Figure 1.--This is Austrian chemist and wartime British intelligence asset Paul Rosbaud alongside his daughter Angelika taken about 1936. Rosbaud married a Jewish woman and after the NAZIs seized power, he became increasingly worried about their safety. British MI-6 arranged visas for them (April 1938)--a few months before the Munich Crisis and Kriatalnsacgt, after which exit approvals became much more difficult. Rosbaud remained in Germany and became MI-6's primry source on German scientific projects and research throughhout the War. He is some times connected with the crucial 'Oslo Report' (1939), but the author was probably Hans Ferdinand Mayer. These men weere theAllies primary window into German science durung the War.

The most fruitful British spy in NAZI Germany was Austrian chemist Paul Rosbaud. He was an Anglophile originally because of his humane treatment as a World War I POW. After the War, he became a scientific adviser to Springer Verlag, one of Germany's most important publishing houses. As a result, he met and worked with with many leading German scientists. He also as part of his work traveled extensively in other European countries associating with scientists there. He married a Jewish woman and they had a child, Angelika. After the NAZIs seized power (1933), he became increasingly concerned for their safety. Rosbaud was throughout the War the best-placed British spy with access to both NAZI scientific and military information. He is sometimes creditd with the 'Oslo Report' (1939), but that critical assessment was probably the work of Hans Ferdinand Mayer. It described German tactics used in Blitzkrieg and U-boat warfare as well as reserch project. Mayer was arrsted by the Gestpo (1943). It was Rosbaud, code named 'The Griffin', who first reported on the V-1 buzz bomb and V-2 rocket programs. He also provided early news of German consideration of an atomic weapon. And it was his reporting that eventually quieted British fears of a NAZI atomic bomb. He reported that the German atomic program had made little real progress. 【Kramish】 He continued trporting throughout the War and was never detected by the Gestapo. Rosbaud is also notable for helping Jewish nuclear scientist Lise Mietner escape from the NAZIs when other colleagues had largely abandoned her (1938). British MI-6 helped get his family out of Germany. He could have gone with them, but decided he could help defeat the NAZIs by remaining in Germany. And he was right, Rosbaud became so critical that the British did not share his reporting with the Americans until just before D-Day. He supplied at great personal danger valuable information to the British throughout the War. As far as we know, the Germans never had any idea as to his activities, despite his Jewish wife, contacts with the British Embassy, and regular trips to London before the War. Rosbaud somehow managed to survive the War, but after the War moved to London to reunite with his wife and daughter.

Sources

Kramish, Arnold. The Griffin: Paul Rosbaud and the Nazi Atomic Bomb That Never Was (Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston, Massachusettes, 1986).

Created: 4:07 PM 9/18/2026
Last updated: 4:08 PM 9/18/2026