Otto Hammerstein (died September 1942), also known as Jack Turpin, was a Schutzstaffel officer and an infiltrator during World War II. Hammerstein was a subordinate of General Gero Kramer, who oversaw the Uranprojekt, the Nazi Party's scientific effort at nuclear weapons research.
Biography[]
In England[]
In 1935, Kramer sent Hammerstein to London, where during five years the undercover SS took the alias of Jack Turpin and became a feared and shady figure of the London underworld. Unknown to all, Hammerstein true purpose was to steal advanced technologies from the Allies and smuggle it to Germany, to help the Uranprojekt.
In September 1940, Kramer ordered Hammestein to enlist the help of Eddie Gorm, a former war hero and the leader of the East End dockers, in order to kidnap French scientists taking refuge in London. While at first Gorm refused to help Turpin because he didn't wanted to be involved with someone like him, he accepted a week later. Unknown to the SS, following the death of his family during The Blitz, Gorm was recruited by the Americans to infiltrate the organization of Hammerstein as a double-agent.
Some days later, Gorm and his men raided the hotel room of the scientists, stealing their research on the heavy-water reactor. Hammerstein told the dockers to wait for him outside the hotel and offered the scientists a choice; To die in the hotel room or accept to be smuggled to Germany. Curious about Hammerstein's motives, Stan, one of Gorm's men, disobeyed and discovered that Turpin was a Nazi spy. Having following his friend back to the room, Gorm was forced to kill him in order to prove his loyalty to Hammerstein.
Back in Germany[]
In 1942, in Berlin, Hammerstein and his "good friend" Gorm, who by then had joined the SS, were attending a reception at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Meeting Josef Mengele, the two officers listened to the unscrupulous scientist telling them about his progress on the superman and how his studies on the human genome were backed by Kramer. Mengele also informed them that Kramer wanted to meet Hammerstein's protege in his office.
A few days later, during a ceremony to honor Werner Heisenberg, the lead scientist of the Uranprojekt, Kramer made an eloquent speech about the power of the Reich and their scientific progress. Unable to restrain himself after Hammerstein whispered in his hear, gloating about the weapon that will soon allow the Nazi to destroy entire cities, Gorm stabbed the Nazi in a feat of rage. Taking Heisenberg hostage, Gorm then threatened the soldiers to kill the scientist if they did not let them escape. Kramer ordered his men and an enraged Hammerstein to hold back as he needed them both alive and Gorm was able to isolate himself with his hostage in a laboratory.
The English spy managed to extort valuable information on the Uranprojekt from Heisenberg, but being distracted he was hit on the head by the scientist who unlocked the door to Hammerstein and his men. However, as the Germans were cornering Gorm, the spy's handler and unknown to him an Assassin, Julia Dusk, jumped through the window and attacked the soldiers. During the fight, Dusk threw a knife which hit Hammerstein into the throat and the two spies fled through the broken window.
Appearances[]
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