Epilogue: MAX and MORITZ Reinvent Themselves

Abstract

A few months after Roman Gamotha’s ‘defection’ to the Soviets in April 1945, the Prague station of the NKVD tasked Gamotha with the establishment of an espionage group to spy on the Western zones of occupation in Germany and Austria, instructing him to recruit other former SD officers. One of these recruits (or potential recruits) was Wilhelm Höttl, then working for the Americans, who immediately placed Höttl under arrest because of his contact with Gamotha. Höttl became convinced that Gamotha’s primary remit from the Soviets was not to spy on the British, American, or French occupation forces, but to penetrate residual Nazi networks, even as far distant as the Middle East.²

Gott sei Dank! Nun ist’s vorbei mit der Übeltäterei!! (Wilhelm Busch)¹