the increasing attraction of the business world—began to weaken
Clausen’s commitment to his radio work and the communist cause.
He consequently began transmitting only a fraction of the intelli-
gence reports conveyed to him.
Following his arrest by the Japanese police on 18 October 1941,
Clausen cooperated with investigators. He was sentenced to life im-
prisonment, and his Russian wife, Anna, received a sentence of seven
years as a reluctant accomplice. Both, however, were freed on 8 Oc-
tober 1945, following the American victory over Japan, and returned
to the Soviet Union. A year later, they were residing in Berlin, where
Clausen, adopting the name Christiansen-Clausen, was employed by
several East German firms before his death on 15 September 1979.
See also TRADITIONSPFLEGE.CLEMENS, HANS. See FELFE, HEINZ.
CLISSMANN, HELMUT (1911–1997). An Abwehr officer with
strong ties to Ireland, Helmut Clissmann was born in Aachen on 11
May 1911. Beginning in 1934, he attended Trinity College in Dub-
lin as an exchange doctoral student and established ties to various
nationalist groups, including members of the Irish Republican Army
(IRA). In 1939, while serving as the representative of the German
Academic Exchange, he was recalled from Ireland along with other
German nationals. After continuing his work for the German Aca-
demic Exchange in Copenhagen, Clissmann was called to active duty
in 1940 and posted to the emerging Brandenburg Division, owing
to his educational and linguistic skills. His recommendation that his
old IRA friend Frank Ryan be released from a Spanish jail found a
sympathetic ear in Abwehr head Wilhelm Canaris, who used his
influence with authorities in Madrid to effect the release.
In August, an attempt to infiltrate Clissmann (code name lehrer)
back into Ireland failed when the designated Breton fishing trawler
was sabotaged before leaving Brest. Another operation (code name
walfisch) planned for November to establish a liaison between
Clissmann and Welsh and Scottish nationalists likewise had to be
abandoned. During the remaining years of the war, Clissmann saw
duty in Denmark, France, and North Africa before becoming an
advisor on Irish affairs in the German Foreign Office. Classified a
CLISSMANN, HELMUT • 71