THE COUNTERFEIT TRAITOR

by Alexander Klein ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 1957

This is a recreation of a major World War II Allied espionage coup, an exciting, thrilling story in itself, which suffers from the author's occasionally melodramatic telling. Eric Erickson, ex-Texas oil salesman, was a prominent Swedish citizen when he was enlisted by Laurence Steinhardt, American ambassador to Russia, in 1939, as an Allied intelligence agent. His job was to arrange intelligence networks and transmit crucial data on German refineries and synthetic oil plants while posing as an opportunistic businessman. The cost to Erickson and his confederate, Prince Carl Bernadotte, nephew of the King of Sweden, was the estrangement of their relatives and friends and denunciation of their ""collaboration"" by the Swedish press and always, the extreme danger of discovery by the Gestapo. His contribution was a key factor in the destruction of German oil refineries and thus, the reduction of German military maneuverability. Erickson and his confederates (many of them Germans) were rewarded after the war -- in the main -- by having the story told of this modern adventure.

Pub Date: March 6, 1957

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1957

Categories: NONFICTION