Nazi spies in New York City

A NAZI SPY IN MANHATTAN
   
During the 1930's and early 1940's, scores of Nazi agents [Abwehr] called New York City home. Like other foreign visitors in the days before transatlantic air travel, the German spies arrived on ocean liners that docked at the Port of New York, the nation's largest and busiest harbour. Many of the agents saw no need to travel farther afield to ply their craft. The New York waterfront was a treasure-trove of information useful to a foreign agent.

From New York's 1.800 piers and wharves , hundreds of tons of goods and material, including motor vehicles, copper, iron, and steel, were shipped annually to countries such as France and England. Facts about cargoes, shipping schedules , and sailing routes proved invaluable to German naval intelligence, particularly in deploying U-boats in the North Atlantic. A German agent could often determine the nature of a ship's cargo simply by strolling up to it's berth and reading the markings on crates stacked on the dock for loading. A friendly chat with a seaman in a local bar could reveal the ships destination and departure date.

In a city with 600.000 German-Americans as of 1940, Hitler's spies moved about easily and undetected. The German-American community of Yorkville on Manhattan's Upper East Side not only provided ideal cover but also served as a hunting ground for new recruits to spy for Germany. Abwehr agents solicited help from German-American supervisors, engineers, metallurgists and others assigned to top-secret projects inside New York's defense plants. Most of these workers were naturalized Americans who were appalled by the suggestion they betray their adopted country. Others however desperate for cash or fearing reprisals against relatives in Germany, cooperated, providing their Nazi benefactors with everything from samples of cable being installed in navy ships to drawings of destroyers.