An unprocessed draft manuscript being reconstructed ... - WNLibrary

david irving Secretly Overheard:
to British custody, until overruled by S.H.A.E.F. in Paris. On July
3, 1945, the ten Germans were flown from Liege, in Belgium, to
Tempsford, in Cambridgeshire. Rittner ordered his prisoners to be
fed the same army rations as his own officers and troops.
Three days after their arrival, the hidden microphones recorded:
DIEBNER: I wonder whether there are microphones installed here?
HEISENBERG: Microphones installed? [Laughing]. Oh no, they’re
not as cute as all that. I don’t think they know the real Gestapo methods;
they’re a bit old fashioned in that respect.
THE WEEKS BEFORE HIROSHIMA were hard weeks of uncertainty
for the German atomic scientists in English captivity. They
felt under-used: they were mystified at being held, worried how
their families were faring. Their letters home remained unanswered.
“Things can’t go on like this,” said Heisenberg on July 7, 1945.
Harteck pointed out: “We have no legal position, since they have
to keep us hidden.” Heisenberg grumbled, “I will point out to [the
Commander] that he has let Stark and Leonard go on living happily
in Germany, while we poor wretches have to let our wives and
children starve.” “In the meantime,” chimed in Harteck, “the British
and American soldiers are looting everything at home.”
Commander Welsh of M.I.6 came to see them. Weizsäcker listened
for a while, then stalked out. Afterwards he remarked, “I was
very annoyed at Welsh’s manner. Hahn had asked Welsh outright
about the unanswered letters. “He said they had not yet been sent,”
said Hahn.
“That came out bit by bit after we had really questioned him,”
Weizsäcker corrected.
“Hahn told him,” related Wirtz, “that we are living here like
princes, but what use is that to us when we have no news of our
families, have no idea what is to happen to us, and are out of touch
with our work. Although we are well treated, we are nevertheless
prisoners.”
Frédéric Joliot (1900 - 1958)
this is a copyright manuscript © david irving 2007