During WWII Britain stationed many censors in Bermuda at the Hamilton Princess Hotel where they went through mail to look for any evidence of the Axis Powers passing information back and forth between their spies. Most of these censors were young, female, college students leading to their nickname "Censorettes." Censorettes went through thousands of letters, both commercial and personal, searching for any signs of information being given to the Axis, and if any signs were found the letters would be further investigated.
Bermuda was a good location to examine mail sent to and from North America and Europe. All letters sent to and from Europe were examined by Imperial Censorship staff in Bermuda in their headquarters at the Hamilton Princess Hotel, and suspected letters were photographed and carefully resealed. This process helped identify and incarcerate multiple German spies.
In its most celebrated case the Bermuda censorship operations played a key role in uncovering the largest Nazi spy operation in America. Kurt Frederick Ludwig was in charge of the spy operation in 1940-1941 and it became known as the "Joe K" spy ring because that was the code name signed in the letters sent to Berlin giving information on sensitive Allied military information. Details
in the letters were given to Nazi submarines and multiple vessles heading to England were torpedoed in result.
Authorities figured out a spy ring was operating in NYC soon after England and Germany went to war in 1939. The first clue came when Bermuda's censorship station - run by the British Security Coordination (BSC), the organizaton in charge of British secret intelligence in the Western hemisphere - examined letters written to "Lothar Frederick" and signed "Joe K".
The censorette who was working on the Joe K correspondence was a young lady by the name of Nadya Gardner. She thought the letters had secret writing and sent them to the censorship laboratory for chemical testing, and the results were negative. However she had a slight knowledge of inorganic chemistry, and suggested the old-fashioned iodine reagent used by the Germans in WWI be tested. Eventually the test was made and the results were positive, and every Joe K letter tested contained information on aircraft production and ship ping
movements.
It was found that the secret ink was a solution of pyramidion, an easily obtainable substance often used to cure headaches. It was also known that "Lothar" was an alias used by Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich. A watch was set in Bermuda for any more Joe K letters. As a result more Joe K letters were examined by Censorettes, their information read and recorded, and envelopes carefully resealed to avoid detection of tampering.
Joe K was the signature on multiple letters sent to accomodation addresses. In March 1941 BSC chemists found secret writing in a Joe K letter that referred to a duplicate sent to "Smith" in China. The BSC censor operstion was run in coordination the the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - although its director J. Edgar Hoove and Willam Stephenson did not get along. Sir William Stephenson was knighted after the war.
The FBI traced the Smith letter and discovered it contained a plan of US defenses in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Although they had this new information they still didn't know who was involved in the spy ring until an unexpected event happened. On March 18, 1941, a man wearing spectacles and carrying a brown briefcase attempted to cross the street against a traffic light in Times Square, NY. He was hit by a taxi and thrown under the wheels of another car. His companion ran into the street, grabbed the briefcase, and fled the scene. The dead man was identified as Spanish Consulate courier, Don Julio Lopez Lido. His body remained unclaimed for a while until the Spanish Consulate finally buried him. His companion called the dead man's hotel and had them hold his room until later notified. Meanwhile the hotel told the local authorities and they began to look into the circumstances behind the accident.
The police had taken note of the uncaring action of Señor Lido's companion and looked further into his background. Although he was identified as Spanish, his papers were in German, not Spanish. Also his notbook had names and possible assignments of US soldiers and his
clothes had no labels. A check made at his hotel room produced maps, military aviation articles, and other suspicious items. All of these were given to the FBI.
Meanwhile, another Joe K message had a frantic message about a car in New York running over and killing "Phil". The BSC told the FBI that "Phil" had been Captain Ulrich von der Osten of the German Abwehr intelligence agency and had entered the US via Japan a month earlier. He was supposed to direct the activities of a group of Nazi spies in the US. Because of this the FBI determined "Señor Lido" was an alias for Captain Ulrich von der Osten.
Using a reference from Cap. Ulrich von der Osten's notebook, a cable from Portugal to Joe K,and the Joe K letters examined in Bermuda, the FBI identified Cap. Ulrich von der Osten's companion as Kurt Frederick Ludwig. He was put under surveillance to find his contacts. Later it was known that von der Osten was in the US to direct the Joe K spy ring, but with his death Ludwig was left in charge of the ring. Under FBI surveillance Ludwig was seen continuing his routine to gather more sensitive information.
Kurt Frederick Ludwig and ten other members of the Joe K spy ring were indicted in the US District Court for the Southern Distric of New York for treasonable conspiracy and espionage. Censorettes from Bermuda were flown to NY to testify against the spies. Because the espionage was performed before the US entered WWII the spies were spared the death penalty and were sentanced to long prison terms instead.Following the trial, the New York prosecuting attorney wrote to BSC headquarters at Rockefeller Centre to thank Sir William Stephenson for the role played by the Bermuda operation in breaking up the spy ring.
Bermuda was a good location to examine mail sent to and from North America and Europe. All letters sent to and from Europe were examined by Imperial Censorship staff in Bermuda in their headquarters at the Hamilton Princess Hotel, and suspected letters were photographed and carefully resealed. This process helped identify and incarcerate multiple German spies.
In its most celebrated case the Bermuda censorship operations played a key role in uncovering the largest Nazi spy operation in America. Kurt Frederick Ludwig was in charge of the spy operation in 1940-1941 and it became known as the "Joe K" spy ring because that was the code name signed in the letters sent to Berlin giving information on sensitive Allied military information. Details
in the letters were given to Nazi submarines and multiple vessles heading to England were torpedoed in result.
Authorities figured out a spy ring was operating in NYC soon after England and Germany went to war in 1939. The first clue came when Bermuda's censorship station - run by the British Security Coordination (BSC), the organizaton in charge of British secret intelligence in the Western hemisphere - examined letters written to "Lothar Frederick" and signed "Joe K".
The censorette who was working on the Joe K correspondence was a young lady by the name of Nadya Gardner. She thought the letters had secret writing and sent them to the censorship laboratory for chemical testing, and the results were negative. However she had a slight knowledge of inorganic chemistry, and suggested the old-fashioned iodine reagent used by the Germans in WWI be tested. Eventually the test was made and the results were positive, and every Joe K letter tested contained information on aircraft production and ship ping
movements.
It was found that the secret ink was a solution of pyramidion, an easily obtainable substance often used to cure headaches. It was also known that "Lothar" was an alias used by Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich. A watch was set in Bermuda for any more Joe K letters. As a result more Joe K letters were examined by Censorettes, their information read and recorded, and envelopes carefully resealed to avoid detection of tampering.
Joe K was the signature on multiple letters sent to accomodation addresses. In March 1941 BSC chemists found secret writing in a Joe K letter that referred to a duplicate sent to "Smith" in China. The BSC censor operstion was run in coordination the the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - although its director J. Edgar Hoove and Willam Stephenson did not get along. Sir William Stephenson was knighted after the war.
The FBI traced the Smith letter and discovered it contained a plan of US defenses in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Although they had this new information they still didn't know who was involved in the spy ring until an unexpected event happened. On March 18, 1941, a man wearing spectacles and carrying a brown briefcase attempted to cross the street against a traffic light in Times Square, NY. He was hit by a taxi and thrown under the wheels of another car. His companion ran into the street, grabbed the briefcase, and fled the scene. The dead man was identified as Spanish Consulate courier, Don Julio Lopez Lido. His body remained unclaimed for a while until the Spanish Consulate finally buried him. His companion called the dead man's hotel and had them hold his room until later notified. Meanwhile the hotel told the local authorities and they began to look into the circumstances behind the accident.
The police had taken note of the uncaring action of Señor Lido's companion and looked further into his background. Although he was identified as Spanish, his papers were in German, not Spanish. Also his notbook had names and possible assignments of US soldiers and his
clothes had no labels. A check made at his hotel room produced maps, military aviation articles, and other suspicious items. All of these were given to the FBI.
Meanwhile, another Joe K message had a frantic message about a car in New York running over and killing "Phil". The BSC told the FBI that "Phil" had been Captain Ulrich von der Osten of the German Abwehr intelligence agency and had entered the US via Japan a month earlier. He was supposed to direct the activities of a group of Nazi spies in the US. Because of this the FBI determined "Señor Lido" was an alias for Captain Ulrich von der Osten.
Using a reference from Cap. Ulrich von der Osten's notebook, a cable from Portugal to Joe K,and the Joe K letters examined in Bermuda, the FBI identified Cap. Ulrich von der Osten's companion as Kurt Frederick Ludwig. He was put under surveillance to find his contacts. Later it was known that von der Osten was in the US to direct the Joe K spy ring, but with his death Ludwig was left in charge of the ring. Under FBI surveillance Ludwig was seen continuing his routine to gather more sensitive information.
Kurt Frederick Ludwig and ten other members of the Joe K spy ring were indicted in the US District Court for the Southern Distric of New York for treasonable conspiracy and espionage. Censorettes from Bermuda were flown to NY to testify against the spies. Because the espionage was performed before the US entered WWII the spies were spared the death penalty and were sentanced to long prison terms instead.Following the trial, the New York prosecuting attorney wrote to BSC headquarters at Rockefeller Centre to thank Sir William Stephenson for the role played by the Bermuda operation in breaking up the spy ring.