Harald S. Frederiksen papers
Collection
Identifier: GTM-GAMMS450
The collection is composed of several short typed manuscripts by Frederiksen discussing his personal history and involvement in the OSS, as well as a variety of recommendations and reports on Frederiksen from colleagues, and one of his jailers. Additional documents include application and reference forms prepared by Frederiksen for the U.S. government, and some correspondence relating to his employment plans after leaving Vienna.
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Harald Sattler Frederiksen (1924-1970) was born to Frederik and Anna Frederiksen in the Christobal Canal Zone of Panama, where his father worked as a canal engineer from 1905 to 1936. In 1936 the family went to spend several years in Europe, but his father's illness delayed their return to the U.S., stranding them in Vienna during the second World War. Frederiksen completed his high school education at a "Real Gymnasium" in Vienna, and was admitted to the medical school of the University of Vienna in 1942, completing his doctorate in 1948, and continuing with postgraduate work from 1948 to 1949 in pathology, internal medicine and dermatology. In 1944 Frederiksen met an American OSS agent, and over the next two years established an intelligence network in Vienna, working with some Austrian resistance groups. In January of 1945, Frederiksen was arrested after the capture and torture of a resistance leader whose false papers he had provided. He was held until April of 1945 by the Gestapo in Morzinplatz, Vienna, and then released into the Soviet occupied zone of Austria where he spent 3 months before gaining access to the U.S. occupied zone. From 1946-1949, Frederiksen continued his counterintelligence work in Vienna, receiving additional training at the European Theater Intelligence School in Oberammergau, Germany in 1947. In July of 1949, Frederiksen was commissioned to the Staten Island Marin Hospital until June of 1950, when he then transferred to spend three months in the surgical wards of the Cleveland Marine hospital. Frederiksen headed the U.S. Public Health Service station at the American Consulate in Liverpool from October 1950 to December 1951, primarily conducting health examinations for immigrants. He was also able to attend courses at the University of Liverpool in Public Health for a semester, earning his C.P.H. in December of 1951. While in England Frederiksen met his future wife, Kate (1919-1999), an Irish nurse. Upon return to the U.S., Frederiksen was employed by the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Communicable Disease Center in Atlanta, Georgia, before moving to the Washington, DC area with his wife. In the 1950's and 1960's they traveled often in South Asia and the Middle East. Shortly after purchasing a house in Northwest Washington, Frederiksen died from an allergic reaction to a bee sting in August of 1970.
0.20 Linear Feet (1 Hollinger Slim Document Case)
English
Gift of Harry P. Travis, 2002.
Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository