Evening star., 1954-04-15

assistant, Is on the right.
versity to tell him that he had
full confidence in DR.. Peters.
It is not known whether DR.
Oppenheimer did this, but he
subsequently wrote to the Times
Union. stating that DIR. Peters
was a man of strong moral
principles" and 1T have never
known (him) to commit a dis
honorable act nor disloyal one. u
Pertinent parts of the Con-
don-to- -Oppenheimer letter, ac-
cording to the Associated Press
II have been shocked beyond
description at the article which
appeared in the Rochester Times
Union purporting to give an
account of your testimony about
Bernard Peters.
81 have lost a good deal of
sleep trying to figure out how
you could have talked this way
about a man whom you have
known so long, and of whom you
know so well what a good physi-
cist and good citizen he is.
"One is tempted to feel that
you are foolish as to think you
can buy immunity for yourself
by turning informer. I hope that
this is not true.
"You know very well that
once these people decide to go
into your own dossier and make
it public that it will make the
revelations that have been
made so, far look pretty tame.
a.. hope that there is some
sense in which the whole story
looks all right in spite of un-
favorable excerpts. In that case
you should make it all public.
''You should write at once to
the president Of the University
of Rochester giving him full as
surances that Peters is all right. u
Background on Peters.
From sources who requested
anonymity the background on
the Oppenheimer- Peters rela-
tionship is asserted to be as fol-
lows:
Peters was young anti-Nazi
in Germany and shortly after
Hitler came to power he was
tossed into what was later to
become the Dachau concentra-
ton camp. He escaped, appar-
emily by bribing guards, and
came to America.
He took a job in New York
City with a German firm and
later his f1ancee joined him
there. She went to medical
school while he continued to
work. Upon graduation she ac-
cepted a post in an Oakland
(Calif.) hospital.
Met Socially.
When they got to California
they met DR.. Oppenheimer So
cially. The nuclear physicist took
a liking to the brilliant young
German and saw to it that he
was accepted into the University
Of California graduate school,
although he had virtually no
formal undergraduate work. The
ties grew closer.
In the letter to his wife, DR.
Condor asserted:
Remember Peters has been
on this kind of close personal
basis with Oppie for IL years,
that Peters did his Phi. D. thesis
under Oppie, that (Mrs.) Han
nah Peters was Oppie's physician
when he had pneumonia, ETC."
Reds Testimony Cited.
One of the charges listed BY
Acc in its December %, 1858,
letter to Dr.. Oppenheimer, in
which it informed him of his
suspension as a consultant, read
as follows:
During the period 1942-1o45
various officials of the Commu-
mist Party, including DR.. Hannah
Peters. organizer of the profess
Sional section of the Communist
Party, Alameda County, Calf. !;
Bernadette Doyle, secretary OF
the Alameda County Commu-
mist Party; Steve Nelson, David
Addison, Paul Pinsky, Jack Man.
ley and Katrina Sandow, are re-
ported to have made statements
indicating that you were then a
member Of the Communist Party
:. and that several years prior
to 1945 you had told Steve Mel
son that the Army was working
on an atomic bomb"
In his reply to the Acc, dated
March 4, 1854, DR.. Oppenheimel
said he had mo knowledge as tc
what these people might have
said" And he added: 'What
I do know is that I have never
been a member of the party
concealed or open."
He did not deny that he knew