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The Interrogator: The Story of Hanns-Joachim Scharff, Master Interrogator of the Luftwaffe (Schiffer Military History) Hardcover – December 1, 1997
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Scharff, a German Intelligence Officer, gained the reputation as the man who could magically get all the answers he needed from the prisoners of war. In most cases, the POWs being interrogated never realized that their words, small talk or otherwise, were important pieces of the mosaic Hanns Scharff was constructing for the benefit of Germany’s war effort.
- In the words of one erstwhile POW; "What did Scharff get from me? Nothing, yet there is no doubt he got something. If you talked about the weather or anything else, he no doubt got some information or confirmation from it. His technique was psychic, not physical."
- Another POW commented, "Hanns Scharff could probably get a confession of infidelity from a Nun!"
- To this day, ex-POWs fret and worry over what they said or even might have implied during their interrogations, and over what use Scharff may have made of their slip-ups.
- This book delves into the question: What was this magic spell or formula used by Scharff which made prisoners drop their guard and converse with him even though they are conditioned to remain silent?
- Hanns Scharff’s methods broke down barriers so effectively that the USAF invited him to speak about his methods to military audiences in the United States after World War II.
Raymond Toliver is also the author (with Trevor Constable) of Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe (available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSchiffer Military History
- Publication dateDecember 1, 1997
- Dimensions6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
- ISBN-100764302612
- ISBN-13978-0764302619
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Product details
- Publisher : Schiffer Military History; 1st edition (December 1, 1997)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0764302612
- ISBN-13 : 978-0764302619
- Item Weight : 2.3 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #373,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #532 in Military Aviation History (Books)
- #755 in German History (Books)
- #3,317 in World War II History (Books)
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There are a lot of myths and urban legends, but what did Scharff actually accomplish? The many answers show how complex this thing call reality is. Scharff's side lost World War Two--fortunately. Herman Goering, convicted war criminal, had a policy to treat British and American military personnel humanely--by Nazi standards. The fate of airmen parachuting from aircraft is grim because the civilians on the ground are understandably upset with folks who fly overhead and drop bombs on their homes. Scharff did get a lot of information--but as with his mosaic work, it was a matter of gathering mountains of different pieces and fitting them together to tell a story.
According to Raymond F Toliver's biography on Hans-Joachim Scharff, "The Interrogator," Scharff was no "officer." Check the five categories of military prisoners under the Geneva Conventions (and this is very much a Geneva Convention story--unlike the nonsense about caliber .50 machine guns and shotguns). Scharff was the lowest military prisoner category, Category I, rank less than sergeant. Category II is sergeant, Category III is warrant officers and officers below the rank of major, Category IV--majors and colonels, and Category V is general officers (flag rank officers). The Geneva Convention specifies treatment, pay for labor, food, housing, medical treatment and clothing.
Next, I haven't found any reference that Hans-Joachim Scharff was a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP)--though I am mindful of "ich war nie ein Nazi." Scharff was in Africa at the time war broke out and Scharff was drafted as a private in the Panzer grenadiers. Note that Wehrmacht regulations required that German soldiers resign from party membership because the Wehrmacht was "above politics" and forbade party activities in uniform--the American military has similar prohibitions on political activism while wearing the uniform.
Then there is this point--most Afghani are not Taliban. Not every German was a Nazi. Of course, at the end of the war, with the wartime indoctrination (hate the enemy), and with the many real atrocities committed, it is too much to ask of human beings that they behave humanely. It was too much to ask of Hans-Joachim that he treat downed American airmen with dignity and respect as he wormed information from them, yet Scharff did so, placating his German military superiors while staying within the boundaries of humanity.
And this point is controversial--if Scharff had been an American interrogator in the Twenty-first Century, he would have been "guilty of torture" because he exploited the "good cop/bad cop" technique. Scharff was the "good cop" and there were two "bad cops:" the Gestapo (naturally) and the United States Army. The latter was the "bad cop" because Scharff pointed out that the longer an airman stayed in the Luftwaffe Evaluation center, the more likely that American intelligence officers would conclude that the airman was kept there because he "talked" and that would lead to a treason trial upon return to the United States. Contrawise, when an American airman did give up valuable information of intelligence value, his time at the Luftwaffe Evaluation center was ended because he had no potential value--he was swiftly sent to a permanent prison camp. (see page 93 in Toliver)--giving up information was rewarded. Don't forget that Scharff did have the power to grant baths, more food, entertainment (walks, plane rides) and other perks. The "good cop" uses the threat of ill treatment at the hands of the "bad cop" to force information--and the "bad cops" frequently have well-deserved reputations for brutality. Rumor has it that the US interrogators threatened to hand over Iraqi prisoners to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and other nations that did torture people--and that were proud of torturing people. This was regarded as playing dirty when Americans did it. "The Interrogator" was published in 1997 and was about events during the Second World War.
After World War Two Scharff was a witness in a treason trial of an American soldier, too.
Speaking of atrocities, at the end of the fighting in Europe German soldiers were designated "disarmed enemy personnel," shades of "illegal combatants" of the recent Middle East conflicts. Either designation denies Geneva Convention rights--and also side-steps holding criminals (who also have legal and enforceable rights). I could claim that the sheer number of "detainees" overwhelmed the victors and there were severe problems with separation of wolves from sheep. What do you do with several thousand people--and only about 80 or 120 Military Police to contain them (unarmed or not, odds of 250 to 1 are a difficult crowd control problem)? There were disaster relief issues as well--Nazi Germany was wrecked. Wars do that to nations. Furthermore, as at the end of World War One, Germany was "without standing" in the World Court and any complaints Germans had fell on deaf ears. It was a case of reaping what was sown--Germany was a horrid master.
Hans-Joachim Scharff was successful primarily because of preparation prior to interrogation. Without preparation, without carefully selecting the subject being interrogated, without some knowledge of what the goal of the interrogation is, no method of interrogation "works." Even with a machine that painlessly permits "total truth" to any question put to the person in the box, asking the wrong questions of the wrong person won't get answers. While I was in Marine Corps boot camp, my drill instructors demonstrated that lying to interrogators about our building number (the barracks where we lived) gave the interrogators information: if we all lied, then they'd simply narrow down the barracks by eliminating the numbers we did tell them (there were from 60 to 80 of us in a basic training platoon) and using the numbers left over to figure things out. Intelligence work--like journalism--is rumor and gossip. Figure out if the source is truthful and if the source is in a position to know the information. American airmen in World War Two giving their name, rank, serial number and date of birth (the latter because there were a lot of child soldiers--British Boy Scouts originally had front-line missions as litter bearers, as guides, as messengers, and even light engineering work) told who was more likely to know things. A sergeant was less likely to know high-level information than a colonel flying in the same bomber.
"The Interrogator" is the memoirs of a low-ranking German draftee. Use other sources if you want a valid picture of what happened during those days. It was a different world.
The book is not an adventure story but mostly the words of a man of the WW II generation. It is rich in insight to the heart and needs of man.
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A great case study of how one can gain information, without sacrificing one's humanity and dignity.
The story is written in a rather humorous style and starts out with the tale of coincidences that lead to Scharff becoming an interrogator although he neither had special talents or training for the job. Over the course of the story some anecdotes are told, which basically only depict Scharff as a decent person doing the job he was given as humanely as possible and getting back to civilian live when the war ended.
Readers looking for secret techniques of the master interrogator of the Luftwaffe will likely be disappointed. Scharff finds himself in a very comfortable position as the Luftwaffe already had vast amounts of order of battle information on allied air forces, technical intelligence from downed aircraft and were able to listen to the complete radio traffic of the allied air forces once in the air. Subsequently the German intelligence organization provided Scharff with information on the aircraft, unit, and airfield, circumstances of the crash and even transcripts of the radio traffic for most pilots Scharff was to interrogate. Allied fighter pilots were therefore easily convinced that Scharff already knew everything and most captured personnel actually did not know anything of intelligence value to begin with. The whole technique employed appears to have been to awe POW with his basic intelligence knowledge, put them and ease and have a civilized conversation with them for a few days, conducting trips through woods around the area. By doing this Scharff only gathered more basic intelligence and anecdotes to awe the next pilot, who may actually know something of intelligence value. While this technique apparently produced results in more basic intelligence and the occasional detail of actual value, the book also describes how it completely failed with senior officers, who actually had secrets to keep and knew it.
In summary the book tells an average story of a man finding himself working at the heart of an intelligence bureaucracy and doing his job while remaining his decency.
I had heard of Hanns Scharff before. Apparently his secret was being "nice". This always puzzled me because the world is full of "nice" people.
However, Hanns Scharff was GENUINELY nice. He really cared about his prisoners.
p.s. The joke of "Ersatz rats" was brilliant!









