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Bd DUN ALE Ts 10 PHELBY ABR Says Russians Ato rogated 6 pin About BONN, July 44-An East-West spy Mystery linking Dr, Otto Joha, former West German sountegeaptonnge — chief, — to. TARY i he one-time British Seeret Service official who worked for the Russians dor 30 years, has come to light, ‘The mystery originated two decades ago, in the abortive July 20 plot of the German resistance movement to assassi- nate, iter and in the attitade of she -Russians toward that! plot} ‘Dr-John had been a key! mojaber of the conspiracy. In 1954, on the 10th anniver- Sary of the plot, Dr. John went from West Berlin to East Berlin ~by his own account after being drugged by a Soviet agent, by other accounts as al defector. .He escaped to the West in December, 1955, and was charged with treason and| held for 32 months. He has been struggling for’ full rehabilitation ever since.i This week he presented a copy! of his soon-to- ee: “published au- tobiography, “I " Came” Home! Twice,” to the federal Parlia- ment’s library. ‘Was He Double Agent? He concludes his 376-page story with the thesis that Sa: vie agents kidnapped him sole- :¢ 4a determine whether Kim Putloy was not, after all, a dotble agent betraying the Rus- sians to the British, Philby had been dismissed from his senior post in the British Secret Intelligence Serv- ice in 1951 on suspicion of working for Moscow. But he| was given £4,000 in severance, pay and, af:ér lengthy interro- gation in 1952, lefy alone. The West Geran paints out thet Philoy, in fis 1968 book, “My Secret War," admitted that the Sovitt intelligence service did not resume contact: With him after his dismissal urtil 1954, at a time when the Russians had already com- pleted interrogation of Dr. John. bailby, who wrote his own book; it ite, Soviet Union. where, he DONE rt.” vague in. description of the 3951-54 period, However, Dr. John maintains)’ that throughout his 18 months behind the Iron Curtain his in- terrogators never once asked him for details about his work! as head of West Germany's! counterespionage Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Ratner, he writes, the only sub-! ject of interest to his’ chief, interragator was Dr. John's for- mer connection with the Brite ish Secret Service. Escaped to Lisbon tn '44 Dr. John discloses that after] his escape to Lisbon in the summer of 1944 aboard @ plane of Lufthansa—of which he was| the chief of the legal depart- ment—he began to work far| British intelligence. He supplied London mainly with reports: about the size and quality of the German resistance move- ment. His chief at the time was Kim Philby. According to his autobiogra-| phy, Philby dismissed Dr. Jon's Lisbon reports as “lacking, credibility” and refused to pass, them on to higher officials. This has been confirmed by} Hugh Trevor-Roper, the British historian who worked with] Philby at the time. still pending and it Is expected Dr. John surmises now that the Soviet intelligence service, reflecting Statin’s fear of a pos- sible alliance between the Brit-, ish and a potentially success- | ful anti-Hitler conspiracy, was determined to block the slight- est step in that direction, ' He asserts that his Soviet captors wanted to test him on the subject of the British Secret Service and its relations with the anti-Hitler resistance to, fetermine whether Philby was loyal. The author's treason cas ig still pending andit is expecte: that: his book will play a rele’ in his appeal to the Supreme, Court in Karlsruhe later tiis month. Te eat Pa Ta eee “| Eereyy Copy SENT AC Brow ay afta PER FGIA REQUEST fh con “People’s World vevogcn Mohr Bishop. Casper ae. Callahan Conrad Felt Gale Rosen Sullivan —____ ‘The Washington Post ‘Times Herald —— The Washington Daily News The Evening Star (Washington) ‘The Sunday Star (Washington) ____ Daily News (New York) Sunday News (New York) New York Post The New York Times PUP The Sun (Baltimore? . ‘The Daily World. The New Leader The Wall Street Journal ‘The National Observer Examiner (Washington) 5 GE Ge 5-& NOT RECORDED 1 aug 14 1469 “18