Eric Erickson (spy)
Eric "Red" Erickson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1896 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | January 1983 Sweden |
| Occupation(s) | Oil industry executive, spy |
| Years active | 1920s–1940s |
| Known for | Covert operative for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II |
Eric "Red" Erickson (1896 – January 1983) was a Swedish oil industry executive who served as a covert operative for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II.
Background
Born in 1896 in Brooklyn, New York State, Erickson was the son of Swedish immigrant parents. After gaining experience in Texas oil fields, he pursued higher education to further his career in the petroleum sector. To evade the 1917 military draft, he misrepresented his age by seven years and later concocted a story claiming service as a U.S. Army intelligence officer during World War I. On the advice of oil tycoon Walter C. Teagle, Erickson enrolled at Cornell University, graduating in 1921. His early career included working with Standard Oil in Asia before moving to Sweden in 1924, where he established himself as a prosperous oil trader. In the mid-1930s, he relinquished his American citizenship and became a Swedish national.
Espionage career
When World War II began in 1939, Erickson maintained his oil trade with Nazi Germany, accruing significant financial gains. After being blacklisted by the U.S. government in 1942 for collaborating with enemy forces and estranged from his American brother, he consented to assist the Allies to rehabilitate his standing. Known by the alias 'Red' assigned by U.S. intelligence, Erickson adopted the guise of a Nazi sympathizer planning to construct an oil refinery in Sweden to supply Germany. Throughout 1939 to 1945, he undertook more than 30 trips into Germany to gather intelligence on synthetic fuel plants for the OSS, supplying vital information that influenced Allied strategic bombing decisions. During this time, he developed a connection with Anne-Maria Freudenreich, who was executed by the Gestapo in 1945.
His espionage efforts during the war were documented by Alexander Klein in the 1958 publication The Counterfeit Traitor, which was subsequently adapted into a 1962 motion picture starring William Holden portraying Erickson. Although largely accurate, the film incorporated dramatized scenes such as Erickson’s escape from Germany. In 1958, Erickson appeared on "To Tell the Truth" to promote the book, which included some embellished accounts of his spy activities.
Death
Erickson passed away from natural causes in Sweden in January 1983.
External links
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1896 births
- 1983 deaths
- World War II spies for the United States
- 20th-century American businesspeople
- 20th-century Swedish businesspeople
- American businesspeople in the oil industry
- American business executives
- Swedish business executives
- American emigrants to Sweden
- American people of Swedish descent
- Businesspeople from Brooklyn
- Cornell University alumni