Richard Quirin (26 April 1908 – 8 August 1942) was a German agent executed as a spy for

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was one of eight agents involved in

Operation Pastorius Operation Pastorius was a failed German intelligence plan for sabotage inside the United States during World War II. The operation was staged in June 1942 and was to be directed against strategic American economic targets. The operation was n ...

, and gave his name to the Supreme Court decision on the trial, ''

Ex parte Quirin '' Ex parte Quirin'', 317 U.S. 1 (1942), was a case of the United States Supreme Court that during World War II upheld the jurisdiction of a United States military tribunal over the trial of eight German saboteurs, in the United States. ''Quirin ...

''.

Early life

Born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1908, Quirin moved to the United States in 1927, living in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

. He worked as a

mechanic A mechanic is a skilled tradesperson who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially engines. Formerly, the term meant any member of the handicraft trades, but by the early 20th century, it had come to mean one who works w ...

during this time for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

. He lived in the United States from 1927 to 1939. During this time, Quirin joined the German American Bund and was an open supporter of the

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

regime.Abella, 31 He was a member of the Ordnungsdienst, the Bund's paramilitary wing. In 1939, Quirin and his wife returned to Germany. Upon his return, he got a job with

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

. He worked with Heinrich Heinck at the plant in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

, and the two became the first recruited by Walter Kappe, the publisher of the Bund newspaper ''Deutscher Weckruf und Beobachter'', for what became Operation Pastorius.

Operation Pastorius

After the men were recruited, they were given pseudonyms and false stories to blend in as they returned to America. Quirin's new identity was Richard Quintas, a Portuguese man who moved to Upstate New York from

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

when he was three. He was considered by Kappe to be a "cool, cruel man who would not hesitate to kill anyone to accomplish the mission's objectives." On 13 June 1942, Quirin was one of the first four to come to America as he, George John Dasch, Heinck, and Ernst Peter Burger landed on American soil on a

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

. Several days later, when Dasch turned himself in to the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

, he named Quirin as one of the "true believers" of the operation. On 20 June, Quirin was the first to be arrested, FBI officers surrounding him as he tried to escape.

Trial and execution

At the trial, Quirin took the stand after Heinck. He said he did not know the purpose of Operation Pastorius, and was just interested in returning to the United States.Johnson, 187 However, a cross-examination showed that Quirin saw himself as a loyal Nazi and had made no effort to get out of the operation. Quirin was emotionless as he was sentenced to death, only displaying sentiment when telling a guard that he wanted his contacts to know Dasch had "ratted" him out. Quirin and the five others were electrocuted on 8 August 1942, and buried in a potter's field with numbered graves. Quirin wrote a final letter to his wife and daughter prior to his execution:

"These are the last lines I can write to you. I should like to tell you that I have always loved you and that I came here to make a better life for you, my dear ones. But unfortunately, God willed it otherwise. . . . Tell Kappe or one of his people that George Dasch and Peter Burger betrayed us. Begin a new life and think of me often."

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