48 Friday, July 11, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Expose of Police Agency Directors
Interpol Continues to Hide its Nazi Past
By S.A. BARRAM
Noted London Scholar and Re-
searcher
LONDON — The revela-
tions about Interpol's (in-
ternational police agency)
fascist sympathies started a
ripple which soon became a
storm ("Interpol Un-
masked"). Various civil lib-
erty groups, among them
the National Commission on
Law Enforcement and So-
cial Justice in the U.S., have
alerted the press and Con-
gress.
Consequently and in the
wake of CIA-FBI "dirty
tricks" investigations, Inter-
pol is now being scrutinized
by congressional commit-
tees.
Sen. Montoya wants to
know, among other things,
why this organization with-
held from Congress its ex-
istence during the Second
World War and its deep in-
volvement and collaboration
with the Nazis.
* * *
•
He wants to know the
extent of abuse of privacy
in consequence of the col-
lection and dissemination
of rumors and unsubstan-
tiated information on indi-
viduals from the U.S. to
other countries, including
those behind the Iron Cur-
tain, a subject on which
Americans are very sensi-
tive.
information about the SD,
for until today compara-
tively little is known about
this organization.
tor. But, even at the Staats-
bibliotliek, an anonymous
hand wrote on the index
card, "not available any-
As a secret organization , more" to stop curious people
of the party, its duty was from requesting the jour-
the political control-and nals.
intelligence, as divorced
from the criminal police
and military intelligence,
and consisted of the most
fanatical and loyal follow-
ers of Hitler. To be admit-
ted to the ranks of the SD
. one had to prove one's loy-
alty by deeds.
The mystery involving
Dickopf, the existence of un-
impeachable documents,
which prove his member-
ship in the SD, the white-
wash of Interpol and of the
German Federal Police im-
pelled me to investigate this
case further. I travelled
through Austria, Germany
and Switzerland for one
month, interviewing people,
pursuing documents in ar-
chives and following leads.
Dr. Simon Wiesenthal,
Colonel Kas of the Austrian
Gendarmerie, leaders of the
Resistance and political fig-
ures who preferred to re-
main anonymous for ob-
vious reasons, assisted and
encouraged me, but also
warned me that I should
expect difficulties. And in-
deed, I encountered obstruc-
tions and even animosity.
* * *
* * *
At the Institute of Crimi-
Interpol spokesmen flatly
denied its existence during nology of the Vienna Uni-
the war and that Paul Dick- versity, I requested to see
opf, president of Interpol the journals of Interpol
from 1968-72 was a Nazi, 1938-1945. In reply, the li-
although unimpeachable brarian informed me that
documents exist, which these are restricted to indi-
prove that he had been a viduals accredited to institu-
member of the infamous tions and to researchers.
SD.
My credentials, a letter of
Furthermore, a story was introduction from the Insti-
circulated, that Dickopf de- tute of Contemporary His-
serted from the German tory and Wiener Library,
Army in 1942 for political London and of the Israeli
reasons. Allegedly, he es- Embassy, London, were sat-
caped from Karlsruhe to isfactory and he had no fur-
Brussels and from there via ther objections.
France, to Switzerland,
where he arrived in 1943 and
He disappeared for a few
stayed as a refugee until minutes, but after his re-
1947.
turn he informed me that
Before the war, it is said the head of the institute,
he had been a member of Prof. Roland Grasberger,
the Catholic Youth in Ger- had rejected my request
m-tny and consequently had and had advised me to look
suffered from the Nazis. In for the journals in Israel.
1939, he had passed the My contention, that there
criminal commissar exami- cannot be any restrictions
nation, "in spite of Gestapo to a period which lies more
persecution." Indeed, an ex- than 30 years back and re-
traordinary story — if true. fers to an organization
In 1942, as an officer in which allegedly does not
the SD, when the German exist any more, did not
hordes were victorious on all produce any result.
fronts, he supposedly real-
A few days later I found
ized the faults of the regime
out why the Herr Professor
and decided to pack up.
withheld the journals and
* * *
the reason for his loyalty to
Why was such a story wartime Nazi Interpol: He
kept secret?
has been a delegate to Inter-
Interpol had an answer pol!
ready: It was Herr Dickopf's
"modesty" which did not
And the journals, which
permit him to reveal his were available at the Staats-
experiences in the SD and bibliothek, Vienna, show
the adventures of his fantas- that even before the annexa-
tic escape across Europe.
tion of Austria and out-
If he had not been so break of the war, Interpol
"modest", he could have pro- was a mouthpiece of the Na-
vided the world with inside zis and an active collabora-
* * *
In book reviews, Dr. Wil-
helm Stuckart's essay on
the Nazi racial and heredi-
tary thesis is praised.
Stuckart was actively in-
volved in the Nuremberg
laws. In other book reviews,
the new National Socialist
order in Germany is ap-
plauded and the concentra-
tion camp system advocated
as a solution to the problem
of the anti-social, criminals,
beggars and lazy — not to
forget the Gypsy plague.
The journals also served
as warrant notices and in
case a Jew was wanted,
the description never
failed to include "Jewish
type" "Jew", "Mosaic".
The crimes they were
wanted for were falsifica-
tion of certificates of bap-
tism, travelling papers,
etc., so that they could es-
cape Nazi persecution.
Florent Louwage has
been a permanent member
of the executive staff before
the war, during the war and
after the war, and became
the first President of Inter-
pol — a collaborator. There
were others as well.
* * *
The road to Dickopf's per-
sonnel file was paved with
obstacles. A number of per-
sons who have tried in the
past to get his file, have
been informed that no file
exists. Yet, there is one and
I have photocopied its con-
tents. What is more, others
before me had access to the
files since 1950.
The documents refute the
whitewash. He had been a
Nazi since 1934, when he
joined the German Nation-
alsocialist Student Organi-
zation. For taking part in
SA sports activities, he had
received a medal. His marks
at the universities, which he
did not complete, were just
tolerable.
But what he lacked in
academic education he
made up in personal hard-
ness and Nationalsocialist
conviction, according to the
assessment of the SD officer
who checked his eligibility
for the SD. In the typical
Nazi fashion, personal hard-
ness and NS convictions pre-
vailed over academic educa-
tion.
He volunteered to the
Security Police Fuhrer-
schule where his education
was completed in the spirit
of Himmler's guidelines:
"The essence of our com-
bat is not what we fight
for, but how we fight!"
Unlike his poor academic
achievements at the univ-
ersities, he graduated
from the Fuhrerschule
with flying colors. His in-
structors recommended
him for the SS officer rank
Untersturmfuhrer, and he
THE PEOPLE OF /ORAEL'S'
NEEDS MI/ST BE MET
BY TOTAL MOBILIZATION
OF THE AMER/CAN
JEW/011
COMMUN/7Y
TO RACE
700
M,/LL/ON
/11/ CASH
joined the SD just before
the outbreak of the war.
* * *
From then on, the file
becomes significant by what
it does not contain. There is
no arrest warrant in his file,
although one should expect
that the SD, Gestapo, crimi-
nal police or army unit
would have issued one after
his desertion.
There is no record of
court-martial in absentia,
either in his file or else-
where. There is no record of
his wartime service until his
alleged desertion, except
that he had been stationed
in Karlsruhe in the begin-
ning of the war and there is
some reference that he had
been there until 1942.
* *
*
Consequently, a number
of questions emerge:
If he deserted, why would
he go from Karlsruhe,
which is one hour from
Switzerland and France, to
Brussels, hundreds of miles
away?
Where and how could a
German hide for several
months in occupied Bel-
gium? How could he cross
occupied France and Vichy
France to enter Switzerland
as a refugee?
Much more feasible than
desertion is that he had
been sent by the SD on a
secret mission to Switzer-
land which, during the
war, was a center of espio-
nage. This would also ex-
plain the absence of any
data about his army rec-
ord until 1942. For files of
secret agents, with their
detailed service records,
are locked away else-
where, inaccessable . -
to most government
cials.
* * *
The assumption that he
was a secret agent in Switz-
erland gains weight in the
light of an expose, published
by the Deutscher Polizeiver-
lag in 1972, "Polizei Der
Brd." It is stated therein
that he had been funnelled
into Switzerland during the
war as an agent, and
switched sides when Ger-
many started to lose the
war, offering his services to
the Americans who ac-
cepted him.
This is further substan-
tiated by a document issued
by the Americans in Berne,
which confirms his collabo-
ration during the last stages
of the war.
The question whether or
not Dickopf was a double
agent, or an opportunist is
interesting, but of second-
ary importance. Our con-
cern is what were his con-
victions?
No whitewash of Interpol
and the German Federal
Police can change the fact
that after the war, when he
became deputy president
and later president of the
German police and Interpol,
and had the power, he nei-
ther cleaned the police of
former Nazis nor did he
appear once in court as a
witness against a Nazi.