"V-men"

[Bonnie Surfus (ENG)]

On Tue, 23 May 1995, Zachary Haberer wrote:

> Recalling all the V associations listed here not too long ago,
> I was seized with disproportionate interest by the following passage:
> 
>    "Beck and his friends were well aware of this Communist line, and 
>    they knew also that the Communist underground was directed from 
>    Moscow and served chiefly as an espionage source for the 
>    Russians. Furthermore, they knew that it had become infiltrated 
>    with Gestapo agents-- "V men" as Heinrich Mueller, the Gestapo 
>    chief and him self an admirer of the Soviet NKVD, called 
>    them."
>    --pg 1354,  W. Shirer "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"
> 
> The Communist underground refers to the organization within
> Germany during the war, known as the "Rote Kapelle" (Red
> Orchestra).  Now what I want to know is why would well-known
> admirer of the Soviet NKVD, Gestapo chief Heinrich Mueller call
> his undercover orchestral players "V men".  And the Rote Kapelle 
> itself sounds interesting-- if anyone knows anything about them 
> please send it along.
> 
> The only additional info I found in _tRaFotTR_ was that Heinrich 
> Mueller escaped trial at the end of the war, having gone over to 
> the Russians, and was believed to be in the employ of the NKVD 
> (later KGB, currently FSK).
> 
> not much of an admirer of the NKVD,
> --Zack Haberer
> Zachary Haberer                                         
> Ian Freed Consulting/Russia                              
> tel. (from outside FSU) +7 503 956 1120                  
> tel. (from within FSU)  +7 095 956 1120                   
> 

ZAck,

YOu probably know of the references to "V-men" in GRAVITY'S RAINBOW.  If 
not, you can find one on 166 (Viking) in the seance scene.  

Noting the passage has a reference also to "agricultural machinery," I 
thought it was an allusion to Pynchon's V., which I find is a novel 
concerned with many things, but including the Goddess whom we trace to 
early agrarian societies of Old Europe.  Silly me.

Bonnie Lenore Surfus
USF