der Oder on 19 August 1878, the son of a legal official with banking
interests. He spent several years working in a London banking house
before departing for New York in 1905, where he was employed by
another financial institution. In 1907, Rintelen returned to Germany.
Following the outbreak of World War I, the young naval lieutenant
was attached to the Admiralty Staff dealing with the procurement of
financial support for German cruiser warfare. His avocacy of more
aggressive submarine activity, however, met with a stern reprimand
from the office of Chancellor Theobold von Bethmann-Hollweg.
Nevertheless, the chief of the Admiralty Staff, Gustav Bachmann,
continued to praise Rintelen’s “fine education and extensive knowl-
edge” as well as his “honest, open personality, great energy, quick
comprehension, and [his] lively, impulsive temper.”
Rintelen’s espionage career began on 22 March 1915 upon his de-
parture for the United States with a false Swiss passport in the name
of Emile Victor Gaché (his other aliases included Edward V. Gates,
Fred Hanson, Fred Haywood, Fred Jones, Fred Brown, Fred Har-
rison, Miller, Mueller, and d’Costa). Rintelen’s official assignment
was to halt the flow of war materiel across the Atlantic to Germany’s
declared enemies. According to surviving records, he managed to
reenergize a faltering sabotage campaign begun earlier that year. One
aspect involved recruiting a group of diverse agents from German
ships who placed time-delayed incendiary devices on vessels leaving
New York harbor with military cargo bound for the Entente. Another
plan called for the penetration of American labor groups in order to
foment strikes in munitions factories.
Rintelen’s other arena of activity concerned Mexico, a country
heavily courted by Germany at the time. Specifically he worked to-
ward the establishment of a pro-German government headed by Vic-
toriano Huerta, the exiled former president, with the ultimate aim of
provoking a diversionary war between the United States and Mexico.
Despite the investment of considerable funds—Rintelen deposited
$800,000 in one of Huerta’s accounts—the plan never came to frui-
tion. Through the diligent efforts of Emanuel Victor Voska, a Czech
with close ties to British naval attaché Guy Gaunt, eavesdropping
devices were planted in the New York hotel rooms where Huerta
conferred with Rintelen and other Germans involved in the scheme.
This information was conveyed to the Americans, who then arrested
RINTELEN, FRANZ • 369