Evening star., 1954-09-30
SwidtIo Believes Fields Died;
Also Says Heat Is on EiisIer

The disclosure of new details
of Communist ruthlessness in
creased pessimism today over
the fate of four members of the
Noel Field family who disap-
peared behind the Iron Curtain
in 1949 and 1850.
Joseph Swiatlo. former Polish
security officer, held a second
news conference to give these
reports on the mysterious Fields:
/. Hermann Field, former
Cleveland architect. was put in
a prison cell near Warsaw in
1949 and was never allowed even
to take a walk for exercise. He
twice went on hunger strikes
and once attempted to commit
suicide. When he tried to send
a letter to the American En-
bassy to ask for help, top Com
munists declared that Hermann
lived too long''-a ruling that
Mr.. Swiatlo regarded as a virtual
death sentence on Hermann.
This was a year ago.
Couple Believed Dead.
2. Noel Field and his wife,
Herta-They looked skinny and
terrible when Mr.. Swiatlo saw
them in a Hungarian prison a
few months after their arrest.
Later. he got the impression
from Hungarian officials that
Noel and Herta were dead.
3. Erica Chaser Wallach-The
Soviets arrested her in Berlin
in 1850 and confined her in
Siberia. She is the adopted
daughter of Noel Field and the
wife of a man living in the
Washington area.
Mrs. Wallach, whose husband,
Robert. is employed in Washing
ton and lives in nearby Virginia
with their two small children,
disappeared in Berlin in 1850
while seeking information on the
whereabouts of the Fields. A
German-born girl whom the
Fields had befriended, she is now
regarded as "stateless." Accord
ing to several German women
in Berlin who have been released
from Soviet prison camps, she
is now detained at Vortuka, a
labor camp near the Arctic
Circle.
Received Two Letters.
The State Department asked
the Soviet Foreign Office in April
for information on Mrs. Wallach,
but so far has received no &C
acknowledgement. Her husband has
received two letters, one last
March forwarded with a Moscow
postmark through the Society
of the Red Cross and the Red
Crescent. and another in mid
summer. The first message said
she was we'll and hoped to see
her husband soon.
Mr.. Wallach brought the two
children. a boy and a girl, to
Washington in 1850 following
his wife's disappearance.
Mrs. Wallach first met Noel
and Herta Field in 1889 and
lived with them in Switzerland
for about nine months. She
married Mr.. Wallach in London
in 1948 and they later lived in
Paris and Switzerland. She was
last seen at the Templehof Air
port in Berlin in 1850, where she
told friends she was going into
Communist territory to seek in
formation on the Fields.
News of Eisler.
Mr. SWiatlo also reported that
the Red regime in Poland last
December was seeking deroga-
tory information about Gerhardt
Eisler, the naturalized American
citizen who fled the United
States to become chief propa-
gandist in East Germany. He
dropped out of sight nearly two
years ago. The inference of Mr..
Swiatlo's information was that
the Reds already have or will
convict Eisler on the traditional
charges of cooperating with the
West.
Mr.. Swiatlo, former deputy
director of Polish internal Sc
curity organization, fed to the
f. West last December, and was
disclosed on Tuesday to have
been living in Washington al
most ever since.
Noel and Herta vanished sep
arately in Prague in 1949; Erica
vanished from Berlin in 1850;
Noel's brother. Hermann, disap-
peared in Warsaw.
Mr.. Swiatlo arrested Hermann
August %, 1949, and had him
put in a prison in Miedzeszyn
near Warsaw. Communist secu-
rity officers tried to link the Field
brothers to Eastern European
officials suspected of opposins
Soviet Communism.
After six months of imprison-
ment, Hermann went on a hun
ger strike.
II told him that dying is easy,
but there may come a time when
he would be set free" Mr..
SWiatlo related to reporters.
He said Hermann resumed
eating.
I'm few months" Mr..
Swaitlo said, "he cut up a sheet,
twisted the strips into Z rope
and tied it to his cell bars and
tried to hang himself. A guard
intervened."
Hermann started another hun
LOST.