Ongoing Research
When we set out to publish Forging Secrets, we naively believed it might be something of a “final word” on the topic of Operation Bernhard. But even before we finished publication, new questions and new researchers were already finding their way to us. We realized then that we wanted to provide a way to draw attention to emerging and unresolved issues in the Operation Bernhard story. Thus we designated the Afterword section of the book as a place to lay out the ongoing questions and possible trails for future researchers to explore. A print-friendly version of the Afterword is linked at the bottom of this entry. (Please note this is a “lo-fi” print-friendly version that does not contain images or the visual design elements of the published hardcover version.)
Now that the book is in print, we have created this section of our website to be a living, expanding forum for further discussion. New information will be added to this page as we discover it. Entries and articles from collectors and historians are welcome, and we encourage anyone else with an interest in this topic to reach out with any questions or research inquiries. To contact us, send an email to Mikayla Hoppe at: mikayla@spungenfoundation.org
Research Topics
Distribution of Bernhard Notes
By: Volkher von Lengeling
Discover more about the distribution of Operation Bernhard notes with an article written by Volkher von Lengeling, grandson of Egon Lengeling, who was part of the distribution network and later became involved with the German resistance to Nazism.
A Possible Plapler Connection to the ‘Nazi Titanic’
By: Robert P. Watson
Find out how Operation Bernhard survivor Jack Plapler’s sister, Albina, could be connected to the destruction of the SS Cap Arcona, what some call the “Nazi Titanic.”
Forbidden and Forged: The Story of Lejb Fryd
By: Kevin Ostoyich
Find out how a previously unresearched post card in the Spungen Foundation collection led us to Lejb Fryd, one of the prisoners involved with Operation Bernhard.