Now, a new History Channel film, The Real Inglorious Bastards, returns to the true story chronicled in the book and captures Mayers amazing exploits in historically accurate detail. Top Image:L-R Franz Weber, Hans Wijnberg, and Fred Mayer courtesy of theUS National Archives. I couldn't stop writing. They Dared Return: The True Story of Jewish Spies Behind the Lines by Patrick K. ODonnell. Matull immediately went into a story that Mayer was a VIP in the American Army and if he was shot that the Americans would be looking to try whoever ordered that as a war criminal. As the Germans surrendered, the Gestapo officer who had savagely beaten Mayer was taken to the very cell where he tortured him. His family owned a hardware store that was boycotted because they were Jewish once Hitler became chancellor in 1933. Birth of Franz Weber. The trio got off at the town of Oberperfuss near Innsbruck and split up. Franz Carl Weber is a lovely toy store spread across four large floors. Weber, Franz - TracesOfWar.com ORCID record for Franz Weber. It was difficult to find a suitable drop point, as the obvious places were all occupied by the enemy. Tags:quentin tarantino world war ii world history. The largest of the ghettos where Eastern European Jews were first confined and, later, deported to extermination camps by the Nazis was set up in Warsaw, Poland. So, though the story is completely fictional, the Basterds are pretty much based on some real-life groups that gave their lives to defeat the Nazis, like Nakam, the Jewish group devoted to killing or, as it's literally translated from Hebrew, "to avenge their people." Top. The Allied victory against the Axis was a long journeyone that actually took much longer than the war itself. 2. Greenup also discovered Hitlers location, as well as that of Mussolini. They purloined a Jeep, mutinied from the OGs and arrived at OSSs Secret Intelligence (SI) section, which had been dropping agents deep inside Nazi Germany. Franz Weber Profiles | Facebook But they all wanted some payback for the German government that forced so much suffering on them. are western hognose snakes legal in the uk risk assessment for cleaning pigeon droppings Huber case: Nazi police chief in Vienna spied for West Germany . He can see the reality of Hitlers plans, which, as Weber puts it, aims to transform the continent into Concentration Camp Europe. Weber deserts to the Allies, makes contact with the OSS, and agrees to join the team. Colombo, V; Correro, M R; Riener, R; Weber, Franz E; Gallo, L M (2011). He responded, Who do you think we are, Nazis?. He, therefore, transformed himself into a French electrician. Hotels near Franz Carl Weber Geneva: (0.04 mi) Htel de la Cigogne (0.10 mi) CitizenM Geneva Centre (0.09 mi) Bel'Esperance (0.12 mi) Htel Les Armures (0.05 mi) Hotel Longemalle; View all hotels near Franz Carl Weber Geneva on Tripadvisor. When he is not skiing, Weber's schedule is filled with promotional and personal appearances for sponsors, celebrity sports events, speaking engagements and charity events. The rectangular shaped obverse reads: "Waffen-SS" in black ink on a yellow backing. . All rights reserved. He put his unusual skills and experience to work, selling surplus Army towels and other gear to Bedouins. Franz Weber was born on March 24, 1888 in Haspe, Germany. It added in one two-minute scene where the Basterds and Lt. Archie Hicox prepare for the rendezvous in the La Louisiana tavern, as well as a brief joke involving Joseph Goebbels having sex with his translator, while making around a minute's worth of small trims and adjustments for pacing elsewhere in the film. As if offended, Weber haughtily replied, Weve already been checked!. Join SOFREP for insider access and analysis. In 1944, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) of the United States Army trained three soldiers: Frederick Mayer, Hans Wynberg, and Franz Webe. Birth of Fridolin Weber. Beck's name is among the more than 72,000 Americans from World War II listed as unaccounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Tarantino is also dyslexic, and Scott Meyers of the screenwriting website The Black List speculated that the unique spelling of the title is a tribute to Tarantino's general way of writing. Ulmer asked several pointed questions about their background, and the men revealed that they were Jewish. So convincing was his performance that the agent turned away from the team and started checking the papers of the other passengers. Avoiding roaming German fighters, flak, and forceful Alpine winds and backdrafts, Billings threaded through 9,000-foot high canyon-like mountains and found the drop zone. Waffen-SS Armband. 2023 The SOFREP Media Group. Barrett products are used by civilians, sport shooters, law enforcement agencies, the United States military, and more than 75 State Department-approved countries around the world. Mayer was allowed to send a message to the OSS. That guy was an extra. They jumped in on February 26, 1945. 129.303 mph/208.092 kph which he set in 1983 in Silverton, Colorado. Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany [Poland], Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945. Franz Anton von Weber (* 26. Mayer was the son of a German WWI veteran. Most of SIs missions had been failures with the operatives either killed or shipped off to concentration camps. Mayer saved the lives of perhaps thousands of troops on both sides by arranging the surrender of the German troops in Austria. Speaking German, he admitted to being an American but said he was working alone. Jews Exact Revenge on Nazis in Real Inglorious Bastards (VIDEO) The Story Of The Military Operation That Inspired Tarantino's He married Anna Maria Kohl in 1525, in Netstal, Glarus, Switzerland. 1" in 2003, there were seven long years without a single new Quentin Tarantino film. Posing as a recovering German officer, Mayer befriended an Engineer Officer who worked on the Fuhrer Bunker in Berlin. Welcome to Franz Weber Inc., and thank you for visiting our website. In May 2011, the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) completed construction of its new facility in St. Louis, Mo. As many as half a million civilians remained in Stalingrad when the Germans approached in the late summer of 1942. Finally, Ulmer asked the Jewish-Americans matter-of-factly, Do you appreciate what can happen to you if youre caught?, Mayer responded, staring directly into Omers eyes, This is more our war than yours.. Mayer gave what perhaps was the best answer of all, This is more our war than yours.. In 1998, he won the National SG Masters Championships, and his Masters record includes winning all but two of the more than OSS was the forerunner to both the Special Operations Command of the military, OSS Jedburgh and Operation Groups were the units that became the US Army Special Forces and Navy SEALs owe part of their legacy to OSS Maritime Group operatives, where one of them invented the US version of SCUBA. Mr. Mayer was recommended for a medal of honor in 1945 by a superior officer. Enter Hermann Matull. His undercover work led to valuable intelligence and a network of informants that helped identify the location and dimensions of Hitlers Fhrerbunker in Berlin, the condition of Nazi war plants and movement of enemy freight and troops through the Brenner Pass. From 0-99, there is something for the child in all of us. Waltz had only acted in German films before, and "Inglourious Basterds" was a huge breakout for his international career. And although he was circumcised, the Gestapo thought nothing of it since many non-Jews also practiced circumcision. When the American 103rd Infantry Division of the Seventh Army closed in on Innsbruck on the morning of 3 May 1945, they were met by a car sporting a white bedsheet. According to The Washington Post, Tarantino thought Christoph Waltz couldn't perform the scene convincingly enough and choked actress Diane Kruger himself. Weber bluffed his way past a team of agents that had been searching the train. According toIndieWire, in Tara Wood's Tarantino-focused documentary "QT8: The First Eight," Eli Roth recounts the story of one extra who got fired for not developing a backstory for his non-speaking character. This button displays the currently selected search type. A German soldier, Matull had deserted and was caught by the Allies who threw him into a POW camp. Bingeing spy movies, let us say from Orson Welless The Third Man(1949) through Quentin Tarantinos Inglourious Basterds(2009), would be a lifetime occupation. They found that Germans were using movable bridges on the Brenner railway that they hid in tunnels by day and used only at night. Translated by Mara Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards, Read more:"Say 'What' Again!" He was arrested by the American army three days after his surrender and was kept a prisoner until 1948, when he was set free. Around the beginning of October 1944, the 8./Jger Regiment 28 received the order to recapture the Hill 1587 (which had recently been taken by the Soviets) in order to reopen the Rodna Pass Road, an important German supply route. Mayer died in 2016, aged 94. Operation Greenup: a story better than Inglourious Basterds - and true I made the argument for the medal in my book They Dared Return, and now Sen. John Rockefeller is championing the cause. Works at Arbeitete bei der Stadt Luzern. Franz Weber - Ancestry.com In March 1945 these three men nearly died being inserting into Nazi controlled Austria as they ended up parachuting onto a . He entered their German Operational Group (OG), precursors to the U.S. Army Green Berets, an elite team of commandos that would operate behind the lines in German-occupied Europe. He radioed the exact locations and dimensions back to HQs. His two interrogators discounted the possibility that he might be Jewish, because their anti-Semitism meant that they refused to believe that a Jew could be brave enough to withstand their tortures. OSS ran many fantastic operations and had an eclectic group of operatives. Operation Greif was a special false flag operation commanded by Waffen SS commando, SS Obersturmbannfhrer, Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge, Skorzeny died age 67, on 05-07-1975, The . "KillBill" offered a fun break from the not-quite-ready project and a chance to reunite with "PulpFiction" scene-stealer Uma Thurman. At one point, the writer-director feared it would be too long for a movie and that the epic story would be better suited for a TV miniseries. World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130 Franz Weber. In the dark room, the Gestapo officers slapped and punched the spy in the face. However, Inglorious Basterds highlights the work of one group specifically: "Operation Greenup, a real American battalion in charge of a similar mission. The 'Good War' Myth of World War Two - Institute for Historical Review When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. Mayer recalls, It was the ride of my life. It was a good documentary. Contributor. Support Veteran Journalism . Franz Weber (1501 - 1538) - Genealogy Starring Brad Pitt, Mlanie Laurent, and Christoph Waltz, in this uchronic story, a group of soldiers manages to kill the most important characters of the Nazi party, including its leader, Adolf Hitler. The interrogation was watched by a third man, who eventually took Mayer to the house of Franz Hofer, the local Gauleiter [Nazi Party boss]. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. 8001 Zrich. Inside was the officer responsible for his interrogation., Do what you want with me, the man pleaded. He died in Switzerland. It could be a way around the MPAA's sensitivity about profanity in movie titles. Weber, Franz (Jger-Regiment 28) - TracesOfWar.com Mayer said to him, What do you think we areNazis?. I do not want them to think that they are getting a glimpse of who you are really going to be.'" There was only one problemthey got dropped off at the wrong port. There was one person who didn't know, and he wasn't there the next day. Franz Anton von Weber (1734 - 1812) - Genealogy - geni family tree Jason Dawsey, PhD, is a Research Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class Infantry Assault Badge Close Combat Clasp Panzer Badge "25" s/d "100" on 20 September 1944 as Obergefreiter in the 4./Panzer Regiment 35 Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 28 October 1944 as Obergefreiter in the 8./Jger-Regiment 28 The wrong tug on their chutes or a miscalculation of the pilot by mere seconds could have sent the men to their deaths. In mid-April, a black marketer whom Mayer dealt with was caught up in a Gestapo dragnet. By now, those of you have seen Tarantinos film should be thinking Inglourious Basterds. Mayer, Wijnberg, and Weber are the real thing, the actual basterds, and indeed, Mayer himself is once supposed to have said that the three of them just wanted to kill Nazis.. Any intel they can glean here will give the Allies hints about how the German Army intends to fight in the wars endgame, whether it will try to circle the wagons in some sort of Allied redoubt for a last-ditch fight. Tune in for a conversation about the men of X Troop, who were the realInglorious Basterds: a secret commando unit of young Jewish refugees who were trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat to deliver decisive blows against the Nazis. Franz Weber. They all spoke German, and many were Jewish refugees who wanted vengeance for their families suffering. The governor was about to go on the radio to tell his troops to fight to the last man. His torturers wanted to know the location of his radio operator, but Mayer insisted that he worked alone. He was finally arrested when a black marketeer was caught by Nazi authorities and fingered Mayer as a spy. As much as he packs into these movies, however, their scripts often run even longer. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ 1526-24 January 1624 (Age 98) Beglingen, Glarus, Switzerland. Here is the short version: two Jewish refugees to the United States, living in Brooklyn (Frederick Mayer, 23, and Hans Wijnberg, 22) enlist in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the postwar CIA, and parachute deep behind German lines into the Austrian province of Tyrol in February 1945. STIWOT, 1999-2023. The Gestapo agent that had mercilessly beaten him was taken to the very cell where he had tortured Mayer. April 1812 in Mannheim) war ein deutscher Musiker, Kapellmeister und Theaterdirektor. He had Mayer brought to him. U.S. Military. The Americans will slaughter everyone who did this!. He and Mayer negotiated the peaceful surrender of Innsbruck, the Tyrolean provincial capital, to the US 7th Army on May 3, 1945. Hometown Heroes: Franz Weber is Paying it Forward After unexpectedly arriving at the OSS post, the men sat and languished for months, waiting for a mission. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, and won Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz, who played the villain Hans Landa. To get better results, add more information such as Birth Info, Death Info and Locationeven a guess will help. With a military background, he thought his former service would protect his family from persecution. "Literally, the only reason he auditioned me is because there was no one left to audition," said Kruger. Mayer was put in for the Medal of Honor twice and it was downgraded to the Legion of Merit. Operation Greenup brought the Allies real material benefits, transmitting dozens of radio messages with detailed accounts of Brenner traffic to the OSS listening station in the city of Bari in the heel of Italy. The Messerschmitt design team were on to something . Service on a half-dozen fronts, including the bloody struggle against Marshal Tito's partisans in occupied Yugoslavia, has opened Weber's eyes. He and his familyescaped to the USA in 1938. Theyd be sent into Nazi-occupied Europe and they knew what awaited them there as most were Jewish. A movie that climaxes with a group of Jewish soldiers shooting Hitler in the face isn't particularly concerned with historical accuracy, but "Inglourious Basterds" still draws some inspiration from real history. Not wanting to mess with a Wehrmacht officer, the inspector moved on. Webers sister was a nurse who helped Mayer disguise himself as a German officer in uniform and bandaged up from a head wound. Mayer originally volunteered for the U.S. Army, but they rejected him as an enemy alien. However, the OSS, the forerunner to the CIA, saw Mayers potential and recruited him to join its ranks. His books that capture Mayers story are They Dared Return and The Brenner Assignment. Then the Nazis came to power. Modifying the papers so that Mayers picture appeared on it, he moved into her hospital to recover.. The revelations about Weinstein and Thurman's car accident placed an extra dark light on one anecdote about filming the scene in "Inglourious Basterds" where Hans Landa chokes Bridget Von Hammersmark to death. He was finally arrested when a black marketeer was caught by Nazi authorities and fingered Mayer as a, OSS Finally Recognized More Than 70 Years Later By Congress, PO Box 1077 MURFREESBORO, Tennessee 37133 United States, P.O. His work was to get as much information as possible from the Germans, from plans for troop displacement, to attacks, and where they stored supplies, so him and his partners could sabotage them. Just dont hurt my family., Mayer was disgusted, What the hell do you think we are? Mayer was assigned to the German Operational Group before heading out. Though it turned out to be a myth created by fanatical Nazis, the Allies couldnt have known that at the time. They were joined byFranz Weber, an ex-Wehrmacht officer turned freedom fighter comparable to the Basterds' Hugo Stiglitz. Matull gave fake information on Mayer, claiming he was an important general of the American Army. Franz Ferdinand was born in Graz, Austria, on December 18, 1863, the oldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig, who was the younger brother of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph. Genealogy for Franz Weber (1616 - 1698) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. The scene was filmed on a controlled "fire stage" set, but the flames ended up burning far hotter than anyone anticipated. Do you want to create your own battlefield tour to sights of wars from the past? For the next three days, he was mercilessly beaten, tortured, and hung upside down. After tramping through chest-deep snow, the men literally sledded down the side of the glacier in a Santa Claus-like sleigh. The Life of Fridolin. On July 28, 1914, one month after Franz Ferdinand's death, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, beginning a chain reaction that would lead to four years of horrific conflict with millions of . Deutsches Kreuz in Gold . Then he posed as a French electrician to infiltrate a Messerschmitt factory. The Gestapo burst in and arrested Mayer and took him to their HQs. UZH - Center of Dental Medicine - Prof. Dr. rer nat. Franz E. Weber During these discussions, it was agreed that the Germans under Hofer should surrender to Mayer, as the representative of the US military. Looking for reliable information or news facts about WW2? Operation FORTITUDE involved a group of double agents feeding disinformation to the Germans but the group was an odd collection of criminals, playboys, party girls, and a woman obsessed with her dog. That mans a bigshot in the US Military. Franz Carl Weber | zuerich.com Feeling he had achieved his speed skiing goals, Franz permanently retired from the sport following the 1992 Olympics. The WW2 Spy Who Accepted the Surrender of an Entire German Army Franz Weber may refer to: . 2" caused serious injuries to Uma Thurman (Thurman has forgiven Tarantino). Then good fortune stepped in. Franz Carl Weber Geneva - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go - Tripadvisor Not surprising to those who know him, Fred Mayer may not attend the Congressional reception and the screening of the movie chronicling his feats. And that was after they had tortured him. A real world spy story fit for the silver screen. Dulles cabled OSS HQs in Italy, Fred Mayer reports he is in Gestapo hands but cabled Dont worry about me, Im really not bad off a remarkable message considering that it was coming from a Jew. RecPak is a meal replacement for the outdoors that saves you weight, space and time in the most challenging environments, just add water. He died on August 10, 1962 in West Berlin, West Germany. So I was trying to keep taming it, and I couldn't My idea at the time, because it was just so big and so unwieldy, was to do it as a miniseries, and that really was what I was planning on doing." With the cash, the group purchased train tickets to an OSS spy base in Algiers. World War II was not only the greatest military conflict in history, it was also America's most important twentieth-century war. View Franz Weber results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Weber stayed with his family, his fiances mother took Mayer in, and Wijnberg stayed at a neighbors house. In fact, I think I have an idea for a film. TracesOfWar.com tells you more! Franz Weber (30 November 1921 - 28 July 2014 in Mnchen) was a German Obergefreiter in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He found and recruited deserter-volunteer, Franz Weber. Franz Weller | Military Wiki | Fandom See Photos. Since 2013, Fondation Franz Weber is working closely with the World Heritage Centre to support the conservation and safeguard of natural World Heritage sites.This partnership intends to strengthen the Rapid Response Facility (RRF), a programme jointly managed by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and Fauna & Flora International aimed at protecting natural World Heritage sites in emergency . Frederick Mayer, Jew Who Spied on Nazis After Fleeing Germany, Dies at The Nazi governor wined and dined his Jewish captive, then explained that he wanted to surrender but not to the Soviets. They were joined by Franz Weber, an ex-Wehrmacht officer turned freedom fighter comparable to the Basterds' Hugo Stiglitz. Read Next: OSS Finally Recognized More Than 70 Years Later By Congress. Wijnberg died shortly afterwards. One of the closest comparisons is to Operation Greenup, a spy mission which the National WWII Museum in New Orleans has called "The REAL Inglourious Basterds.". Their mission was given the name of Operation Greenup, and though their deeds arent that well known, they manage to destabilize the Nazi regime. In a scene that could have been ripped from the movie Where Eagles Dare, the team, clad in white ski parkas, parachuted onto the side of a 9,000-foot glacier. A long-time resident of Lake Tahoe, Weber and his wife, Janet, founded Franz Weber Inc., a Reno-based sports management and consulting company, in 1984.Today, the company represents world-class . Do you want to create your own battlefield tour to sights of wars from the past? On 7 December 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, forcing America to enter the war. In the dead of winter, 1945, German-born Fred Mayer, Dutch-born Hans Wijnberg and former Wehrmacht officer Franz Weber parachuted into the Austrian Alps. Franz Josef Huber ran the Gestapo secret police in Vienna. Webers sister, a fervent anti-Nazi, managed to steal a German uniform that Weber himself wore on several occasions to attend informal events with some of the Nazi officers appointed in the region. Inform us! For three days and nights, Mayer was savagely beaten, but he kept up his cover speaking only in French. Rahn offered to send a message to OSS HQs in Bern, Switzerland headed up by Allen Dulles who later became the head of the CIA. They showed him a picture of Mayers ruined face, but Matull was a world-class hustler before the war. Franz Weber (1616 - 1698) - Genealogy - geni family tree Uncoiling a rawhide whip, the tall one put his full weight behind each swing, mercilessly thrashing the agents body like a side of beef. Nonetheless, this story has made some people uncomfortable. They said if we were in there another 15 seconds, the stage we were on would have collapsed and we all would have been killed." Then they boarded a Gestapo-infested train bound for Innsbruck (a major rail hub) where they were asked for their papers. Birth, Baptism & Christening. While Mayer was being tortured in a Nazi prison, another American agent was being interrogated by the Gestapo. I was really training for it.". When Georg Weber was born about 1506, in Mollis, Glarus, Switzerland, his father, Franz Weber, was 33 and his mother, Weber, was 33. Er war Onkel von Aloisia Weber und Constanze Weber. Undeterred by the units previous record, Mayer and his friends approached the units commander, Lt. Alfred Ulmer, and begged to sign up. Weber, a Catholic, had deserted, convinced . They didn't end up killing Hitler, but they were able to negotiate the surrender of the German Army in Austria. Friedrich Fred Mayers father was a decorated war veteran for his distinguished service to the German Empire in WWI. Georg Weber (1506-) FamilySearch The Germans,wanting to surrender to the Americans passed it on. The Survivors: Messerschmitt Me 262 - Germany's Jet Fighter Or are you interested in war medals . They made their way to Webers family and then Mayer actually stayed in the Officers barracks in Innsbruck for several weeks, gleaming as much intelligence as he could and then relaying it to Wynberg (the radio operator) who would then relay it to OSS HQs. A former German commando and officer, Weber had fought on the Eastern Front but now was convinced that it was his duty to defeat the Third Reich for the sake of his country, Austria. But unlike other refugees, Mayer decided to return to German-occupied Europe to strike back at the very individuals who imprisoned some of his family members in concentration camps. They would use Weber and for this mission, it would be Mayer, Wynberg and Weber. There are a few different reasons people have speculated on. Consider an Allied espionage operation code-named GREENUP, which in some ways is even more improbable than a Hollywood pot-boiler. *Lighting a path to truth* Former Navy JAG Worldwide U.S. Military Defense. It wasn;t until they brought in the informant that Mayer finally admitted he was an American agent, but insisted that he worked alone. His carelessness in preparing for a car stunt in "Kill Bill Vol. Mr. Mayer died at his home in Charles Town, West Virginia, on April 15 this year. Franz Weber. Once at the bottom of the mountain, the men boarded an Innsbruck-bound train infested with Gestapo. By Tom Linder West Hawaii Today tlinder@westhawaiitoday.com | Wednesday, May 6, 2020, 12:05 a.m. Franz Weber, a longtime Kona resident, started Paying it Forward, which serves as a bridge between . A sense of calm came over Mayer, and he looked directly into the eyes of the Gestapo agent.