OSS was the forerunner to both the Special Operations Command of the military, OSS Jedburgh and Operation Groups were the units that became the US Army Special Forces and Navy SEALs owe part of their legacy to OSS Maritime Group operatives, where one of them invented the US version of SCUBA. The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) in the European Theater was one of Americas bloodiest campaigns. When US troops approached Innsbruck he met them and informed them that the city was willing to surrender. It could be a way to distinguish the film from Enzo G. Castellari's 1979 film "The Inglorious Bastards," which Tarantino's film is loosely inspired by but is decidedly not a remake of. Learn More. In February, 1945, an odd trio parachuted onto a vast Austrian glacier and kicked-off one of the most spectacular clandestine missions of World War II. However, that doesn't mean the provocative auteur was taking a break from work; he was keeping busy writing scripts. Franz Weber (actor) (1888-1962), German actor Franz Weber (footballer) (1888-? Mayer was then betrayed and captured. FinancePhoenix.ch on LinkedIn: Neues Angebot im ehemaligen Franz-Carl Frederick Mayer (28 October 1921, Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden, Germany - 15 April 2016, Charles Town, Jefferson County, West Virginia) was a German-born Jew who became an American spy as an OSS agent for the United States during World War II.He negotiated the surrender of the German Army in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1945 after he was captured in "Operation Greenup". They Dared Return: The True Story of Jewish Spies Behind the Lines in Nazi Germany, Dog Company: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Rangers Who Accomplished D-Days Toughest Mission and Led the Way Across Europe. Greenup also discovered Hitlers location, as well as that of Mussolini. Hans Wynberg, a Dutch-born Jew whose family was sent to Auschwitz, and Franz Weber, an Austrian officer who had defected from the German army, worked with Mayer. The "Inglourious Basterds" screenplay was a particular challenge both to write and to edit down into a workable feature. Sein Leben war durch eine umfangreiche Reisettigkeit geprgt. Franz Anton von Weber (* 26. Mayers superiors were impressed by his skill and native fluency in German and French, as well as English. German Dagger RZM Codes | Lakesidetrader Franz Weber was born on March 24, 1888 in Haspe, Germany. But this ninety-somethings life hasnt always been so simple. April 1812 in Mannheim) war ein deutscher Musiker, Kapellmeister und Theaterdirektor. . Do you have more information about this person? However, using his own guile, wit, and a fortunate set of circumstances, Mayer turned the tables on his captors. He had Mayer brought to him. 1526 1526. The Messerschmitt design team were on to something . Tarantino will never tell us the full logic behind misspelling the title, though in various interviews he's offered partial explanations. All three landed safely with most of their equipment, but the canister containing their skis was lost. The governor was about to go on the radio to tell his troops to fight to the last man. Birth, Baptism & Christening. 84-88 Speaking German, he admitted to being an American but said he was working alone. Bursting through the door and into the room, a dozen Gestapo agents, armed with MP-40 machine pistols, quickly surrounded and apprehended Mayer. Hans Wynberg, a Dutch-born Jew whose family was sent to Auschwitz, and Franz Weber, an Austrian officer who had defected from the German army, worked with Mayer. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Franz Weber remains very active in numerous alpine skiing events and competes on the popular Legends/Champions Tour. It was April 1945, and Germany was finished. Matull gave fake information on Mayer, claiming he was an important general of the American Army. Mayer then turned his back on the agent and the war, refusing to speak about it for decades. Just dont hurt my family., Mayer was disgusted, What the hell do you think we are? The OG group shared a unique bond. In zweiter Ehe war er mit Genovefa Brenner verheiratet; aus dieser . Hollywood tried to capture an actual OSS operation in a highly fictionalized film called Inglorious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 286 (27):24458-24466. The three were to be dropped by parachuted near Innsbruck in February 1945. Franz Ferdinand - Assassination, WW1 & Death - Biography Franz Weber. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, and won Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz, who played the villain Hans Landa. Sally Menke edited every one of QuentinTarantino's movies from "Reservoir Dogs" in 1992 all the way up until "Inglourious Basterds" in 2009. But after several weeks behind enemy lines that provided reams of actionable intelligence, a knock on the door of Mayers safe house changed his life. His undercover work led to valuable intelligence and a network of informants that helped identify the location and dimensions of Hitlers Fhrerbunker in Berlin, the condition of Nazi war plants and movement of enemy freight and troops through the Brenner Pass. UZH - Center of Dental Medicine - Prof. Dr. rer nat. Franz E. Weber And in one of the craziest turn of events, the German Army in Austria surrendered to a Jewish sergeant without firing a shot. Mayer, who is Jewish, and his family fled Germany at the onset of the war, barely escaping the holocaust. Go to the front lines of World War II in this war documentary, chronicling a group of Jewish agents for the American OSS who infiltrated Nazi territories, many of them German Jews returning to avenge Hitler's sinister acts. Hoffer, who had already anticipated the fall of Nazi Germany, met Mayer to discuss the possibility of a German rendition, and naturally, his own protection. They were joined by Franz Weber, an ex-Wehrmacht officer turned freedom fighter comparable to the Basterds' Hugo Stiglitz. As the war ended, the people of Vietnam looked to the United States to support their dreams of independence. He radioed the exact locations and dimensions back to HQs. It was the perfect opportunity to kill Nazis, which was the reason many Jewish boys joined. Historian K. ODonnell published a volume called They Dared Return: The True Story of Jewish Spies Behind the Lines in Nazi Germany. His two interrogators discounted the possibility that he might be Jewish, because their anti-Semitism meant that they refused to believe that a Jew could be brave enough to withstand their tortures. The Methodology of the Social Sciences (Max Weber) Give Me Liberty! They traveled by ship to North Africa. 504-528-1944. Operation Greenups purpose was intelligence gathering. The revelations about Weinstein and Thurman's car accident placed an extra dark light on one anecdote about filming the scene in "Inglourious Basterds" where Hans Landa chokes Bridget Von Hammersmark to death. The two men needed a third teammate who spoke German and knew the areaand was willing to risk certain death if captured. : an American History (Eric Foner) Business Law: Text and Cases (Kenneth W. Clarkson; Roger LeRoy Miller; Frank B. I made the argument for the medal in my book They Dared Return, and now Sen. John Rockefeller is championing the cause. Top Image:L-R Franz Weber, Hans Wijnberg, and Fred Mayer courtesy of theUS National Archives. Ian Harvey is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE. Stealing a Jeep (now they sound like SF), they drive to OSS HQs and went to see the head of the SI (Special Intelligence) Section to volunteer. The members of Operation Greenup ended up helping the Allies get their victory and were later on decorated for their heroic services during the war. In a scene that could have been ripped from the movie Where Eagles Dare, the team, clad in white ski parkas, parachuted onto the side of a 9,000-foot glacier. However, things took a turn for the worse when a member of Mayers spy network betrayed him. Tarantino knew there was something special about Waltz's acting early on, and went to great lengths to keep many aspects of the actor's performance a surprise to his co-stars. And when youre done with all of those hundreds of books, you can turn to film. He would later on return to Germany to start over. Download the TracesOfWar app directly on, Australia (1901-present, Federal Monarchy), Belgium (1830-present, Constitutional Monarchy), Canada (1931-present, Constitutional Monarchy), Soviet Union (1922-1991, People's Republic), Privacy statement, cookies, disclaimer and copyright, - Die Ordenstrger der Deutschen Wehrmacht. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ Bahnhofplatz 9. Their mission wasto gather intelligence in the Tirol region of Austria. When youre a World War II hero, you can do whatever the hell you want. For the next three days, he was mercilessly beaten, tortured, and hung upside down. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. That didnt stop the intrepid OGs. Once the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Mayer enlisted in the U.S. Army. The story of Operational Greenup deserves greater attention than it has received. Service on a half-dozen fronts, including the bloody struggle against Marshal Tito's partisans in occupied Yugoslavia, has opened Weber's eyes. TracesOfWar.com tells you more! As you can see, there are some similarities with Tarantino's film. He was an actor, known for The Marriage of Figaro (1949), Pillars of Society (1935) and So ein Flegel (1934). Being an actor in a Quentin Tarantino film means you're going to be in for an intense experience. Thinking he wanted revenge, the Americans later brought Mayer to a cell. And that was after they had tortured him. In 1998, he won the National SG Masters Championships, and his Masters record includes winning all but two of the more than The trio had supplies packages dropped with them, but unfortunately were unable to locate the packet containing their skis. Under torture, he told them about Mayer, so they broke down the latters door on 20 April 1945. View Franz Weber results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Find your friends on Facebook. are western hognose snakes legal in the uk risk assessment for cleaning pigeon droppings World War II was not only the greatest military conflict in history, it was also America's most important twentieth-century war. They tortured him brutally, but he didnt break. Nearly all the sections missions to this point had been abysmal failures, leading to the death or capture of the OSS agents, and several agents ended up in Germanys most infamous concentration camps. But Tarantino smartly decided that the multilingual role was best suited for a native German speaker and ultimately cast Christoph Waltz in the part that would eventually win him an Oscar. The two men are Brooklyn to the core, and they even overlay a map of their New York borough onto that of Tyrol, to have a whole set of code names for various Tyrolean locales that would utterly baffle the Nazis. Tune in for a conversation about the men of X Troop, who were the realInglorious Basterds: a secret commando unit of young Jewish refugees who were trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat to deliver decisive blows against the Nazis. . They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 1 daughter. Franz Weber may refer to: . OSS ran many fantastic operations and had an eclectic group of operatives. Do you want to create your own battlefield tour to sights of wars from the past? Show Location on Map. After training for months and mapping out the mission in minute detail, the men were ready to gobut no one wanted to fly the team. Do you have more information about this person? Hofer could see the end coming and had little desire to be tried as a war criminal. At one point, the writer-director feared it would be too long for a movie and that the epic story would be better suited for a TV miniseries. Quentin Tarantinos Inglorious Basterds tells the story of a special battalion posted in France in charge of sabotaging German military activities and, most importantly, killing Nazis. A couple of excellent books on the subject are : This Grim And Savage Game: The Oss And U.s. Covert Operations In World War II by Tom Moon and. Webers sister, Louise, was a nurse who gave Mayer the uniform and documents of a recently-deceased German officer. In fact, Mayer was taken to Hofers home, met Hofers wife, and ate with them. People Archive - WW2 Gravestone The documentary ended with Fred Mayer talking to Hans Wijnberg via Skype. It was feared that the Nazis would establish an Alpine redoubtin order tomake a last stand there.