⚠️ Historical Documentation Notice
This document is part of a historical archive and is presented for scholarly research and educational purposes.
The content reflects historical perspectives and should be understood within its historical context.
The What is the truth of the officers in the Venlo Incident? COPY of handwritten letter from Lt. Col. J. McGrath, R.A., smuggled to Captain S Payne Best at Dachau Concentration Camp, April 14, 1945. Captain Best notes that “Colonel McGrath was a very fine fellow, an Irishman, who played up to the Gestapo wonderfully. He had been badly wounded at Dunkirk and, I am sorry to say, died very shortly after his release”.
Explanation: In the famous Venlo Incident in November 1939 Himmler’s Gestapo agents captured two British secret service (MI6) agents, Captain Sigismund Payne Best and R H Stevens . They survived World War II in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and latterly in Dachau. After the war there were bitter recrimiminations between them, with Best accusing Stevens of aiding the Gestapo while in captivity and of painting life in the camps in untruthfully harsh colours.
Stevens’ papers are in the Hoover Library at Stanford California. We reproduce here transcripts of selected documents for the benefit of historians, but recommend that use be made of the full collection. From the Hoover Institution, Walter L Leschander collection, box 3, file 7. your Dachau index today’s ” AR-online” again The Dachau Controversies Saturday [April 14, 1945] [ To Sigismund Payne Best ] Dear Capt.
Best, Only this afternoon have I heard that this is your Birthday and I hasten to send you my best wishes and Happy