Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-09-20
By JAN VALTIN

stand here naked In the yard
until I know who has writ
ten this reasonable stuff"
Until nightfall. we stood in
the dust. No one had volun-
teered any information. The
comrade on whom the in
eliminating paper had been
found did not return from the
Gastapo.
But others, coming back
from rounds OF questioning.
reported that the Gestapo
had charged the courier with
high treason committed while
in prison.
We never heard OF him
again. But several days after
his transport TO the Gestapo,
a sinister newcomer was
lodged in Hall Eleven.
A MAN OF ACTION
The newcomers name was
Ludwig Grauer. He was a
man approaching his fifties,
with a massive body. gorilla
like arms and a ruthless nut
cracker face. a man OF action
and one of the most formidable
crooks in the Hamburg prison.
One day after Grauer's
arrival in Hall Eleven, Mara
bou" appointed him as fore
man OF the hall. Again a day
later Grauer received a trusty
assistant. a tall, well-knit.
red-headed man named Willy
Kronenberg.
Kronenberg had been. until
the Spring Of 1893. the or
ganization chief of the Anti
Fascist Guards; for money he
had sold out his organiza-
ton 10 the Gestapo.
But the Gestapo's chiefs,
after squeezing and buying the
last scrap OF information from
Kronenberg, sent him TO
prison as a marriage-swindler.
Kronenberg had served in
the French Foreign Legion.
He was an adventurous. un-
scrupulous type whom one
could imagine even going TO
the gallows without losing his
mercenary poise. We dis
covered that, in Hall Eleven,
Kronenberg took his orders
from Grauer. They had their
paillasses side by side in the
most sheltered corner of the
hall.
The watchers appointed
found that Kronenberg and
Grauer engaged in lengthy
surreptitious conversations
night after night. This caused
Tonic to request his aides in
the administration Offices TO
look over Grauer's dossier.
The data they gathered veri-
fed our suspicious.
NOTE IN DOSsIER
During the World War,
when he served as q gunner's
mate in the kaiserx navy. he
was already a political spy for
the reactionary officer CANA
rilla, informing on the revolu-
tionary sailors In the fleet.
During 1923. the year of the
Ruhr occupation, he had spied
against Germany for the
French general staff.
In 1927, he had been sent
to prison for selling another
mans Rhine ship TO Holland.
Released in 1881. he had gone
into the banking business, and
by 1884 he had become the di-
rector of a fraudulent enter
prise-the Zwecksparkassen
which involved several mill
ion marks of poor peoples
savings.
Grauer was tried and SEN
fenced to eight years in prison.
His dossier in the prison office
contained a note from the
Gestapo requesting the admin
istration to dispense, In his
case. with severe solitary con-
finement. Grauer. the pirate
and bank director, was q Ges-
tapo spy.
"A fine pair they sent us
here" Tonic grum bled.
"Grauer and Kronenberg. Die
Gestspo wittert Morgeniuft.
They smell . rat"
With two seasoned spies
among us, the political work
In Hall Eleven was prac-
tically paralyzed. We ex-
hausted all our contacts and
influence TO have them re-
moved TO another hall.
The fact that we did not
succeed was sufficient proof
that the Gestspo had ordered
Grauer and Kronenberg TO
keep Hall Eleven under con-
slant surveillance.