Books in Brief: Twice through the Lines

Twice through the Lines, by Otto John (Harper, 340 pp., $8.95).

It is not very easy to believe Otto John. The former head of the Internal Security Office in the Adenauer government claims that he did not defect to East Germany in 1954 but was drugged and kidnaped. He asserts that he cooperated with his Soviet and East German captors not out of conviction but because he was hoping to lull their vigilance against a later escape attempt. He states that he came “home” in 1955 after making a James Bond-type escape from some benumbed security guards. And he is certain that the West German court which convicted him of treason made a political prejudgment of his case because he had earlier fought against Nazis in the Adenauer administration. In spite of John’s adroit explanation of all his adventures we shall probably never know the facts of his defection, his cooperation with the East Germans, and his subsequent “defection” (as Dr. Adenauer described it) back to the Federal Republic. We can be reasonably sure that his faith in Stalin’s good will toward Germany was misplaced. We can be almost as sure that he is wrong in thinking that the Mayflower is a leading New York hotel. It may even be correct to assume that his case is one more for the psychiatrists than for the courts or politicians. Reinhard Gehlen is probably near the mark when he says that John has suffered a hideous personal tragedy, that he has served his time, and that there the matter should rest. John would be more worthy of understanding had he let the matter rest. Trevor-Roper describes this work as John’s Apologia pro Vita Sua. It is unconvincing.

WJ

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W. D. Jacobs

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Twice through the Lines, by Otto John (Harper, 340 pp., $8.95).

It is not very easy to believe Otto John. The former head of the Internal Security Office in the Adenauer government claims that he did not defect to East Germany in 1954 but was drugged and kidnaped. He asserts that he cooperated with his Soviet and East German captors not out of conviction but because he was hoping to lull their vigilance against a later escape attempt. He states that he came “home” in 1955 after making a James Bond-type escape from some benumbed security guards. And he is certain that the West German court which convicted him of treason made a political prejudgment of his case because he had earlier fought against Nazis in the Adenauer administration. In spite of John’s adroit explanation of all his adventures we shall probably never know the facts of his defection, his cooperation with the East Germans, and his subsequent “defection” (as Dr. Adenauer described it) back to the Federal Republic. We can be reasonably sure that his faith in Stalin’s good will toward Germany was misplaced. We can be almost as sure that he is wrong in thinking that the Mayflower is a leading New York hotel. It may even be correct to assume that his case is one more for the psychiatrists than for the courts or politicians. Reinhard Gehlen is probably near the mark when he says that John has suffered a hideous personal tragedy, that he has served his time, and that there the matter should rest. John would be more worthy of understanding had he let the matter rest. Trevor-Roper describes this work as John’s Apologia pro Vita Sua. It is unconvincing.