Oscar C. Pfaus | |
|---|---|
 Oscar C. Pfaus as a U.S. Army soldier[1] | |
| Born | Oskar Karl Pfaus January 30, 1901 Illingen, Germany |
| Died | unknown |
| Nationality | German |
| Other names | Oscar Carl Pfaus |
| Citizenship | Naturalized American |
| Known for | Nazi propagandist and Abwehr agent |
| Espionage activity | |
| Allegiance | Germany |
| Agency | Abwehr |
| Codename | STIER |
Oscar Carl Pfaus (born Oskar Karl Pfaus; born January 30, 1901) was a German immigrant who became an American citizen through military service. He had a succession of jobs before becoming involved in pro-Nazi organizations in Chicago in the early 1930s and becoming a full-time Nazi propagandist there. He was also active in New York.
He returned to Germany in 1938 to work in propaganda for the Deutscher Fichte-Bund with responsibility for Ireland, the United States, and Canada, attempting to cultivate ties in the U.S. through correspondence with Irish-Americans and anyone who might be sympathetic to German interests. His letters were extensively quoted in the proceedings of the Dies committee on Un-American Activities in 1939.
He was recruited to the Abwehr, the German military intelligence agency, which sent him to Ireland in 1939 to make contact with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and others who might help Germany. The Abwehr eventually sent an agent to the United States who arranged for the IRA to carry out acts of sabotage there.
Pfaus was active in espionage in Paris in 1941 and 1943, and in 1944 he was at Stalag 357, a prisoner of war camp in Thorn, Poland, where he described his role as "camp leader and interpreter". He later served in Czechoslovakia. In 1949, he said he was anti-Nazi and described the Nazi regime as "the former Prussian regimes of terror".[2]
- ^ Carter, Carolle J. (1977) The Shamrock and the Swastika: German Espionage in Ireland in World War II. Palo Alto: Pacific Books. p. 106. ISBN 0870152211
- ^ "Still Awaiting New Germany", Oscar C. Pfaus, Vancouver Daily Province, August 3, 1949, p. 4. Retrieved from newspapers.com January 20, 2020. (subscription required)