Richard Wagner - Parsifal

Written: 1877-1882; Germany

Date of Recording: 1981

Venue:  Bayreuth, Germany

Bayreuther Festspiele, 1981

Orchestra/Ensemble:  Bayreuth Festival Orchestra

Staged by: Wolfgang Wagner

Conductor: Horst Stein

Amfortas: Bernd Weikl

Titurel: Matti Saminen

Gurnemanz: Hans Sotin

Parsifal: Siegfried Jerusalem

Klingsor: Leif Roar

Kundry: Eva Radnova

1st Knight of the Grail: Toni Krämer

2nd Knight of the Grail: Heinz Klaus Ecker

1st Squire: Marga Schiml

2nd Squire: Hanna Schwarz

3rd Squire: Helmut Pampuch

4th Squire: Martin Egel

Flower Maidens: Norma Sharp, Carol Richardson, Hanna Schwarz, Mari-Anne Häggender, Marga Schiml, Margit Neubauer

Alto Solo: Hanna Schwarz

Synopsis

Act 1

In a forest near the home of the Grail and its Knights, Gurnemanz, eldest Knight of the Grail, wakes his young squires and leads them in prayer. He sees Amfortas, King of the Grail Knights, and his entourage approaching. Amfortas has been injured by his own Holy Spear, and the wound will not heal.

Vorspiel

Musical introduction to the work with a duration of c. 9–13 minutes.

Scene 1

Gurnemanz asks the lead Knight for news of the King’s health. The Knight says the King has suffered during the night and is going early to bathe in the holy lake. The squires ask Gurnemanz to explain how the King’s injury can be healed, but he evades their question and a wild woman – Kundry – bursts in. She gives Gurnemanz a vial of balsam, brought from Arabia, to ease the King’s pain and then collapses, exhausted.

Amfortas arrives, borne on a stretcher by Knights of the Grail. He calls out for Gawain, whose attempt at relieving the King’s pain had failed. He is told that Gawain has left again, seeking a better remedy. Raising himself somewhat, the King says going off without leave („Ohn’ Urlaub?“) is the sort of impulsiveness which led himself into Klingsor’s realm and to his downfall. He accepts the potion from Gurnemanz and tries to thank Kundry, but she answers abruptly that thanks will not help and urges him onward to his bath.

The procession leaves. The squires eye Kundry with mistrust and question her. After a brief retort, she falls silent. Gurnemanz tells them Kundry has often helped the Grail Knights but that she comes and goes unpredictably. When he asks directly why she does not stay to help, she answers, „I never help! („Ich helfe nie!“). The squires think she is a witch and sneer that if she does so much, why will she not find the Holy Spear for them? Gurnemanz reveals that this deed is destined for someone else. He says Amfortas was given guardianship of the Spear, but lost it as he was seduced by an irresistibly attractive woman in Klingsor’s domain. Klingsor grabbed the Spear and stabbed Amfortas. The wound causes Amfortas both suffering and shame, and will never heal on its own.

Squires returning from the King’s bath tell Gurnemanz that the balsam has eased the King’s suffering. Gurnemanz’s own squires ask how it is that he knew Klingsor. He solemnly tells them how both the Holy Spear, which pierced the side of the Redeemer on the Cross, and the Holy Grail, which caught the flowing blood, had come to Monsalvat to be guarded by the Knights of the Grail under the rule of Titurel, father of Amfortas. Klingsor had yearned to join the Knights but, unable to keep impure thoughts from his mind, resorted to self-castration, causing him to be expelled from the Order. Klingsor then set himself up in opposition to the realm of the Grail, learning dark arts, claiming the valley domain below and filling it with beautiful Flowermaidens to seduce and enthrall wayward Grail Knights. It was here that Amfortas lost the Holy Spear, kept by Klingsor as he schemes to get hold of the Grail as well. Gurnemanz tells how Amfortas later had a holy vision which told him to wait for a „pure fool, enlightened by compassion“ („Durch Mitleid wissend, der reine Tor“) who will finally heal the wound.

At this moment, cries are heard from the Knights („Weh! Weh!“): a flying swan has been shot, and a young man is brought forth, a bow in his hand and a quiver of matching arrows. Gurnemanz speaks sternly to the lad, saying this is a holy place. He asks him outright if he shot the swan, and the lad boasts that if it flies, he can hit it („Im Fluge treff’ ich was fliegt!“) Gurnemanz tells him that the swan is a holy animal, and asks what harm the swan had done him, and shows the youth its lifeless body. Now remorseful, the young man breaks his bow and casts it aside. Gurnemanz asks him why he is here, who his father is, how he found this place and, lastly, his name. To each question the lad replies, „I don’t know.“ The elder Knight sends his squires away to help the King and now asks the boy to tell what he does know. The young man says he has a mother, Herzeleide (Heart’s Sorrow) and that he made the bow himself. Kundry has been listening and now tells them that this boy’s father was Gamuret, a knight killed in battle, and also how the lad’s mother had forbidden her son to use a sword, fearing that he would meet the same fate as his father. The youth now recalls that upon seeing knights pass through his forest, he had left his home and mother to follow them. Kundry laughs and tells the young man that, as she rode by, she saw Herzeleide die of grief. Hearing this, the lad first lunges at Kundry but then collapses in grief. Kundry herself is now weary for sleep, but cries out that she must not sleep and wishes that she might never again waken. She disappears into the undergrowth.

Gurnemanz knows that the Grail draws only the pious to Monsalvat and invites the boy to observe the Grail rite. The youth does not know what the Grail is, but remarks that as they walk he seems to scarcely move, yet feels as if he is traveling far. Gurnemanz says that in this realm time becomes space („Zum Raum wird hier die Zeit“).

Verwandlungsmusik (Transformation)

An orchestral interlude of about 4 minutes.

Scene 2

They arrive at the Hall of the Grail, where the Knights are assembling to receive Holy Communion („Zum letzten Liebesmahle“). The voice of Titurel is heard, telling his son, Amfortas, to uncover the Grail. Amfortas is wracked with shame and suffering („Wehvolles Erbe, dem ich verfallen“). He is the guardian of these holy relics yet has succumbed to temptation and lost the Spear. He declares himself unworthy of his office. He cries out for forgiveness („Erbarmen!“) but hears only the promise that he will one day be redeemed by the pure fool.

On hearing Amfortas’ cry, the youth appears to suffer with him, clutching at his heart. The knights and Titurel urge Amfortas to reveal the Grail („Enthüllet den Gral“), and he finally does. The dark hall is now bathed in the light of the Grail as the Knights eat. Gurnemanz motions to the youth to participate, but he seems entranced and does not. Amfortas does not share in taking communion and, as the ceremony ends, collapses in pain and is carried away. Slowly the hall empties leaving only the young man and Gurnemanz, who asks him if he has understood what he has seen. When the lad cannot answer, Gurnemanz dismisses him as just a fool and sends him out with a warning to hunt geese, if he must, but to leave the swans alone. A voice from high above repeats the promise: „The pure fool, enlightened by compassion“.

Act 2

Vorspiel

Musical introduction of c. 2–3 minutes.

Scene 1

Klingsor’s magic castle. Klingsor conjures up Kundry, waking her from her sleep. He calls her by many names: First Sorceress (Urteufelin), Hell’s Rose (Höllenrose), Herodias, Gundryggia and, lastly, Kundry. She is now transformed into an incredibly alluring woman, as when she once seduced Amfortas. She mocks Klingsor’s mutilated condition by sarcastically inquiring if he is chaste („Ha ha! Bist du keusch?“), but she cannot resist his power. Klingsor observes that Parsifal is approaching and summons his enchanted knights to fight the boy. Klingsor watches as Parsifal overcomes his knights, and they flee. Klingsor wishes destruction on their whole race.

Klingsor sees this young man stray into his Flowermaiden garden and calls to Kundry to seek the boy out and seduce him, but when he turns, he sees that Kundry has already left on her mission.

Scene 2

The triumphant youth finds himself in a wondrous garden, surrounded by beautiful and seductive Flowermaidens. They call to him and entwine themselves about him while chiding him for wounding their lovers („Komm, komm, holder Knabe!“). They soon fight and bicker among themselves to win his devotion, to the point that he is about to flee, but then a voice calls out, „Parsifal!“ He now recalls this name is what his mother called him when she appeared in his dreams. The Flowermaidens back away from him and call him a fool as they leave him and Kundry alone.

Parsifal wonders if the Garden is a dream and asks how it is that Kundry knows his name. Kundry tells him she learned it from his mother („Ich sah das Kind an seiner Mutter Brust“), who had loved him and tried to shield him from his father’s fate, the mother he had abandoned and who had finally died of grief. She reveals many parts of Parsifal’s history to him and he is stricken with remorse, blaming himself for his mother’s death. He thinks himself very stupid to have forgotten her. Kundry says this realization is a first sign of understanding and that, with a kiss, she can help him understand his mother’s love. As they kiss Parsifal suddenly recoils in pain and cries out Amfortas’ name: he feels the wounded king’s pain burning in his own side and now understands Amfortas’ passion during the Grail Ceremony („Amfortas! Die Wunde! Die Wunde!“). Filled with this compassion, Parsifal rejects Kundry’s advances.

Furious that her ploy has failed, Kundry tells Parsifal that if he can feel compassion for Amfortas, then he should be able to feel it for her as well. She has been cursed for centuries, unable to rest, because she saw Christ on the cross and laughed at His pains. Now she can never weep, only jeer, and she is enslaved to Klingsor as well. Parsifal rejects her again but then asks her to lead him to Amfortas. She begs him to stay with her for just one hour, and then she will take him to Amfortas. When he still refuses, she curses him to wander without ever finding the Kingdom of the Grail, and finally calls on her master Klingsor to help her.

Klingsor appears and throws the Spear at Parsifal, but it stops in midair, above his head. Parsifal takes it and makes the sign of the Cross with it. The castle crumbles and the enchanted garden withers. As Parsifal leaves, he tells Kundry that she knows where she can find him.

Act 3

Vorspiel

Musical introduction of c. 4–6 minutes.

Scene 1

The scene is the same as that of the opening of the opera, in the domain of the Grail, but many years later. Gurnemanz is now aged and bent. It is Good Friday. He hears moaning near his hermit’s hut and discovers Kundry unconscious in the brush, as he had many years before („Sie! Wieder da!“). He revives her using water from the Holy Spring, but she will only speak the word „serve“ („Dienen“). Gurnemanz wonders if there is any significance to her reappearance on this special day. Looking into the forest, he sees a figure approaching, armed and in full armour. The stranger wears a helmet and the hermit cannot see who it is. Gurnemanz queries him and chides him for being armed on sanctified ground and on a holy day, but gets no response. Finally, the apparition removes the helmet and Gurnemanz recognizes the lad who shot the swan, and joyfully sees that he bears the Holy Spear.

Parsifal tells of his desire to return to Amfortas („Zu ihm, des tiefe Klagen“). He relates his long journey, how he wandered for years, unable to find a path back to the Grail. He had often been forced to fight, but never wielded the Spear in battle. Gurnemanz tells him that the curse preventing Parsifal from finding his right path has now been lifted, but that in his absence Amfortas has never unveiled the Grail, and lack of its sustaining properties has caused the death of Titurel. Parsifal is overcome with remorse, blaming himself for this state of affairs. Gurnemanz tells him that today is the day of Titurel’s funeral, and that Parsifal has a great duty to perform. Kundry washes Parsifal’s feet and Gurnemanz anoints him with water from the Holy Spring, recognizing him as the pure fool, now enlightened by compassion, and as the new King of the Knights of the Grail.

Parsifal looks about and comments on the beauty of the meadow. Gurnemanz explains that today is Good Friday, when all the world is renewed. Parsifal baptizes the weeping Kundry. Tolling bells are heard in the distance. Gurnemanz says „Midday: the hour has come. My lord, permit your servant to guide you!“ („Mittag: – Die Stund ist da: gestatte Herr, dass dich dein Knecht geleite“) – and all three set off for the castle of the Grail. A dark orchestral interlude („Mittag“) leads into the solemn gathering of the knights.

Scene 2

Within the castle of the Grail, Amfortas is brought before the Grail shrine and Titurel’s coffin. He cries out, asking his dead father to grant him rest from his sufferings and expresses the desire to join him in death („Mein Vater! Hochgesegneter der Helden!“). The Knights of the Grail passionately urge Amfortas to uncover the Grail again but Amfortas, in a frenzy, says he will never again show the Grail. He commands the Knights, instead, to kill him and end his suffering and the shame he has brought on the Knighthood. At this moment, Parsifal steps forth and says that only one weapon can heal the wound („Nur eine Waffe taugt“). He touches Amfortas’ side with the Spear and both heals and absolves him. Parsifal commands the unveiling of the Grail. As all present kneel, Kundry, released from her curse, sinks lifeless to the ground as a white dove descends and hovers above Parsifal.

Die Deutsche Wochenschau – Newsreel No. 647, 27 January 1943

1. Germany.

 

The city of Eisenach.

 

– In the Middle Ages, the legendary Würzburg Castle served as the poetic centre of the Minnesingers (troubadours).

 

– Martin Luther spent his childhood here, and it was in Würzburg that he translated the New Testament into German.

 

– Richard Wagner made Würzburg the setting for his opera “Tannhäuser.”

 

– Traffic on the snow-covered streets of the city.

 

– Founded 900 years ago, Eisenach is one of the oldest cities in Thuringia.

 

– It is known as the place where many great Germans lived and worked; for example, it is the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach.

 

A torchlight procession in Berlin marking the 10th anniversary of Hitler’s rise to power in Germany.

 

– Archival footage: Hitler at the window of the Reich Chancellery.

 

– Immediately after the new government took office, a campaign against unemployment began.

 

– Three million Germans were able to work again.

 

– Footage of Germans engaged in intensive labour.

 

– The curve showing the decline in unemployment.

 

– New bridges and highways in Germany.

 

– A sculptor at work.

 

– Works of “new art.”

 

– An art exhibition in Munich.

 

– New sports facilities.

 

– Construction of new buildings.

 

– Examples of “new” German architecture.

 

– New housing for workers. Construction of cottages for workers.

 

– Caring for children.

 

– At a kindergarten.

 

– Children with their teachers; children on vacation playing sports and swimming.

 

– View of a youth hostel.

 

– New German ships: the “Robert Ley” and others.

 

– Vacationers from the “Strength Through Joy” organization on board a ship.

 

– German ships and airplanes, tanks, soldiers.

 

2. The North Sea.

 

The pilot is in contact with air defence headquarters.

 

3. Tunisia.

 

Weapons are being transported on German ships in the Mediterranean.

 

– Italian flotillas escort the cargo ships.

 

– A smoke screen is laid over the ships.

 

– British torpedo bombers are approaching.

 

– Ship’s guns fire; the aircraft is hit and plunges into the sea.

 

– The crew are taken on board and captured.

 

– Unloading of weapons and ammunition from transport ships at one of the Tunisian ports.

 

– Guns unloaded from the ship.

 

– Coastal fortifications and guns captured from the French.

 

– Test firing of captured guns.

 

– In southern Tunisia, motorised and infantry units launch an offensive against de Gaulle’s forces, who hold key positions on the main roads running through the Atlas Mountains.

 

– They advance along the road with the infantry.

 

– Fighting.

 

– Destroyed Anglo-American vehicles.

 

– A column of British prisoners; over four thousand have been taken.

 

4. The Eastern Front.

 

Near Leningrad.

 

– German supply convoys on the road leading to the front line.

 

– A biting east wind has covered the road with a layer of ice.

 

– Infantrymen take up new positions. The terrain is covered with countless fortifications.

 

– An observer spots a new target.

 

– Artillery fires on a Soviet observation post.

 

– Assault troops advance on skis; they are to take up defensive positions on the enemy’s shattered positions.

 

– The frozen ground has to be cut through.

 

– Engineer units are restoring positions recaptured from Soviet troops, digging trenches and laying decking.

 

– The decking is covered with snow to provide camouflage against air raids.

 

– The firing point is rudimentary, but it provides good cover for the entire field.

 

– The attack is being repelled; machine-gunners are firing.

 

– Heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns are firing.

 

– In front of the trenches lie several dozen destroyed Soviet tanks; most of them were blown up by infantrymen in close combat.

 

– A tank that has fallen into a trench.

 

 

USSR. Military operations in the Velikie Luki area.

 

– A firefight.

 

– German guns firing.

 

– German soldiers in front of the camera; close-ups of the faces of the heroes of Velikie Luki following their successful breakout from the encirclement.

 

At positions south-east of Lake Ilmen.

 

– German soldiers in a trench, sentry posts.

 

– Changing of the guard.

 

– The enemy fires shells with remote fuses.

 

– A soldier in a trench tries to eat frozen bread.

 

– Very little time is allowed for lunch.

 

– The artillery is ordered to open barrage fire; a firefight ensues.

 

– Soldiers carry a wounded man on a stretcher.

 

– Self-propelled artillery has been ordered to launch a counter-attack in conjunction with the tanks.

 

– Reconnaissance vehicles are moving forward.

 

– The route passes through an abandoned village.

 

– Infantrymen are waiting ahead in the woods; the attack is about to begin.

Adolf Hitler - Proclamation to the German Folk, 6 April 1941

 

Since British imperialism set out to conquer the world, it was its endeavor to entangle Europe and its folks in ever new internal wars and to thereby weaken them. England has in the process all too often found in part blinded, in part bribed statesmen and folk leaders, who put their lands into the service of British world domination. For centuries, the simultaneously biggest beneficiary of these wars incited by England was Jewish high finance. Under the slogan “democracy”, this conspiracy of imperialism and capitalism has led the world, and particularly Europe, into countless entanglements.

 

In the year 1914, these forces managed to attack the old Germany and force it into a fight. The goal was the destruction of German economic life and the plundering of German economic strength as well as the making defenseless of the nation.

 

But the fight back then was not aged against the National Socialist Third Reich, rather against the constitutional-democratic German federal state.

 

Hardly had it been possible, after a 1 ½ decade long, terrible decline of the German economy and of German life, to lift up the German folk through the energy of the National Socialist movement and lead it to a new ascent, when the same forces immediately proclaimed their old goal again: the independent Germany reconstructing itself had to be destroyed again!

 

And again - like before - one believed to be best able to trigger the conflict through hired forces.

 

Poland was selected to start a fight with Germany without any reason and to reply with violence to the efforts to secure a peaceful cooperation through reasonable compensation.

 

This attack was thwarted in a few weeks by the strength of the meanwhile emerged new German Wehrmacht of the Third Reich.

 

Now Great Britain tried to be able to execute via Norway the thrust into the right German flank. With a few hours head start, this blow could be intercepted and in weeks long heroic struggle likewise brought to failure. German soldiers stand from Kirkenes to the German Bay and thereby certain German living space.

 

These defeats forced Churchill to look for new opportunities. So he came to the decision to advance through Belgium and Holland, allied with England, into to the heart of the German economy. This time, France was selected to bear the main burden of the fight. In a historically unique triumphant march, the German Wehrmacht thwarted this attack as well and cleansed Europe’s west of the English!

 

Rejecting my renewed peace proposals, Churchill now decided to turn the might of the British Empire against Italy and, above all, to get the North African coast into his hands with the help of New Zealand and Australian troops. This attempt as well can already now, thanks to the coordination of German and Italian forces, be viewed as failed.

 

Since the beginning of the war, it was England’s constant endeavor to be able to gain the Balkans as a war theater. British diplomacy, with reference to the example in the World War, actually managed to first snare Greece through a guarantee offered to it and then finally to misuse it for its own purposes.

 

The today published documents provide an insight into the practice of a procedure that again and again tries, according to oldest British recipes, to let others fight and bleed dry for English interests.

 

I have conversely always stressed:

 

First, the German folk has no quarrel at all with the Greek folk, but that we

 

second, will never allow that, like in the World War, a power entrenches itself on Greek territory with the goal of being able from there at the given time to thrust from the southeast into German living space. We have swept the northern flank free of the English; we are determined not to tolerate such a threat in the south as well!

 

In the sense of a genuine consolidation of Europe, it was my endeavor from the day of the rise to power to establish, above all, with Yugoslavia, a friendly relationship. I intentionally forgot everything that had once happened between Germany and Serbia. In the process, I offered the hand of the German folk not only to the Serbian folk, rather, beyond that, strove as honest broker to help with the bridging over of all the difficulties the existed between the Yugoslavian state and individual folks allied with Germany.

 

Actually, it also seemed to succeed, instead of an unbearable atmosphere, to pave the way for a not only politically, rather, above all, also economically fruitful cooperation. And what other goal could Germany have had in a region in which it put neither territorial nor political demands or championed interests?

 

In order to take from Yugoslavia any feeling as if the policy taken by Germany could now or in the future change to its disfavor, I had tried to integrate the Yugoslavian state into that power group that is determined, in shared work, in calm and peace, to build up the European continent in the future according to the principles of the consideration of the justified interests of all. 1 believed to thereby be able to best counter the Yugoslavian fears as if, in this goal toward Yugoslavia, say, a difference between Germany and Hungary existed or were to be feared in the future.

 

I did this even though the leadership of the Yugoslavian state as well as that of the Greek - as is known to us from French documents - supported in an irresponsible manner the interests of the western democratic war agitators.

 

On March 25, 1941, Yugoslavia’s entry into the Axis Pact was solemnly carried out in Vienna.

 

I and the whole German folk were happy about this; for an expansion of the war to the Balkans thereby seemed to be prevented and perhaps the faint hope justified to be able, in the end, to solve the already existing conflict in a rational settlement.

 

But hardly had the treaty signing minister arrived in Bel-grade, when the elements in English pay of an eternally coup d’etat organizing military clique prepared the counterstrike.

 

The government striving for peace with Germany was overthrown, and indeed with the public declaration that was necessary due to its stance toward Germany. Beyond that, however, steps now took place that in the life of folks represent a shame, and which the German Reich as a great power is not willing to patiently accept. The German emissary was insulted, the German military attaches attacked, an officer as aide of the military attaches injured, numerous officials, representatives of firms etc., publicly mistreated, German exhibit rooms, businesses, office buildings as well as schools demolished and ransacked, countless women and men, especially our ethnic Germans as well, beaten, their businesses and residences in part looted, a number of ethnic Germans murdered in the process.

 

The events were instigated by the same creatures who, al-ready in the yea 1914, through the assassination in Sarajewo, had plunged the world into nameless misfortune. And so, like back then, this military criminal clique was financed and incited by the English Secret Service.

 

If these events as well are the same as back then, then something has nonetheless changed:

 

The now attacked state is not the Austria of back then, rather the present-day German Reich!

 

The new Serbian government has ordered general mobilization. It has admitted that for days already this has already been the case in secret. It has thereby given to be recognized that it believes to be able to replace peaceful relations with the German Reich with violence!

 

The violence that it has summoned will now destroy it!

 

The German folk has no hatred against the Serbian folk. The German folk sees, above all, no reason to fight against Croats and or Slovenians. It wants nothing from these folks.

 

But the German folk will now settle accounts with that Serbian criminal clique, which believes it can for a second time put the Balkans at the disposal of the British assassination at-tempt against European peace.

 

Since I must again experience that eight years of efforts to build a friendship have again been futile, I have decided, for the restoration of bearable relations and an order also just to folkish principles in this part of Europe, in agreement with the views of my ally, to entrust the further representation of German interests to that force, which - as it again turns out - is apparently solely in the position to take right and reason under its protection.

 

The German Reich finds itself since this morning in the fight against the usurpers of Belgrade and in the fight against those formations that Great Britain again tries to be able to send ahead from the Balkans against Europe’s peace.

 

The German Wehrmacht will only then lay down weapons in these regions, when the Belgrade conspirator clique is definitively overthrown and the last Briton has left the continent in these regions as well.

 

May the unhappily blinded folks recognize that they owe this only to the worst “friend”, whom the continent for three hundred years possessed and possesses: England!

 

The German folk, however, can enter this fight with the inner knowledge that its leadership has done everything that is at all humanly possible in order to spare it this conflict. From Providence, however, we now only want to ask that it guards and blesses the path of our soldiers like previously!

 

Berlin, April 6, 1941

Signed Adolf Hitler

An Irish Volunteer in The Waffen-SS

The Story of James Brady, A Commando in SS-Jagdverband 502/Mitte

 

Published in „Siegrunen“ Magazine - Volume XI, Number 3, Whole Number 65, Spring 1998

 

Provided by J.D.M.

 

After the end of WWII, James Brady was placed on trial by the British military. This is the original statement that he provided to the court after interrogation. Some of the German names were phonetically rendered rather than accurately spelled out.

 

STATEMENT OF JAMES BRADY, 7043207,

ROYAL IRISH FUSILIERS

 

„I was born on the 20th May 1920 at Roscommon, Co., Southern Ireland of Irish born parents. My mother is dead and I do not know where my father is because I have had nothing to do with them for over five years. The last time I heard of my father, he was in Roscommon. I joined the British Army about December 1938, enlisting at the Recruiting Centre, Liverpool, in the Royal Irish Fusiliers. I took the oath of Allegiance. In May 1939 I joined my Battalion, together with other members of my squad, (in) moving to (the island of) Guernsey.“

 

„Together with another soldier named Frank Stringer, I got drunk in June 1939 and we assaulted a civilian policeman, although I cannot remember much about it because I was too drunk. I was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, whilst Stringer go 21 months. Towards the end of 1939 we asked to be returned to our unit as the war had started. I understand that our application was forwarded to the Home Office by the Military Governor of Guernsey, but met with no success. We again asked to be returned to Britain when we knew the Germans would invade the island. The Sheriff in charge of the Police said that he was afraid to release us in case he got into trouble with the Germans and was himself shot.“

 

„The Germans arrived in Guernsey in July 1940, and they were informed of our presence in prison. A German officer visited us in prison in September 1940, and asked us which unit we belonged to. About the third week in September 1940, my sentence expired, and together with Stringer, who was then released from prison, I was taken by the civilian police to St. Peters Port, where we were placed in a German transport and taken to St.Lo, near Cherbourg, in France. I was given a P.O.W. number, but I cannot now remember the number, except that it began with the figure ‘7’ (seven). In December 1940, the whole camp, comprising of about forty British soldiers and ten thousand Frenchmen, was transferred to the Lukenwamde prison camp. After about two weeks, all of the British were moved to the Lamsdorf prison camp. As far as I know the Camp Leader was a R.S.M. Russell. A German officer, Oberleutnant, with one arm, was in charge of the camp. After a few weeks, several of us, a mixed lot, including Stringer and myself, were sent in a working party to a village, I believe Schonbone, where we worked on road making until February 1941.“„Then we were returned to Lamsdorf, where the Germans informed us that we were to be sent to an Irish Camp at Friesach, about 80 kilometers from Berlin. The senior British officer in thsi camp was Lieutenant Bissell, who was later replaced by Major McGrath. About two weeks later, a German Lieutenant of the Wehrmacht, named Rheinherst (phonetic), commonly called ‘Gestapo ‘ , visited our camp and questioned a number of P.O.W.’s, including myself. He asked me if I belonged to the I.R.A., and I replied ‘No’. In November 1941, he asked me if I would like to work for the Germans but I gave him no definite answer as I wanted to think it over. The next day, I went to see Major McGrath and told him about the suggestion put to me by Reinherst, and Major McGrath advised me to accept any work the Germans gave me, and if possible to report to the British Authorities, and to use his name to substantiate any information I might possess.“

 

„I then made an appointement with Rheinherst and he visited the camp a few days later. He asked if I would like to leave the camp and live as a civilian in Germany, but he would not say anything about the work I should have to do. He wanted to know if I knew anything about radio. I agreed to the proposition and Rheinherst left the camp. In December 1941, Rheinherst again visited the camp and interviewed me. He said arrangements had been made for me to leave the camp and that I would be supplied with a passport and other papers. I had my photograph taken in the camp. I learned that Rheinherst had made similar proposals to Sergeant Cushing, and we discussed the matter together. Cushing never told me why he had agreed to work for the Germans, and I never told him why I had.“

 

„Just before Christmas 1941, five of us, myself, Cushing, Walsh, O’Brien and Murphy, left Friesach prison camp. We were all in uniform and were supposedly being transferred to another prison camp, but I knew we were going to Berlin as arranged by Rheinherst. We were taken to a flat (apartment), No.208 Hohenzollendamm, by motor car, having changed into civilian clothes, which we found in the car. This change was carried out during the black-out. When we arrived at the flat we met Rheinherst and another officer. We were supplied with money, and all spent the night on celebrations, Rheinherst paying the bill. The next day, Rehinherst told us that we were going to a school to learn about explosives, after which he would have a proposition to make to us. Subsequently we were taken to a house, named ‘Quintz’ in Brandenburg. This house stood on its own and was near a lake. We were the only five pupils and were instructed by two German chemists, one who was named Kruck (phonetic). The training consisted of instruction in the use of high explosives and incendiary compositions. We were taught about eight formulae, one of which included mixing 300 parts of potassium chloride with 100 parts of sugar. The mixture was to be placed in between two railway lines, so that it would be exploded by a train pasing over the joint.“

 

„We learned how to mix the incendiary compositions in order to start fires in factories; also about the use of electrons and fuses. We were not told where our work would be carried out, but were informed how to use ordinary batteries, watches, etc., to make the explosions possible. Instruction was also given how to buy the chemicals from chemists (pharmacists). We were all passed out as being competent after about fourteen days course, but were supposed to return to ‘Quintz’ later for a refresher course. Whilst we were at ‘Quintz1, we were confined to the house. We were paid about 80 Marks per week from our arrival in Berlin. After the course we returned to the flat at No. 208 Hohenzollendamm, Berlin, and we began to learn radio. We were instructed by a German wearing civilian clothes, named Bublitz (phonetic). We learnt about the working of wireless sets, and the receiving and transmission of messages.“

 

Above: SS-Hauptsturmführer Adrian von Foelkersam, the staff of the SS Commandos (Jagdverbände), with a group of Baltic-German SS volunteers.

 

„I stayed at the flat until May 1942, when I moved together with Walsh to Stettin, where we carried on with more advanced training in radio. We contacted several radio stations, all working under code names, but I believe one was (in) Breslau. All messages were in codes, which were changed at frequent intervals, some every three hours. I cannot remember the wavelengths, but mostly operated on frequencies varying from 5000 to 8000 kiloycycles. By now I was able to receive and transmit at about 80 letters a minute, which was good enough for the Germans. My pay rose to 120 Marks per week, being paid by Dr. Haller, who had replaced Rheinherst.“

 

„About July 1942, Walsh and myself returned to ‘Quintz1, but I did very little refresher work; Walsh did all the ‘swotting up’, but I never knew what he was doing as it was supposed to be secret. I remember now that whilst I was in Stettin, Dr. Haller proposed to me that I should go to England or Northern Ireland and learn all about the Americans; their numbers, training and equipment. Any information I obtained I was to transmit to Germany by radio. He also suggested that I shoult attempt to build up an organization of Secret Service agents in England or Northern Ireland. We discussed the financial side to the proposition. Haller said I could go by submarine or be dropped by paracute. I agreed to the proposition.“

 

„Walsh and myself were at ‘Quintz’ for about five days and then we moved to Hamburg. I carried a small portable wireless set. We both stayed at the Berlinerhoff Hotel, occupying three rooms. I carried on with my radio work from a building next to the hotel, and we were instructed in (the) use of various inks by a chemist. We spent three days in a bungalow in a big wood, working on long distance transmissions. I was issued with three codes - a book code written by Jack London, a machine code and a small emergency code, which I was to use if I lost the other two codes. These codes were not used on our practice transmissions.“

 

„About August 1942, Walsh and myself returned to Stettin, where we stayed until about the 15th September 1942. Haller used to visit us nearly every week. We returned to Berlin on 15th September 1942, and saw Haller who told me that I was to leave Norway by plane and parachute into Northern Ireland, where I was to work as previously arranged. Haller gave me 8,000 pounds English money and 3000 dollars American money. Whilst in civilian clothes in Germany I carried identity cards in the name of Charles de Lacy. When Haller handed me the money he also gave me three identity cards in my own name. I was not issued with any ration books.“

 

„About the 19th September 1942, Walsh and myself left Berlin by plane and went to Trondheim (Norway). I was due to leave Trondheim on the 23rd and Walsh on the 24th September 1942, but on the 22nd September 1942, I was asked to talk to Haller. I spoke to Haller who was with a Captain in the German Marines (Navy), and he said that he was very sorry as to what had happened but I would have to return to Berlin. Three German Military Police were waiting outside for me and escorted me to Oslo. I didn’t know what to think had happened. Whilst at Oslo I heard that Walsh was also in the Military Prison but I never saw him. I was in Oslo for about three weeks before I was taken to Denmark by boat. On the train from Denmark to Berlin I saw Walsh under close arrest but was unable to speak to him. I went to a military prison at 61, Lehtre Strasse, and saw Walsh as I was going inside. In October 1942,1 was interrogated several times by the Germans, who said they had evidence that Walsh and myself were going to double-cross them, and go to the British authorities. I knew this could not be true because Major McGrath was the only person I had spoken to regarding double-crossing the Germans. After about three weeks in Berlin prison, I was released and lived in the Hotel Continentale. I have not seen Walsh since I left the prison. Haller then suggested that I should work for the German propaganda on radio. At first I refused and he said that he could no longer support me and that I would have to go back to prison, so I agreed.“

 

Above: SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny addressing his SS commandos at their base in Friedenthal, 1944.

 

„He said that I should have to have a voice and writing test, but these were so messed up that he dropped the idea. Haller then suggested that I should go to an estate in Pomerania and there work on a farm. In January 1943, together with Colley, Strogen, Lee and Johnstone, I was moved to Kleinkesow, where we all worked on a farm owned by Dr. Lotz. It was here that I again met Stringer, who told me that he had been sent there because he had got into trouble with the Germans. Stringer said that he was to have gone to Canada or America. In February 1943, Haller visited us on the farm and took away Strogen, Lee, Colley and Johnstone. We were all fed up with farm work, but he only took those four away, as I think he had reason to believe that he could use Stringer and myself later.“

 

„About the end of April 1943, a civilian named Frtiz Richter, from Berlin, came to the farm. He carried a small transmitting set and gave Stringer and mysef tests. He said he would find us a job. We journeyed to Berlin two or three days later, unescorted, and were met at the railway station by Richter, who took us to the Hotel Nationale. After a few days we moved to a big house in Florastrasse, at Lehnitz. This house passed as a school of languages but was actually a radio training school. The commander, who changed his name several times, used the name Siegel and Walters.“

 

„The morse instructor was called Odensthal, whilst two other instructors, Becker and Polman, were Dutchmen, the number of pupils varied and at times included French, Danes, Norwegians, Bulgarians, an Arab and a Turk. Richter was interested only in Stringer and myself. We were at the school until about the end of July and were trained in receiving and transmitting morse. Here we used the machine code, utilizing two pieces of cardboard, which turned in opposite directions. Towards the end of July 1943, Stringer and myself were taken by Richter to a seaport called Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov, South Russia. We made radio contact with stations at Wansee and Kharkov. We were on this work until September 1943, but I did very little as I couldn’t get on with Richter.“

 

„Subsequently Stringer and myself returned to the Hotel Nationale in Berlin. My weekly pay was now 70 Marks per week. Haller visited us at our hotel and said he had received complaints from Richter that we wouldn’t take any interest in our work. Haller said he had no more work for us to do, so we decided to join the German Army, as I knew it was easy to get into. Richter then took Stringer and myself to the recruiting office of the Waffen-SS in Scheerstrasse, Berlin, where we enlisted in the Waffen-SS. The same day we went to Sennheim, in Alsace, unescorted, still wearing our civilian clothes. We reported to the SS Training Camp, where we were issued with SS uniforms, and commenced infantry training.“

 

„After we had been training for about three weeks we were tattooed with our blood groups under the left arm. My grouping was ‘A’ and I have this day shown my tattoo marking to Sergeants Cash and Skelton. I still used the name Charles de Lacy. I was at Sennheim until about March 1944, when Company Commander Mensel visited the camp and interviewed us all. Some of the men were sent to divisions at the front, but about thirty of us including Stringer and myself were kept back. We thirty had been selected to go into a special unit, and we were moved to Friedenthal. Stringer was sick and could not leave Sennheim; he joined us about six weeks later in May 1944.“

 

„I was trained in small arms, map reading, grenades and anti-tank warfare. This training lasted for about three months. The name of my unit was changed from 502 Jäger Bataillon to Jagdverband ‘Mitte’. Stringer and myself were fed up with infantry training so we went to see the Company Commander Hunke and told him that we were radio specialists and wanted a transfer. We then worked at the radio station in Friedenthal. We did some more training there.“

 

„About August 1944, about fifty members of the battalion, including myself, but not Stringer, were posted to Romania. We were in Romania for about three weeks, during which time I helped to blow up two river bridges and one railway bridge. We went near Kronstadt but did not blow up any bridges there. There were only twenty-two of us left when we pulled out of Romania. Some men were killed by the Russians and others by the Romanians. I returned to Friedenthal about September 1944, where I stopped for about two weeks before my company was ordered to Hungary. We went to Budapest as it was our job to get (Admiral) Horthy out before Hungary packed in. We had a ‘scrap’ with some Hungarians and lost a few men before we got Horthy out of Hungary. We took Horthy to Munich where he was met by the Deputy of the German Foreign Minister.“

 

 

Above: Officers of SS-Jagdverband „Mitte“ in Friedenthal, October 1944. Second from right: SS-Hstuf. von Foelkersam, (chief of staff). Far right: SS-Hstuf. Werner Hunke, (company commander).

 

„We returned to Berlin, where we stayed until the middle of January 1945. I then met Stringer again and we spent Christmas (1944) together. I heard that one of our companies, the 1st, to which I was later attached, had been engaged on the Western Front. I later learnt that it was the Ardennes offensive and that the unit had previously been trained to use American equipment.“

 

„About the third week in January 1945, the whole battalion - including Stringer and myself - were taken in lorries to Schwate (probable phonetic rendering of Schwedt) on the River Oder. Here we held a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the river for a month against the Russians. Stringer was in the bridgehead. Firstly I was a machine-gunner and later became section (squad) leader although I was still a private. At the end of February 1945 we evacuated the bridgehead , and were transferred to another bridgehead at Oderbridge (Oderbrück?). We held it for a few days and then we made an attack, forcing the Russians back a short distance. The Russians then attacked and I was slightly wounded. I went behind the lines to a training unit at Eberwarlde.“

 

„I was attached to a police unit - I was training the civilian police who had been called up. This lasted for about two weeks and I then re-joined my unit who were still holding the bridgehead at Oderbridge. This was the 25th March 1945. Two days later the Russians attacked again and just about wiped us out. I was slightly wounded in the head and returned to Grunau until the Russians arrived there, and then everybody who could fight, including myself, was brought into Berlin. I held the rank of Corporal (Rottenführer). I was wounded in the legs and taken to a hospital in Berlin. The last time I saw Stringer was in the bridgehead at Oderbridge, before I was wounded. He was then a lance-corporal (Unterscharführer).“

 

„About the 10th of May I was moved on a stretcher to Everwarlde hospital, where I stayed for about one week. Several of us then left the hospital; I was still using crutches and I travelled to Bercheseble (phonetic), sometimes by lorry and sometimes by train and at times helped by the Russians.“

 

„I spent a week in the hospital at Bercheseble where I was supplied with a paper indicating that I was a German soldier returning home to Hamburg. This paper was given to me by a German girl, who was an interpreter. She was born in Russia, of German parents. I left Bercheseble about the end of May 1945, and was tramping about the country in company with two or three Germans, being undecided what to do. About the middle of June 1945, I entered the American Zone together with another German soldier by crossing the River Molde where there were no sentries. We waded and swam across the river near Grimmer (phonetic).“

 

„On the 18th June 1945, I was arrested by American Military Police in Leipzig as they were rounding up everybody who had no identity papers. The paper previously supplied to me was of no use. I was taken to an American prison camp at Wissenfels where I was interrogated by the American Intelligence Corps and I insisted that I was a German. After about ten days I was moved to another American camp at Naunburg where I was again interrogated. I left there in July 1945, and was moved to another camp, where I stayed only two days before I was moved into the Rhineland to an American camp at Seersien.“

 

„The French took this camp over at the end of July 1945, and I was kept there until September 1945, when I moved to a French prison camp at Eppinghein (phonetic) in France, where I stayed for about three weeks. In October 1945, I was moved to Luniveld (phonetic) where I was registered as an Irish P.O.W., because I told the French that I was Irish, but was living in Germany when the war broke out. I was kept at Luniveld until January 1945, working on canals and minefields, and was due to be released to Germany in January 1946, when I managed to get away from the prison camp with the assistance of some friends. I do not wish to say anything further as to how I got out of the camp or who assisted me.“

 

„I arrived in Germany in March 1946, and stayed at Heilbren, in the American Zone, where I had connections, until May 1946. I went into Heilbren with some Americans and my entry ‘appeared legal’. In Heilbren I received papers from the Americans discharging me from the German Army in the name of Charles Lacy. My home was shown at Naunburg, now in the Russian Zone, and I subsequently entered the Russian Zone in July 1946. I stayed at Naunburg, where I obtained civilian clothing, for two weeks before moving on to Leipzig where I stayed for about ten days. I then spent a few days in Dresden, before moving to Halle, where I spent about two weeks. I then stayed for about three weeks in Wittenburg. All this time I was able to live with the assistance of connections and with money made easily in the Black Market. I wish to say nothing further about my activities or friends during the period from January 1946 to September 1946.“

 

„On the 10th September 1946, I arrived in Berlin and had a look round the city. The following day I reported to the British P.O.W. Department (D.P.) in Berlin where I was interrogated by the British Intelligence, but I told them a different story to the one I have told you, because I didn’t want to be arrested in Berlin. I left Hamburg by air on the afternoon of 20th September 1946, and arrived in London on 21st September 1946. During my travels after the cessations of hostilities, I only met one British soldier. He had an English accent and said he was staying in Germany as he had married a German girl. He was living at Halle but wouldn’t tell me his name or any particulars concerning himself. Persons who can prove that I am a British soldier of the identity claimed by me, are: Lt.Col. O’Donovan, C.C., Lt. Hagen, Platoon Leader, R.S.M. Meagher, C.S.M. Jones, Sergeant Welsh, Sergeant Dolan. All the men are of the 1st Battalion or Depot Company, Royal Irish Fusiliers. (Signed) James Brady.“

 

Above: SS-Stubaf. Skorzeny with some of his Waffen-SS commandos at Friedenthal, 1944.

 

„The above statement has been read over to me and it is true. (Signed) James Brady. Statement taken and signature witnessed by Sgt. W. Cash, Special Investigation Branch, in the presence of Sgt. A. Skelton, Special Investigation Branch, on 24th and 25th September 1946 at the Great Central Hotel, Marylebone, London.“

 

Editor’s Note: Brady was then asked to confirm the above statement, which he did. There was then a confirmation of Brady’s SS blood group tattoo marking, then he was asked to acknowledge that he had „no complaint about the manner in which the statement was taken“, which he did not, to indicate that he had not been tortured or forcibly coerced. The ultimate fate of James Brady is not known to the editor. Pronunciation in the above testimony has been kept very close to the original.