World War II: Pearl Harbor Spy Bernard Kuehn – FBI & Prison Files

Description

Kuehn: Pearl Harbor Spy and the FBI Investigation

• August 15, 1935: Bernard Kuehn, his family, and at the offer of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, to work for Japanese intelligence.
• February 11, 1939: The FBI sent a memo to J. Edgar Hoover describing Bernard Kuehn as an “advanced student of Japanese language,” who “entertains lavishly, particularly army officers,” has “no apparent source of income,” owns “two homes,” and “defend[s] Hitler in clever manner.” The memo also noted the absence of a Special Agent in Charge in Hawaii.
• August 1939: The FBI bureau in Hawaii reopened under the leadership of Special Agent in Charge Robert L. Shivers, who immediately began investigating the possibility of Japanese spies in Hawaii.
• Late 1939 – Early 1941 (Approximate): The FBI and Army developed suspicions about Kuehn due to his questionable German and Japanese contacts, lavish entertainment of U.S. military officials, expressed interest in their work, and owning two houses without a clear job. However, no definite proof of spying was found during this period.
• November 1941: Kuehn offered to provide intelligence on U.S. warships in Hawaiian waters to the Japanese consulate in Hawaii.
• December 2, 1941: Kuehn provided a report with specific and highly accurate details on the U.S. fleet to the Japanese consulate.
• December 7, 1941: The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred.
• Post-December 7, 1941: Japanese documents were captured that mentioned the set of signals Kuehn had established. These clues pointed to Kuehn, leading to his arrest. He provided a confession but denied ever sending coded signals.
• February 21, 1942: 76 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bernard Kuehn was found guilty of spying by a military tribunal and sentenced to be shot “by musketry” in Honolulu.
• Post-February 21, 1942 (Exact Date Not Specified): Kuehn’s sentence was reduced to 50 years of hard labor after he provided information about Japanese and German spy networks.
• After World War II ended (Exact Date Not Specified): Bernard Kuehn was deported to Germany.

Cast of Characters

• Bernard Julius Otto Kuehn: A German-born individual, member of the Nazi party, and a spy for the Japanese government in Hawaii. He moved to Honolulu in 1935 at the behest of Joseph Goebbels to gather intelligence. He established a complex system of signals to communicate with Japanese submarines and provided detailed information about the U.S. fleet prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. He was arrested, confessed (though denied sending signals), convicted of spying, and initially sentenced to death, which was later reduced to 50 years hard labor. After WWII, he was deported to Germany.
• Friedel Kuehn: Bernard Kuehn’s wife, who was also involved in spying for the Japanese government. After the war, she and her family were deported back to Germany.
• J. Edgar Hoover: The director of the FBI, who received a memo in 1939 detailing suspicions about Bernard Kuehn.
• Robert L. Shivers: The Special Agent in Charge of the FBI bureau in Hawaii when it reopened in August 1939. He immediately began investigating the possibility of Japanese spies in the area.
• Joseph Goebbels: The Nazi Propaganda Minister, who offered Bernard Kuehn a job to work for Japanese intelligence in Hawaii.