Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
EMIL HOFFMAN AND HIS CIRCLES - In a jungle of secret services
FABULOUS SPY GAMES Intelligence Agency (CIA), also suggest that the British did use Hoffmann during his arrest, and even that the French secret service also contacted him, which seems to be confirmed by his role in the arrest of the Gestapo chief in Lyon. The Americans believe that the British let him go late in 1947 because he made an agreement with them, betraying some of his former contacts.33 The pivotal idea of his political vision was always a unified and neutral Germany, and he looked on the US as the greatest obstacle hampering unification. In view of this, it may be easier to understand his manoeuvring amidst the merrygo-round of secret services (he worked for nearly every agency but the CIA), which he is likely to have undertaken to ensure not only his own success, but also with the fate of his fatherland in mind. In 1949, Hoffman joined a group called Nauheimer Kreis, founded by Professor Ulrich Noack, which set out to fight for a neutral, demilitarised and unified Germany. It is only natural that Hoffman believed at this stage and also later that the Soviets were the most likely to provide help, even though, as a national socialist, he considered himself to be staunchly anti-communist. Even in the group organised by professor Noack, his task was, according to CIA information, to liaise with Vladimir Semyonov, ambassador of the Soviet Union to the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It is interesting that suspicion of his cooperation also arose with the Czechoslovak state security service,34 but CIA documents show that Italian intelligence used him for several months as an informant too in 1947.35 33 The CIA’s declassified documents can be searched online on the CIA website. The sources made available in this way confirm that the American intelligence agency monitored Hoffmann’s activities for years. CIA, FOIA, Special collection of Emil Hoffmann, 12 April 1960 https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/HOFFMANN%2C%20EMIL_0084.pdf (Downloaded on: 4 August 2019) 34 Ibid. 35 CIA, FIOA, Special collection of Emil Hoffmann, 8 April 1963 https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/HOFFMANN%2C%20EMIL_0100.pdf (Downloaded on: 10 August 2019) 20
