[[File:Bernard Kuehn mugshot 1941.jpg|thumb|Bernard Kuehn mugshot, 1941]]
[[File:Bernard Kuehn mugshot 1941.jpg|thumb|Bernard Kuehn mugshot, 1941]]
”’Bernard Julius Otto Kühn”’ (sometimes referred to as ”’Kuhn”’, German spelling with [[Germanic umlaut|Umlaut]]: “Kühn”) (1894 or 95 – 1956) and his family were spies in the employ of the ”[[Abwehr]]” for [[Nazi Germany]] who had close ties to Propaganda Minister [[Joseph Goebbels]].<ref name=Wallechinsky-Wallace>{{cite web |url=http://www.trivia-library.com/a/pearl-harbor-and-the-japanese-spy-family-part-3.htm |title=Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Spy Family Part |author1=Wallechinsky, David |author2=Irving Wallace |date= |accessdate=2006-12-18 |archive-date=2006-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061103115752/http://www.trivia-library.com/a/pearl-harbor-and-the-japanese-spy-family-part-3.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1935, Goebbels offered Kuehn a job working for Japanese intelligence in [[Hawaii]]; he accepted and moved his family to [[Honolulu]] on August 15, 1935. The family included Dr. Kühn, 41 years old; his wife, Friedel; a daughter, Susie Ruth (at 17, she was the former mistress of [[Goebbels]]);<ref name=Wallechinsky-Wallace/> and her half-brother, Hans Joachim. Since all four members of the family were involved in the espionage they were dubbed the “8 eyed spy”.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.trivia-library.com/a/pearl-harbor-and-the-japanese-spy-family-part-1.htm|title=Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Spy Family Part 1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://daydaynews.cc/en/history/842568.html|title = Demystifying the “spy family” behind the “Pearl Harbor”: The youngest spy is only 6 years old|date = 9 October 2020}}</ref>
”’Bernard Julius Otto Kühn”’ (sometimes referred to as ”’Kuhn”’, German spelling with [[Germanic umlaut|Umlaut]]: “Kühn”) (1894 or 95 – 1956) and his family were spies in the employ of the ”[[Abwehr]]” for [[Nazi Germany]] who had close ties to Propaganda Minister [[Joseph Goebbels]].<ref name=Wallechinsky-Wallace>{{cite web |url=http://www.trivia-library.com/a/pearl-harbor-and-the-japanese-spy-family-part-3.htm |title=Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Spy Family Part |author1=Wallechinsky, David |author2=Irving Wallace |date= |accessdate=2006-12-18 |archive-date=2006-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061103115752/http://www.trivia-library.com/a/pearl-harbor-and-the-japanese-spy-family-part-3.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1935, Goebbels offered Kuehn a job working for Japanese intelligence in [[Hawaii]]; he accepted and moved his family to [[Honolulu]] on August 15, 1935. The family included Dr. Kühn, 41 years old; his wife, Friedel; a daughter, Susie Ruth (at 17, she was the former mistress of [[Goebbels]]);<ref name=Wallechinsky-Wallace/> and her half-brother, Hans Joachim. Since all four members of the family were involved in the espionage they were dubbed the “8 eyed spy”.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.trivia-library.com/a/pearl-harbor-and-the-japanese-spy-family-part-1.htm|title=Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Spy Family Part 1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://daydaynews.cc/en//842568.html|title = Demystifying the “spy family” behind the “Pearl Harbor”: The youngest spy is only 6 years old|date = 9 October 2020}}</ref>
His daughter dated U.S. military personnel and opened a beauty parlor that offered the best and cheapest services in the city. Wives of high-ranking military personnel would spend hours gossiping about the comings and goings of their husbands. “They talked so much,” she would later say, “that it was a relief when they left the place”.<ref name=Wallechinsky-Wallace/>
His daughter dated U.S. military personnel and opened a beauty parlor that offered the best and cheapest services in the city. Wives of high-ranking military personnel would spend hours gossiping about the comings and goings of their husbands. “They talked so much,” she would later say, “that it was a relief when they left the place”.<ref name=Wallechinsky-Wallace/>
The family lived the good life on Japanese pay, but Bernard Kuehn soon came to the attention of the [[FBI]] as a possible suspect because of his Nazi connections and lack of any source of income.<ref name=”History”>{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/magazines/world_war_2/3035811.html?page=2&c=y |title=Takeo Yoshikawa: World War II Japanese Pearl Harbor Spy |accessdate=2006-12-18 |last=Deac, Wil |date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927215657/http://www.historynet.com/magazines/world_war_2/3035811.html?page=2&c=y |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> After the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], he was arrested and on February 21, 1942, he was sentenced by a military commission to be shot “by musketry” as a spy.<ref name=”FBI”>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb05/kuehn022105.htm |title=Sheets, Sails, and Dormer Lights: The Case of the Pearl Harbor Spy|accessdate=2006-12-18 |publisher=FBI |date=February 21, 2005 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20061213022157/http://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb05/kuehn022105.htm |archivedate=2006-12-13 }}</ref> After volunteering valuable information about the Japanese and German [[Spy ring|spy networks]], his sentence was commuted to 50 years in prison with hard labor. On June 6, 1946, Kuehn’s sentence was further commuted so he could be deported. He was confined at [[Ellis Island]] until July 29, 1948. On December 3, 1948, Kuehn was voluntarily deported to [[Buenos Aires]], [[Argentina]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Federal Bureau of Investigation |url=http://archive.org/details/BernardJuliusOttoKuehn |title=Bernard Julius Otto Kuehn}}</ref> He returned to Germany in 1955, where he died from cancer in 1956, at the age of 61. Friedel Kuehn and Susie Kuehn were both interned for the remainder of the war, and deported to Germany in 1945. Hans was repatriated with his mother.
The family lived the good life on Japanese pay, but Bernard Kuehn soon came to the attention of the [[FBI]] as a possible suspect because of his Nazi connections and lack of any source of income.<ref name=”History”>{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/magazines/world_war_2/3035811.html?page=2&c=y |title=Takeo Yoshikawa: World War II Japanese Pearl Harbor Spy |accessdate=2006-12-18 |last=Deac, Wil |date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927215657/http://www.historynet.com/magazines/world_war_2/3035811.html?page=2&c=y |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> After the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], he was arrested and on February 21, 1942, he was sentenced by a military commission to be shot “by musketry” as a spy.<ref name=”FBI”>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb05/kuehn022105.htm |title=Sheets, Sails, and Dormer Lights: The Case of the Pearl Harbor Spy|accessdate=2006-12-18 |publisher=FBI |date=February 21, 2005 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20061213022157/http://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb05/kuehn022105.htm |archivedate=2006-12-13 }}</ref> After volunteering valuable information about the Japanese and German [[Spy ring|spy networks]], his sentence was commuted to 50 years in prison with hard labor. On June 6, 1946, Kuehn’s sentence was further commuted so he could be deported. He was confined at [[Ellis Island]] until July 29, 1948. On December 3, 1948, Kuehn was voluntarily deported to [[Buenos Aires]], [[Argentina]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Federal Bureau of Investigation |url=http://archive.org/details/BernardJuliusOttoKuehn |title=Bernard Julius Otto Kuehn}}</ref> He returned to Germany in 1955, where he died from cancer in 1956, at the age of 61. Friedel Kuehn and Susie Kuehn were both interned for the remainder of the war, and deported to Germany in 1945. Hans was repatriated with his mother.
Eberhard considered himself American and refused to go back to Germany. He graduated from high school in Hawaii in 1944, joined the US Army, fought on Okinawa, and was awarded a [[Bronze Star]].<ref name=”warnet”/> His daughter, Christine, wrote a book about the family called ”Family of Spies” in 2025. She married a man named Burkhard and lives in Maryland and they had three children. She was the focus of a story about the Keuhn family featured on ”[[CBS News Sunday Morning]]” on December 7, 2025.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/christine-kuehn|title=Christine Kuehn|publisher=Jewish Book Council|date=|access-date=December 7, 2025}}<ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/book-excerpt-family-of-spies-by-christine-kuehn/|work=CBS News|title=Book excerpt: “Family of Spies” by Christine Kuehn|date=December 5, 2025|access-date=December 7, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/video/family-of-spies-christine-kuehn-discovers-her-grandfathers-nazi-past/|work=CBS News Sunday Morning|title=”Family of Spies”: Christine Kuehn discovers her grandfather’s Nazi past|date=December 7, 2025|access-date=December 7, 2025}}</ref>
Dr. Bernhard L. Hormann, the head of the sociology department at the [[University of Hawaii]], kept a collection of the Kuehn family papers including the correspondences they wrote to one another during and after their internment on [[Sand Island (Hawaii)|Sand Island]] ([[Hawaiian Island Detention Camps|Hawaiian Island Detention Camp]]). Dr. Hormann’s family provided a home for Hans Joachim Kuehn during his parents’ incarceration and subsequent sentence. His entire collection was donated to the university archives in 1981.<ref name=”Family Papers”>{{cite web |year=2025 |url=https://manoa.hawaii.edu/library/research/collections/archives/manuscript-collections/hawaii-war-records-depository/other-wwii-archival-collections/otto-kuehn-family-papers/ |title=Otto Kuehn Family Papers |format= |accessdate=2025-12-05 |publisher=[[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa]] }}</ref>
Dr. Bernhard L. Hormann, the head of the sociology department at the [[University of Hawaii]], kept a collection of the Kuehn family papers including the correspondences they wrote to one another during and after their internment on [[Sand Island (Hawaii)|Sand Island]] ([[Hawaiian Island Detention Camps|Hawaiian Island Detention Camp]]). Dr. Hormann’s family provided a home for Hans Joachim Kuehn during his parents’ incarceration and subsequent sentence. His entire collection was donated to the university archives in 1981.<ref name=”Family Papers”>{{cite web |year=2025 |url=https://manoa.hawaii.edu/library/research/collections/archives/manuscript-collections/hawaii-war-records-depository/other-wwii-archival-collections/otto-kuehn-family-papers/ |title=Otto Kuehn Family Papers |format= |accessdate=2025-12-05 |publisher=[[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa]] }}</ref>
Family of spies
Bernard Julius Otto Kühn (sometimes referred to as Kuhn, German spelling with Umlaut: “Kühn”) (1894 or 95 – 1956) and his family were spies in the employ of the Abwehr for Nazi Germany who had close ties to Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.[1] In 1935, Goebbels offered Kuehn a job working for Japanese intelligence in Hawaii; he accepted and moved his family to Honolulu on August 15, 1935. The family included Dr. Kühn, 41 years old; his wife, Friedel; a daughter, Susie Ruth (at 17, she was the former mistress of Goebbels);[1] and her half-brother, Hans Joachim. Goebbels sent the family to Hawaii because he discovered Ruth was half Jewish. Since all four members of the family were involved in the espionage they were dubbed the “8 eyed spy”.[2][3] They also had a son named Eberhard.[4]
His daughter dated U.S. military personnel and opened a beauty parlor that offered the best and cheapest services in the city. Wives of high-ranking military personnel would spend hours gossiping about the comings and goings of their husbands. “They talked so much,” she would later say, “that it was a relief when they left the place”.[1]
Bernard Kuehn’s son, Hans Joachim Kuehn was only 11 years old when he was trained by his father to ask precise questions about the ships and submarines. Young Hans was also trained to notice some critical areas on those ships and submarines. Every morning, Bernard would dress up young Hans as a U.S. Navy sailor to show their patriotism, and they would both go walk along the waterfront. The officers would invite Hans into the ships and submarines and that is when Hans would start spying.[1]
His wife’s job was to record all intelligence that the family obtained.
When Japanese master spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrived in Honolulu, Dr. Kuehn would flash coded messages with a bright light from the attic of the Kuehn household—a system that went undetected until the end.
Bernard Kuehn would send coded messages to Japanese consulates. A Japanese agent claimed that Bernard lacked spying skill and was not made for the job offered by Goebbels. He would engage in his spying activities even when he was at risk of getting caught. The information that Kuehn gave the Japanese was not of great value.[1][5]
The Kuehns went unnoticed by the Americans until the day of the attack, December 7, 1941. They were still sending coded information to the Japanese army, as they watched the carnage from their cottage that overlooked Pearl Harbor. As they sent the messages, the flashing light showing from the Kuehns’ lodge was noticed. This triggered an alert to U.S. military intelligence.[1]
The family lived the good life on Japanese pay, but Bernard Kuehn soon came to the attention of the FBI as a possible suspect because of his Nazi connections and lack of any source of income.[6] After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was arrested and on February 21, 1942, he was sentenced by a military commission to be shot “by musketry” as a spy.[7] After volunteering valuable information about the Japanese and German spy networks, his sentence was commuted to 50 years in prison with hard labor. On June 6, 1946, Kuehn’s sentence was further commuted so he could be deported. He was confined at Ellis Island until July 29, 1948. On December 3, 1948, Kuehn was voluntarily deported to Buenos Aires, Argentina.[8] He returned to Germany in 1955, where he died from cancer in 1956, at the age of 61. Friedel Kuehn and Susie Kuehn were both interned for the remainder of the war, and deported to Germany in 1945. Hans was repatriated with his mother.
Eberhard considered himself American and refused to go back to Germany. He graduated from high school in Hawaii in 1944, joined the US Army, fought on Okinawa, and was awarded a Bronze Star.[4] His daughter, Christine, wrote a book about the family called Family of Spies in 2025. She married a man named Burkhard and lives in Maryland and they had three children. She was the focus of a story about the Keuhn family featured on CBS News Sunday Morning on December 7, 2025.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).[9]
Dr. Bernhard L. Hormann, the head of the sociology department at the University of Hawaii, kept a collection of the Kuehn family papers including the correspondences they wrote to one another during and after their internment on Sand Island (Hawaiian Island Detention Camp). Dr. Hormann’s family provided a home for Hans Joachim Kuehn during his parents’ incarceration and subsequent sentence. His entire collection was donated to the university archives in 1981.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wallechinsky, David; Irving Wallace. “Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Spy Family Part”. Archived from the original on 2006-11-03. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
- ^ “Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Spy Family Part 1”.
- ^ “Demystifying the “spy family” behind the “Pearl Harbor”: The youngest spy is only 6 years old”. 9 October 2020.
- ^ a b Seabrooke, Kevin. “Christine Kuehn’s ‘Family of Spies’“. Warfare History Network. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
- ^ Prange, Gordon W., At dawn we Slept, p. 311
- ^ Deac, Wil. “Takeo Yoshikawa: World War II Japanese Pearl Harbor Spy”. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
- ^ “Sheets, Sails, and Dormer Lights: The Case of the Pearl Harbor Spy”. FBI. February 21, 2005. Archived from the original on 2006-12-13. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
- ^ Federal Bureau of Investigation. Bernard Julius Otto Kuehn.
- ^ ““Family of Spies”: Christine Kuehn discovers her grandfather’s Nazi past”. CBS News Sunday Morning. December 7, 2025. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
- ^ “Otto Kuehn Family Papers”. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. 2025. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
