refuge to their top leaders in the SD residence located in the German
Embassy compound. Despite Himmler’s approval of this action, it
ran counter to Hitler’s desire to have Romania’s firm support in the
impending invasion of the Soviet Union (Romania was to supply
the largest foreign contingent on the eastern front). Bolschwing was
therefore recalled and placed in a Gestapo prison until 1943.
Bolschwing’s decision to marry a half-Jewish Austrian woman
brought about his dismissal from the SS and inaugurated a new
phase in his life. As her half-brother was connected to the Austrian
resistance movement O-5, Bolschwing became a secret operative
stationed in the Tyrolean Alps in late 1944. As a resistance fighter,
he established a working relationship with the U.S. Army and
helped to capture numerous high-ranking Nazi officials. He next
formed a relationship with the rapidly expanding Organisation
Gehlen (OG) and attempted to reactivate his old SS network in
Romania. Very little materialized, however, as the leaders of the
Black Guard were preoccupied with their own internal battles. Just
as he was about to lose his position with the OG, a new opportunity
arose in the context of the preparation for Austrian independence
by the CIA.
In fall 1949, after only a cursory check of his past activities, the
CIA approved his recruitment because of his cultivated manner
and self-professed expertise regarding Austria and Romania. Even
though his superiors knew that his contention of never having joined
the Nazi Party was a falsehood, this fact remained suppressed, and he
continued to be promoted. In July 1953, the CIA even recommended
granting him U.S. citizenship to enable his return to Austria as an
officer. While his naturalization application gained final approval
six years later, officials in Washington blocked any future role as
an intelligence officer. After finding employment with an American
pharmaceutical firm in New Jersey, Bolschwing was nominated for
a State Department post in India in 1961. Against the backdrop of
the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, the CIA informed Bolschwing that
his previous affiliation with the Jewish Affairs Office would remain
confidential but that it would not commit perjury on his behalf. At
the CIA’s request, he withdrew his application, thereby delaying his
exposure as a war criminal. Not until 1981 was he stripped of his
citizenship by a U.S. Federal Court following an investigation by the46 • BOLSCHWING, OTTO ALBRECHT VON