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Listening to Nazis

Tuesday, December 11 2007 | Send to a friend

Listening to Nazis

Monitoring Nazi interrogations - more >>

One of the most heated debates in the U.S. lately has been over the use of 'enhanced' interrogation techniques on detainees picked up in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But these debates aren't new. When World War II drew to a close, and the U.S. began questioning Nazi POWs, a different path was taken. German and Austrian Jews were drafted to question the captives, and what they learned was that the best techniques for getting information involved friendly encounters - not force or confrontation. 

Henry Kolm was one of those interrogators. After watching German tanks roll into the streets of Vienna in 1938, then 14-year-old Henry escaped with his parents and resettled in the U.S. Drafted into the Army, he was tapped to become an interrogator at an ultra-secret location in Virginia known only as "PO Box 1142". It's only recently that the existence of the operation has become public knowledge. 

Henry Kolm, larger >>

Henry talks with Dick Gordon about how he got some of what he calls his 'customers' to talk, and he shares some of his thoughts about current U.S. interrogation policies.

• Read more about Henry Kolm
• Learn more about PO Box 1142
• Learn more about Fort Hunt, the location of PO Box 1142

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