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Fritz Kolbe Branch of Service: Spy For U.S. Rank: N/A Hometown: Germany Honored By: Mike W. Reeser Biography Fritz Kolbe, alias George Wood, was a German diplomat who served as a spy for the United States against the Nazi regime during WWII. His dislike for the Nazi's was so strong, that he refused to take payment from the U.S. for his spying activities. He was looked upon by successive German governments as someone who had betrayed Germany until publication of original documents by the CIA in 2000 forced a review, and his eventual official recognition. On September 9th of 2004, a German Foreign Ministry conference room was named after him by Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. Kolbe was a junior diplomat in the German foreign ministry before WWII began, and had postings in Madrid and Cape Town, but his refusal to join the Nazi party led him to be assigned to lowly clerical jobs in Berlin after 1939. Anti-Nazi surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch had been an influence to him, and in November of 1941 he became determined to do something practical to help defeat the Nazis. Kolbe was trusted to travel to Berne, Switzerland in August of 1943 with the diplomatic pouch. While he was in Berne he attempted to mimeograph secret documents to give to the British embassy. They rebuffed his approach so he contacted the Americans, who in turn decided to trust him. By 1944, the Americans realized they had an agent of the highest quality in Kolbe. He was given the code name George Wood. His U.S. intelligence handler was Office of Strategic Services agent Allen Welsh Dulles. By the end of the war Kolbe had passed over 2,600 documents to the United States. He was later described by the CIA as one of the most important spies of the war. Examples of some of his information includes: German expectation of D-Day landings V1 and V2 rocket programs Info on Messerschmitt ME 262 jet fighter Japanese plans in Southeast Asia Exposure of Nazi agent Elyese Bazna In 1949, Kolbe tried to settle in the United States, but he was unable to find work. In 1951 Kolbe applied for return to the German Foreign Office, but he was refused a job there. Kolbe eventually made a living as representative of an American power-saw manufacturer. He died February 19, 1971 in a Berne hospital.