The German Spies at Pearl Harbor

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What would you do if you discovered that members of your family had spied for the Japanese at Pearl Harbor? When this happened to Christine Kuehn, she wanted to find out more.

Alongside her husband, former journalist Mark Schiponi, Christine has been researching her father's family's movements from Nazi Germany, to Hawaii, and into the hands of the FBI. They join Don for this episode to untangle this story.

Their book, 'Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor' is out now.

Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	In 1941, Kailua Bay, on the windward side of the Hawaiian Island, Oahu, is open coastline, white sands, blue waters, a handful of fishing boats.
0:13.0	Onshore, family farms ring a rural community linked by dirt roads.
0:18.0	In geography and temperament, it is the direct opposite of Naval Station
0:22.9	Pearl Harbor on the southern shore, beyond the forested mountain ridge. Here it is quiet, idyllic.
0:30.4	There, it is metal, gray, and militaristic, a world bracing for war. The U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet hasn't fired a shot,
0:40.3	but its looming presence sends a message to rival Japan.
0:44.3	Be warned, we are here.
0:47.3	But as we drift at sunset in our boat back in Kailua,
0:50.3	a bright blue sky turning indigo, then star-flecked black. There are no signs of danger.
0:57.6	Except, wait a second. What was that? From three dormer windows in a house just off the beach,
1:04.3	a bright beam shines, pulsing. To the casual eye, it's probably a forgotten lamp left burning in the window, but to the submerged Japanese submarines observing in the bay, it is something else entirely.
1:19.5	It's a signal, a coded report on the American operations at Pearl Harbor.
1:37.2	Yeah. at Pearl Harbor. Hello, history hit listeners. This is American History Hit. I'm Don Wilden. Welcome.
1:42.7	The story of Pearl Harbor comes around every year this time.
1:45.9	Every year, we consider again the tragic events of Sunday December 7, 1941, when Japanese fighter
1:51.8	planes descended on the island of Oahu, attacking the American undefended naval fleet there,
1:57.8	resulting in massive destruction and loss of life, and triggering the entrance
2:01.6	of the United States into World War II. It is a day, in the legendary words of Franklin Roosevelt,
2:06.8	that will live in infamy. It is a story now essential to understanding so much of the world as we
2:12.8	know it today, and it is a story 84 years later in 2022 still revealing itself.
2:19.6	Just this month, on November 25th, a new book will be released entitled Family of Spies.
2:25.3	It is written by our guests today.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 23 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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