◆ SpookStack

70-15 sengers of the ship, testified. In general, the members of the crew taectifiedr +hat the tein anevnee the sfrean wee’ avtivald sati 2 fant aes er ee eh Ween wie Vite Mea we WS Wee NS WLS wey Baws O44 ee ws a and normal in every respect, and that they knew nothing concerning the accident until they saw the reflection of flames, accompanied by a detonation. These hearings furni shed. no information to the effect that sabotage was responsible for the destruction of the Hindenburg. On May 14, 1957, the Board of Inquiry representing the De- pertment of Commerce, was joined by a German Commission which had been invited to sit in on the hearings. This German Commission was composed of Dr. Hugo Eckener; Dr. Ludwig Duerr,. Chief Construction Engineer of the German Zeppelin Transport Company; Dr. Guenther Bock, Professor of Aercdynamics at the Charlottenburg Technicological In- stitute; Professor ‘‘ax Deickmann, Radio Expert; Waiter Hoffman, of the neti onal Research Bureau; and Lieutenant Celonel Joachim Breit+- haupt, of the German Air hinistry. On the evening of May 18, 1937, a telephone call was re- ceived from Commander &. kh. Rosendahl of the Yaval Air Station in Lakehurst, sew Jersey, te the eftect that he desired to confer pfer- sonally with Special agent in Charge 7. &. Devereaux on the morning of Lay 15, 1937, inasmuch as he was in possession of certain informa- tion that he did not care to discuss over the telephone. On the morning of May 19, 1937, Special Agent in Charge Devereaux and Special Agent Lee F. Malone contacted Commander Rosen- dahl who advised that he was a personal friend of Hugo Eckener, the German Airship Technician, and that Eckener had stated to him on num- erous occasions that the first opinion he had formed of the disaster was that her wreckage was caused by sabotage; further, that he now imew that he had made a mistake in expressing such an opinion to the journalistic fraternity in Germany; and to remedy this mistake he had made a statement to the press in this country that he did not feel that sabotage could possibiy have been the cause of the disas- ter. Eowever, according to Commander Rosendahl, Eckener stated to him that he was convinced that the airship had met her ill-tined | fate through the employment of sabotage on the part of either Com- munists or sympathizers with the Anti-Nezi movemert. Commander ko~ can aah? an thie anracian eles, infnemead that he hed alwavse anter-+ SenGala, OF CGNs SCCeslCn, 2450 2NLOTmea tneas AS ORC GLa S Shel tained the sabotage theory as being a logical cause for the destruc- tion of the Hindenburg and this opinion had gradually grown until, at the time of the interview, he was also confident that there hed been sabotage present in connection with the destruction of the ship. He advised that on hey 18, 1537, Helmut Lau, a member of the