He was a German diplomat who became a spy against the Nazis in World War II. In 1943, an opportunity for espionage arose when a fellow anti-Nazi in the ministry reassigned Kolbe to higher-grade work as a diplomatic courier. On August 19, 1943 he was entrusted to travel to Bern in Switzerland with the diplomatic bag. While there he tried to offer mimeographed secret documents to the British embassy. They rebuffed his approach, so he went to the Americans, who decided to take a chance on him. By 1944, they realized they had an agent of the highest quality, though he never received payment for his secret work. He was given the code name "George Wood". His US intelligence handler was Office of Strategic Services agent Allen Welsh Dulles. By the end of the war, he passed 1,600 documents to his handler in Switzerland.
He was a German diplomat who became a spy against the Nazis in World War II. In 1943, an opportunity for espionage arose when a fellow anti-Nazi in the ministry reassigned Kolbe to higher-grade work as a diplomatic courier. On August 19, 1943 he was entrusted to travel to Bern in Switzerland with the diplomatic bag. While there he tried to offer mimeographed secret documents to the British embassy. They rebuffed his approach, so he went to the Americans, who decided to take a chance on him. By 1944, they realized they had an agent of the highest quality, though he never received payment for his secret work. He was given the code name "George Wood". His US intelligence handler was Office of Strategic Services agent Allen Welsh Dulles. By the end of the war, he passed 1,600 documents to his handler in Switzerland.
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