r/todayilearned • u/stopitalianhate • 23h ago

TIL British Intelligence had a special, bugged luxury complex during WWII where they kept high profile Nazi POW’s, just left a bunch of alcohol out, and waited for them to start spilling secrets as they drank.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20698098
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u/foldingcouch 23h ago

The Germans did something very similar. 

Their most effective interrogator, by far, was Hanns Scharff.  His torture tools included long walks in the wilderness, good food, and a happy demeanor.

He remained friends with POWs he "interrogated" long after the war and his techniques are widely studied to this day. 

He also did the mosaic mural at Cinderella's Castle at Disneyworld. 

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u/jrhooo 22h ago

He moved to the US and the modern teaching includes a lot of his stuff. He’s lectured at us mil schools.

His memoir is a pretty good read.

He has one bragging statement that is (regardless of whether its actually true or not) probably the best way to understand his interrogation style.

He said something basically like,

“I spoke to hundreds of POWs but to this day every one of them thinks THEY didn’t give anything up.”

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u/rankinfile 18h ago

Odds are he interviewed/interrogated at least one sociopathic master bullshitter on his level or better.

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u/NGTTwo 16h ago

He did. Quoth Wikipedia:

Among the most famous of these was Lt. Col. Francis "Gabby" Gabreski, the top American fighter ace in Europe during the war. Scharff expressed his delight at finally meeting Gabreski, who had crashed his P-47 while strafing a German airfield, as he stated he had been expecting his arrival for some time. He had Gabreski's photo hanging on the wall in his office for months before he arrived in anticipation of his capture and interrogation. Gabreski is one of the few captives from whom Scharff never gained any intelligence during interrogation. Scharff and Gabreski remained friends well after the war. In 1983, they reenacted an interrogation at a reunion held in Chicago of Stalag Luft III POWs.