Talk:Wilhelm Stieber

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Untitled[edit]

Stieber in London and Karl Marx

According to Wheen, Stieber came to London "in the Spring of 1850 masquerading as a journalist called Schmidt."

i.e. not the Winter of 1850 as stated.

Reference:

Francis Wheen's biography of Karl Marx, page 163. Fourth Estate, paperback 2000.

Tasuketai 18:00, 4 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Chancellor's Spy[edit]

More details from Chancellor's Spy should be included in this biography. And the information already presented in the article, cited as coming from Stieber's book, should be double-checked for accuracy. Stieber's mother came from Oliver Cromwell's line, but Stieber doesn't say his mother's maiden name was Cromwell. Also, Stieber posed as a journalist to gain access to Marx, then as a doctor to gain access to the Communists' list of members. He accompanied the records as far as Marx's home, but neither Stieber nor the records made it inside. Stieber took the records back to Germany, so I'm not clear what is meant in the article about what happened to the records after Stieber obtained them. A few too many convenient dots are connected here. --Pat 09:08, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The Chancellor's Spy is of highly dubious authenticity. As Pat noted above, "A few too many convenient dots are connected here." The book is riddled with inaccuracies, improbabilities and hyperbole. Stieber's distant relative, a crime novelist in the latter half of the 20th century, would seem to be a more likely candidate for the author of the embroidered tales found therein.

Stieber and the Ochrana[edit]

What evidence is there that Stieber "worked in reality for the Tsar's Ochrana" ? I've read a couple of articles about Stieber but is it hard to actually put them online since it is difficult to double-check their accounts of his life. None of them however mention him as a spy for the Russians. Could this be a mix-up with Alfred Redl who lived in the same pre-World War One period and was a traitor ?--Marktreut 18:45, 26 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In response to Marktreut's query, here are two scholarly works (both in German) that refer to Stieber's involvement with the Russian secret police:

"Die Erfüllung von allgemeinen und besonderen polizeilichen Aufgaben" [The Fulfillment of General and Special Police Duties] (1984) by Klaus von der Groeben
"Zur Geschichte der politischen Polizei im 19. Jahrhundert" (1967) [On the History of the Political Police in the 19th Century] by Ernst R. Huber. 29 April 2009