OPERATION BERNHARD WORKER HANS WALTER

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 16, April 22, 2018, Article 9

In yesterday's issue of the MPC Gram, an email newsletter for collectors of Military Payment Certificates and other military numismatica [MPC Gram Series 19 No. 2356], Editor Fred Schwan reported the passing of the last known survivor of the famous Nazi WWII counterfeiting counterfeiting unit Operation Bernhard. -Editor

Operation Bernhard survivor and Fester Hans Walter died on April 20th. Han who has attended MPCFest on several occasions slipped away on Friday with his family nearby. His passing was reported by Danny Spungen. Spungen and Walter are shown above at MPCFest.

An article by Fred Schwan in the July/August 2015 issue of Paper Money (a publication of the Society of Paper Money Collectors) details Danny and Fred's original meeting with Hans Walter. We published an excerpt in the August 2, 2015 E-Sylum. Here's an excerpt of the excerpt... -Editor

Danny called me that he was on the road heading for Ohio. Danny said that had found a survivor of Operation Bernhard. He lived in Mansfield, Ohio. Danny was going to visit him, did I want to go along? Oh my, what a request. I was thrilled to have the opportunity. Danny picked me up and we were on our way.

We arrived in Mansfield (just the two of us) in good order, bursting with enthusiasm and questions. We were greeted by Hans Walter, who was indeed a survivor of Auschwitz, transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp as a member of Operation Bernhard.

... Hans became a final inspector of notes. Likely he had other jobs along the way, but it was the inspector job that he described the most to us. Hans was very proud to say that he was in charge of the final inspection stages (of which there were about five).

After the war Hans came to the United States, where he married, raised a daughter, and worked at the General Motors factory in Mansfield.

We showed Hans a few Bernhard notes that Danny had taken along. Hans confirmed that they were indeed Bernhard notes, although I do not know how he identified them. Danny was quick to tell Hans, that “we collectors can pretty easily distinguish a genuine from a counterfeit note.” Hans was disturbed by this “accusation,” because he said he would not be living today if it was easy to detect the differences. In fact, he started to shake his little four-legged card table, saying it was not easy. After a discussion, we back-tracked and told him that “today,” given all the information we have, it is easy, but of course back in 1944 it was not easy at all, and that is why the operation was so successful!

Hans indicated that these were the first examples that he had seen since the war.