Jules C. Silber

Jules Crawford Silber (1880-?) was a German spy working as a censor in the United Kingdom during the First World War. He was born in Breslau, Silesia and was known for never having been arrested.

Biography

In 1968, nobody knew who Silber’s parents were, how old he was nor where was he born. However, when he was conscripted into the British Army in 1915, he announced that he "was about thirty years old”. This meant his birth date was around 1870. As a teenager, he left Germany for South Africa, where he learnt English, Afrikaans and Zulu.

War

During the Second Anglo-Boer War, the British used his services as an interpreter and an agent in the censor. About 1,500 prisoners of war were sent to Ceylon and India and Silber went there with them as an agent of censor for 18 months. He served as a city-garrison of Abbottabad near the Afghan border. Repatriation of prisoners began after the Treaty of Vereeniging and Silber returned to South Africa, where he resided for 2 years.

He later emigrated to the United States, where he lived for a few years, however he couldn't find a job because of his qualifications. When war between the United Kingdom and Germany was declared in 1914 Silber had patriotism. Thinking of the best way to help his country, he travelled to the United Kingdom, where he offered his services to the post office as a censor. In this position, he was able to obtain information useful to the German war effort. While in New York City, he gave his letter-box's address to the German ambassador.

Not holding a passport to go to London, he travelled through Canada.Security in Canada was more lax because Canadians were considered British citizens. Silber carried official British documents that showed his service in South Africa and India, none of which mentioned his nationality. He spent some time in Montreal while trying to pass as a French Canadian to disguise from the British.

He set sail for England on September 19, 1914, arriving 10 days later without a passport, and was interrogated in Manchester. Eventually, he was permitted to enter the United Kingdom and travelled to London later that evening. Although he had yet to commit any acts of espionage, he had already carried out an exploit, because he was a German who had managed to get into the United Kingdom during the war.

Obstructing MI5 investigations, he obtained a position at the censor's office after an interview by a colonel who had already served in the Punjab region. They discovered several common interests, and Silber began his work as a censor on October 12, 1914.

Using mailed window envelopes that had already been stamped and cleared he was able to forward microfilm to Germany that contained increasingly important information. Silber was regularly promoted and ended up in the position of chief censor, which enabled him to analyze all suspect documents. Once the war ended, Silber had to wait until 1925 for restrictions on voyages to the continent to be reduced so that he could return to Germany.

Autobiography

He spent his days in Germany after having written an autobiographical account of his life entitled The Invisible Weapons, in 1932.^[1] Based on this autobiography, the author Ronald Seth wrote The Spy Who Wasn't Caught, a book recounting the exploits of this master of espionage who was probably forgotten because he was the most intelligent of all the spies. The French version of this book, published in 1968, was titled Le Plus Anglais des espions allemands (The Most English of German Spies).

References

• Jules C. Silber, The Invisible Weapons, Hutchinson, 1932, Londres, D639S8S5.
• Jules C. Silber, Die Anderen Waffen : Mit Zwei Faksimilies, Korn, Breslau, Germany, 1932. D639S8S48
• Jules C. Silber, Les Armes invisibles. souvenirs d'un espion allemand au war office de 1914 a 1919, Payot, Paris, 1933. A collection of memories, studies, and documents to better serve the history of the first world war.
• Colonel Walther Nicolai, Der Deutsches Nachrichtendienst
• Lieutenant Général Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, Die Weltkriegespionage