Detroit evening times., 1943-08-25
Dr. Thomas Too Busy
To BE Spy. Wife Says
Admits He Visited
Germany for Year;
Denies HitIerite Link

Denies HitIerite Link
Since Z a, m. yesterday when FBI
agents arrested her husband as a
of a German spy ring in
Detroit the wife of Dr. Fred Will
liam Thomas has been stunned by
the fast breaking developments.
81 can't believe my husband
was an enemy agent" she re-
peated over and over in her
modest but substantial h me
al 1851 Audubon.
'He would not have time for
IL, he was too busy following his
medicine" she stoutly main
tanned.
Her eyes were wide. haggard.
HAD NOTHING TO GAIN
"Why would he want to be
an enemy agent?
HE had no political beliefs.
As for money, he had a good
practice. You can even check
his books"
She said she and her husband
had been childhood sweethearts.
They were farm neighbors in a
small Ohio community and went
through school together.
Both attended the University
of Michigan and upon their
graduation in 1926 they were mar
ried.
IN GERMANY A YEAR
''My husband interned one
year in New York and then
went to Hamburg, Germany,
for another year." she said.
Mrs. Thomas accompanied her
husband Oh both occasions.
Mrs. Thomas said she returned
TO Germany alone in 1886 for an
extended visit. She saw the de-
velopments under the Nazi re-
gime, visited labor camps and
observed troop movements.
THE German people wanted
to talk about politics but-I was
not able to converse very well
so 1 never learned too much
about it," she said.
KNEW GERMAN WELL
Mrs. Thomas admitted her hus-
band was we'll versed in the Ger
man language because of his in-
terneship there and his study OF
German medical books.
But she insisted he was "an
American"
II am confident he has no
other political belief and knows
nothing of Hitler except what
all of us know. My husband
was not in Germany under the
Hitler regime"
Then she admitted FBI agents
had questioned her husband previ-
ously, particularly because on one
occasion he treated the son of
Fritz Kuhn, notorious German
Bund leader, now in prison for
stealing bund funds.
GERMAN BOOKS SEIZED
Once the FBI confiscated nu-
tmerous German books from the
library of the Thomas home, she
said. The books dealt with Ger
man developments and programs
and anti-Semitism
Mrs. Thomas. of Irish-Scotch
descent, said her husband was a
third generation German. She
admitted he had a number of Ger
man patients and attended social
bund meetings.
But that means nothing" she
added. I'VE also attended Swed-
ish picnics."
Mrs. Thomas said she knew
Mrs. Behrens named in the FBI
plot but mot very well" J"
I'VE were not what YOU
would consider close friends"
she said.
Mrs. Thomas said she did not
know Miss Grace Buchanan
Dineen.
SUCH A SMART MAN
Mrs. Bertha Krieger, a next
door neighbor of the Thomas
family, wasN excited about the
notoriety of the arrest.
such a smart man, such a
good doctor" she Immediately
recalled. She is nearing 80.
"He was too smart to talk
about Germany" Mrs. Krieger
said.
But when informed Of the in
dlctment, she exploded
"Oh. my heavens, what fools
these men are!"
HIGHLY RESPECTED
The neighbors said the Thomas
family were highly respected, well
liked -neighbeFs. The -Spaefous
/ Thomas backyard was the play
sr9aad-foH-tAe~-pAysieisa.s--tyVe
children. a boy, u, and a girl, z,
and neighborhood companions.