SS Athenia

Axel Wenner-Gren, 1936

Was Athenia Rescuer Axel Wenner-Gren a Nazi Spy? Part 2

by Thomas Sanger • SS Athenia, War History • Leave a Comment

In the mid-1930s, the 58-year-old Swedish multimillionaire Axel Wenner-Gren was one of the wealthiest men in the world and oversaw a global business empire that included Electrolux vacuum cleaners, a Swedish arms company, and a Swedish aircraft manufacturer among others (see Blog, “Was Athenia’s Rescuer a Nazi Spy?” Aug. 1, 2014).

Well acquainted with the world’s elite businessmen, as well as politicians, celebrities, and royalty, he traveled in very exclusive circles. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor hosted Wenner-Gren and his American-born wife, Marguerite, for a weekend at the White House in 1936. A few months later, Wenner-Gren met Hermann Gӧring, the number two man in the Nazi government. Wenner-Gren, who was educated in Germany, enjoyed business connections there that stretched back three decades, so it was not surprising that he might meet with Gӧring, particularly as both men had a keen interest in aviation. Nevertheless, within a few years Wenner-Gren’s German association would be seen by some in a more troubling light. Read More

photo of Axel Wenner-Gren

Axel Wenner-Gren: Was Athenia’s Rescuer a Nazi Spy?

by Thomas Sanger • SS Athenia, War History • Leave a Comment

Of all the persons associated with the sinking of the British passenger ship Athenia and the rescue of her passengers, no one is more enigmatic than the Swedish multimillionaire Axel Wenner-Gren. His yacht, Southern Cross, was the second ship to join the rescue operations the morning of September 4, 1939, and he saved 376 passengers.

When he answered Athenia’s distress call following the German U-boat attack, Wenner-Gren was one of the wealthiest men in the world, worth more than $100 million. He ran a business empire that spanned the globe. But he also was a very private man who preferred to shun the spotlight. As a result, rumors swirled about his relationship with Nazi Field Marshall Herman Gӧring, his business interests in Germany, and his motives for attempting to broker a peace accord between Germany and Great Britain.

Was Wenner-Gren a Nazi spy or simply a man out of his depth in the world of diplomacy? Read More

Gustav Anderson affidavit

The Curious Case of SS Athenia Passenger Gustav Anderson

by Thomas Sanger • SS Athenia, War History • Leave a Comment

Thirty Americans died when the British passenger liner Athenia was torpedoed on Sept. 3, 1939. Charges and counter-charges flew back and forth between England and Germany regarding responsibility for the sinking. The British said a German U-boat had attacked the defenseless ship without warning. Germany denied responsibility and accused Winston Churchill, Great Britain’s First Lord of the Admiralty, of planting a bomb on board the ship to kill Americans and bring the United States into the war.

While the German claim sounded preposterous, the U.S. had declared its neutrality and the strength of popular isolationist sentiment made American officials hesitant to jump to conclusions. In an effort to sort out the cause of the sinking, the U.S. State Department asked surviving American passengers to submit their observations in the form of affidavits explaining exactly what they saw. Read More

Nazi Denials of the U-30 Attack on the SS Athenia

by Thomas Sanger • SS Athenia, War History • Leave a Comment

In 1946, as prosecutors prepared for the war crimes trials at Nuremberg following World War II, they discovered discrepancies in the war diary (logbook) of U-30, the German submarine whose combat patrol zone was closest to the location where the British passenger ship Athenia had been torpedoed on the first day of the war. The first two pages were a different quality paper than the rest of the book. On these pages, the months were recorded in Arabic numerals, while Roman numerals were used for the months in the rest of the book. Also, the signature of the boat’s commander, Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp, was an obvious forgery. The new pages showed U-30 nearly 100 miles from the spot where Athenia was attacked on Sept. 3, 1939. The alteration was part of an elaborate, if clumsy, subterfuge started within 24 hours of Athenia’s sinking to convince the world that Germany wasn’t at fault. Read More

torpedo tube

The U-30 Attack on Athenia: A Question of Torpedoes

by Thomas Sanger • SS Athenia, War History, Without Warning Book • Leave a Comment

We will never know exactly why the commander of U-30, Oberleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp, decided to attack an unarmed British passenger ship on the first day of World War II — the central event in my book, Without Warning. Lemp’s motivation, however, isn’t the only element of this event that is shrouded in mystery. In keeping with the “fog of war” that tends to cloud witness perceptions, descriptions of U-30’s attack on Athenia come in many versions and in varying degrees of detail. This presented a challenge for me to write a vivid and credible description of the attack. Read More

Athenia Torpedoed book cover

SS Athenia Torpedoed: When Eyewitness Accounts Collide

by Thomas Sanger • SS Athenia, War History, Without Warning Book • Leave a Comment

I am sure every major historic event since the advent of printing and mass communications has been accompanied by a record of conflicting eyewitness accounts. People see and hear things differently, their perceptions often being colored by the rush of events, past experiences, or prejudices. So it’s not surprising that the sinking of the British passenger ship Athenia with more than 1,400 people on board — the events depicted in my novel Without Warning — resulted in conflicting descriptions of what happened. Read More

american flag - photo

Remembering World War 2 Hero James A. Goodson

by Thomas Sanger • SS Athenia, War History • Leave a Comment

James A. Goodson died May 1, 2014 at the age of 93. He was an Athenia survivor, and it would be a shame not to take a moment in this space to mark his passing, especially so close to Memorial Day. Goodson was a man of action and incredible initiative. He never shied away from a tough job, and his broad smile and ebullient personality won him friends wherever he went. Those closest to him called him “Goody,” a nickname that seemed particularly apt. Read More

Russian invasion of Ukraine (map)

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Echoes from World War II

by Thomas Sanger • SS Athenia, War History • Leave a Comment

Soldiers massed along a border, threatening an invasion to protect their ethnic brothers from harm. A referendum in which citizens decided to become part of a larger, more powerful neighboring country. A once-proud nation, moving boldly to regain its influence over a region of Eastern Europe.

These developments could be taken from today’s headlines involving the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but they also are echoes from nearly a century ago, when the principal actor was not the Russian bear, but the German eagle. Read More