06 Mar The Counterfeit Traitor
The Counterfeit Traitor, WWII Movie starring William Holden
(1962) Based on the book by Alexander Klein, “The Counterfeit Traitor” is a story about Eric Erickson, a Swedish American oilman who spied on the Nazis for OSS Stockholm in order to pass on critical information about German oil refineries to the Allies.
Before World War II, Erickson had moved to Sweden in order to carry on his oil import business, and he had made many excellent contacts in Germany.
While in Berlin, one of his contacts was an undercover agent played by Lilli Palmer. Without giving away the most dramatic moment of the movie, their love affair ends disastrously.
I loved this movie for many reasons. It was shot in Stockholm, Germany and Denmark. I loved seeing the Stockholm venues, thinking that they were probably unchanged since the war.
I have been told by someone “who was there” that one of Erickson’s OSS Stockholm contacts was William T. “Bill” Carlson, my mother’s boss and head of X-2. If so, I am confident that she typed up some of his reports. When she was alive, she always alluded to having a connection with “The Counterfeit Traitor.”
I will be searching for evidence of this at the National Archives when I return there again this year.
The Counterfeit Traitor at amazon.com
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