Leon G. Turrou

Leon George Turrou (September 14, 1895 - December 10, 1986) was an FBI Special Agent who was tasked with leading an investigation that located and interrogated Nazi German spies within the United States. He also became the author of a popular book at its time called Nazi Spies in America.[1] His writings were adapted into the film, Confessions of a Nazi Spy.

Early life

Leon G. Turrou was born on September 14, 1895 in a city called Kobryn, located on the southwest region of Belarus.[2] He became an orphan at a very young age with his father passing away about six months before his birth, and his mother not long after his birth. He was later adopted by a wealthy tradesman and spent a majority of his youth travelling around the world. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the United States where he found a job working as a translator for the New York Times due to his multi-linguistic skills.

In 1928, after going through a list of occupations, he was eventually hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation headed by J. Edgar Hoover at the time.[1] It was through this appointment that he became an FBI Special Agent responsible for locating and arresting Nazi German spies in America.

Career

After working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for about 10 years, Leon G. Turrou successfully thwarted a Nazi spy ring operation in 1938. This feat found him fame all over the country. During his investigation, he used polygraph tests to interview his suspects, perhaps the first of its use by the FBI in an espionage investigation.[3] The subjects of his investigation were Martin Schade, Captain William Drechsel, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Herrmann, John Baptiste Unkel, Kate Moog and Dr. Ignatz T. Griebl. He was fired after publishing articles on the case without permission. The articles were used as the basis of the film, Confessions of a Nazi Spy.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Cohen, Waley C. (1940). "Review of The Nazi Conspiracy in America". International Affairs Review Supplement. doi:10.2307/3025769. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ Barlow, John F. "Leon G. Turrou". iMDb. iMDb. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Chapter 15 of Nazi Spies in America". Antipolygraph. Antipolygraph.org. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  4. ↑ Fox, John (FBI historian) on Turner Classic Movies broadcast, 24 July 2008
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.