Characters > Historical
Captain Franz von Papen
German Military Attachê
Captain Franz von Papen is not happy to see Count Jaggi and is not in the mood to be cooperative.
In the novel, Count Jaggi, as a black operative working undercover as a Belgian Relief worker is ordered by Berlin to replace Captain von Papen in New York City.
While von Papen was a charming man and did his job as a military attaché reasonably well. Unfortunately, he was not well suited for his new cloak-and-dagger role. He was too well known in American social circles and in the press. He also liked being the centre of attention.
His spy skills were rudimentary at best, which caught the attention of fictional character Inspector MacNutt, head of the Canada’s Dominion Police’s Secret Service, and Inspector Tunney of the New York Bomb Squad. For example:
- he hired agent saboteurs he did not know;
- he held clandestine meetings at the German Club in Central Park South;
- he maintained an office on the 25th floor of 60 Wall Street;
- on an regular basis the New York newspapers would write stories accusing him of cloak and dagger activities;
- he was so indiscreet that his activities caught the attention of the American government to the point that he was declared persona non grata in December 1915 and ordered back to Germany; and
- he took personal records with him containing details of covert operations when he sailed back to Germany. The papers were confiscated when his ship docked in England.
Biography
Franz von Papen was born in 1879 in Werl, Westphalia, to a wealthy German family. He married Martha von Boch-Galhau on 3 May, 1905.
Von Papen attended military school and when he graduated he worked in the palace for the Kaiser. In 1913, he was appointed to the German General Staff, then in December of 1913 he was assigned as a military attaché to Washington D.C.
When war broke out in August 1914, Captain von Papen was in Mexico observing the Mexican revolution. When he returned back to Washington he was instructed, as was naval attaché Captain Boy-Ed, to secretly buy up or tie up American war production before it reached Britain and France.
As the military attaché to the German ambassador, Count Johann von Bernstorff, his main duties were to:
- gather information on the capabilities and intention of the American army;
- observe and report on U.S. political and economic developments; and
- attend military briefings and manoeuvres representing the German Imperial Army.
Sources and further reading
Web
Franz von Papen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
First World War.com - Who’s Who - Franz von Papen
The Kaiser Sows Destruction — Central Intelligence Agency (pdf)
Blood-Ryan, H.W. Franz von Papen, His Life And Times. Rich & Cowan Ltd., 1940.
Jones, John Price and Paul Merrick Hollister. The German Secret Service In America, 1914-1918. Boston: Small, Maynard & Company Publishers, 1918.
Tunney, Thomas Joseph and Paul Merrick Hollister. Throttled! The Detection of the German and Anarchist Bomb Plotters. Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1919.