Operation Bernhard survivor and Fester Hans Walter died on April 20th. Han who has attended MPCFest on several occasions slipped away on Friday with his family nearby. His passing was reported by Danny Spungen. Spungenand Walter are shown above at MPCFest.

Danny called me that he was on the road heading for Ohio. Danny said that had found a survivor of Operation Bernhard. He lived in Mansfield, Ohio. Danny was going to visit him, did I want to go along? Oh my, what arequest. I was thrilled to have the opportunity. Danny picked me up and we were on our way.

We arrived in Mansfield (just the two of us) in good order, bursting with enthusiasm and questions. We were greeted by Hans Walter, who was indeed a survivor of Auschwitz, transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentrationcamp as a member of Operation Bernhard.

... Hans became a final inspector of notes. Likely he had other jobs along the way, but it was the inspector job that he described the most to us. Hans was very proud to say that he was in charge of the final inspectionstages (of which there were about five).

After the war Hans came to the United States, where he married, raised a daughter, and worked at the General Motors factory in Mansfield.

We showed Hans a few Bernhard notes that Danny had taken along. Hans confirmed that they were indeed Bernhard notes, although I do not know how he identified them. Danny was quick to tell Hans, that "we collectors canpretty easily distinguish a genuine from a counterfeit note." Hans was disturbed by this "accusation," because he said he would not be living today if it was easy to detect the differences. In fact, he started to shake hislittle four-legged card table, saying it was not easy. After a discussion, we back-tracked and told him that "today," given all the information we have, it is easy, but of course back in 1944 it was not easy at all, and thatis why the operation was so successful!

Hans indicated that these were the first examples that he had seen since the war.

To read the complete article, see:
OPERATION BERNHARD SURVIVOR HANS WALTER (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n31a33.html)