Curator’s Corner: The Nazi Spy Ring in America

In the mid-1930s, just as the United States was embarking on a policy of neutrality, Nazi Germany launched an espionage program against the unwary nation. Their goal? To undermine the US by stealing military technology, mapping US defenses, and spreading anti-Semitic propaganda. When the spy ring was finally brought down by star FBI agent Leon Turrou, the ensuing trial garnered national attention and awakened many Americans to the looming Nazi threat. 

Join University of Edinburgh professor emeritus Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones as he brings this nearly forgotten episode in American history to life. Jeffreys-Jones is the author of the new book The Nazi Spy Ring in America: Hitler’s Agents, the FBI, & the Case That Stirred the Nation.

He’ll explore how Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the Abwehr, was able to steal top secret US technology such as a prototype codebreaking machine and data about the latest fighter planes, not to mention the role of espionage in shaping American perceptions of Germany in the years leading up to US entry into World War II.

International Spy Museum Historian and Curator Andrew Hammond will round up the details on the ring with Jeffreys-Jones from a ringleader codenamed Agent Sex to a murder plot to a Manhattan “honeytrap” socialite.  

Following their discussion, you’ll be able to ask questions via our online platform.

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