Ernest Peter Burger | |
|---|---|
 FBI mugshot | |
| Born | September 1, 1906 |
| Died | October 9, 1975 (aged 69) |
| Known for | Agent in Operation Pastorius |
| Political party | Nazi Party |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Conviction(s) | Acting as an unlawful combatant with the intent to commit sabotage, espionage, and other hostile acts Aiding the enemy as an unlawful combatant Espionage Conspiracy |
| Criminal penalty | Death; commuted to life imprisonment; later granted clemency with conditional deportation to American-occupied Germany |
Ernest Peter Burger (September 1, 1906 – October 9, 1975) was a German-American who was a saboteur for Germany during World War II who defected to the United States. A naturalized citizen of the United States who returned to Germany during the Great Depression, Burger was recruited along with seven others by the Abwehr for Operation Pastorius, which sought to sabotage targets in the United States in 1942.
However, after being deployed, he and fellow saboteur George John Dasch defected and betrayed the other six agents involved to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After some litigation, a military tribunal sentenced all eight agents to death, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt commuted Burger's sentence to life in prison. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman granted Burger executive clemency conditional on his deportation to the American occupation zone in Germany, where he died in 1975.