{{Short description|American journalist (1930–2012)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2019}} {{confuse|Jake Koehler}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Jack Koehler |office = [[White House Communications Director]] |president = [[Ronald Reagan]] |term_start = March 1, 1987 |term_end = March 13, 1987 |predecessor = [[Pat Buchanan]] |successor = [[Tom Griscom]] |birth_name = Wolfgang Koehler |birth_date = {{birth date|1930|6|11}} |birth_place = [[Dresden]], [[Weimar Republic]] |death_date = {{death date and age|2012|9|28|1930|6|11}} |death_place = [[Stamford, Connecticut|Stamford]], [[Connecticut]], U.S. |party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] |education = }} '''John O. Koehler''' (June 11, 1930 – September 28, 2012) was a German-born American journalist and executive for the [[Associated Press]], who also briefly served as the [[White House Communications Director]] in 1987 during the [[Reagan administration]].<ref name=ap>{{cite news|title=Former AP executive Koehler, who also served a week in Reagan White House, dies in Conn. at 82 |url=http://timesleader.com/archive/46102/stories-jack-koehler2c-former-ap-exec2c-dies-in-conn-at-82211116|agency=[[Associated Press]] |publisher =[[Times Leader]] |date=September 29, 2012 |access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref> Following the end of the [[Cold War]] and [[German Reunification]], Koehler devoted his retirement to researching Cold War espionage and published two works of [[popular history]] about the foreign and domestic activities of the East German [[Stasi]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]]'s "Cold War against the [[Catholic Church]]." Following his death in 2012, Koehler was buried with [[Military funerals in the United States|full military honors]] at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref name=ap>{{cite news|title=Former AP executive Koehler, who also served a week in Reagan White House, dies in Conn. at 82 |url=http://timesleader.com/archive/46102/stories-jack-koehler2c-former-ap-exec2c-dies-in-conn-at-82211116|agency=[[Associated Press]] |publisher =[[Times Leader]] |date=September 29, 2012 |access-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Koehler was born Wolfgang Koehler in [[Dresden, Germany]], but fled the city to escape the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|invasion of Soviet troops into Germany]] towards the end of [[World War II]].<ref name="ap" /> He soon found a position as a [[German language]] [[interpreter]] for the [[United States Army]] when he was a teenager.<ref name="ap" /> He emigrated to [[Canada]] after World War II and then immigrated to the [[United States]] in 1954.<ref name="ap" /> Koehler enlisted in the [[U.S. Army]], where he worked in [[military intelligence]].<ref name="ap" /> He legally changed his name to John Koehler after moving to the United States.<ref name="ap" />
== Career == Koehler took a position with the [[Associated Press]] as a [[foreign correspondent]] in [[Berlin]] and [[Bonn]], [[West Germany]].<ref name=ap/> He then became the Associated Press' bureau chief in [[Newark, New Jersey]].<ref name=ap/> He rose to become the assistant [[general manager]] and [[managing director]] of AP's world services, a position he held until his retirement in 1985.<ref name=ap/>
The [[United States Information Agency]] recruited Koehler to lobby on behalf of the [[Afghan mujahideen|Afghan resistance]] following the [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]].<ref name=ap/> He traveled to [[Pakistan]] and [[France]] to focus on helping the Afghan rebels get their messages out to uncensored media and to foreign governments.<ref name=ap/>
In 1987, Koehler, who was friends with [[Ronald Reagan]], became the [[White House Communications Director]].<ref name=ap/> However, Koehler resigned after just one week in the White House. It had just appeared in the media that Koehler had been forcibly trained as a [[child soldier]] by the [[Deutsches Jungvolk]], a [[Nazi Party]] extreme youth [[paramilitary]] wing, when he was ten years old and delivered ammunition to anti-aircraft crews during the 1945 incendiary [[Bombing of Dresden]] by the [[Royal Air Force]].<ref name=ap/> Koehler insisted that his coercive training and use as a child soldier was not the reason for his resignation and dismissed the Jungvolk as "the [[Scouting|Boy Scouts]] run by the Nazi party".<ref name=ap/> Rather, he said, he wanted to give his successor enough time to choose a new communication team.<ref name=ap/> Koehler then left the [[White House]] temporarily to start an international [[consulting firm]].<ref name=ap/> On 9 December 1988, Koehler was appointed by President Reagan to a position in the [[National Commission for Employment Policy]] of the [[United States Department of Labor]].<ref>https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/appointment-john-o-koehler-member-national-commission-employment-policy The Appointment of John O. Koehler to the National Commission for Employment Policy], [[Ronald Reagan Presidential Library]].</ref>
==Historian of espionage== Koehler spent much of his later life as a [[Cold War]]-era historian of espionage, while using the former East German [[Stasi]] archives and his experiences and connections from his career in the [[U.S. intelligence community]] to document and expose the formerly covert activities of [[Soviet Bloc]] intelligence services and those who spied for them worldwide.
===East Germany=== In February 1992, former [[German Democratic Republic|East German]] [[Stasi|secret police]] chief [[Erich Mielke]] was belatedly brought to trial for the 9 August 1931 [[first degree murder]]s of [[Berlin Police]] Captains [[Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck|Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck]] as well as the [[attempted murder]] of Senior Sergeant Max Willig.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-02-11-mn-1691-story.html "E. German Stasi Chief on Trial; Political Error Seen : Justice: The spectacle seems an embarrassment. The murder charges predate communism's rise,"] ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', 11 February 1992.</ref> At the time he acted as one of two triggermen in the 1931 cop killings, Mielke had been a young street-fighter in the ''Parteiselbstschutz'', the [[paramilitary]] wing of the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD), which bore strong similarities to the [[Sturmabteilung|Nazi stormtrooper]]s. Mielke was acting under orders of his KPD superiors [[Heinz Neumann]], [[Hans Kippenberger]], and [[Walter Ulbricht]]. The evidence for Mielke's guilt was drawn from the original police files, the transcripts from the 1934 trial of his co-conspirators, and a handwritten memoir in which Mielke revealed that his role in, "[[Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck|the Bülowplatz Affair]]," had been his reason for fleeing to [[Moscow]] from the [[Weimar Republic]] in 1931. All had been found in Mielke's house safe during a police search in 1990. Mielke was believed to have kept the documents for the purpose of "blackmailing [[Erich Honecker|Honecker]] and other East German leaders."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/11/world/berlin-journal-silent-still-the-old-man-who-trafficked-in-secrets.html Berlin Journal; Silent Still, the Old Man Who Trafficked in Secrets] ''[[The New York Times]]'', 11 March 1993.</ref> Jack Koehler also testified as a witness for the prosecution that Mielke had boasted of his involvement in the 1931 Bülowplatz murders during a confrontation at [[Leipzig]] in 1965. At the time of their conversation, Koehler was working covertly for the [[U.S. Intelligence Community]], while under journalistic cover at the [[Associated Press]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Koehler|first=John O.|title=Stasi: the untold story of the East German secret police|date=1999|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=0-8133-3409-8|location=Boulder, Colo.|oclc=39256274}} pp. 1–3.</ref> Erich Mielke was convicted of two counts of murder and one of attempted murder and, on 26 October 1993, a panel of three judges and two jurors handed down a sentence of six years' imprisonment.<ref name="nytimes.com">[https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/26/world/erich-mielke-powerful-head-of-stasi-east-germany-s-vast-spy-network-dies-at-92.html "Erich Mielke, Powerful Head of Stasi, East Germany's Vast Spy Network, Dies at 92."] ''[[The New York Times]]'', 26 May 2000.</ref>
In his 1999 book-length history of the East German Stasi, Koehler documented the formerly covert domestic and foreign activities of East Germany's secret police, particularly under Mielke's 1957-1989 leadership. In the process, Koehler, knowing that a comparison of the GDR to [[Nazi Germany]] would ''really'' sting, termed the Stasi, "The Red [[Gestapo]]".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Koehler|first=John O.|title=Stasi: the untold story of the East German secret police|date=1999|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=0-8133-3409-8|location=Boulder, Colo.|oclc=39256274}} p. 33.</ref> He particularly exposed the collusion of the GDR with [[death squad]]s run by [[Libya]]n [[diplomat]]s and in the training and arming of [[terrorist organization]]s dedicating to attacking [[NATO]], [[United States military]] personnel in [[Western Europe]], and the [[State of Israel]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Koehler|first=John O.|title=Stasi: the untold story of the East German secret police|date=1999|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=0-8133-3409-8|location=Boulder, Colo.|oclc=39256274}} pp. 325–401.</ref> Koehler also accused Erich Mielke, [[Markus Wolf]], and the Stasi [[military advisor]]s they assigned to [[Ethiopia]] to assist [[Far Left]] [[dictator]] [[Mengistu Haile Mariam]] of [[complicity in genocide]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Koehler|first=John O.|title=Stasi: the untold story of the East German secret police|date=1999|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=0-8133-3409-8|location=Boulder, Colo.|oclc=39256274}} pp. 297–324.</ref> Furthermore, Koehler, as part of his research process, also interviewed [[Holocaust]] survivor and [[Nazi hunter]] [[Simon Wiesenthal]], who accused the Stasi of routinely using miles of secret files on unprosecuted [[Nazi war crimes]] to [[blackmail]] [[Nazi war criminals]] into spying for the GDR.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Koehler|first=John O.|title=Stasi: the untold story of the East German secret police|date=1999|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=0-8133-3409-8|location=Boulder, Colo.|oclc=39256274}} pp. 26–27.</ref> Wiesenthal also told Koehler, "The Stasi was much, much worse than the Gestapo, if you consider only the oppression of its own people. The Gestapo had 40,000 officials watching a country of 80 million, while the Stasi employed 102,000 to control only 17 million."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Koehler|first=John O.|title=Stasi: the untold story of the East German secret police|date=1999|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=0-8133-3409-8|location=Boulder, Colo.|oclc=39256274}} p. 8.</ref>
===Catholic Church and the Cold War=== Koehler's history of the decades long vendetta against the [[Roman Catholic Church]] by the [[Soviet secret police]] and [[Soviet Bloc]] intelligence services was published in August 2009. Beginning with the execution of Monsignor [[Konstantin Budkevich|Konstanty Budkiewicz]] in the basement of [[Moscow]]'s [[Lubyanka Building|Lubyanka Prison]] on [[Easter Sunday]] 1923, Koehler documented how the [[religious persecution]] of the [[Catholic Church in Russia]] began almost immediately after the [[October Revolution]].<ref>John Koehler (2009), ''Spies in the Vatican: The Soviet Union's Cold War Against the Catholic Church'', Pegasus Books. Pages 1-15.</ref>
Citing documents in both the Polish and East German secret police archives, as well as sources in both Western and former Soviet Bloc intelligence, as well as the [[Institute of National Remembrance|Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation]], Koehler accused Fr. [[Jerzy Dąbrowski (bishop)|Jerzy Dąbrowski]] (d. 1990), the late former bishop of [[Gniezno]], of spying for both the [[Security Service (Poland)|Polish SB]] and the Soviet [[KGB]] while studying art in Rome between 1961 and 1970. Fr. Dąbrowski was the source for highly valued information about the inner workings of the [[Second Vatican Council]], which Fr. Dąbrowski extracted, based on careful coaching from his [[handler (espionage)|handler]]s behind the scenes, from the Polish delegation attending the council. As part of his research process, Koehler was able to acquire copies of Fr. Dąbrowski's spy reports on Vatican II from the [[Stasi Records Agency]]. According to Fr. Dąbrowski's sources, the council had been called at the urging of anti-Communist Catholic clergy in [[West Germany]], with the intentions of both strengthening the Church internally and going upon the offense in response to the global rise of both [[Marxism]] and [[Communism]].<ref>John Koehler (2009), ''Spies in the Vatican: The Soviet Union's Cold War Against the Catholic Church'', Pegasus Books. Pages 8-15.</ref><ref>Felix Corley (1996), ''Religion in the Soviet Union: An Archival Reader'', [[New York University Press]]. Pages 227–232.</ref>
For example, the KGB station in Rome reported after debriefing Dąbrowski, "The majority of the council participants asserted the need to replace [[Ecclesiastical Latin|Latin]] in services with [[national language]]s, to adapt rites to local customs and traditions of the population. 'We need to meet the times and make the liturgy more accessible for the wide mass of believers who do not understand the Latin language', they said... 'The council must keep in mind missionary goals and the task of uniting the churches. The Latin language is an obstacle to this.' ...'Marxism is finding more and more supporters because it preaches in the local languages. In order to oppose Marxism, we must conduct the liturgy in national languages. If the people cannot understand the liturgy they will go over to the marxists.' In this way, under the external theological cover, it is not difficult to discern the political reality: the striving to increase the influence of religion and the church in the countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, to counter the spreading of the ideas of communism, and to unite the efforts of the christian churches in the battle with [[Marxist-Leninist atheism|atheism]] and communism."<ref>Felix Corley (1996), ''Religion in the Soviet Union: An Archival Reader'', [[New York University Press]]. Pages 230–231.</ref>
Fr. Dąbrowski's reports on the council were considered so important that [[Yuri Andropov]] was briefed upon them immediately after taking command of the KGB in 1967 and cited them as grounds to order a mass offensive against the Catholic Church beginning in 1969. Even though the Second Vatican Council had allegedly been called to strengthen the Church as an ally of the [[Free World]] in the ongoing [[Cold War]], after its completion, according to Koehler, the KGB was easily able to recruit [[mole (espionage)|mole]]s inside every Department of the [[Roman Curia]].<ref>John Koehler (2009), ''Spies in the Vatican: The Soviet Union's Cold War Against the Catholic Church'', Pegasus Books. Pages 8-15.</ref>
During the early 1970s, Koehler alleges that a highly placed mole inside the Vatican's [[diplomat]]ic service was secretly recording conversations between [[Pope Paul VI]] and foreign dignitaries. In a particularly damaging case, a 22 February 1973 meeting between the Pope and an increasingly desperate [[South Vietnam]]ese Foreign Minister [[Trần Văn Lắm]] was recorded, transcribed and shared with the [[North Vietnam]]ese [[Ministry of Public Security (Vietnam)|intelligence service]]. At the time, a north–south ceasefire was in effect, but Minister Trần was expressing to the Pope in vain the mounting terror of his Government about what was seen as South Vietnam's abandonment by its allies. According to Koehler, who found a transcript of the conversation in the East German archives and confirmed its authenticity, "when this transcript reached [[Hanoi]], the Communist leadership would not have harbored any doubts that their resumption of armed aggression would go unopposed by any Western Government."<ref>John Koehler (2009), ''Spies in the Vatican: The Soviet Union's Cold War Against the Catholic Church'', Pegasus Books. Pages 31-55.</ref>
In a chapter-long critique of both West German and Vatican [[Ostpolitik]], Koehler documented how the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovak]] [[StB]] was able in the early 1970s to successfully plant a ceramic statue of the [[Blessed Virgin]], which contained a covert listening device inside the office of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal [[Agostino Casaroli]]. A second listening device was located very close to the statue and was concealed inside an [[armoire]]. The operation was carried out with the assistance of the Cardinal's own nephew, Marco Torreta, who, according to Italian counterintelligence agents, had been an informant for the KGB since 1950. The intention was to compromise as much as possible the Cardinal's efforts to negotiate an end to the [[religious persecution]] of Catholics behind the [[Iron Curtain]]. Both listening devices proved extremely damaging, particularly due to the Cardinal's decades at his post. Both devices were only uncovered in 1990, as part of a massive investigation into the 1981 attempt on the life of [[Pope John Paul II]] which had been ordered by Italian [[investigative magistrate]] Rosario Priore. Both listening devices had still been transmitting all that time.<ref>John Koehler (2009), ''Spies in the Vatican: The Soviet Union's Cold War Against the Catholic Church'', Pegasus Books. Pages 17-29.</ref>
Koehler also alleges, based on detailed documentary material in both Polish and Soviet archives, that the [[Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II|1981 assassination attempt]] by [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]] against [[Pope John Paul II]] was a Soviet intelligence operation which had been unanimously voted upon in advance by the [[Politburo]], the ruling Central Committee of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]. In a document that still survives, all members of the Party Central Committee, including future Soviet Premier [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], co-signed the orders.<ref>John Koehler (2009), ''Spies in the Vatican: The Soviet Union's Cold War Against the Catholic Church'', Pegasus Books. Pages 57-134.</ref>
== Death == Koehler died from [[pancreatic cancer]] at his home in [[Stamford, Connecticut]], on September 28, 2012, at the age of 82.<ref name=ap/> He was buried with [[Military funerals in the United States|full military honors]] at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref name=ap/>
== Selected publications == *{{Cite book|last=Koehler|first=John O.|title=Spies in the Vatican: the Soviet Union's cold war against the Catholic Church|date=2009|isbn=978-1-60598-050-8|location=New York|oclc=286439472}} *{{Cite book|last=Koehler|first=John O.|title=Stasi: the untold story of the East German secret police|date=1999|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=0-8133-3409-8|location=Boulder, Colo.|oclc=39256274}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8d5nd4nw/ John O. Koehler Papers], [[Hoover Institute]], [[Stanford University]].
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=[[Pat Buchanan]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[White House Communications Director|White House Director of Communications]]|years=1987}} {{s-aft|after=[[Tom Griscom]]}} {{s-end}}
{{WHCD}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koehler, Jack}} [[Category:1930 births]] [[Category:2012 deaths]] [[Category:American Cold War spymasters]] [[Category:American historians of espionage]] [[Category:American male journalists]] [[Category:American spies]] [[Category:American spies against the Soviet Union]] [[Category:Associated Press reporters]] [[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]] [[Category:Cold War history of the United States]] [[Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Connecticut]] [[Category:Emigrants from Allied-occupied Germany]] [[Category:German-American history]] [[Category:Hitler Youth members]] [[Category:Historians of communism]] [[Category:Immigrants to Canada]] [[Category:Reagan administration personnel]] [[Category:United States Army soldiers]] [[Category:Western spies against the Eastern Bloc]] [[Category:White House communications directors]] [[Category:Writers from Dresden]] [[Category:Writers from Stamford, Connecticut]] [[Category:German emigrants to the United States]]