Fritz
Wiedemann

“The Fuehrer, I am told, placed his old friend [Fritz Wiedemann] in San Francisco because he regards it today as a clearinghouse for the espionage and intrigue that extends from the pampas of the Argentine up to the political labyrinths of Washington. The consul general’s contacts are by no means limited to Nazis. He often disappears from San Francisco for several days at a time, and newspapermen have traced him to a lonely ranch near the Mexican border, where it is said, he confers with Japanese secret agents.”

This was the typical view of German General Consel Fritz Wiedemann (1891 – 1970) shared by patriotic journalists and low-level FBI operatives. J. Edgar Hoover knew Wiedemann to be a Nazi turncoat and FBI informant. Wiedemann continued to serve as a diplomat throughout the war in Japan. He served as a witness and presented evidence during the trials at Nuremberg. Although there were charges made against him, they were dropped in 1948.

In 1940, Japanese spies made the mistake of confiding in Wiedemann – more about this can be read here.