Introducing Joseph Scheinmann, aka ‘Agent André’

Blog Images: Please note that the images shown in this blog were supplied by kind permission of Diana Mara Henry and courtesy of the family of André Joseph Scheinmann. All images are subject to strict Copyright Laws and they may not be copied, loaned, cloned, edited nor reproduced in any form, for any occasion, without prior permission.

André Joseph Scheinmann in Rennes after the war. He's wearing the 'Moustique' parachutist insignia of the Forces Françaises Libres on his right side and his British Parachute Wings on his left breast pocket. (By kind permission of Diana Mara Henry and courtesy of the family of André Joseph Scheinmann).

André Joseph Scheinmann’s Natzweiler Medal showing André's prisoner number and his red triangle as a French political prisoner with no Jewish identity. (By kind permission of Diana Mara Henry and courtesy of the family of André Joseph Scheinmann).

The third image on the right is a portrait of André in later life (André interviewed by/courtesy USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education).

Itroducing Joseph Scheinmann, aka ‘Agent André’

With the approach of International Holocaust Day, I would like to share with you the story of this remarkable young man, who, during the Second World War aged just 25, ran a network of 300 French patriots supplying him with intelligence which he passed to London, in one of the very first Resistance networks in France, in the Brittany area.  What is all the more remarkable is that Joseph was German. A German Jew.

Born in 1915, Joseph was raised in Kempton and Dusseldorf where he lived with his parents and sister until his father had the prescience to realise they needed to escape the Nazi régime.  Arriving in France in 1933, Joseph enlisted in the French Army when war broke out.  To protect him the French provided false papers and a new identity as André Maurice Peulevey (no relation of the SOE agent named Harry Peulevé). His Army career was brief, as France soon fell.  Following his capture, he escaped from the POW camp and was destined to make a different and much more significant contribution to the Allied war effort.

As André, he secured employment as an interpreter, liaising between the SNCF (French Railways – a hotbed of resistance) and the German military. His fluency in German he explained by registering as a PhD student. Being based in the main railway hub of Rennes was an ideal location for passing on to London intelligence on German troop movements. His reports became even more significant once he made himself so indispensable to the German high command that he was taken along on inspection visits to U-boat bases, mine-sweeper units and even to the port of Brest (home to the Kriegsmarine battleships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Bismarck.)  This activity commenced in October 1940, making him one of the proud ‘Résistants de la première heure’ Joseph constantly outwitted the Germans and in order to retain his credibility with them had to allow some of his friends to believe he was collaborating. 

The Resistance arranged for him to travel to London for training in January 1942. He opted to work for the SIS rather than the Free French because it seemed to him that Churchill was focussed on winning the war and defeating the Nazis whereas de Gaulle’s agenda seemed more focussed on the political complexion of France after the war.  (SIS supported most of the Resistance in France through 1942, including André’s networks.)

Having completed his training he returned, unaware that in his absence his network had been betrayed (by none other than the later notorious  ‘La Chatte’).  His arrest led to18 months’ detention in Gestapo prisons, subjected to and withstanding 33 interrogations as well as all the other deprivations to be endured in such places, including 11 months in solitary confinement. He clung steadfastly to his cover story that he had gone to London to try to find a former girlfriend.

In July 1943 Joseph was deported to Natzweiler Concentration Camp, in Alsace. His false papers concealed the fact that he was Jewish along with the fact that there were not supposed to be any Jewish prisoners held there. (In fact there were 10,426 Jewish political prisoners at Natzweiler). Having been designated ‘Nacht und Nebel’ he was not destined to survive but marked to disappear. His fellow prisoners in his barrack trusted him and accepted him as their Kapo when the Gestapo imposed this rôle on him. This was a position he did not want but which he executed with courage, dignity and above all great leadership.  He saved countless lives, by instilling in his fellow captives a self-discipline, a culture of mutual help and the will to survive. In this he was both a survivor and a saviour. He did not exploit the privileges which he could have enjoyed as a Kapo but suffered the same deprivations as the men he felt responsible for. When faced with opportunities to escape, he chose to stay rather than allow his fellow inmates to suffer the terrible consequences meted out as punishments following an escape. In his conduct it struck me as I read about him that he was adhering both to fundamental principles of Judaism and core Christian values.

So many heroes (and heroines) of the Allied secret agencies exemplified courage and conviction.  None more so than Joseph (‘André’), who despite all he suffered, witnessed and lost, retained his integrity, humanity and compassion even in the most dire circumstances.

In early September 1944 he was transferred to Dachau when the camp was evacuated by the Nazis ahead of the advancing Allied liberation forces.  He remained in Dachau (with a stint in its sub camp Allach) until the camp was liberated by the US Army on April 29, 1945.

Returning to Paris, his worst fears were confirmed: his parents had been murdered at Auschwitz.  All the harder to bear, given that one of his primary motives in joining the SIS had been the hope of then being able to get them out. His father had taken his sister Mady to the US in the summer of 1939 and married her off to a cousin to ensure her safety.  (Her attempts with her husband, A US citizen, to bring their parents over, had been stalemated by the US Dept of State.)

In 1994 Diana Mara Henry, who had spent ten years researching Natzweiler Camp, received a ‘phone call from Joseph’s son asking her to meet his father and hear his story. She agreed and was so impressed that she moved across the States to live near him so that they could work together to produce a book. This close collaboration until his death in 2001 resulted in a very fine book, which in fact has only just been completed.  That is to say, a book worked upon and researched meticulously by Diana for twenty five years. Having known ‘André’ so well, Diana has truly captured his voice but this book, which in my opinion deserves to become a classic reference for all historians of the secret Second World War, speaks for many more victims of the Nazi régime. This in fact was the primary motivation driving Diana and ‘André’ to complete the project and bring it to publication.

I Am André - German Jew, French Resistance Fighter, British Spy will be published by Chiselbury on 15th October 2024, and the launch event will be at a private event held at the Special Forces Club on Tuesday 22nd October.

I Am André is available for discounted pre-order here

"Any memoir of a WW2 SIS/MI6 agent is to be welcomed as a rarity. I am André has the double attraction of a detailed, personal, description of the horrors of a concentration camp. Fascinating reading and an important addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in the ‘secret war’.”
Paul McCue, The Secret WW2 Learning Network, www.secret-ww2.net

“A dramatic true story of almost unbelievable courage, resilience, compassion and humanity.”
Sheryl Green, courageindisguise.co.uk

“An amazing story of courage, endurance and bravery, told in intimate detail.”
David Tremain, author of Churchill's German Spy. 

“One feels a great admiration and affection for the person of André. This fine work will certainly serve as a reference and documentation of the Résistance in Brittany.”
Monique Le Tac, author of Yvonne Le Tac.

“An excellent biography of a very brave man. A true ‘ripping good yarn’”
Tim Spicer OBE, author of A Suspicion of Spies.

“The captivating and well documented biography of a most amazing wartime agent and resistant my father had dealings with inside SIS.”
Caroline Gentry Babois, daughter of John Edward Gentry, RNVR, Officer Commanding of the Anglo-French Communications Bureau, Paris.

“In her adept telling and framing of André Scheinmann's remarkable story, Henry identifies and illuminates the razor's edge between victimhood and resistance in the Holocaust. This is a fascinating work of history and a compelling read.”
David J. Simon, Senior Lecturer of Genocide Studies, Yale University

“The Memorial of the Neckarelz concentration camp has for many years been in contact with Diana Mara Henry. We follow with interest her indefatigable work on  the biography of Joseph Scheinmann/André Peulevey in the context of the field of research about ‘Natzweiler.’ We wish the new book, I am André, the success it deserves.”
Dorothee Roos, President of KZ-Gedenkstätte Neckarelz

“There are many stories of courage and resilience during the Holocaust, but this one is truly extraordinary. Diana Mara Henry’s gripping account of André Joseph Scheinmann is replete with heretofore unknown feats of Jewish resistance against the Nazis, both from within the Third Reich and at its periphery. Henry is to be commended for bringing to life this remarkable and inspiring tale of heroism during the darkest hours of the Holocaust.” Michael Geheran, author of Comrades Betrayed: Jewish World War I Veterans under Hitler