Dr. Fredrich Wilhelm "Fritz" Remmler (1890-1972) - Hunter and Falconer
Thanks to Leslie Sharp for turning us on to Dr.Fredrich Wilhelm "Fritz" Remmler, the German raised in Finland
who was possibly with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Curtis LeMay at the time of
the assassination.
Leslie helped get Hank Abarellie's book Coup In Dallas published (by Skyhorse) after he died, and she is
continuing to research important leads.
Fritz was a big game hunter and falconer who was the gamekeeper at the General
Motors owned island in north Michigan where some believe LeMay was at the time
of the assassination.
Key excerpts from the article posted, with Pictures of Remmler: ( JFKCountercoup2: More on Dr. Fritz Remmler / Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm "Fritz" Remmler Big Game Hunter & Falconer | AfricaHunting.com ) :
“After WWI Remmler ran a business in Finland, collecting wild animals live for zoos and collections around the world, pioneering the safe trapping of elk."
As they were contemporaries in Finland at the same time, and both hunters, I wonder if Remmler was friends with or knew Simo Hayha - the most prolific sniper of all time. When the Russians invaded Finland, Hayha took up his rifle and donned a white snow hoodie and began shooting Russians. Know as the White Death. According to the Russians, Hayha had over 500 confirmed kills. And he lived to 2002.
"Remmler came to Canada from Germany in 1951 and was employed as a gamekeeper for General Motors, where he helped maintain land owned by the automaker on Griffith’s Island on Georgian Bay, near Owen Sound,..."
A number of researchers have identified this General Motors hunting resort on Griffith's Island on Georgian Bay as where General LeMay was at the time of the assassination, though others say he may have been at a cabin owned by Jimmie Hoffa. I think it was Griffith's Island. While it is a first class resort, it was quite spartan, didn't have telephones but did have a short wave and Ham radios, LeMay's preferred choice of communication.
At first LeMay had sent for an Air Force executive jet to pick him up in Toronto, but when he learned there was a former Canadian Air Force field nearby in Whairton, he diverted the plane there to meet him and return him to Washington.
"Remmler... also spent four years working as an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Eventually, he and his family emigrated to rural Ontario where he wrote this memoir.”
Someone might check to see if the RCMP have a file on Remmler or LeMay.
Although his memoirs seem to be limited to his hunting up until 1930, he might mention his work in Canada as well, and it would be nice if someone who can read and translate German would obtain this book.
“The Memoirs of a Hunter- Experiences in Finland and Russia, 1904-1930” (published in August 2009.) The book is a true tale of hunting in the frozen wilderness of another time. Friedrich describes his adventures in graphic detail. His words are complemented by illustrations by Russian artist Vadim Gorbatov. Ingmar Remmler was doing a little housecleaning when he came across a hidden gem that had been buried for more than 35 years. It was a 450-page manuscript, written in German, that was completed by his father Friedrich, shortly before he died at 82 years of age in 1972 “I found the manuscript at home,” Ingmar said as he held up the work. “My father had originally written it back in 1972. He submitted it to publisher but they rejected it. They said it was too long.”
Remmler's son should be located and questioned about the GM resort.
It has been pointed out to me that in 1953 General Eisenhower appointed Charles Erwin Wilson Secretary of Defense when Wilson was CEO of General Motors, and that Wilson and LeMay were close allies on military spending.
In addition, it appears that hiding out at hunting lodges was a popular trend. Max Holland's wife advised him to look for patterns, and while I don't think he does, I think this is quite a pattern - the senior von Alvensleben hiding out at a hunting lodge during the mass execution of Hitler's enemies, Alvensleben being one, D.H. Byrd and the junior Alvensleben at Safari land at the time of the assassination and LeMay and Remmler at the General Motor's hunting lodge in Michigan at the same time.
From the Wikipedia entry for the senior Werner von Alvensleben:
"After Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, von Alvensleben belonged to the conservative opposition. He refused to swear the oath of allegiance to Hitler prescribed by law as he was a captain of the reserve. Prior to the "Night of the Long Knives", the purge of the SA leadership around Ernst Röhm and the conservative opposition on 30 June 1934, a hunting companion of earlier times, Graf von Helldorf [1], a member of the SA and one of the organizers of the purge (who eventually turned against Hitler and was executed after the 20 July plot) warned von Alvensleben to spend the coming weekend at his hunting lodge, as he then did, escaping certain assassination; it was thereupon that he was first condemned to death. He had been the go-between for Schleicher to Hitler and had made fun of Hitler for his ambition to be the new Napoleon."
We are also comparing the photos of Remmler in the linked article with those of Safariland to s]ee if he hunted there with Alverslaben or Byrd.
I find it peculiar that while LeMay was away hunting in Michigan, the rest of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were at the Pentagon meeting with the East German General Staff that included two generals who were involved in the July 20, 1944 Valkyrie assassination attempt on Hitler, but escaped retribution. When Chief of Staff General Maxwell Taylor was notified that the president had been shot, he continued the meeting for another two hours, and when notified the president was dead, took a nap. See Manchester's account:
JFKCountercoup2: The Joint Chiefs of Staff meet with German General Staff 11/22/63
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