Rudolf Roessler

Born November 22, 1897 in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria, was the son of a Bavarian forestry official and was educated in Augsburg.

During World War I, served in the German Army. After the war, began working as a journalist, serving for a time as a reporter in Augsburg and then as a literary critic in Berlin. Was friendly with members of the literary and artistic circles within Germany. Many of these friends were censored and targeted by the evolving Nazi power regime and were forced to flee the country for their lives.

Angry about the treatment of his friends as well as the emerging dictatorial regime in place, Roessler became a vehement opponent to the Nazi Party and to Adolph Hitler.

In 1933, left Germany, moving with his wife to Lucerne, Switzerland where he established a small publishing company. A moderate success, the publishing company afforded him the funds to travel back and forth to Germany where he often met with prominent people within the literary, military and political arenas. An ardent German patriot, Roessler found that many of these associates felt exactly as he did and were just as concerned about the political and military changes in their country. A number of these associates pledged to share high level information to Roessler in the hopes that he might be able to disseminate the information in a manner that would benefit. With friends in the German government and military, Roessler was privy to official secrets and military plans such that he knew within 24 hours what the German Army planned to do and where.