COMMENTS ON GEORGE DE MOHRENSCHILDT
Originator: CIA
From: RUSSELL B. HOLMES
Document date: 1977-04-04 00:00:00
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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Date: 01/17/05

JEK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY : CIA

RECORD NUMBER : 104-10102-10180

RECORD

SERIES

: JFK

AGENCY FILE NUMBER

80T01357A

DOCUMENT

INFORMATION

AGENCY ORIGINATOR : CIA

FROM :

RUSSELL B. HOLMES

TO

TITLE : COMMENTS ON

GEORGE DE MOHRENSCHILDT

DATE

: 04/04/1977

PAGES

: 5

SUBJECTS : OLTMANS

DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER

RESTRICTIONS : SECRET

CURRENT STATUS

: RELEASED IN PART PUBLIC - RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW

: 07/20/93

JFK34: F20: 1993.07.20.10:35:27:750530

Released under the John F. Kennedy

sassination Records Collection Act

392 /44 USC 2107 Notel. Case#:N!

65924 Date: 10.25-2021

[R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED

104-10102-10180

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4 April 19.77

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT: Comments on George de Mohrenschildt (201-155221)

According to the Warren Commission Report, page 283,

George de Mohrenschildt is a highly individualistic

person of varied interests.

He was born in (Mozyr) in the

Russian Ukraine in

• (17 April) 1911 and fled Russia with his

in 1921 during the civil disorder following the

revolution.

He was in a Polish cavalry military academy for

1 1/2 years.

Later he studied in Antwerp

and attended the

University of Liege from which he received a doctor's degree

in international commerce in 1928.

Soon thereafter, he emi-

grated to the United States; he became a U.S. citizen in 1949.

De Mohrenschildt eventually became interested in oil explora-

tion and production; he entered the University of Texas in

1944 and received

master's degree in petroleum geology and

petroleum engineering

in 1945.

He has since become active

as a petroleum engineer throughout the world.

In 1960,

the death of his son,

he and his wife made an 8-month hike

from the United States-Mexican border to Panama over primitive

jungle trails.

By happenstance

were in Guatemala City

at the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion..

A lengthy film and

complete written log was prepared by de Mohrenschildt and a

report of the trip was made to the U.S. Government.

arriving in Panama they journeyed to Haiti where de Mohren-

schildt eventually became

involved in a Government-oriented

business venture in which he has been engaged continuously

since June 1963 . .

Somewhat of a non-conformist,

de Mohrenschildt was a

peripheral member of the so-called Russian community, in Dallas,

with which Lee Harvey Oswald made contact through Peter Gregory,

a Russian-speaking petroleum engineer whom Oswald met as a

result. of his contact with the Texas Employment Commission

Fort Worth.

Occasional contacts with de Mohrenschildt

continued until May 1963 when the de Mohrenschildt's

There is voluminous material on de Mohrenschildt in

CIA files,

most of it dating from

the post-Kennedy assassi-

nation

period when he testified before the Warren Commission

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on his acquaintance with Lee Harvey Oswald and the latter's

The testimony given by de Mohrenschildt and his wife

appear in Volume IX of the Hearings before the President's

Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, pages

4. The bulk of the material in Agency files consists

reports, the most recent of which is dated 1967.

FBI has informed CIA that it has no traces on de Mohrenschildt

beyond that date.

(Memorandum no. 76-3000 from the IG to the

Director, 22 September 1976.)

5.

Our files show that a mail cover was placed on letters

addressed to de Mohrenschildt,

c/o the United States Embassy

in Haiti, from about 1964 to 1966.

This included opening and

photographing the contents of some letters by the Station there.

The results of the operations were shared with the FBI.

(Memorandum no. 76-3000 cited above.)

(The genesis of

this

mail operation is not readily available. A search is being

made to find it.)

6. The most recent information relating to de Mohren-

schildt is correspondence dated

5 September 1976 from him to

the Director, George Bush.

De Mohrenschildt claims that he

and his wife

"find ourselves surrounded by some vigilantes;

our phone bugged and we are being followed everywhere.

the FBI is involved in this or they do not want to accept

complaints.

We are driven to insanity by this situation. my

De Mohrenschildt goes on to ask the Director if he could do

something.

"to remove this net around us."

According to a note from the Director, he had first

met de Mohrenschildt in the early 40's.

my Andover roommate".

The Director has not heard

for many years until the letter arrived.

The Director res-

ponded to de Mohrenschildt's letter on 28 September 1976.

(A copy of this material is attached as an enclosure to

Memorandum no. 76-3000 from the IG under Tab A.)

Earlier in 1976, the Agency received information

Mr. J. Walton

who had been contacted in May and

July 1976 by writers

connected with the Reader's Digest,

and with the Dial Press and the Dell Publishing Company.

Both writers questioned Mr. Moore about Oswald and Mr. de

(Moore's reports on these contacts are

attached to the IG Memorandum.)

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De Mohrenschildt appears to have

lead an adventurous

and colorful life as a petroleum engineer

and businessman.

He is both well and poorly connected, and some of his

associations have raised serious questions. (See paragraph

10 below.)

Certainly his relationship with the Oswald's

has caused this Agency and the FBI to spend more time and

energy on him in the past than was necessary.

and this Agency,

however, had dropped their interests

de Mohrenschildt's activities by the mid-to-late 1960's.

10. One of de Mohrenschildt's more questionable

contacts (not covered in his 201 file) has been reported in

Washington Post and the Washington Star.

According to

the 31 March 1977 issue of the Star,

Willem Oltmans, a Dutch

Journalist, began cultivating de Mohrenschildt as

a friend some ten years

According to

O1 tmans '

file he was born on 10 June 1925 in Huizen, Holland.

He studied at Yale in 1950 and was expelled for misbehavior

(financial problems?).

For a short time he worked for the

United Press and De Telegraff a Dutch newspaper; however, he

was fired from both.

In 1956 or 1957 he married an American

ground stewardess.

In 1960 he divorced her and in November

1961 was living with a Filipino male.

Oltmans was admitted

to the United States in New York City as a permanent resident

on 10 June 1958.

Numerous field reports indicate that in 1956

Oltmans arranged an introduction for himself to President

He then traveled with Sukarno during the President's

trip through Europe in 1956 as the President's

trip from

Indonesia to the US in Feb 57 was paid es t

Indonesian government.

Indications are that he was being used

as a tool by the

Indonesian government to carry on propaganda

in the US and at the UN.

communist.

• In March 1960 Oltmans described himself as anti-

He stated his views are at best those of a great

admirer of communism and what the communist system represents.

He was described as having excellent contacts with ali the

communist-dominated countries, including Cuba.

According to press reports, on 18 December 1962

Oltmans announced he intended to take

legal action against

Dutch Foreign Minister J. M. A. H. Luns.

O1tmans alleged

that he had

been refused "on instructions from Luns" a declara-

a bona fide journalist working for bona

tion by the Dutch Embassy in Washington' fide newspapers.

D. C., that he was

early 1972 report stated Oltmans was attempting to have

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government

government,prosecute Luns for "lying and misleading the

on Indonesia during his tenure as foreign

minister.

The 19 and 20 January 1972 issues of Dutch paper

De Telegraaf carry articles exposing activities Oltmans who

engaged in

denigration campaign against Luns.

accuse Soviets of collusion with Oltmans and

in Dutch internal affairs.

d. In 1963 Oltmans was a journalist at the UN

connected with an obscure Dutch newspaper.

journalists claimed to never have seen anything of Oltmans!

in print.

While at the UN Oltmans applied for membership

in the UN correspondence association.

not design a to densee his coconalistic

activities.

During this time, he gave lectures, earning

about $6000 per

on Asia in general and

cal and Indonesia

on international politics, touching

specifically.

He claims

to have grown up in Indonesia and therefore knows the condi-

tions there.

Subject

In November 1963,

a liaison report described

"outspoken anti-American,

outspoken pro-Indonesian,

persona non-grata with the Dutch."

In April 1967 Subject claimed to have sold an

article to RAMPARTS magazine about

the CIA in Indonesia.

However, the article was never printed.

In February 1968, Subject interviewed Jim

Garrison on

Dutch TV about the

Kennedy assassination.

h. In February 1972 a liaison report described

Subject as

an emotionally disturbed publicity seeker who

doesn't seem to care what type publicity he receives.

i. In 1972 Oltmans was planning to make a film in

the USSR on ecology.

He visited the USSR 23-26

to make final arrangements for the film.

At this time?

Service claimed Subject had a 5-year retainer from Soviets

as overt PR man.

(No indication in file if film ever made.)

J."

Subject's Travel: 1956 - met

and accompanied

President Sukarno on European trip.

December 1956 - visited

Indonesia.

February 57 - USA.

1960 - Congo.

1961 - E. Ger-

Czechslovakia, Poland,

Hungary.

1962 - Cuba.

January

1972

- USSR.

February - March 1972

- USA.

March

1972 - USSR.

(DIRECTOR 851765, 10 May 1976)

4

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11.

An earlier document dated 1 February 1972 from

the Dutch services provides information relating to Oltmans'

contacts with various Soviet officials

including

one

Kuznetsov, Cultural Attache in the Soviet Embassy in The

1977.

A check of Soviets in Brussels reveals the name of

Vladimir Kuznetsov who arrived in Brussels in September 1976.

(See copy of ONHA 38577,

1 February 19/4,

under Tab B.)

Vladimir Kuznetsov

(201-0943610) is possibly identical with

Vladimir Sergeyevich Kuznetsov, a GRU

staff officer.

(DIRECTOR 914708, 13 September 1976.)

12.

Although Oltmans may be described

as an unscrupulous

publicity seeker, his contacts with the Soviets (not fully

explained) and de Mohrenschildt add a sinister quality which,

unless proven to be otherwise, may have an adverse effect

upon the Agency's role in the present investigation into

the Kennedy assassination.

A3 talmer

Russell B.

Holmes

Attachments:

Tab A and

Distribution:

1 - C/CI/OG w/atts.

1 - IG w/atts.

1 - SA/DO/O w/atts.

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