George De Mohrenschildt

[John Simkin]

George De Mohrenschildt, the son of a wealthy noble, was born in Russia on 17th April, 1911. After the Russian Revolution his father, Sergius Alexander von Mohrenschildt, was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks. In 1921 he was sent to Siberia but managed to escape with his family to Poland. His wife died soon afterwards from typhoid fever.

While a young man De Mohrenschildt left Poland and after travelling around Europe. He later claimed that he was involved in a pro-Nazi plot to kill Joseph Stalin. De Mohrenschildt reached the United States in 1938. The British intelligence services warned the American government that they suspected that De Monrenschildt was working for German intelligence.

De Mohrenschildt went to work for the Shumaker company in New York. He worked under Pierre Fraiss who was connected with French intelligence. De Mohrenschildt agreed to collect information on people involved in "pro-German activity". In 1939 he went to work for Humble Oil, a company founded by Prescott Bush.

In 1941 De Mohrenschildt went to work for his cousin, Baron Maydell, and his company, Film Facts, in New York. Maydell was also known to have pro-Nazi sympathies. During this period he made a documentary about the resistance movement in Poland. He also failed in his attempt to join the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

After the Second World War De Mohrenschildt settled in Dallas where he worked for the oil millionaire, Clint Murchison. During this period he got to know Jackie Kennedy.

Ruth continued to live in Irving and at a party in February, 1963 she was introduced to Marina Oswald and Lee Harvey Oswald by George De Mohrenschildt. On 24th April, 1963, Marina and her daughter went to live with Ruth Paine. Lee Harvey Oswald rented a room in Dallas but stored some of his possessions in Ruth Paine’s garage. Ruth also helped Oswald to get a job at the Texas Book Depository.

In October, 1962 De Mohrenschildt became friends with Lee Harvey Oswald in Fort Worth. He suggested that Oswald should move to Dallas. In February, 1963 he introduced Marina Oswald and Lee Harvey Oswald to Ruth Paine. On 24th April, 1963, Marina and her daughter went to live with Paine. Oswald rented a room in Dallas but stored some of his possessions in Ruth Paine’s garage. Ruth also helped Oswald to get a job at the Texas Book Depository.

In 1963 De Mohrenschildt moved to Haiti. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy De Mohrenschildt was recalled to America to testify before the Warren Commission. He was asked about the claim of Marina Oswald that he knew about Oswald's attempt to kill General Edwin Walker. After giving evidence he returned to Haiti.

De Mohrenschildt returned to the United States in 1977. He approached Edward Jay Epstein complaining that he was short of money. Epstein offered him $4,000 for an interview. During their talks De Mohrenschildt admitted that in 1962 he had been contacted by J. Walton Moore, who was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency in Dallas. De Mohrenschildt was asked by Moore to find out about Oswald's time in the Soviet Union. In return he was given help with an oil deal he was negotiating with Papa Doc Duvalier, the Haitian dictator. In March 1963, De Mohrenschildt got the contract from the Haitian government. He had assumed that this was because of the help he had given to the CIA.

On 29th March, 1977, Epstein and De Mohrenschildt, broke for lunch and decided to meet again at 3 p.m. George De Mohrenschildt returned to his room where he found a card from Gaeton Fonzi, an investigator working for the Select House Committee on Assassinations. George De Mohrenschildt's body was found later that day. He had apparently committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth.

[Terry Adams]

George De Mohrenschildt, the son of a wealthy noble, was born in Russia on 17th April, 1911. After the Russian Revolution his father, Sergius Alexander von Mohrenschildt, was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks. In 1921 he was sent to Siberia but managed to escape with his family to Poland. His wife died soon afterwards from typhoid fever.

While a young man De Mohrenschildt left Poland and after travelling around Europe. He later claimed that he was involved in a pro-Nazi plot to kill Joseph Stalin. De Mohrenschildt reached the United States in 1938. The British intelligence services warned the American government that they suspected that De Monrenschildt was working for German intelligence.

De Mohrenschildt went to work for the Shumaker company in New York. He worked under Pierre Fraiss who was connected with French intelligence. De Mohrenschildt agreed to collect information on people involved in "pro-German activity". In 1939 he went to work for Humble Oil, a company founded by Prescott Bush.

In 1941 De Mohrenschildt went to work for his cousin, Baron Maydell, and his company, Film Facts, in New York. Maydell was also known to have pro-Nazi sympathies. During this period he made a documentary about the resistance movement in Poland. He also failed in his attempt to join the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

After the Second World War De Mohrenschildt settled in Dallas where he worked for the oil millionaire, Clint Murchison. During this period he got to know Jackie Kennedy.

Ruth continued to live in Irving and at a party in February, 1963 she was introduced to Marina Oswald and Lee Harvey Oswald by George De Mohrenschildt. On 24th April, 1963, Marina and her daughter went to live with Ruth Paine. Lee Harvey Oswald rented a room in Dallas but stored some of his possessions in Ruth Paine’s garage. Ruth also helped Oswald to get a job at the Texas Book Depository.

In October, 1962 De Mohrenschildt became friends with Lee Harvey Oswald in Fort Worth. He suggested that Oswald should move to Dallas. In February, 1963 he introduced Marina Oswald and Lee Harvey Oswald to Ruth Paine. On 24th April, 1963, Marina and her daughter went to live with Paine. Oswald rented a room in Dallas but stored some of his possessions in Ruth Paine’s garage. Ruth also helped Oswald to get a job at the Texas Book Depository.

In 1963 De Mohrenschildt moved to Haiti. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy De Mohrenschildt was recalled to America to testify before the Warren Commission. He was asked about the claim of Marina Oswald that he knew about Oswald's attempt to kill General Edwin Walker. After giving evidence he returned to Haiti.

De Mohrenschildt returned to the United States in 1977. He approached Edward Jay Epstein complaining that he was short of money. Epstein offered him $4,000 for an interview. During their talks De Mohrenschildt admitted that in 1962 he had been contacted by J. Walton Moore, who was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency in Dallas. De Mohrenschildt was asked by Moore to find out about Oswald's time in the Soviet Union. In return he was given help with an oil deal he was negotiating with Papa Doc Duvalier, the Haitian dictator. In March 1963, De Mohrenschildt got the contract from the Haitian government. He had assumed that this was because of the help he had given to the CIA.

On 29th March, 1977, Epstein and De Mohrenschildt, broke for lunch and decided to meet again at 3 p.m. George De Mohrenschildt returned to his room where he found a card from Gaeton Fonzi, an investigator working for the Select House Committee on Assassinations. George De Mohrenschildt's body was found later that day. He had apparently committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth.

John, that is the firt time that I have read the dates of the CIA-Oswald- Mohrenschildt association. (causing another one of those darned coincidences). People have always wondered why someone of Mohrenschildt's background would be socializing with LHO. Upon hearing of the assassination, he was quoting as saying something to the effect of "I certainly hope Lee is not the one" IMO, Oswald would have told Mohrenschildt his feelings about JFK, and probably, in an effort to impress, some information beyond the Walker shooting. (If we are to believe Marina) I'm wondering that when he agreed to the enterview with Epstein in 1972, if he were actually planning to tell more than some people would have wanted to be known. (He was certainly in a bad financial situation, something he was not accustomed to). Do you know if he had been paid for the enterview before his untimely demise.

Terry

[Michael Hogan]

Terry Adams asked: Do you know if he had been paid for the interview before his untimely demise.?

According to Bruce Campbell Adamson:

The current contract called for him (De M) to receive up to $4000 to cooperate with Epstein's book about Oswald. An initial payment had been made. At the end of the third day of the interviews, which would have been the next day, de Mohrenschildt would receive another $1000. Another $1000 would be paid if a following session was necessary. Epstein reported de Mohrenschildt did not appear suicidal or mentally disturbed during the morning interview session. 'He seemed more despondent when I saw him last April than he did now,' Epstein told the authorities.

(From Oswald's Closest Friend: The George de Mohrenschildt Story)

[John Simkin]

Pete Brewton, The Mafia, CIA and George Bush (1992)

Clemard Joseph Charles was recruited by the CIA in 1963, the same year the agency was sponsoring and paying exile and rebel groups to try to overthrow Papa Doc. We know Charles was recruited by the CIA then because of the findings in the late 1970s of the House Select Committee on Assassinations.

The committee was investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy and tracking a man named George DeMohrenschildt, a White Russian count with extensive ties to the CIA. DeMohrenschildt had moved to Texas, worked in the oil business and befriended Lee Harvey Oswald. In fact, there is some evidence that DeMohrenschildt was used by the CIA to keep an eye on Oswald. DeMohrenschildt had met Charles in Haiti, where he had business interests, including a share in the government sisal hemp operation. DeMohrenschildt was also keeping an eye on Clint Murchison's meat-packing business and cattle ranches there. At one time he had worked for Three States Oil and Gas, one of Murchison's oil companies.

DeMohrenschildt was also on close, friendly terms with Houston oilman John Mecom, Sr., according to a Houston private eye familiar with the Russian count. And the count and George Bush apparently knew each other. Bush's name and his Midland, Texas, address were in DeMohrenschildt's address book.

One CIA contract agent, Herbert Atkin, has reported that DeMohrenschildt's real job in Haiti in 1963 was to supervise a CIA-sponsored plan to overthrow Duvalier.

In May 1963, DeMohrenschildt arranged a meeting between Clemard Charles and Dorothy Matlack, who was Assistant Director of the Army Office of Intelligence, the U.S. Army's liaison with the CIA. According to DeMohrenschildt's CIA files, which the assassination committee obtained, the purpose of the meeting with Matlack was to arrange a rendezvous between Charles and a CIA representative. DeMohrenschildt attended the meeting with the CIA, to Matlack's surprise. "She did not know what role DeMohrenschildt was serving, but felt he 'dominated' Charles in some way," reads the committee's CIA memo, which then reported that Matlack stated, "I knew the Texan [DeMohrenschildt] wasn't there to sell hemp."

Finally, the kicker in the CIA memo: "Because of the potential political information Charles could give about the current situation in Haiti, the CIA became the primary contact with Charles."

That puts Charles's ability to obtain two aircraft from the United States in 1964 during an embargo and his subsequent 1967 jailing by Duvalier in a whole new light. For it was in 1967 that Mitch WerBell, along with some Haitians and Cuban exiles, were caught planning an invasion of Haiti from Florida.

WerBell was a veteran of the OSS office in China during World War II along with E. Howard Hunt, Paul Helliwell and John Singlaub. He told author Jonathan Kwitny that he did not work "for" the CIA, but "with" the CIA. He said the distinction was that he got paid by private groups and not by the CIA.

[William Kelly]

TO GET A REAL HANDLE ON GEORGE DEMOHRENSCHILT, YOU MUST READ HIS MANUSCRIPT "I'M A PATSY! I'M A PATSY!" - PUBLISHED AS PART OF THE HSCA RECORDS.

BK

[J. Raymond Carroll]

TO GET A REAL HANDLE ON GEORGE DEMOHRENSCHILT, YOU MUST READ HIS MANUSCRIPT "I'M A PATSY! I'M A PATSY!" - PUBLISHED AS PART OF THE HSCA RECORDS.

BK

Here is the link: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/jfkinfo4/jfk12/hscapatsy.htm

Once again, McAdams to the rescue.

[James Richards]

That puts Charles's ability to obtain two aircraft from the United States in 1964 during an embargo and his subsequent 1967 jailing by Duvalier in a whole new light. For it was in 1967 that Mitch WerBell, along with some Haitians and Cuban exiles, were caught planning an invasion of Haiti from Florida. (John Simkin quoting Pete Brewton)

I can not recall the details off-hand, but wasn't Clemard Joseph Charles also associated with Frank Sturgis; both men being associated with a company called the 'Pacific Peace Organization' or something similar?

James

[Ron Ecker]

People have always wondered why someone of Mohrenschildt's background would be socializing with LHO.

As I recall, de Mohrenschildt was asked by Dallas CIA agent J. Walton Moore to keep tabs on Oswald. In his WC testimony de Mohrenschildt pretended not to know if Moore was CIA or FBI, and claimed that he and Moore just talked some about the Oswalds.

[J. Raymond Carroll]

People have always wondered why someone of Mohrenschildt's background would be socializing with LHO.

As I recall, de Mohrenschildt was asked by Dallas CIA agent J. Walton Moore to keep tabs on Oswald. In his WC testimony de Mohrenschildt pretended not to know if Moore was CIA or FBI, and claimed that he and Moore just talked some about the Oswalds.

Lee Oswald was about the right age to be De Mohrenschildt's son, and the two men shared a common background, in that Lee had just returned from Minsk, a city De Mohrenschildt had known in childhood. I do not understand why anyone would see anything peculiar about their friendship.

From De Mohrenschildt's manuscript: "One could detect immediately a very sincere and forward man. Although he was average-looking, with no outstanding features and of medium size, he showed in his conversation all the elements of concentration, thought and toughness. This man had the courage of his convictions and did not hesitate to discuss them. I was glad to meet such a person and was carried away back to the days of my youth in Europe, where as students, we discussed world affairs and our own ideas over many beers and without caring about time."

Someone will please correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that the two men were already acquainted when J. Walton Moore asked DeM about Lee. If so, than the meeting between DeM & Lee was not instigated by the CIA.

Since DeM had moved to Haiti many months before the assassination, I do not see how he could have been involved, but I am open to persuasion.

DeM's life had been going downhill for a quite some time before his death, by all accounts, so suicide is not that unlikely IMO, absent further evidence.

[Gary Buell]

TO GET A REAL HANDLE ON GEORGE DEMOHRENSCHILT, YOU MUST READ HIS MANUSCRIPT "I'M A PATSY! I'M A PATSY!" - PUBLISHED AS PART OF THE HSCA RECORDS.

BK

Some months back I listened to the tape of DeMohrenschildt reading from the manuscript, and a couple of things popped out at me. He referred repeatedly to Harvey Lee Oswald. Second, he commented repeatedly on what excellent Russian Oswald spoke.

[Peter Fokes]

That puts Charles's ability to obtain two aircraft from the United States in 1964 during an embargo and his subsequent 1967 jailing by Duvalier in a whole new light. For it was in 1967 that Mitch WerBell, along with some Haitians and Cuban exiles, were caught planning an invasion of Haiti from Florida. (John Simkin quoting Pete Brewton)

I can not recall the details off-hand, but wasn't Clemard Joseph Charles also associated with Frank Sturgis; both men being associated with a company called the 'Pacific Peace Organization' or something similar?

James

Perhaps you are recalling a footnote in Gaeton Fonzi's book, The Last Investigation (p. 313):

"Quite recently, into this intertwining connection of characters came someone whom I had not previously associated with de Mohrenschildt or anyone directly linked to Oswald. He was discovered by one of the most diligent of private researchers, Peggy Adler Robohm, who in checking Clemard Charles' numerous corporate fronts, discovered the St. Charles Pacific Peace Organization, incorporated in 1988 as a non-profit entity with the power to raise money to do all kinds of profit making activities -- as long as it included "elevating the standards of health" -- without having to pay taxes. The Treasurer of the Corporation was listed as Frank Sturgis."

Peter Fokes

[James Richards]

Thank you, Peter.

I haven't read Fonzi's book but maybe it was quoted on the Net somewhere. At least I know I'm not going totally balmy.

Cheers,

[John Dolva]

James, have you got a photo of George Djamgaroff? (see "the last hero-Wild Bill Donovan" Brown p 178) "in September 1941 an incredible person, George Djamgaroff, of New York, applied for a post as a secret intelligence officer....

and later p181 (now april 1942): "...his application was rejected. What became of him is not known."

[James Richards]

James, have you got a photo of George Djamgaroff? (see "the last hero-Wild Bill Donovan" Brown p 178) "in September 1941 an incredible person, George Djamgaroff, of New York, applied for a post as a secret intelligence officer....

and later p181 (now april 1942): "...his application was rejected. What became of him is not known."

John,

Sorry, no photo but I can tell you that Djamgaroff was a former Czarist officer. During the congressional committee's investigation of Communist activities in the United States, Djamgaroff identified Feodore Ziavkin, general manager of the Amtog as a former member of the Ogpu, the secret political police of Red Russia. Djamgaroff claimed he was an officer in the White Army on special mission when he was arrested and questioned by Ziavkin.

Djamgaroff was also secretary of the Monday Opera Club. It has also been claimed that he was the one who forged the infamous Whalen Documents.

FWIW.

James

[Dave Weaver]

James, have you got a photo of George Djamgaroff? (see "the last hero-Wild Bill Donovan" Brown p 178) "in September 1941 an incredible person, George Djamgaroff, of New York, applied for a post as a secret intelligence officer....

and later p181 (now april 1942): "...his application was rejected. What became of him is not known."

John,

Sorry, no photo but I can tell you that Djamgaroff was a former Czarist officer. During the congressional committee's investigation of Communist activities in the United States, Djamgaroff identified Feodore Ziavkin, general manager of the Amtog as a former member of the Ogpu, the secret political police of Red Russia. Djamgaroff claimed he was an officer in the White Army on special mission when he was arrested and questioned by Ziavkin.

Djamgaroff was also secretary of the Monday Opera Club. It has also been claimed that he was the one who forged the infamous Whalen Documents.

FWIW.

James

In an audiotaped interview, I think it was for his to be published book, deM referred to Oswald as being like his son or "one of his soldiers".

I am not aware of any military duty deM was involved in, but I may be wrong.

Slip of tongue or did he want to tell something ?