There were indeed spies among us.

A long-running tale of intrigue in Hawaiʻi will get a new twist later this year with the publication of a soon-to-be published book from inside the family of notorious Hawaiʻi spies. Wealthy German nationals Otto Kuehn and his family were paid by the Japanese government to spy on U.S. military operations at Pearl Harbor, and they funneled information to Japan that helped make the Dec. 7, 1941 attack so devastating.

In the new book, “Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor,” written by Christine Kuehn, Otto’s granddaughter, the author acknowledges the truth behind the damaging allegations against her family. Not yet in bookstores but available through pre-order, it is scheduled for release in December.

I read an advance copy of the book but Christine Kuehn preferred to wait to do interviews until the book comes out.

In her book Christine — the daughter of Otto’s son, Eberhard — describes the family’s spy history as a secret concealed from the grandchildren. She gradually unspools how she unraveled the story and pressured her relatives into sharing some of the facts, with her own research filling in more of the specifics. Eberhard, sometimes crying, declined to share many details about what his family had done and then developed dementia.

Her account will be new to many people. But the tale has independently survived in Hawaiʻi, amid the whispered reminiscences of kamaʻāina, in published news accounts from the era, inside archival records housed at the University of Hawaiʻi’s War Records Depository and in books about espionage published after the war. It’s been included in a list of the FBI’s most famous cases. All shed more light on how the chain of events unfolded.

Otto Kuehn, a former naval officer in Germany, his wife Friedel and their three charming children made quite a splash in Hawaiʻi in the late 1930s.

Mr. and Mrs. Kuehn had first arrived on the ship Tatsuta Maru in the spring of 1935, stopping in Honolulu for two weeks before heading to Japan, which they visited several other times in the next few years, according to gossipy society news reports at the time.

By 1936, the Kuehns had permanently settled on Oʻahu, where they were mentioned as the hosts of a dance party at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and as guests at a music recital attended by Hawaiʻi’s elite. He said he was in Hawaiʻi to learn Japanese.

The Kuehns became popular hosts at their posh homes in Kailua and Lanikai, frequently hosting the young naval officers who were squiring Ruth, their pretty 22-year-old daughter, around town and on outings. She and her mother operated a beauty salon near the Kāneʻohe Naval Air Station that was a favorite spot for Navy wives. Their two younger sons, Eberhard and Hans, were students at Punahou.

In August 1941, Ruth, then 25, married a widower, retired stock broker, J. Carson Moore, “who was flattered by her interest,” his family later recalled. Moore, 48, was a generous bon vivant who hosted an open bar at his home, with free-flowing booze, that was frequented by service members. Moore called his little saloon the S.S. Rum, according to archival records at the University of Hawaiʻi.

America was at peace at the time, but the Japanese Empire’s expansionist and militaristic ambitions were drawing increasing concern, particularly as Japan allied itself with Nazi Germany.

Arrests Happen In Secret — At First

As early as 1939, Otto Kuehn had drawn the attention of the FBI, which received reports of a German man living high in Hawaiʻi with no discernible means of support. This seemed so suspicious that even J. Edgar Hoover was told about Kuehn’s activities, according to the FBI file.

But the FBI didn’t have any special agents in the islands at that time. Kuehn denied he was spying and told people he disliked the Nazi regime. The reports were filed away, with no further action taken, but they were not forgotten.

At midnight on Dec. 8, 1941, according to their granddaughter, the Kuehns were arrested.

Otto Kuehn – Honolulu Star-Bulletin – June 14, 1943 14 Jun 1943, Mon Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii) Newspapers.com

Otto was initially held in the utmost secrecy. He was tried by a military tribunal on charges he had collaborated with Japanese officials and was ordered to be executed. This sentence was later commuted to a term of 50 years imprisonment and he was sent to Fort Leavenworth.

But after the war he was released and returned to Germany. He died of cancer in a German hospital in 1956, according to the Associated Press and his granddaughter.

Otto’s wife Friedel was incarcerated at Sand Island, Hawaiʻi’s first internment camp, which housed Germans, Italians and Japanese who were being questioned or detained over allegations of disloyalty to the United States. Ruth, their daughter, was arrested a few months later and joined her mother at Sand Island.

The two boys were held at Sand Island with their mother for a while and then placed into foster care, according to archival records at the University of Hawaiʻi donated by sociologist Bernhard L. Hormann, whose father Arthur had served as pastor to the family at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. 

Hormann said that the older boy, Eberhard, was placed with Rev. Galen Weaver, pastor of the Church of the Crossroads. His activities were monitored by military officials, even during his continued attendance at Punahou, including government-approved outings to the Outrigger Canoe Club and for the students to work at a pineapple plantation.

The younger boy, Hans, lived with the Hormann family for a while, before joining his mother at Sand Island.

Friedel, Ruth and Hans eventually returned to Germany. But Eberhard stayed in the United States, joined the U.S. military, married and had American children.

Couple Calls Allegations ‘Ugly Rumors’

Many details of the Kuehn case were initially concealed because it was a wartime secret, which allowed both Otto and Friedel to vehemently protest that they were innocent of the charges.

In a letter to Otto, Hormann told him they felt misled, because they had considered him “a good Joe,” but that now they had been left hoping “that you were innocent of giving aid to the enemies of our country.”

Otto responded to Hormann in 1947, described the spying allegations as “ugly rumors,” and said his attorney had “demonstrated his innocence.”

“Mistakes will be made in time of national hysteria or danger,” Otto wrote in another letter. He added that his attorney “firmly believes in American justice and is sufficiently confident in a final success regarding my affair.”

In 1962, Friedel sued the U.S. government, saying that the charges against them were “all rot,” and that the allegations were brought against Otto to cover up the incompetence of the American military in allowing the surprise attack to occur. She sought $27,000 in damages from the U.S. government.

The facts, however, when they finally emerged, were damning. The Kuehns had done much more than make friends with amiable American military officers.

Otto had opened a steel furniture company, winning a commission to decorate a cocktail lounge at Pearl Harbor, which enabled him to get access to the base and take photographs of the ships in the harbor. He took pictures of other military installations, including Bellows, Wheeler and Hickam, revealing aircraft configurations. On at least one occasion, Otto took little Hans with him as he conducted his investigations, according to his granddaughter.

Lights In Dormer Windows Were Codes

Kuehn devised a system of codes to communicate information about ship activity at Pearl Harbor. A sheet hanging in a certain way outside his Lanikai home meant that U.S. aircraft carriers had sailed, for example. He built a set of three dormer windows at his home on Kainalu Drive in Kailua that allowed him to display bright lights that served as coded messages to Japanese submarines cruising offshore. Lights displayed between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., for example, meant that battleships were about to set sail. A light between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. meant that aircraft carriers had left the port.

Ruth conducted tours of Oʻahu for visiting Japanese military officers who wanted to see the island for themselves to probe for weak spots in its defenses.

Otto and Friedel reported to Japanese and German officials in Tokyo and Honolulu who coordinated their activities. Their contacts in Hawaiʻi included Japanese consular officials who asked Kuehn to find out how many ships of the U.S. fleet were in Honolulu, where they went on maneuvers and what day would be best for catching most of them at port. Kuehn promised to find out.

In one communication, for example, Kuehn detailed that there were seven battleships, six cruisers, two aircraft carriers, 40 destroyers and 27 submarines at Pearl Harbor, according to his granddaughter.

Through 1938, Kuehn and his family had received at least $70,000, according to his granddaughter — $1.5 million in today’s dollar. As hostilities increased, it became more difficult to transfer money to the Kuehns, and they were paid in cash. Money was later found sewn into the curtains of their homes.

Christine Kuehn’s interesting account reveals not only how they profited off the situation but how they enjoyed a life of prosperity, welcomed unknowingly by Hawaiʻi residents.

Welcomed, that is, until the bombs started falling at the Kāneʻohe station, at ʻEwa field and at Pearl Harbor, killing some 2,400 people and helping launch a conflagration that burned across Asia and much of the rest of the world.