"This is the first biography of Lothar Witzke, a German spy sentenced to death by the United States during WWI but later pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge. Witzke was convicted for the Black Tom munitions depot explosion in 1916 that killed four and crippled the Allies' resupply and arguably intensified the stalemate faced by the opposing armies of WWI. After his pardon Witzke lived in Latin America and China as a German expat, first joining the Abwehr and later the Nazi party. He ran espionage squads in Great Britain ...
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"This is the first biography of Lothar Witzke, a German spy sentenced to death by the United States during WWI but later pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge. Witzke was convicted for the Black Tom munitions depot explosion in 1916 that killed four and crippled the Allies' resupply and arguably intensified the stalemate faced by the opposing armies of WWI. After his pardon Witzke lived in Latin America and China as a German expat, first joining the Abwehr and later the Nazi party. He ran espionage squads in Great Britain during WWII. After WWII Witzke became a nationalist politician and returned to Hamburg as a prominent businessman. He was killed in East Germany in 1962, presumably by a Stasi agent for suspected double agent work on behalf of the British. The authors trace Witzke's morally complicated life and in doing so focus on whether Witzke was guilty of the Black Tom explosion and how a spy functioned in the interwar years and after"-- Provided by publisher.
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Add this copy of Citizen of the Shadows: The Lives and Lies of Lothar to cart. $52.30, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2025 by University of Tennessee Press.