of instructing the natives, and refused to leave. →

(AOB: we encountered a brief reference of July/early September 1945 on "Freemason" (Freimaurer, an institution which in "Nazi" controlled Germany strictly constituted a "no go" entity in particular in respect to military ranking. Might Masser have been already a member in those days?)

KV 2/944-3, page 24x "freemason" ref (59) Letters found in Masser's possession when he was arrested on 11 September 1945

Crown Copyright

Albeit, that I skipped this reference as it had been noticed before, in the context of Masser's personal character, not recognised by the British interrogators, is the notice at (59):

Empty envelope addressed: Herr Masser, Rheydt, Hochstrasse in pencil "Freemason" AOB more likely written "Freimaurer" as this being the German word for Freemason.

At least we should bear this reference in mind. Freemason was opposing Nationalsozialism, and is giving this document a bit different momentum. Albeit, that the British Services personnel, most likely, were totally blind for such a 'philosophical' arguments/attitude, on behalf of Herbert Masser; at the moment of his arrest on 11 September 1945 (H2180 H2180return).

→ Later he returned to Germany, was court-martialled and degraded to the rank of private (AOB: likely equalling the rank of a German "Schütze").

At the beginning of 1937 he was given a mission (Kraizizek does not know what this was; but disagreeing with his superior officer, he sought and obtained release from the Army, and was allowed to go to South Africa.

In South Africa he obtained a pilot (and an) instructor's (flying) certificate in 1938.

On the outbreak of war he hid, and following an abortive attempt to escape, by means of a stolen aeroplane, he gave himself up to the police. He was interned in Leeuwkop Camp, whence, following an attempt at escape in 1040, he was transferred to Baviaansport (Baviaanspoort?) Camp. Kraizizek believes that it was from this camp that Masser attempted to smuggle a lengthy message in book from written invisible ink to Werz in Lourenco Marques, with the help from a German named Henning and a Portuguese named da Crux. This 'book' contained amongst other things, information on the internal affairs of the camp and an accusation against Johanna Schumacher to the effect that she was a British agent. It was, however, detected on the way to Lourenco Marques and Masser was put in prison, the general believe being that he would be tried for Espionage. When Masser had been nine months in prison, the main witness against him, a German named Lotter, was shot, the case against him (Masser) was dropped, and he was returned to the Baviaansport (Baviaanspoort?) Camp.

Trompke and Werz later told Kraizizek that through this incident the German Consulate in Lourenco Marques was nearly closed by the Portuguese authorities. They managed to avoid this by pointing out that any "agent provocateur" could produce such evidence in order to get the Consulate closed, and claimed they could hardly help it if a "fool like Masser wrote much nonsense".

Later Masser managed to escape to Lourenco Marques. Werz then sent him on a mission to Lisbon, where he was to deliver some documents (nature unknown) on the General Consul. He was smuggled on board a Portuguese vessel, helped by a Portuguese named Noguaire (spelling?), some days before it was due to sail. It was also arranged that Masser's fiancé, a girl referred to as Alice, a nursing sister, should leave with him en route for Germany; but was not found possible, the girl leaving some months later.

Masser, tired of hiding amongst the cargo, and whilst looking for an empty cabin, was caught and brought before the Captain of the ship. The captain told Masser that he intended handing him over to the South African Authorities. Masser thereupon wrote a message to the Captain saying that he was going to commit suicide and disappeared. The South African marines found him later on the ship, imprisoned him in Capetown, later in Baviaansport (Baviaanspoort?) and finally in Andalusia Camp, where Kraizizek met him.

Masser escaped on 17th March 1943 with Kraizizek, but became separated from them the same day. Kraizizek next met him by chance on 5th June, when Masser told him his experiences in the intervening period as follows:-

Although separated from Kraizizek, Masser managed to keep together with the other German, Kuehirt, who had made the escape with them. After waiting a few hours in vain for Kraizizek to join them, they went on their way. Masser was in possession of a few addresses in the vicinity of the camp, including the farm Erich Mueller and Lodes had also contacted. These addresses he had got from a 'Boer' named Basson, a naturalised German of Pretoria, von Ziegler and a South African of Germans descent, Alex Jensen, all three of whom were O.B. (Ossewa Brandwag) members.

After they had spent ten days looking in vain for help, Masser remembered about the cafe in Taungs →

Taung/Taungs where Masser remembered a cafe where they could buy food; no further support was given

→ of which he had been told, and they made for this place. Here they were allowed to buy food but no further help was given.

They then went to Clerksdorp where Masser called on a good friend of his, Winter (a typical Dutch name) the owner of a garage in that town. This man was prepared to risk hiding the two men.

Shortly afterwards Masser went to Johannesburg where he called on was in possession the lawyer Ludorff, who had defended him during his trial for espionage. Masser detected somehow that Ludorff was in the possession of the money which had belonged to Leibrandt (https://www.cdvandt.org/robey-leibrandt-(sa).htm) , and attempted, on some pretext, to get hold of it. His scheme, however, did not work.

He then lived for a time in Johannesburg and applied to van Rensburg for help. Van Rensdor, who never really had much time for Masser, thought it better to get him out of the way for the time being, and sent him to a farm in North Transvaal far away in the bush. Masser "escaped" from there after a time and came back to the Rand. As he had been assured by one German in camp, von Ziegler, that he would always be welcome at his home, Masser went to Frau Ziegler's where he remained for about four or five days, returning thereafter to Johannesburg.

There he lived in turn at Frau Gastrow's Frau Astrid Henning's and the home of another German woman whose name Kraizizek has forgotten. Frau Gastrow's husband was a German school-teacher and had been intended and Frau Henning's husband was the manager of "Piels Gold Storage", Johannesburg.

Masser had in the meantime met Wild and Rooseboom and Jerling. He did not see van Rensburg again.

Kraizizek met him by chance at Wild's farm in June whilst returning from Natal after paying a visit to Maria Wilz (Masser's financé). Masser then gave Kraizizek a transmitting plan which Kraizizek was to hand over to Werz. Masser had further worked out a code to keep in touch through the medium of newspaper advertisements appearing in the Johannesburg "Star" and the "Rand Daily Mail". It was further arranged to send a message with the uncle of the Dutch pilot, Boekersmaar, who was to spend his honeymoon in Lourenco Marques.

Kraizizek left Masser on 7th June. Masser in the meantime spent most of the time at Mayer's farm and spent one or two days at the Wilzs and at Joubert's.

On receiving a message from Boekersmaar's uncle to go to Lourenco Marques, Masser set out, being supplied by Mayer with a native boy from Portuguese East Africa to assist him in crossing the border as he was to carrying with him concerning the code, and also Vermy's diamonds. →

(AOB: Now we know how Kraizizek could get his valuable materials through films, whilst he had been caught by the Portuguese police, as were most people entering Portuguese East Africa, by the way), not as he once noticed that he hid the material such that they did not captured the valuable films. It was not Kraizizek, but the Portuguese East African boy whom carried (conveyed) the essentials. I suppose that the boy as a citizen could not easily be searched)

→ He was armed with two heavy pistols, and was driven by Mayer into Swasiland to the farm of another German, von Wesselen (?spelling) From here he set out on foot, crossed the Usutu River, →

→ went over the Lembobo Mountains, and walked to Goba. Here he (Masser) spent the night in a hotel belonging to a Jewess who appeared suspicious of him. In the morning he left the pistols and some other things in the hotel telling the proprietors that he would call them later or sent someone to collect them. He was driven to Lourenco Marques by car and went first to the German Consulate. He met Kolb who took him to the place where Kraizizek was was boarding - a house belonging to the German, Liesel Dettingen, who was also used the name Frau Derfuss. As there was no room vacant, Kraizizek offered to share his with Masser.

Masser had already had his language examined and the code papers and the diamonds had not been detached.

In evening, when Masser opened his suitcase he found a slip of paper (placed by a British "agent provocateur") with a confusing text, some of which Kraizizek remembers to be: Jerus, Lui, Camp, Cons, Dyn, and part of a sur of his surname. Masser assured Kraizizek that he knew nothing of this, and had the paper sent to Werz, who at once made sense of it, explaining it as follows:- "Jesus" meant the Italian liner "Jerusalem" which had been confiscated by the Portuguese authorities "Lui" was the abbreviation of his Christian name Luitpold; Camp" probably meant Campini, the Italian Consul: Dyn" dynamite. The complete sense of the message was to blow up the liner "Jerusalem".

Masser was of the opinion that Werz had contrived, with the help of Kolb, to put the slip of paper in his suitcase, but Kraizizek never understood why Werz should have done so. The next day the house was searched by the police, and again in later the police appeared and seemed to be looking for something, but Kraizizek can throw no light on what might have been.

(AOB: but I can: this was a typical means according the British Secret Service books - contacting a friendly Portuguese police officer and hinting what they know what is to be found (this was what they themselves had left there behind, in Masser's suitcase). This was a way the British Services operated in , at least, I known, in the Portuguese controlled environment. They did equally in Lisbon in respect to Paul Georg Fidrmuc, albeit this time they tried to support Mme de la Cerda. The trick was: to accomplish such delicate matters via the support of pro-British Portuguese Police Officers)

In the meantime Masser handed over the diamonds either to Werz or Trompke (AOB: I myself doubt the later - as Trompke was a typical "old type" diplomat. This has never been corrected, as they never caught Trompke again, whom disappeared from Germany after being interrogated by the Americans.) (AOB: a hypothesis, but an essential, consideration: as Trompke was not concerned himself much in espionage, he could remain staying in Lourenco Marques, even some time after Germany did no longer existed as a State; since 9th May 1945)

Heaving learnt that he could not be repatriated, Masser spoke to Werz and Trompke about his transmitting proposals, but the outcome of their talk was rather negative. (AOB: Not much noticed: The personnel in the Consulate were employed on behalf of the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) and the latter preferred to cooperate with Sittig and Paasche.)

Masser kept up his connections with his friends in South Africa through a Mrs. Meredith, who was English by birth and had no German relations. The first time Kraizizek saw Mrs. Meredith was in the middle of July 1943. he was invited to dinner by a German named Starke who was employed on one of the Lourenco Marques newspapers.

The upper floor of the man's house was let to Walter Galle of the German Consulate. At about 9 in the evening this Mrs. Meredith called to speak to Galle. She handed Galle a message from Masser, and Kraizizek later learned from Galle, had already been at the Consulate, to try to get in touch with Galle (J2181 J2181return) who often did night duty there. Someone always had to be on duty at the Consulate while the secretary Jericho who also lived there, was away.

Later, in September (1943), Masser asked Kraizizek to accompany him to the Club Hotel in Lourenco Marques where he again met Mrs. Meredith. A Frau von Plessen, who at that time boarded in the Club Hotel, was induced to act as intermediary to Mrs. Meredith, Mrs. Meredith was then asked by Masser to come to the residence of Frau Bidder, the mother of Jutta von Erdmannsdorff (Erdmannsdorf?).

Masser worked out some messages for South Africa, addressed, Kraizizek thinks, to Wild. Mrs. Meredith spent some two hours in the house and then left by a taxi with the message, Masser giving her a sum of money for the expenses of the journey. Kraizizek does not know whether Masser ever met her again.

In order to get his pistols again, Masser induced Liesel Dettingen to go to Goba by taxi to fetch the parcel left at the hotel there. She managed to get hold of the parcel but had to throw it away as the police were suspicious of her. At a later date, however, Masser induced a taxi driver, a Portuguese, to fetch the parcel. This man, name Kraizizek has forgotten, had his taxi-stand from March (AOB: how did Kraizizek know this as he arrive in later June 1943?) until the end of 1943 at the Hotel Cardozo.

He deposited the pistols later with Frau Bidder who, after the police had searched the house as well, handed them over to the Consul General (AOB: Trompke or was it actually Werz?) Kraizizek played some part of this as he feared that Masser would one day be careless regarding these pistols and would cause harm to the Germans in the Colony.

Masser was interrogated by the police attaché to the German Legation in Lisbon (AOB: after he arrived there with S.S. Guaza in November 1944) mainly about South Africa and Portuguese East Africa. Masser wrote reports accusing high German Army officials of plotting against Hitler and Nazi Germany. (AOB: Whether this was really the case we might doubt - if Masser was to some extent being on the line of a "Freemason" something that, if true, he would not have communicated with others, of the German Community)

When Kraizizek met Masser in Germany at the beginning of April 1945 he was about to become an officer in the S.D. (in Reichssicherheitshauptamt) (Amt III or Amt. IV). He lodged with an SS Sturmbannführer in Berlin. This was the last time Kraizizek mat Masser.

I spoke to Captain Auger of Camp 020 who is the officer now dealing with the South African cases and he told me that Kraizizek is a frightened man and is talking freely. I told Auger that the main thing to concentrate on was the activities of G.I.S. (German Intelligence Service) agents and South African Nazis in the (South African) Union. I also told him that it would be useful to have particulars of persons on each side of the P.E.A.-Union border who assisted the escape into P.E.A. (Portuguese East Africa) of ex-internees from South Africa and facilitated the illicit passage of agents backwards and forwards.

I arranged with Auger that he should send up some form of progress report before he writes his Interim Report on Kraizizek, so that if necessary, we could suggest additional points for Kraizizek's interrogation.

I remined Auger that Dr. Werz might be arriving at 020 at any moment and said that as in the case of Kraizizek the chief value of Werz would be to obtain from him evidence which would enable the South African Government to take action against their own traitors national and others in the Union. I also told Auger that there was a possibility of Masser being arrested soon (actually 11 September 1945) in which case he would be brought to Camp 020.

H.Q. 21 Army Group. B.L.A. Date 30.8.1945 (AOB: Masser was actually arrested on 11 September 1945 on 19.00 hrs.)

Attached is an original letter (with two copies), which has been intercepted in Lourenco Marques (legally?) and and forwarded to the U.K. You will see that it is written on British Government note paper and appears to come from a number of 828 Mil. Gov. Det. at Rheydt, near München-Gladbach, named J.W.E. Mackintosh. The type-written part deals with the desire of a Mr. Pastor to return from Germany to Africa and expresses the hope that the addressee, Werner von Alvensleben , in Lourenco Marques me be able to help him. It is clear, however, that Mr. Pastor is not the real name of the man in question, since in the addendum at the end the letter which is apparently in Mr. Mackintosh's own handwriting it is implied that Mr. Masser in question.

Alvensleben is well-known as a German who at one time was assisting the German Intelligence organisation based on Lourenco Marques under Paul Trompke (AOB: I am not so convinced that the latter really was, as he, actually was an old type diplomat in stead) the Consul General and Dr. Luitpold Werz, the vice-Consul, about whom we have had correspondence. There can be little doubt that Mr. Masser to whom Mackintosh refers is Hans Herbert Masser the subject of SHEAF pink card 116984, who lived in the Union of South Africa as an escaped internee for some considerable time during the war before making his way into Portuguese East Africa and then working for Mr. Werz in Lourenco Marques. During the time he was in the (South African) Union he probably acquired a lot of information about the G.I.S. (German Intelligence Service) activities there and the part he played in then by van Rensburg of the Ossewa Brandwag and others.

(AOB: to what I know so far - is that Masser immigrated to the South African Union, because he had no future in Germany, as he was dismissed from the German Wehrmacht. He entered South Africa as an immigrant and made his "pilot certificate and thereafter he obtained his "Aviation Instructor Certificate". In my perception, Germans were interned in the South African Union after the outbreak of the war in Europe under British pressure. Masser whom left Germany in a desperate mood, was put in captivity innocently. May you blame someone when he is planning for an escape of his captivity? He was victim of the circumstances of war. Mohamed already noticed, as did Lenin: the enemy of my enemy is my friend!)

We should be very grateful if you could take urgent steps to investigate the matters with a view to locating and arresting Masser as soon as possible. In a communication from the War Room to you dated 21.6.1945 reference was made to Masser and it was stated that if found in Germany he should be arrested and interrogated in the field. We wish now to change this and to have Masser sent back (had he been already there before?) to Camp 020 as category A (he will be actually a category B subject) for interrogation there as soon as he is arrested. It is now considered that his presence there may be useful in the interrogation of Dr. Werz who is expected to arrive from USFET (United States Forces European Theater) any day new and of Walter Kraizizek, Sheaf (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) pink card 36874, who is already at Camp 020. This explains in part our request that the location and arrest of Masser should be treated as a matter of urgency. In addition the fact that Camp 020's life is anyhow limited (it should become redundant) makes it particularly desirable that any remaining candidates for Camp 020 should be apprehended as soon as possible.

It is possible that for your own purposes you may wish to enquire into the circumstances in which Mr. Mackintosh came to write, or at any rate to sign, the attached letter (not included in this document) but it is hoped for the reasons given above that any such inquiry will not be allowed to delay the despatch of Masser to Camp 020 as soon as he is arrested. It is not perhaps quite as surprising that Masser could have obtained employment as an interpreter in a Military Government Detachment as might be supposed, since Sheaf pink card for Masser has only been in existence for a few weeks.

V.D. (= AOB: likely the cover-code of the handling Crown servant at M.I.6.) who has taken over Fisher's work, called this afternoon, and handed me an ?original? letter and envelope (copy attached) which has been received Section V (M.I.6 section Counter espionage) from their representative in Lourenco Marques. It shows that Masser is employed by British Military Government in Germany as an interpreter. I undertook to communicate with 21 A.G. (= 21 Army Group in Germany) with a view to Masser's location, arrest and despatch to Camp 020.

This implies that the British Secret Service also intercepted and held letters addressed to the American Consulate General, in Lourenco Marques. (Was this factually legal of illegal?)

The following for your information. Mr. Pastor arrived during March in Berlin. He was flown to Berlin from Lisbon via Barcelona. Nothing happened to him on his arrival in Berlin, as at that time everything was there already under control..

He did expect this from information he received from Germans, who arrived during February in Lisbon. In spite of this he tried to remain in Lisbon, but the friendship between certain Portuguese authorities and Mr. Werz's friends made this impossible.

From Berlin he got through the German lines and arrived in April in American occupied territory. This zone was later taken over by the British and since he has been employed as an Interpreter by this Detachment.

First of all he wishes to thank you that you arranged for him that he could have left the Portuguese ship (s.s. Guanza) at Gibraltar. For certain reasons, which are known to you, he could however not make use of this opportunity.

Now he is very anxious to get in touch with you. It can be understood that he wants to return to some part of Africa, since he has been there for some 10 years. You, being the leader of the Pro-German Movement for Africa as I understand and he having worked for you, will probably know where and how make best use of his capabilities. Any letter please address to name and address given on letter-head.

(???) The following was written in Mackintosh's own hand. Mr. Masser has proved himself a very reliable and efficient interpreter and I recommend that all possible help to be given.

The following Germans were expelled for espionage from Mozambique in October 1944 (due to British diplomatic pressure). We strongly recommend that if found in Germany they should be arrested and interrogated:-

(4) Hans Herbert Masser. (Photograph attached). German commercial pilot. Escaped from Andalusia Camp, South Rhodesia and went into the (South African) Union in February 1941. At one time he was in contact with a source of ours, but he never came over satisfactorily and before he was expelled from Portuguese East Africa in 1944 he was well under control of Werz and (AOB I doubt) Trompke. Has a German passport No. 39/1944 issued in Lourenco Marques on 11.7.44.

But, as we went fast and briefly through the foregoing files we have to reconsider these again, bearing in mind what we know by now.

in connection with the collection of evidence against certain Union of South Africa Nationals on charges of High Treason is field in:

1. The above-named is at present internet at No. 5 Civilian Internment Camp. (AOB: still kept in captivity, albeit a 'civilian' that he was victim of a war - which he himself did not engendered; so easy was it breaching someone's freedom) He has been interrogated (several times) and unless you have any contrary instructions he will be released.

2. His espionage activities in South Africa do not seem to have been brought to the notice of South African authorities.

I am a German national by birth being born on 17.11.1913 at Sorau (not Forau as was incorrectly noticed on another occasion; which location I could only find at Rumanian territory. But Sorau was, when Nasser was born German territory. Sorau now in Poland and named: Zary

As Masser has come more familiar to us, I (AOB) would like to consider a particular facet out of Masser's life.

Learning about someone's education and family thoughts, may well carry on in someone's further life as well; as occurred also in Masser's life.

His burden was:- that the British interrogators, and those further involved, were educated so differently, and apparently were lacking the necessary broad-minded understanding of life, that Masser must have suffered severely - in the first post-war years of internment (1945-1947); spoiled with some forms of superiority behaviour.

Please Compare (K2182 ↓↓↓↓ K2182return)

Born at Sorau (please see the foregoing map), Upper Silesia, on 17th November 1913, the son of Hermann Masser, farmer of Liesegar, near Sorau. His mother's maiden name was Anna Hiepka, of Radduch, in Spreewald.

1921 His parents moved to Kottbus (Cottbus) Attended Volksschule, Kottbus (Cottbus)

1928 - 1932 A boarder at the Freieschulgemeinde Wiskersdorf (?) Thuringa. His mother apparently held unorthodox opinions on education as this school was conducted on very liberal lines and was international both in its ideas and attendance, the majority of the pupils being foreigners. The school was closed when the Nazi Party came into power, and every effort was made to discredit it. Masser claims that his attendance at this school was made the excuse to bar his promotion during his service later in the German Army.

1932. Nov During his last two years at Wickersdorf Masser had become interested in a spitual movement called A.A., whose leader was an Englishman, Alistair Crowley, otherwise known as the "The Master of Therein". The leader of the German movement was a certain Martha Kuentzel of the Gustav-Pruefer Hein, Schwarzburg, Thuringa, and it was this woman who decided Masser to enlist in the Reichswehr on the grounds that a few years of discipline would be good for his soul; Masser, on leaving school, had wanted to become a commercial pilot.

1933. Posted 13th Coy (close support artillery), 3rd Inf. Bn., at Frankfort a/d Oder.

1934 Oct. Posted as infantry training instructor to Nachrichten- Lehr- und Versuchsabteilung, at Juteborg, with the rank of Gefreiter and Unterführer. Masser's application to go to an officer cadet school was refused as his schooling was considered to have been politically unreliable.

1935. The school was transferred to Halle (a/d Saale) and Masser and Masser was promoted to the rank of Unteroffizer (N.C.O.) In addition to acting as an infantry training Instructor he himself received training in line communications.

May/June Posted to a W/T Coy as an "Auswerter". Here re received instruction in the evaluation of W/T traffic and nets, i.e., identification of units by interception of traffic and the D.F. (direction finding) of wireless nets.

End June At the end of June Masser went on normal leave to Kottbus (where his father recided) and, with some money that he had inherited from his (late) mother, who had died in 1933, he bought a powerful motor bicycle and was almost immediately the victim of a serious incident, sustaining conclusion and a fractured skull. After lying in a hospital at Kottbus for a number of weeks, at the suggestion of an old school-friend, Friedhelm von Quintus-Iglilius, a medical student at that time he went to the sanatorium of Dr. Sauerbruch at Berlin . By that time Masser felt that he had enough of the army, especially as he realised that promotion to commissioned was barred to him. He accordingly prevailed upon Sauerbruch to give him a certificate that he was unfit for further military service. This was apparently Oct. accepted by the military authorities and in October he was discharged after having signed a paper renouncing any claim to a pension.

Masser was then faced with prospect of earning a living and discussed the matter with Quintus - Icilius, who suggested that he should go and fight for the Abyssinians against the Italians; on Masser deciding to explore this possibility, Quintus-Icilius put him in touch with the Abyssinian Consul in Berlin, a German officer named Major Steffen? (von Steffen?)

Nov. As a result of a series of interviews with Steffen (von Steffen?), Masser was engaged on a three-year contract with the rank of Lieutenant in the Abyssinian Army. Steffen, however, told him that he could not give him the written undertaking in Berlin, but that he would have to go to the Oerlikon factory (Switzerland) at Zurich, where the competent authorities would give him his contract, and arrange his journey.

1935 cont Masser accepted getting a passport from the police at Kottbus (Cottbus) on the pretext that he wished to go to Switzerland to convalesce after his incident, and accordingly left in late November

November for Zürich under his own name. Before departure Steffen had procured him a French transit visa and had stamped his passport with a Consular stamp.

December On arrival at Oerlikon works at Zürich Masser found that he was expected and was received by two Swiss Jews, who gave him his contract for signature and one month's pay - £30 together with £50 for the journey 9in Swiss Francs, French Francs and Sterling). After about two days in Zürich he went as instructed to Marseilles and early in December took the Messagerie Maritime ship to Port Said and Aden.

At Zürich he had been told to contact at Port Sudan ab Englishman (name forgotten) at the offices of a British coaling company (name also forgotten); the Englishman was helpful, telling Masser to get various inoculations (vaccinations) at Aden and then go on to Djibuti in an Indian coastal steamer.

On arrival at Djibuti Masser went to the Consul General of Abyssinia who put him on the train to Addis Abbaba (Ababa), with instructions to report to the Minister of Supply on arrival. The Minister, a certain Hall who, according to Masser, was a German Jew, instructed him to join the Swedish Military Mission at Hollota (see next map) as an artillery instructor.

On arrival at Holleta (Holeta) Masser found the other members of the Mission were as follows:-

The mission ran an artillery and infantry weapons school for the instruction of Abyssinian officers. During the time he spent at the school Masser was granted a few days leave to Addis Ababa every fortnight.

b) George Steer, "The Times" correspondent, with whom Masser soon developed a warm friendship.

1935 Contd. c) A German named Schusser, the correspondent of a German newspaper who also did photographic work for some French illustrated papers.

d) A German named Major Guenther, who had been in Abyssinia for a long time. Schusser told Masser that there was a possibility that Germany would cease diplomatic support of Italy over the Abyssinian question, and that in that event Guenther would become military adviser to the Negus (en) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haile_Selassie) (de) (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haile_Selassie) . Bock confirmed this story.

e) An Austrian woman named Eisenhower, who boasted of the money she made by smuggling arms from Djibuti to Abyssinia.

g) An Englishman whose name Masser has forgotten, who was in charge of a travelling school at Gennet (Genet see map above).

h) An Englishman named Anderson, who was engaged in the reorganisation of the Abyssinian industrial and economic systems.

Masser continued at the school at Holleta (Holeta) until May 1936, when it became obvious that Abyssinia was defeated. Some time at the beginning of this month the German Charge d'Affaires summoned German subjects in Abyssinia to the German Legation with a view to evacuating them, but Masser refused to leave, saying that he felt himself to be an Abyssinian Officer and that he could not desert at this juncture, when defeat defeat seemed imminent. He then went back to Holleta (Holeta) and, together with the Swedish officers, agreed to stay and assist in the defence of the capital (Addis Ababa). This plan however was foiled by the treachery of the Abyssinian War Minister who, according to Masser, deliberately issued false instructions to the troops taking part in the defence. The situation became chaotic and, after various adventures with Abyssinian troops who were revolting, Masser succeeded in reaching Addis Ababa, where he met Bock, who assisted him to get to Djibuti, where he sailed at the beginning of June to Germany, on board the German ship, s.s. "Freiburg".

On board ship Masser made the acquaintance of the divorced wife of a Dutch planter from Java, a Mrs. Johanna van Weenink, who was returning to Holland. A warm friendship developed based, according to Masser, on their common interest interest in Buddhism, and before she left the ship at Rotterdam in July, the pair had decided to keep in touch with one another. The ship continued to Hamburg and Masser went to his father's house at Kottbus (Cottbus)

1936 contd. July A few days after his arrival at (his father's) home Masser was summoned to the police station at Kottbus (Cottbus) and closely questioned on the following points:-

b) The amount of money he had taken to Switzerland on his trip to that country the previous year.

c) The circumstances of his engagement in a foreign army, which to that country the previous year.

He managed, however to satisfy the police on these points by referring them to Dr. Sauerbruch and Major Steffen. (von Steffen?)

His adventure in Abyssinia and his treatment by the police had unsettled him, and he felt that he would never be able to settle down in Germany; further he had not forgotten an offer of help to go to South Africa made by Steer to him (Masser) in Addis Ababa. In addition, his mother had left him two houses in Kottbus (Cottbus), which if sold would provide capital for a fresh start in the (South African) Union. Masser then learnt from the newspapers that the Negus (Haile Selassie) , who was then in London, was to be lent money by the League of Nations for continuing the war against Italy from the unoccupied Western part of his country, and he (Masser) determined to go to London to offer his his services to the Emperor (Haile Selassie).

He was faced with the difficulty, however, of getting out of Germany, but managed to get an exit permit from the Kottbus (Cottbus) police on the pretext that he wished to go to Holland to induce a wealthy Dutch woman (van Weenink) to visit the Olympic Games, which were then taking place in Berlin.

His intension was to go to see Weenink, who was staying with her uncle at the Villa Eichenhorst (Eikenhorst) Aerdenhout, near Haarlem, borrow money from her, and then go to London to see Steer with a view either to offering his services to the ex-Negus or arranging his immigration to South Africa, with the capital that could be raised from the sale of the two houses he had inherited from his mother. , in addition Weenink was prepared to finance him on a considerable scale. He accordingly went by airplane from Berlin to Amsterdam, borrowed some money from Weenink, and went to London via the Hook (Hoek van Holland) On arrival he went to the office of "The Times" and on enquiring for Steer was given the address of the Hotel where the latter was staying; Masser himself also put up there during four days in London.

He visited the Abyssinian Legation, where he met Hall again, and was presented to the Negus, (Haile Selassie), who told him that he could not make use of his services. He then went back to Steer, who introduced him to the 1820 Settlers Memorial Association, where he was told that the Association would help him to emigrate to South Africa, provided that he could raise £2,000 capital.

1936 Contd. July Masser then returned to Holland and Germany, determined to sell the two houses he had inherited and smuggle the proceeds out of Germany→ (AOB: Ein Divisenvergehen: is a highly criminal offence, in Hitlerian Germany!) (AOB: when this actually did occur - this might have been the reason why the German Foreign Office (Das Auswärtige Amt) instructed Werz: that Masser is "untrustworthy")

After a few days in Kottbus (Cottbus) , when he explored the possibilities of selling his houses, Masser went to the South African Legation at Berlin, where he was received by a Dr. Gie; the latter approved of Masser's plans for emigration to the Union but refused to help him to get his capital out of Germany. During his interview with Gie, Masser was introduced to a certain Col. van Rensburg.

Van Rensburg, who was apparently in a loquacious mood, told Masser that he had been attending German Army manoeuvres in company with the future Prime Minister of South Africa, General Pirow. On hearing that Masser wanted to emigrate, van Rensburg decided that he could not understand any young man wishing to leave Germany, as that country under the Nazi regime was the ideal country for country under the Nazi regime was ideal country for youth; van Rensburg then went on to say that he hoped to see such a system of government introduced into his own country, South Africa.

September Back in Kottbus (Cottbus) from Berlin Masser managed to sell the two houses for RM 25,000, and then connected a plan with Quintus-Icilius and another friend, Detlev Pflanz, buy which Masser and the latter should go the a K.d.F. (Kraft durch Freude) trip to England, taking the money with them where money would leave the ship and eventually go to South Africa. This plan succeeded in spite of some trouble with the immigration Authorities, which was ironed out by the 1820 Association. Previously Masser had arranged with Weenink to meet in London, and the two stayed at what Masser believes the: Windsor Hotel".

Masser changed his German money, for which he received £500, and having arranged with the 1820 Association for a guaranteed by Weenink for the balance £1,500 Masser sailed for

October outh Africa at the beginning of October in the s.s. Duinvegan Castle, arriving at Port Elisabeth towards the end of the month.

Nov On arrival he was conducted by the 1820 Association to the "Tarka Training Farm", near Cradock, after an irregularity in his passport had been squared with the authorities, Here he was faced with a disappointment, as he was told that his £2,000 capital was inadequate, but he decided to continue his training in the hope raising the additional capital from Weenink, This lady, however, came of South Africa in December and decided against farming, but arranged to finance Masser's training for the commercial flying, saying that she had considerable influence in Java, where she would eventually get him a post with the K.N.I.L.M. (Koninklijk Nederlands Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij?) as a pilot.

January In January accordingly they set out to find a suitable flying school and after various vicissitudes Masser took a course of training at the "School of Astronautics" at Germinston, under Captain Donnelly.

At the end of this year Masser got his "Licence and Instructor's licence. His living and training expenses had amounted to £2,000, advanced by by Weenink, who returned to Holland towards the end of the year. The money for the training was credited from Weenink's bank in Surabaya (East Java).

1938. At Donnelly's suggestion Masser remained with the school of Aeronautics as an instructor, wearing a uniform similar to that of a Lieutenant in the South African Air Force, and receiving £20 a month, This continued until about September , when he was dismissed as it was proposed to replace him by an ex-pilot of the South African Air Force. At this time Weenink was on the high seas on her way out to visit Masser and on her arrival the pair went to Johannesburg, where Masser found a post at £20 a month flying for Messrs Roosenstein and Katzenstein, two German Jews, who ran the "African Flying Services".

1939. Jan Masser now made an application for naturalisation, but in spite of the report given by the 1820 Settlers Association it was refused. Meanwhile Weenink had returned to Holland.

Febr In February Masser together with a friend, Captain Douglas Mail, of "African Flying Services", volunteered for the service with the Chinese Government, but this came to nothing as they could not agree terms.

March Sometime in March Masser, having found a job as instructor with the Rand Flying Club, resigned from the service of Roosenstein and Katzenstein, and towards the end of this month took up his new appointment at a salary of £55 a month. He was now living with a certain Jack Owen at Dalva Court, Germinston, but spent most of his spare time with three brothers, named Allen, at 11 High Avenue Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg.

September On the outbreak of war Masser was required to hand in both his licences to the Director of Civil Flying, but was kept on by the club at a small salary as lecturer. This continued for almost a month until he became a sort of personal instructor to the Allen family domiciled at Ferndale, a suburb of Johannesburg.

1940. Jan. In January 1940 Masser saw an advertisement in the newspapers asking for flying instructors for the R.A.F. He applied to the Air Ministry in London, but was refused on the grounds of his nationality.

1940 April Sometime in April Masser wrote to Weenink in Holland, saying that he did not intend to take any part in the war. Masser thinks that this letter may have fallen into German hands when Holland was invaded, and that this subsequent treatment by the German authorities may be due to this fact.

About this time Masser went to Pretoria and applied to the Directorate of Civil Aviation for a job as instructor to the South African Air Force. He saw a Major Elliot Wilson, who refused his application on the grounds of nationality. He He then offered to fight for the Abyssinians against Italians in the event of the latter entering the war, but that suggestion was also refused.

May In May Masser went on holiday with Fred Allen and two girls and apparently reflections were made on his invidious position as a protégé of Allen. He was, he says, so humiliated that he immediately decided to go to Lourenco Marques, where he had heard there was a flying school for Portuguese Officers. He accordingly set off on his bicycle, but was arrested and interned at the beginning of that month at Leeuwkop Camp.