Captured in New York because of Colepaugh’s bumbling and betrayal, Gimpel tells his story in “Agent 146” (St. Martin’s). Originally published in Germany and Britain in 1957, it’s now released for the first time in the United States. Both men had been sentenced to hang in 1945, but were given last-minute pardons. After a decade in American prisons, Gimpel returned to Germany and wrote up his exploits with an Ian Fleming flair.
Gimpel portrays himself as a master spy who knows “nothing of politics.” But here was a clever agent willing to concoct any scheme–even blowing up the Panama Canal–to win the war for Hitler. Writing in the mid-1950s, he directed all his anger at those who undercut or betrayed him, still proud of what he might have done. Gimpel, now 92, is alive, whereabouts unknown, and probably still convinced of his virtue. That, as much as his ability to elude sloppy surveillance, is a chilling parallel to today’s headlines.
