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Frederick Mayer, Jew Who Spied on Nazis After Fleeing Germany, Dies at 94 | Frederick Mayer, Jew Who Spied on Nazis After Fleeing Germany, Dies at 94 |
(2 days later) | |
Frederick Mayer, who as a German Jew fled Nazi Germany for Brooklyn as a teenager in 1938, only to parachute back into Nazi-controlled Austria seven years later as an American spy on an improbable secret mission, died on April 15 in Charles Town, W.Va. He was 94. | |
His daughter Claudette Mayer confirmed his death. | His daughter Claudette Mayer confirmed his death. |
As the leader of an elite operation code-named Greenup, Mr. Mayer dropped behind enemy lines in February 1945 and posed as a German soldier for more than two months in the Tyrol region of western Austria, gathering critical intelligence on Nazi troop movements as Germany teetered toward defeat. | As the leader of an elite operation code-named Greenup, Mr. Mayer dropped behind enemy lines in February 1945 and posed as a German soldier for more than two months in the Tyrol region of western Austria, gathering critical intelligence on Nazi troop movements as Germany teetered toward defeat. |
In one of his biggest intelligence coups of the war, he learned of a convoy of German military trains headed for Italy with troops and munitions, and he had the information radioed ahead to American commanders, allowing Allied warplanes to bomb them. | In one of his biggest intelligence coups of the war, he learned of a convoy of German military trains headed for Italy with troops and munitions, and he had the information radioed ahead to American commanders, allowing Allied warplanes to bomb them. |
Just weeks before the end of the war, however, the Gestapo discovered Mr. Mayer’s identity and imprisoned him. | Just weeks before the end of the war, however, the Gestapo discovered Mr. Mayer’s identity and imprisoned him. |
His German captors tortured him for days, waterboarding and pistol-whipping him repeatedly to try to get him to reveal the locations of his American colleagues. He would not talk. Instead, with the American troops approaching, he urged his captors to surrender, and he was freed just as American troops took control of the region. | His German captors tortured him for days, waterboarding and pistol-whipping him repeatedly to try to get him to reveal the locations of his American colleagues. He would not talk. Instead, with the American troops approaching, he urged his captors to surrender, and he was freed just as American troops took control of the region. |
“Mr. Mayer is one of the great unsung heroes of World War II,” John D. Rockefeller IV, then a Democratic senator from West Virginia, said in 2014 in presenting him with a military award for his covert work with the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime spy agency that became the Central Intelligence Agency. | “Mr. Mayer is one of the great unsung heroes of World War II,” John D. Rockefeller IV, then a Democratic senator from West Virginia, said in 2014 in presenting him with a military award for his covert work with the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime spy agency that became the Central Intelligence Agency. |
Soft-spoken and slight of build, Mr. Mayer did not look the part of a spy, and in an interview at his home two months before his death, he said he had never really liked being called a hero, even after medals and tributes started coming his way. | |
He said he had volunteered to work as a spy for the O.S.S. because he felt a sense of duty to the country that had adopted him and his family just as the Holocaust loomed — and because he was bored with his prior military assignments. “I loved the adventure,” he said with a bashful laugh. | He said he had volunteered to work as a spy for the O.S.S. because he felt a sense of duty to the country that had adopted him and his family just as the Holocaust loomed — and because he was bored with his prior military assignments. “I loved the adventure,” he said with a bashful laugh. |
John Billings was the O.S.S. pilot who dropped Mr. Mayer from a B-24 Liberator onto a glacier outside Innsbruck, Austria, one night in February 1945. After a soft landing, Mr. Mayer sledded down the glacier to a nearby town to begin his covert mission as a German soldier who had supposedly gotten lost. | John Billings was the O.S.S. pilot who dropped Mr. Mayer from a B-24 Liberator onto a glacier outside Innsbruck, Austria, one night in February 1945. After a soft landing, Mr. Mayer sledded down the glacier to a nearby town to begin his covert mission as a German soldier who had supposedly gotten lost. |
In a telephone interview, Mr. Billings recalled how unflappable Mr. Mayer was on the plane as he readied his parachute for the jump and gave a few final directives. | In a telephone interview, Mr. Billings recalled how unflappable Mr. Mayer was on the plane as he readied his parachute for the jump and gave a few final directives. |
“I was in awe of him,” Mr. Billings said. “He was born without the fear gene. He feared nothing, and he was able to be whatever he needed to be.” | “I was in awe of him,” Mr. Billings said. “He was born without the fear gene. He feared nothing, and he was able to be whatever he needed to be.” |
Mr. Mayer was born on Oct. 28, 1921, in Freiburg, Germany, on the edge of the Black Forest. Known as a boy as Fritz, he had his bar mitzvah in Germany just as Hitler and the Nazis were rising to power in 1933, but he never considered himself terribly religious. | |
With the Nazis’ systematic anti-Semitism growing more onerous in the mid-1930s, Fritz and his mother pushed his father, who had a metal-fabricating shop, to flee the country. But his father resisted; he had served in the German Army in World War I, receiving an Iron Cross, and he told his son that the Nazis would never go after a war veteran, even one who was Jewish. | With the Nazis’ systematic anti-Semitism growing more onerous in the mid-1930s, Fritz and his mother pushed his father, who had a metal-fabricating shop, to flee the country. But his father resisted; he had served in the German Army in World War I, receiving an Iron Cross, and he told his son that the Nazis would never go after a war veteran, even one who was Jewish. |
The elder Mr. Mayer finally relented in 1938, months before the start of the mass deportations and ultimately the genocide of the European Jews, and the family made its way to Brooklyn when the younger Mr. Mayer was 16. He insisted on being called Fred in his new country; he never answered to Fritz again, saying it reminded him of Nazi Germany. | |
Trained as a mechanic, he enlisted in the Army on Dec. 8, 1941, a day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Early assignments at bases in Arizona, Georgia and Maryland bored him, he said, and when he had the chance to train for covert missions in Italy as a corporal with the O.S.S., he quickly put his hand up. | Trained as a mechanic, he enlisted in the Army on Dec. 8, 1941, a day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Early assignments at bases in Arizona, Georgia and Maryland bored him, he said, and when he had the chance to train for covert missions in Italy as a corporal with the O.S.S., he quickly put his hand up. |
On the ground in Austria in a German uniform, Mr. Mayer not only collected crucial intelligence on Nazi troop movements and military production, but also secretly organized hundreds of anti-Nazi resistance fighters in the region. | On the ground in Austria in a German uniform, Mr. Mayer not only collected crucial intelligence on Nazi troop movements and military production, but also secretly organized hundreds of anti-Nazi resistance fighters in the region. |
His work helped produce the “organized disintegration of enemy defenses” in the Innsbruck area and sped the Germans’ early surrender without any further fighting, according to an O.S.S. report in September 1945 that nominated Mr. Mayer for a Medal of Honor. (He did not get it.) | His work helped produce the “organized disintegration of enemy defenses” in the Innsbruck area and sped the Germans’ early surrender without any further fighting, according to an O.S.S. report in September 1945 that nominated Mr. Mayer for a Medal of Honor. (He did not get it.) |
“What he accomplished was just astonishing: He saved thousands of lives on both sides,” said Charles Pinck, president of the O.S.S. Society, based in Virginia. | “What he accomplished was just astonishing: He saved thousands of lives on both sides,” said Charles Pinck, president of the O.S.S. Society, based in Virginia. |
The Greenup operation was chronicled in several military histories, as well as a 2012 documentary, “The Real Inglorious Bastards.” (A fictional war film, “Inglourious Basterds,” directed by Quentin Tarantino, was released in 2009.) | |
After the war, Mr. Mayer served as a power plant supervisor at Voice of America outposts around the world before retiring in West Virginia in 1977. He volunteered for Meals on Wheels there for more than three decades, and he was delivering meals in the area until just a few weeks before his death. | After the war, Mr. Mayer served as a power plant supervisor at Voice of America outposts around the world before retiring in West Virginia in 1977. He volunteered for Meals on Wheels there for more than three decades, and he was delivering meals in the area until just a few weeks before his death. |
Besides his daughter Claudette, he is survived by another daughter, Irene Mayer-Feldberg; a sister, Ruth Wassermann; a grandson; and his longtime partner, Virginia Nash. | Besides his daughter Claudette, he is survived by another daughter, Irene Mayer-Feldberg; a sister, Ruth Wassermann; a grandson; and his longtime partner, Virginia Nash. |