Hitler's Secret War In South America, 1939–1945: German Military Espionage and Allied Counterespionage in Brazil

3) The Bolívar Tangents

«3» The BolivarTangents THE POLICY FOLLOWED BY the Abwehr in Brazil was to saturate the country with agents in the conviction that, despite the inevitablecasualties and the inefficiency of some agents, sufficient information would reach Germany to furnish a relatively complete picture of enemy activities. In order to minimize the possibility of failure or ineptitude, the Abwehr endeavored to recruit agents from among individuals who had already demonstrated, possibly through honorable military service, a sense of duty, who knew the terrain, and who had contacts in the countries where they served. It therefore looked for men with military training who had commercial or industrial experience in Brazil. Albrecht Engels was a typical example of that kind of individual, but there were other men of similar backgrounds who were also willingto serve the Reich by joining its clandestine army. O One of the espionage cells linked to Engels' organization was headed by Eduard Arnold, a businessman in Sao Paulo and a longtime friend of von Heyer. Like the latter, Arnold was Brazilian-born but considered himself German. During World War I he, too, had fought for the Kaiser and now was an energetic supporter of the Nazi cause. Arnold had been to Germany in 1939 on a business trip and at von Meyer's suggestion had met Raven. The Abwehr officer saw potential in Arnold and enlisted him for clandestine information gathering. When Arnold returned to Brazil at the end of the 52} HITLER'S SECRET WAR IN SOUTH AMERICA year, it was with the understandingthat he would send periodic reports to Germany on economic matters.1 Arnold found the atmosphere in Brazil propitious for his undertaking ; indeed, he frequently commented on the favorable attitude of the Vargas governmenttoward the Third Reich, although he was skeptical about Germany's ability to withstand the long-range economic competition of the United States in South America. Vargas was a "great friend" of Germany, he wrote to a friend in May, 1940, but "after this war it will be very difficult for Germany to reestablish itself, that is, to develop a strong export trade [to Brazil] again. . . . I personally am very pessimistic," he concluded, "and I think that we Germans will no longer have a great life here in South America." Arnold's first service for the Abwehr was to bring back to Brazil several letters that Raven wanted him to mail to places in Argentina, Mexico, and Central America. Also on instructions from Raven, he contacted Engels and for a time assisted him in his early correspondence with the Abwehr by sending telegrams for him under the code name "Argus" and also by receiving mail for him. Arnold's stay in Rio de Janeiro was brief, however; and in the spring of 1940 he found himself in Sao Paulo, using his sales office as a front for his reports to the Abwehr.2 He did not have a transmitter , so he probably sent more important or urgent messages through Engels, who went frequently to Sao Paulo and who acted as his paymaster. That summer Arnold gained a collaborator when the Abwehr sent out another agent, Erich Immers, a Vienna-born engineer who had lived in Brazil for seventeen years and was a naturalized Brazilian citizen. Immers arrived with instructions to concentrate his efforts on obtaining information about the production of munitions , armaments, and airplanes in the United States. The Abwehr also wanted him and Arnold to report on labor conditions in American war plants so it could determine whether or not there might be fertile ground for sabotage by promoting strikes. In addition, Immers and Arnold were to serve as a relay station, since at least one agent in the United States was given the number of a post office box belonging to Immers' brother-in-law in Rio de Janeiro.3 Immers was ambitious and pressed Arnold to find someone will- THE BOLIVAR TANGENTS (53 ing to go to the United States as their observer. Arnold turned to a young business acquaintance of his named Hans Clason, whose credentials seemed excellent: he was a Nazi party member, a licensed pilot, a reserve officer, and he spoke five languages. Indeed, his qualifications for becoming a secret agent were too good—the American embassy refused to grant him a visa. Immers and Arnold thereupon decided to send him to Porto Alegre, the capital of the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul...