Alexander Stephan Collection of FBI Files
On German Intellectuals in US Exile
A Guide and Inventory
Spec.rare.cms.307
INTRODUCTION
Alexander Stephan (1946-2009) was Professor of German and Senior Fellow of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at The Ohio State University. An Ohio Eminent Scholar, he is the author and editor of some twenty books.
This collection consists of FBI files on German writers, film makers and other prominent intellectuals. The files were compiled by the FBI in the 1940-50s and were released to Stephan in the 1980s and 90s through the Freedom of Information Acts. The subjects of these files left Europe after 1933 during the Nazi period. The great majority of them immigrated to the United States, although a few resided in Mexico. Labeled by terms like “Communazis,” they were subjected to FBI surveillance as aliens with subversive tendencies and potential communist/fascist sympathies. In reality, those immigrants were victims of the fascist system, who remained largely unaware that their loyalty to the United States was considered suspect and that their activities were observed by the FBI.
Virtually all files in this collection were released by the FBI for the first time upon Stephan´s request. A few files, for instance those of Klaus Mann and Erika Mann, can be found in the public domain. Recently, a very small number of files became available through the FBI Electronic Reading Room (http://foia.fbi.gov/room.htm). However, the Brecht file in the Reading Room, which is considerably smaller than the one in the OSU collection, indicates that the FBI is not consistent in releasing documents. In addition, the OSU collection contains FBI responses to Stephan´s requests for additional files indicating that no materials on those subjects could be found. Since releasing of documents depends both on a current political climate and bureaucratic follies, such denials may not always mean that a file for a given subject does not exist.
Overview of the Collection:
| Repository: | Rare Books and Manuscripts Library |
| Identification: | Spec.cms.307 |
| Creator: | Alexander Stephan |
| Title: | Alexander Stephan Collection of FBI Files On German Intellectuals in US Exile |
| Quantity: | 33 Boxes |
| Description: | FBI files on German writers, film makers and other prominent intellectuals, compiled by the FBI in the 1940-50s and released to Stephan in the 1980s and 90s through the Freedom of Information Acts. |
Box 1
- Adorno, Theodor
- Agee, Alma
- Anders, Gunther
- Arendt, Hannah
- Arno, Siegfried
- Auden, Wystan Hugh
- Authors and Intellectuals of German/Austrian Origin
- Baerensprung, Horst
- Basch, Felix
- Basserman, Albert Eugen
- Berlau, Ruth
- Berman, Pandro S.
- Bernhardt, Kurt
- Bloch, Ernst
- Böll, Heinrich
- Bois, Curt
- Brecht, Bertolt (1 of 17)
Box 2
- Brecht, Bertolt (2 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (3 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (4 of 17)
Box 3
- Brecht, Bertolt (5 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (6 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (7 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (8 of 17)
Box 4
- Brecht, Bertolt (9 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (10 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (11 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (12 of 17)
Box 5
- Brecht, Bertolt (13 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (14 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (15 of 17)
- Brecht, Bertolt (16 of 17)
Box 6
- Brecht, Bertolt (17 of 17)
- Bressart, Felix
- Budzislawski, Hermann
- CIA
- Czinner, Paul and Bergner, Sarah
- Deutsch, Ernst
- Deutsch, Helen
- DuPont, Ewald Andre
- Eisler, Gerhart (1 of 8)
- Eisler, Gerhart (2 of 8)
Box 7
- Eisler, Gerhart (3 of 8)
- Eisler, Gerhart (4 of 8)
- Eisler, Gerhart (5 of 8)
- Eisler, Gerhart (6 of 8)
Box 8
- Eisler, Gerhart (7 of 8)
- Eisler, Gerhart (8 of 8)
- Eisler, Hanns
- Emergency Rescue Committee
Box 9
- Feistmann, Rudolf
- Feuchtwanger, Lion (1 of 5)
- Feuchtwanger, Lion (2 of 5)
- Feuchtwanger, Lion (3 of 5)
Box 10
- Feuchtwanger, Lion (4 of 5)
- Feuchtwanger, Lion (5 of 5)
- Fischer, Ruth
Box 11
- Fonda, Jane
- Frank, Karl (1 of 2)
- Frank, Karl (2 of 2)
- Frank, Leonhard
- Frank, Paul
- Free Germany Movement (1 of 13)
- Free Germany Movement (2 of 13)
Box 12
- Free Germany Movement (3 of 13)
- Free Germany Movement (4 of 13)
- Free Germany Movement (5 of 13)
- Free Germany Movement (6 of 13)
Box 13
- Free Germany Movement (7 of 13)
- Free Germany Movement (8 of 13)
- Free Germany Movement (9 of 13)
- Free Germany Movement (10 of 13)
Box 14
- Free Germany Movement (11 of 13)
- Free Germany Movement (12 of 13)
- Free Germany Movement (13 of 13)
- Frisch, Max
- Garbo, Greta
- Goldschmidt, Alfons
- Graf, Oskar Maria
Box 15
- Granach, Alexander
- Gropius, Walter
- Grosz, Georg
- Hauptmann, Elisabeth
- Henreid, Paul
- Herzfelde, Wieland
- Heym, Stefan (1 of 2)
- Heym, Stefan (2 of 2)
Box 16
- Homolka, Oskar
- Horkheimer, Max
- Hülsenbeck, Richard
- Isherwood, Christopher
- Jackson, Felix
- Janka, Walter
- Jessner, Leopold
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (1 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (2 of 24)
Box 17
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (3 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (4 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (5 of 24)
Box 18
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (6 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (7 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (8 of 24)
Box 19
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (9 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (10 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (11 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (12 of 24)
Box 20
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (13 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (14 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (15 of 24)
Box 21
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (16 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (17 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (18 of 24)
Box 22
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (19 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (20 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (21 of 24)
Box 23
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (22 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (23 of 24)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Rescue/Refugee Committee (24 of 24)
Box 24
- Kafka, Hans
- Kafka, John
- Katz, Otto
- Kempner, Robert (1 of 4)
- Kempner, Robert (2 of 4)
Box 25
- Kempner, Robert (3 of 4)
- Kempner, Robert (4 of 4)
Box 26
- Kerr, Alfred
- Kohner, Frederick
- Kohner, Paul
- Kortner, Fritz
- Krebs, Richard
- Lang, Fritz
- Lange, Victor
- Laughton, Charles
- Lieber, Maxim (1 of 3)
- Lieber, Maxim (2 of 3)
Box 27
- Lieber, Maxim (3 of 3)
- Lorre, Peter
- Mahler, Alma Werfel
Box 28
- Mann, Heinrich
- Mann, Katja
- Mann, Thomas
- Marcuse, Herbert (1 of 2)
- Marcuse, Herbert (2 of 2)
Box 29
- Massing, Hede and Paul (1 of 3)
- Massing, Hede and Paul (2 of 3)
- Massing, Hede and Paul (3 of 3)
Box 30
- Merker, Paul
- Neumann, Rudolf
- Ophuls, Max
- Oppenheimer, Maximilian
- Oswald, Gerd
- Pabst, Georg W.
- Pasternak, Joe
- Piscator, Erwin
- Pol, Heinz Jacob
- Pommer, Erich
- Pressburger, Arnold
- Radványi, László (Johann-Lorenz Schmidt)
- Richter, Hans
- Sahl, Hans
Box 31
- Schwarzschild, Leopold
- Seger, Gerhart (1 of 2)
- Seger, Gerhart (2 of 2)
- Seghers, Anna
- Siemsen, Anna Maria
- Siodmak, Robert
- Stoessel, Ludwig
- Thimig, Helene
- Torberg, Friedrich
- Traven, B
- Veidt, Conrad
- Viertel, Berthold
Box 32
- Viertel, Salka
- Vollmoeller, Karl
- Von Kahler, Erich
- Von Sternberg, Josef
- Von Unruh, Fritz (1 of 2)
- Von Unruh, Fritz (2 of 2)
Box 33
- Weiss, Peter
- Werbezirk, Gisela
- Zweig, Friderike
- DVD Titled – “Alexander Stephan FBI”
- Microfiche – “Copies for Alexander Stephan”
- Requests in which no files were found