Citizen of the Shadows - The Lives and Lies of Lothar Witzke

Battles of the First World War Podcast

Mike Cunha

History

4.8 • 838 Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Authors Paul Friedland and Robert Hornick join us on the podcast to discuss their thoroughly researched, well-argued and thrilling biography of a now-forgotten German spy during WW1.

One of the most notorious German spies of the twentieth century, Lothar Witzke lived a life that reads like a thriller. Convicted of espionage in 1918, he was the only German spy sentenced to death by the United States during World War I. After the war, he was pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge, only to be later accused of responsibility for one of the most spectacular acts of sabotage in US history: the Black Tom munitions depot explosion.

After being repatriated to Germany, Witzke lived in Latin America and China as a German expat and later joined the Nazi party. He ran espionage squads in Great Britain during World War II and became a prominent businessman in Hamburg after the war. He was killed in Hamburg in 1962, possibly by an East German agent as payback for suspected double agent work on behalf of the British.

With Citizen of the Shadows, the first full biography of Witzke, Paul Friedland and Robert Hornick trace Witzke's morally complicated life and show readers how an infamous spy thrived in the interwar years and after. They probe his trial, conviction, and pardon, and analyze whether Witzke was really involved in the Black Tom explosion. In doing so, the authors uncover that many of the details of Witzke's life—long assumed to be true—were lies.

Where to buy: https://utpress.org/9798895270332/citizen-of-the-shadows/

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast.

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com with any questions, comments, or concerns.

Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! :)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The
0:23.6	The Hey folks, welcome to the battles of the First World War podcast.
0:54.0	Joining us today are Mr. Paul Friedland and Mr. Robert Hornick here to discuss their collaborative
0:59.3	work titled Citizen of the Shadows, The Lives and Lies of Lothar Vitska.
1:06.1	Paul Friedland is an international lawyer and arbitration practitioner. He is the author of numerous
1:12.3	works on international law. This is his first published work of history, and he is now writing
1:18.4	a second history book. Robert Hornick is a retired international lawyer and part-time
1:25.6	professor of practice at University of Arizona law.
1:29.4	He is the author of the girls and boys of Belchertown, a social history of the Belchertown
1:34.6	State School for the Feeble Minded, and what remains searching for the memory and lost grave of
1:42.1	John Paul Jones. Okay. So if you've heard of Lothar Vitska before, it's because Citizen of the Shadows is not the first book on him.
1:53.0	Coming up on a couple of years ago now, we had author Bill Mills come on to discuss his book on the infamous German spy, Agent of the Iron Cross. So old
2:03.1	Lothar is getting his historical due a century later, it seems. And now let's talk about this book.
2:11.6	So from the University of Tennessee Press website, here's a description of this incredibly
2:15.8	well-researched and well-written book.
2:19.7	So, quote, one of the most notorious German spies of the 20th century, Lotharvitska lived a life
2:25.5	that reads like a thriller, convicted of espionage in 1918. He was the only German spy
2:31.2	sentenced to death by the United States during World War I.
2:35.0	After the war, he was pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge,
2:38.7	only to be later accused of responsibility for one of the most spectacular acts of sabotage in U.S. history,
2:45.7	the Black Tom Munitions Depot explosion.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 5 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mike Cunha, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Mike Cunha and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.