Ernst Peter Burger (September 1, 1906 – October 9, 1975) was a German-American who was a spy and

saboteur Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identiti ...

for Germany during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He was captured but escaped execution. He was deported to Germany in 1948.

Operation Pastorius

Born in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

, Burger was a machinist by trade. Burger was a member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

from the age of 17.Cohen, Gary
The Keystone Kommandos
The Atlantic Magazine, February 2002, accessdate April 2, 2016. Burger immigrated to America in 1927 and became a U.S. citizen in 1933. He had lived in the United States for some years, even serving in the

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

and Wisconsin Army National Guard. During the Depression, Burger returned to Germany, he rejoined the Nazi Party and became an aide-de-camp to

Ernst Roehm Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975- ...

, the chief of the Nazi storm troopers. Later, he wrote a paper critical of the Gestapo—a move that earned him seventeen months in a concentration camp. Despite his history as a survivor of a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

internment camp and harassment of his wife by Nazi Party members, Burger was recruited by the

Abwehr The ''Abwehr'' ( German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the '' Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's intelligence organization. He took part in Operation Pastorius, a plan by which eight German saboteurs were to be transported by

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

to the United States. Burger and the others landed with the intention of damaging United States economic targets.

Apprehension and trial

George John Dasch, another German agent, called Burger into their upper-story hotel room and opened a window, saying they would talk, and if they disagreed, "only one of us will walk out that door—the other will fly out this window." Dasch told him he had no intention of going through with the mission, hated

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...

, and planned to report the plot to the FBI. Burger agreed to defect to the United States immediately. Besides Burger, none of the other German agents knew they were betrayed. Over the next two weeks, Burger and the other six were arrested. FBI Director

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation ...

made no mention that Dasch had turned himself in, and claimed credit for the FBI for cracking the spy ring. The saboteurs were tried and convicted of

espionage 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 tang ...

. All were sentenced to

execution by electrocution An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

; however, Burger's sentence was commuted by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

to life in prison and Dasch's to thirty years because of their cooperation. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman granted executive clemency to Dasch and Burger on the condition that they be deported to the

American occupation zone in Germany The American occupation zone (German: ''Amerikanische Besatzungszone'', ''US-Zone'', or ''Southwest zone'') was one of the four occupation zones established by the Allies of World War II in Germany west of the Oder–Neisse line in July 1945, aro ...

. They were not welcomed back in Germany, as they were regarded as traitors who had caused the death of their comrades. Although they had been promised pardons by

in exchange for their cooperation, both men died without ever receiving them.

References

External links

*
FBI Famous Cases
* Operation Pastorius entry on German Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Ernest Peter 1906 births 1975 deaths American people convicted of spying for Nazi Germany American prisoners sentenced to death Michigan National Guard personnel People deported from the United States People from Augsburg Prisoners sentenced to death by the United States military Recipients of American presidential clemency Saboteurs Wisconsin National Guard personnel