Evening star., 1954-09-30

until guards forcibly fed him.
The case apparently was get
ting too hot for Mr.. Swiatlo. He
told reporters:
II suggested (to my superior)
that since Hermann was arrested
on information supplied by Hun
gary and since Noel Field still
was being held in Budapest and
because the investigation was
getting no results of any time,
the whole thing should be turned
over to Hungarian authorities to
complete the investigation"
Thus it was that Mr.. Swiatlo
went to Budapest in 1851 to con-
fer about merging the investi-
cations. The Hungarians, how
ever. talked so vaguely about
Noel and Herta that Mr.. Swiatlo
left with the impression that
they probably were dead.
He had seen Noel and Herta a
few months after their arrest.
Even then, he said, Noel was in
poor physical condition and had
lost lot of weight.
The appearance of Herta was
tragic" Mr.. Swiatlo said. "She
looked like half-skeleton."
Letter to Embassy.
Mr.. Swiatlo apparently was not
too surprised at being unable to
see them when he again visited
Budapest in 1851. And this left
Poland still with Hermann on
it's hands.
Sometime about early last year
Hermann wrote a letter to the
American Embassy in Warsaw
He demanded that the embassy
get his release. He handed the
letter to Polish authorities TO,
delivery to the Americans.
'The letter never reached the
embassy" Mr.. Swiatlo said, 81
intercepted it,"
He handed the letter to his
superiors. It eventually reached
Boleslaw Beirut, first secretary
of the Polish Communist Party
Beirut sent back word that Her
mann 'lives too long"
Such an opinion" Mr.. Swiatlc
related to reporters, sis the equiv.
alent to death sentence.
There was no one too eager
to undertake this job when ]
was there"
Mr.. Swiatlo did not know
whether the sentence" ever was
carried out.
Vanishing Family.
The disappearing Field family
has been an international sen.
sation since Noel H. Field san-
ished in May, 1949. Since that
date his brother Hermann, his
wife Herta, and Mrs. Wallach
have dropped from sight behind
the Iron Curtain.
Noel Field, once a State De.
partment expert on Western
Europe, was early suspected o1
pro-Communist leanings. He
was employed during the war az
European director of the Uni
tartan Service Committee, but
was forced out following polit.
lcal differences with his employ
ers which arose when he rec
commended use of funds provided
by the Joint Anti-Fascist Refu-
gee Committee. The committee
has since been cited as a Com
munist front by the Attorney
General.
Subsequently, Whitaker
Chambers and Mrs. Hede Mass
ing, organizers of Soviet SOY
rings in official Washington,
testified that Mr.. Field was q
member of another Red) ap-
paratus." Other testimony link
ing him with party activities
came from the late Waite,
Krivitsky, high-ranking forme,
Soviet military intelligence
chief, and Jules Humbert-Dorz
former head of the Swiss Com
munistS.
Called Spy by Reds.
Ironically, Mr.. Field was also
attacked as a spy by the Hun
garian and Czechoslovakiar
Communist parties. Witnesses
at the treason trials of Rudolf
Slansky IN Prague and Laszle
Rajk in Budapest accused him
OF recruiting them to spy fol-
the American Government, al.
though no proof was produced
10 support the charge.
After leaving the Unitarian
in 1947, Mr.. Field spent the mex
two years travelling in Poiane
and Czechoslovakia, telling hi.
friends that he was gatherins
material for a book. On May 5
1949. he went to Prague osten.
slbly to enter Charles University
and get PhD., before startins
a teaching career. On May /:
he vanished.
His failure to communicat.
with his wife, Herta, whom h.
had left in Geneva, brought tn.
first indication of his disappear.
ance. His brother Hermann, al
architect then on his way to ar
architectural conference in Ber.
gamo, Italy, learned of the dis.
appearance from Herta when HI
stopped in Geneva. He and Herts
went to Prague on August /
then he flew on alone to Warsaw
August Is. On August % HI
boarded a plane for Prague ane