ESPIONAGE CHARGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 July 1943, Page 4

ESPIONAGE CHARGE

AGAINST INTERNED GERMAN IN AUSTRALIA SKETCH MAPS PREPARED OF DEFENCE INSTALLATIONS. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.45 p.m.) CANBERRA, This Day. A German who came to Australia in 1938 prepared sketch maps of Australian defence installations while he was in an internment camp. This German, Karl Oswald Theirfelder, pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Criminal Court to two charges of having obtained and recorded information in a manner likely to prejudice the defence of the Commonwealth. Theirfelder has been remanded for sentence, and news of the. trial has been released by the Australian Direc-tor-General of Security, Brigadier Simpson. Before the war, Theirfelder worked as a mechanic for a German motor organisation, said Brigadier Simpson. He acquired a great deal of information about Australia’s defence ■positions and installations, and about some measures of a secret nature. After the outbreak of war, Theirfelder was interned', but the knowledge he possessed had been gained in such a thorough manner that he was able to prepare carefully annotated sketch maps showing mapy .of these installations. “While much of Theirfelder’s information could' have been gained from observation, some of the vital facts in his possession were obtained by listening to idle chatter,” declared Brigadier Simpson. “There is still far too much loose talk. People must develop a security sense.” Brigadier Simpson announced that another internee from an overseas country had pleaded guilty on four counts of having in his possession documents containing information of military value which might be useful to the enemy. The case is being heard in camera.