Operation Epsilon

In Germany at the end of World War II, Anglo-American intelligence units rounded up well-known nuclear scientists and secretly transferred them to Farm Hall, a country house in Cambridgeshire. Unknown to the scientists, Farm Hall was bugged and their conversations recorded, transcribed and translated. This volume publishes these transcripts for the first time. The transcripts reveal much about the states of mind of these men. Family worries, personal ambitions, political beliefs, thoughts of escape and their escalating frustration at their continued captivity are all graphically depicted in their conversations. For instance, one was awarded a Nobel prize while in captivity, but he was not permitted to receive it in person at the time. The background to the transcripts is described in the introduction by Professor Sir Charles Frank FRS, who worked on the Farm Hall project. He has also re-translated a section containing important areas of technical detail, as the original translation was inaccurate.