";tc:iner) to c: b1c, o .

40,B STAVA

Erm - 5416

c.. 7c!.:I.c.:: of Ccxr:uniz::: opror:ition to fro!!to2.j.1-1;:aticr.s ac ion;

C. :•ccor.tr.cc thc 1941: bor..1.... plot a,:ainn l, Litlera just,ifiable-: iloilorc:1;10

8. Ctructurall,..-, -5;:c Cecelle:Coafttchoncled itsrar the nort1r.e....1 ch:tir....ans:::Lp of -eon !:ellar...larzl. T:P-S ?CIL%

backouncl, fnzzy icicar anateltcranent cont•riutt.-ci to tle.

. a: projec not. perr.ally !di.... z; C011C2:7■1C-7.- le.s..5.1er. cr...z:t.ouc),:Stcine.1%; v.rt.... of hie:

el3.1(.;;eii rok c . : ral-:o.c.r c hc Ccsollschrft, and ty:• cr troll oi .!ILti n elf 171 the 0:' :7-t:lizati o:,• s leacicrEhil)

1::o het (.1'4 lici 1rat or :1(11.-1:;6.7 'fed h :c—ncral..; ;-.antett.rfc3., bt:t on1:- I:onorary Zunctior_r. and no r.". Z-. polio/ ••••••• ”•••■

schaft also set . up, crc'srercer-ca.nre7:.arat4 on -of 0-nd-stud:Ler: on .teclinical'7.-11itery

• . e t!:o..:o or alizaT:,ancl:TN -1" "›,,` (' ./ , ^r' 1:0- r. la "ne.- P- s•cr,e r,-.1,-.1-Ulitai.;,, ,nir-nar.ir_ation; I .lit CC..0 Orz Troops• • •One: c ac•nn...ion to

soction 'Lr&triclt‘:62-1:trel: on 1.irl'*-11f.'.'. ..c ... ae, ,..i.1-11111: 01.7.1C 0) t' 0"i

17z;aniz-inz;•

-

. • .

-S CPir;al ort mRy

r7;74 - 946•

lita this ntlnl,er in L. -- Annex C, pac,e 3). The food point ofthe renpect vac . General Steiner, ,.!:-:ocetonc,:ue t 0 c11 uarnilicr; fro.-.C. ._„7 and !)r. C.laacer. -Steiner 1.: cen .stf.tutionc.12- incanable of kee?inehI mouth shut, particularlyr.:incc Cece12.acl!aft wac nOre cr.- les:: his own idca t wea!.7.-.or:s runainsa perr.anent of potential entbarracscent, .

c the Cesellxchcft 1:np1emented polleicathe psyc:holo .;. .ic.:.'..1.t:urfar uas laid • dot:n to C .:Ls:Jen ...3.1tt::r prrzonall-; r:lacnert rondincluded the folloui:

'''a. he intErnal in.for:latiOn 'ouLletinand diatli'etited to al l •.-CC .": C"^ a r.ur:lbor of selectedout.clo o1zanizo.tior.6. Thic a ilo ...z.sc.croar:. or 2., pages la.

•

Joachi:c.1 .7.7.tior f: Other- Led -.u.ssed topical militai-5 f- :stress or: -11-Garz-. cbjectil,-ec; Gerr...an i.. crtion, •with the . 7esterr: !rorl.a; an ztetive ilittr contn.lti cr.; re:_si cto....i:cc toC01-tun!c t res.surc r , ' 1. ell c licati on 170.3 ar.auseo . -- as .a net for tile guidance 01 01t.Or

and, •.14....curzion,

. .7 IOC local Gesell.sehaft-ztuvices•

,,en tanrclioz'ti:i :i.that'. arr,.of 1 2 Dtcc.tiber 1 952 (icto1--'="_ecccj tcnaina -Li on of JZ upp , a to t,a1 of -37 public .14 ce.o.i.uccn _ro:: 110

c c r c c aPPeaV.,. c':e.a3;cifet'si onal e. : Cf: 7.-,11er...(3. C7 . eti ni-v;0.0 co,a r.)p ort .2er tz r. ,uropc.7,1nr:e la. to • ou.eat:c6.1r.: .. -1;r:.-• ;21:i •• '6 1 or -c :C.: ::r.;(7, 3 C • 7.737.7fV'O; 1;0 di rc are, • • • •,,

, , .

. 1- • • • • •.•

r ''''' f• ' C 0"'" ' 0 '1 0 • r. r.r. , r.•-• ..-r ,4 rrn -, ..., n : ,. . ,the •.:17-,;,;OS ,.c;f:""i-...:n!olf.lier I! (-.:iat teihib5. '.Ceic=•06.n..eral • rzllifinti-i .:::t), “Pi.--,:.a.!:LI..t - -:;:i6::'.......;..". , ,‘......;';:i7i41,.••,-.-.,.• • . p 'ii, .- .,--,::'■ .,......:1:ii.C,-/..1-(...t Orktt.t.,,... .1.211c.: :Spi,.-(...t...;cr.r,.;,..;;.0..).74c:o..,n.:,ncv..;...ett .-.r ....:...x.'-'or.-,' — .n : ,0 ,:t L• .-c ' - ,;..c.:',i, i-- c -'.: ... .c.!'....i.-:•3.1C.Oli-,?''.1',,ii,d'I w.i' ',; . ,C . 1-. dad .',0 ''i: -1 1 i .,.. , -.1., .,,,,,:tc.:., •...J.ti&......S., -70:21.1•:•c,r; -..:-.-?e,..:.:1::--ac4.14:4*.Z4z,t;:efld:'i.eI2,r,c1-..-__::t-c-..r

C., ..o::!...c...iehWiiii4ii.-:414.'n.P.';,5,(..*YcY.-;,t,c; !:;);c:or.,.. :.:0, , : 4 . ..%:;;;;OL:.6.:;,,I;(_;

,•

. . - . •Lt.

t f.7.(11 , • Ct...:7 0 :' 1 :

-.. A IA—

•-:'c'a. 14..eof: attrac.;,-',..e1'...-`do:- „el. • vans:: v"°)- , r. , , 11,- ,,, , ;6.-. .4:1; :.• 'r• .. •*--,,,,,,,.1•• " :' tV•"',.t.,""....•,.. • .. " .41, tr. ,--r,.. • .

•

•,-

TO3'61.7,.

!t.'

1 13f! r :LI', f3s) 0zcir:;re

• "r)GILIR-

.• 4.r.), of :Ca::',

•

• c:•

••••••..< •

F

I

QKS4NITOH Final Report

;. i

EGZA - 946

provided by CADOUR to the Gesellschaft. Distribution of the brochures was madethrough the local sections and by friendly organizations such as the DandEuropaische Jugend and the Bund Deutscher Jugend, and copies were sent to allhigher schools and universities in the Federal Republic, libraries, stateheadquarters of the coalition political parties, etc. Favorable newspaper reviewand congratulatory letters received by the Gesellschaft from several officesof . the Federal Government, the coalition political parties, other veterans'organizations, youth groups, schools and universities, and from private organi-zations and individuals gave ample testimonial to the effectiveness of thisphase of the Gesellschaft program.

V. Financial Support and Introduction of Funds.

13. The total cost to MGM of this project from start to finish wasDM 240,858.-- . Annex D itemizes by date and amount the record of advances madeand accountings received from the principal agent. The individual accountings,accompanied by receipts and certificates as appropriate, have been submittedto the Hission Finance Office. With the data still available to him, theundersigned can give only an approximate functional breakdown of overall projectcosts. Exclusive of termination salary payments, approximately 150,000 DM were:Tent for support of uregularu Gesellschaft operations; ?DAGO DM for authors'fees, and brochure printing and dist-ibution costs; and 14,000 DM for twospecial • Gesellschaft conventions which brought together delegates from variouspoints in West Germany.

14. To camouflage introduction of KU0010 funds, which were the sole sourceof Gesellschaft income, an arrangement was set up by the principal agent and

'3which provided for the deposit of these funds with the Stifterverbandfilr die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Foundation for the Advancement of German Science),located in Essen. The money Was re-transmitted monthly from the Stifterverband asa fl contribution e into the Munich bank account of the Gesellschaft. Occasionally,a portion of the KUGOWT; funds were deposited by C.. :7 into a Hannover bankaccount maintained by another agent controlled by A check for this sumfrom the HannoVeractount would then be sent to the Stifterverband. For themost part, hawever, funds were passed directly from Whybrow to Classen anddeposited by the latter with the stifterverband. The fact that the Gesellschaftreceived its support from American sources was known to the Stifterverbanddirector with whan the -arrangement had been made early in the project'sexistence. This indiscretion has been attributed to General Steiner.

15. It is interesting to note frcm recent mail intercepts maintained onthe Gesellschaft, that it has been successful in obtaining some deree ofcovert financial support from the Blank Offic(: of the Federal Government sub-sequent to termination of our support, ard that the transfer of funds from thenew sponsor is apparently still being handled in the same way throtO: theStifterverband.

-

-

IESTIVAIQESIUTCH Final Report

qt1,4 .7) • r 1.1

EGZA - 946 •S.

•

VI. Termination of KUGOWN Support

16. The decision to terminate support of the Gesellschaft was made inNovember 1952 as a result of the overall policy change in German operationswhich, among other things, required a somowhat precipitous withdrawal fronthe entire field of veterans' affairs. The undersigned, who had replaced

as Case Officer barely three weeks before, communicated the decisionto Classen and termination proceedings immediately got under way. Details ofthis close-out phase have been fully reported in contact reports transmittedto the HOMQ Office. However, a few aspects are perhaps worth mentioning.

17. The termination came as a stunning surprise to the Gesellschaft andthe proffered explanation that we were pulling out because ratification ofthe European Defense Treaty wasapproaching and we considered the basic pro-motional job to have been largely completed, plus the fact that virtually completeGerman sovereignty was also imminent, was greeted with same skepticism andbitterness by members of the Gesellschaft Executive Board, if not by the prin-cipal agent. All members of this Board, as previously indicated, were awareof the past American support. They were also quick to find out, through the"cross fertilization" mentioned earlier, that we were abandoning NTFULFIWQMAGNAG.

18. Immediately a scramble started to secure new sponSorship if possible.Exploratory contacts were made at Bonn and elsewhere. To nobody's surprise,it became obvious that the Federal Government was in no hurry to take overthe .. Gesellschaft and was convinced - without proof - that the ex-officers!group had been financed by some American agency. It was thus treated as"tainted" to some degree, although there was no question of disagreementwith the Gesellschaft's record of public achievement. However, the Govern-ment's greatest reluctance to adopting the Gesellschaft centered around theperson of General Felix Steiner, who apparently was as persona non grata toBonn as he had been to KUGGWV. After some negotiating, Steiner's cmpleteremoval from the scene was made a condition for possible support by the BlankOffice.

19. Steiner, meanwhile, appeared- to entertain personal political ambitions(there was talk that he intended to run for the Tlandestag if he could deliverthe SS and other veterans' vote to the Deutsche Partei), and threw himself intothe effort to line up a new sponsor. It is known that shortly after our ter-mination was completed, he succeeded in promoting a mall "loan" fram a dubiousRightist organization, the Gesellschaft fitr Neue Staatspolitik (Society for aNew rational Policy) of Ulm. Shortly, however, the Executive Board af theex-officers' Gesellschaft, faced with the alternative of closint down completely,Overcame past reluctance (based on , outloded concepts of officer corps mutualprotection recardless of personal feeling), and politely ejected the formerSS General from the organization. The Gesellschaft, according to monitoredreports, was then taken under the financial wing of the Blank Office, to whatcl.Tree is not known. ZIPFER is also reportcd to have had some support under-onsideration.

-77777— n—trlirvedmamm====wmatwecymmiiielierf,7446

QESVITC11 Final Reportr ...41

V(1?.11 ti3"1.1.41:111:

ECU - 946". • yr , ,

; • t

20. CADOUR termination with the principal agent was amicable in everyrespect. The undersigned's final contact with Class en was on 17 January 1953.Classen was given a three months salary payment and a quitclaim to sign.Although Claszen obviously wanted to continue in KUCOWL employ elsewhere, itwas not felt advisable to retain him because of the wide circle of peopleaware of his relationship to "the Americans". Clasnen himself recognized thevalidity of this point of view -- in his own words, he was nabgostempol0 1 ormarked as an American "collaborator". So far as is known, he has remained withthe Gesellschaft under its new sponsorship.

VII. Concluding Comments

21. It would appear from the record that project QMNITCH was worthwhileand soundly conceived from a policy standpoint, if one considers the Germanpolitical climate at the time of its origin. As a KUGOWN asset, it accomplishedundeniably valuable work. The fact that the Communists found it necessary tocreate a counterpart rival - the front organization.Ahrung,sring ehemaligerSoldaten (Leadership Circle of Former Soldiers) and to establish an anti-West,neutralist military publication to match the Gesellschaft's Wehrkunde and itsbrochure program, is indicative of the Gesellschaft's success in solidifying thebasically pro-Western orientation of most West German ex-officers. Othercontributory factors were at work to create a pro-Western majority among theex-officers; the Gesellschaft, however, provided an organizational rallyingpoint and a program which would have been otherwise absent.

22. There were undeniable weaknesses in the operational developmentof QKSNITCIL These arc illustrated by the very presence of General Steinerand other SS personalities in the organization, to say nothing of Steiner'sunfortunate qualities which, from all evidence available to the undersigned,led to the widespread circle of "informed" persons within the Gesellschaft andon the outside as well. It is indeed fortunate that this widespread knowledgeof American support did not lead to a blow-up while the project was alive.It is difficult to blmae the founding Case Officer for this unhealthy situation.QICSIITCH was developed under great. pressure for speedy action in the veterans'field, and the assignment should probably never have been given to a CaseOfficer already involved in a parallel project with inevitable cross ties.Also, to the writer's personal knowledge, the original Case Officer was soheavily cemmitted to other operational burdens (he handled at least five otherprojects of considerable corplexit:0 that it was remarkable he was able tosupervise the GeSellschaft as well as he did. And there can be little doubtbut that General . Steiner was the biggest thorn in the side of this project.Without hin, nany of tfr.e evident weaknesses would not have appeare:1. Thosevhich are not related to Steiner's presence arc well covcrcd in the principalagent's critique attac ,:, 1 to 11::i!-. rcTort, :;it' !rhicl, the undersi3ncd isin general ar7eement.

Approved:

L_J

Enclosures: A, B, C and D HEREWITHDistribution:3 - Addressee w/Encls.A ) R ) C, and D. 204 •

3 - CON, FrallicCurL, Att: wAnels. A,B,C, & D. /co.Written: 14 April 1953