Curt Martin Riess (June 21, 1902 – May 13, 1993) was a German journalist and writer.
Reiss was born of Jewish-German origins in Wurzburg, Germany, and later fled in 1933 to Paris, France not long after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933. Riess received his higher education in Berlin, Munich, Heidelberg, Zurich and Paris, with an emphasis on literature and economics.
Career
In the 1920s, he first dabbled in
sports journalism
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the ...
, and then began to crisscross Europe to report for the Berlin press, including a role as a
film and theatre critic.
A French newspaper, ''
Paris-Soir'', sent him in 1934 to the United States as a
foreign correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
.
[“Curt Riess, Hitler Fugitive and U.S., German, Swiss Author, Dead at 90,” ''Associated Press'', May 19, 1993] Drafted by the U.S. Navy until his transfer into the U.S. Army, Reiss was assigned as a
war correspondent in Europe.
After the war he worked as a freelance writer in New York, later returned to Germany, and finally relocated to Switzerland in 1952. Bilingual and a prolific writer, he produced over 100 books in English and German, along with newspaper and magazine articles, biographies, novels and screenplays.
Riess attracted attention in the United States in the 1930s and during World War II with his books and widely
syndicated reporting about Hitler's Germany. Along with his duty as a war correspondent, some have claimed that Riess also engaged in the surveillance of Nazi activities, serving as a
spy
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
for the United States military. He returned to Germany after the defeat of Hitler in 1945.
Death
Reiss died in Scheuren bei Forch, Switzerland on May 19, 1993 at the age of 90.
[“Obituary: Curt Martin Riess,” ''Independent'', May 21, 1993] The cause of death was undisclosed.
Publications
*''Total Espionage'' (P.G. Putnam's Sons, 1941)
*''Underground Europe'' (Dial Press, 1942)
*''The Self-Betrayed—The Glory and Doom of the German Generals'' (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1942)
*''The Invasion of Germany'' (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1943)
*''The Nazis Go Underground'' (Doubleday, 1944)
*''Joseph Goebbels'', (Doubleday & Company, 1948)
*''The Berlin Story'' (Dial Press, 1952)
*''Joseph Goebbels'' Abridged, Ballantine Books, New York, November 1960
*''Underground Europe'' (Dial Press, 1972)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiss, Curt Martin
1902 births
1993 deaths
Jewish refugees
German journalists
War correspondents of World War II
German male writers