Nazi saboteur’s wife detained: 1942
Maria Kerrling, wife of Nazi saboteur Edward Kerling, was one of fourteen people arrested for aiding eight Nazi saboteurs who landed by submarine on U.S. shores in June 1942. She is shown in a full frontal mug shot after her arrest in July 1942.
Kerling was born in Germany in 1904 and entered the United States in 1926. Both she and her husband were members of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in Germany.
She had been estranged from her husband for a number of years and living in New York. She was having a relationship with another man, Ernest Herman Kerkhof who was also arrested.
The only evidence against Maria Kerling was that Helmut Leiner, a man who aided the Nazi saboteurs, attempted to arrange a meeting between Maria and her husband. Kerling was then aware that her husband was in the country but Leiner’s attempt at a meeting was unsuccessful because Edward Kerling had already been taken into custody by the FBI.
The U.S. later declined to press charges against Maria Kerling and Kerkhof, but the two were detained as enemy aliens for the duration of World War II.
The eight Nazi saboteurs who landed in the U.S. in Florida and New York were almost immediately arrested after one of them, George Dasch, contacted the FBI and turned himself in.
The eight saboteurs were quickly convicted--six of whom were executed in August 1942, including Edward Kerling; one received a life sentence; and one received 30 years imprisonment following a Washington, D.C. military trial. In 1948 U.S. President Harry Truman commuted the sentences of the two imprisoned and deported them to the U.S. section of Germany.
Fourteen other people, including Maria Kerling and Kerkhof, were charged with aiding the eight saboteurs.
Of the others charged with aiding the saboteurs some received long prison terms, some shorter terms, some had charges dropped, some were detained as enemy aliens and deported after the war ended.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmPiRmT4
The photographer is unknown. The image is believed to be a U.S. government photograph. It is housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star Collection.
Nazi saboteur’s wife detained: 1942
Maria Kerrling, wife of Nazi saboteur Edward Kerling, was one of fourteen people arrested for aiding eight Nazi saboteurs who landed by submarine on U.S. shores in June 1942. She is shown in a full frontal mug shot after her arrest in July 1942.
Kerling was born in Germany in 1904 and entered the United States in 1926. Both she and her husband were members of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in Germany.
She had been estranged from her husband for a number of years and living in New York. She was having a relationship with another man, Ernest Herman Kerkhof who was also arrested.
The only evidence against Maria Kerling was that Helmut Leiner, a man who aided the Nazi saboteurs, attempted to arrange a meeting between Maria and her husband. Kerling was then aware that her husband was in the country but Leiner’s attempt at a meeting was unsuccessful because Edward Kerling had already been taken into custody by the FBI.
The U.S. later declined to press charges against Maria Kerling and Kerkhof, but the two were detained as enemy aliens for the duration of World War II.
The eight Nazi saboteurs who landed in the U.S. in Florida and New York were almost immediately arrested after one of them, George Dasch, contacted the FBI and turned himself in.
The eight saboteurs were quickly convicted--six of whom were executed in August 1942, including Edward Kerling; one received a life sentence; and one received 30 years imprisonment following a Washington, D.C. military trial. In 1948 U.S. President Harry Truman commuted the sentences of the two imprisoned and deported them to the U.S. section of Germany.
Fourteen other people, including Maria Kerling and Kerkhof, were charged with aiding the eight saboteurs.
Of the others charged with aiding the saboteurs some received long prison terms, some shorter terms, some had charges dropped, some were detained as enemy aliens and deported after the war ended.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmPiRmT4
The photographer is unknown. The image is believed to be a U.S. government photograph. It is housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star Collection.