Franz von Rintelen

Captain Franz Dagobert Johannes von Rintelen (19 August 1878 - 30 May 1949) was a German Naval Intelligence officer in the United States during World War I. Sent to the neutral United States in 1915 to sabotage American ships carrying munitions and supplies to the Allies, his work was largely successful by means of developing and planting pencil bombs, organizing strikes and work slowdowns to inhibit American aid to the Allies, and negotiating funds to purchase weapons and U-boat landings. Displeased with his success, his German colleagues effected his eventual arrest in England, where he was interned for 21 months. He was then extradited to the U.S., tried and found guilty on Federal charges in New York, and imprisoned in Atlanta, Georgia for 3 years, after he U.S. entered the war. He returned to Germany in 1920 and died in England in 1949 aged 70.