The Leader And The Damned

Epilogue

Returning from abroad a few years ago, the author met David Stein (that is not his real name), a diamond broker living in Hampstead. He was shown an opened envelope containing a black, leather-bound diary. On the outside of the envelope were the following words.

Account of my visit to the Third Reich in the year 1943 and my subsequent sojourn in Yugoslavia. In the event of my death to be handed to Lieutenant Jock Carson, Section 3, Grey Pillars, Cairo, Egypt. Ian Lindsay, Wing Commander.

He was not permitted to take away the diary, so he read it as he sat in Stein's study. When he returned it, he gained the impression the diary would shortly be destroyed. Stein explained that the thought of his home being invaded by security men was abhorrent. In any case, his brother, Aaron, had died in a car crash recently.

The fate of certain leading characters in this story is now a matter of record. All the facts can be found in historical archives.

Colonel-General Alfred Jodl. Tried for war crimes at Nuremberg. Condemned. Hanged.

Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel. Tried for war crimes at Nuremberg. Condemned. Hanged.

Brigadier Roger Masson. The head of Swiss Intelligence survived the war. The man who protected Lucy (and therefore, without realizing it, Woodpecker) retired at the end of World War Two. Accused of collaboration with the Nazis, because of his dealings with Schellenberg, he had to endure a government inquiry which completely exonerated him. Nevertheless, it was an embittered man who took up residence in his home overlooking Vevey on Lake Geneva.

Rudolf Roessler. The asthmatic German codenamed Lucy, who played one of the strangest roles in history, lost all sense of purpose when peace came. He had devoted himself with such dedication to his task of defeating Hitler that he felt like a fish stranded on a beach when it all came to an end. Tired out and disillusioned, he died in October 1958. His grave may be seen in the cemetery at Kriens near Lucerne. The small marble plaque bears a brief inscription. Rudolf Roessler. 1897-1958.

Walter Schellenberg. The chief of SS Intelligence reached the Allied lines at the war's end. He spent the next three years in Great Britain as the guest of the Secret Service. He undoubtedly provided invaluable information. Tried at Nuremberg, he should have been acquitted, but the Russian judge insisted on a verdict of 'Guilty'. Sentenced to four years' imprisonment, he was released after serving three years because of ill-health. He died a few years later.

Tim Whelby. During 1944 Whelby was promoted to run a new department formed by SIS. Its purpose: counter-espionage. It's sphere of operations: Soviet- occupied Eastern Europe.

It all happened a long time ago.