The Return of the Dark Invader

Follow-up to the 1933 publication The Dark Invader, an autobiographical account of Captain von Rintelen’s experiences as a sabotage agent in the United States of America during World War I. Rintelen had been the chief figure in that work, which had ramifications and results far beyond the knowledge of the general public, and which had been as dangerous a task as any entrusted to a man during the War.

The War ended in 1918, but it was not until 1921 that Rintelen was freed. He returned to Germany to find his country, which, when he had left it, had been in the full pride of its nationhood, rapidly dissolving into the chaos that reached its height in 1932.

In such a Germany there was no room for this naval officer, or for any representative of the régime that had fallen from public grace. The story of Rintelen’s return is one of the dramatic episodes of the post-war period. It forms a part of the manuscript that makes this book.

But the manuscript has a greater interest than this personal one. Much of the secret history of the growth of the new Germany is here told for the first time. It is a story of intrigue and treachery on the one hand, and on the other, of an amazing loyalty and implicit patriotism.

The story of The Dark Invader ended when he left the grey walls of the Atlanta Penitentiary behind him. The account of his return begins with the sight of the deserted docks and shipyards of Bremerhaven. How it ends Captain von Rintelen himself tells.