Heinrich Albert

Who was Heinrich Albert?

Heinrich Friedrich Albert was a German lawyer who served as commercial attaché to the Imperial German Ambassador to the United States Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff during World War I. He was also the paymaster for German espionage and sabotage operations in the United States. In addition, he also arranged for forged passports and documents for German-Americans who wanted to return to fight for the German armed forces.

Albert and Naval Intelligence Captain Franz von Rintelen established a cover firm called the Bridgeport Projectile Company to purchase and destroy munitions that would otherwise be shipped to the Allied Forces. This operation has become known as the Great Phenol Plot.

He was exposed as a spy because of his association with George Sylvester Viereck, the editor of The Fatherland, a pro-German publication, who was himself under surveillance. He left his briefcase, which contained sensitive documents, on a tram, and it was picked up by one of BOI Director William Flynn's counter-intelligence officers, who was tailing him. The papers documented Albert's having spent $27 million to build up a spy network in the United States, using German money to fund dock strikes, attacks on shipping, and bombs planted in munitions plants. The papers were published in the New York World. However, no official actions were taken against Albert, and he did not return to Germany until the U.S. entered the war.