POW Testimony: A Circular Aircraft over Nazi Germany, 1944

Source file: 65_hs1-101634279_100-de-26505.pdf Originating agency: FBI (Record Group 65) — Domestic Security (prefix 100) Date range: November 1957 – October 1966 Page count: 15 (all read) High-significance pages: 8, 9, 10, 12, 13

---

Official Blurb (from war.gov)

An FBI report from 1957 detailing the interview with Wladyslaw Krasuski, who recounted seeing a large, circular, vertically-rising vehicle in 1944 Germany near a German military compound.

Summary

FBI case file 100-DE-26505, opened by the Detroit field office in 1957, documents the testimony of a Polish war prisoner named Wladyslaw Krasuski, who reported to the U.S. government that he had observed a large, circular, vertically rising craft in 1944 near a German POW camp in northeastern Germany. The craft silenced the engines of machinery in its vicinity, operated from a fenced and concealed compound using uninsulated metal cables, and left no physical trace after the war ended. The FBI interviewed Krasuski, assessed his credibility, and sent a detailed report to Special Assistant to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The file also includes a hand-drawn sketch prepared by the case agent during the interview, and correspondence with an Oklahoma UFO research association from 1966.

---

Research Article

Introduction

On November 6, 1957, at 5:40 p.m., FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover dispatched an urgent wire to the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in Detroit: "IMMEDIATELY INTERVIEW KIASUSKI FOR ANY INFORMATION HE MAY HAVE." The order came in response to a letter a Polish-American citizen in Michigan had written to Robert Cutler, Special Assistant to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in which he offered to share with the government information he had about "the missile in Texas" that had caused engines to stop.

Krasuski's letter arrived at a moment when the country was still reeling from the Levelland, Texas affair (November 1957), in which motorists had reported an unidentified aerial object causing their car engines to stall. Krasuski stated he had heard about the Texas incident on the Polish-language radio broadcast and claimed to have experienced a nearly identical phenomenon years earlier — in 1944, when he had been a prisoner of war in Germany.

Background on the Witness

Wladyslaw Krasuski, also known as "Walter," was a Polish-born man who had been captured by the Germans. At a certain point he was transported as a prisoner of war (POW) from a camp in Germany. In May 1942 he was transferred to a camp at Gut Alt Golssen, a remote village approximately 30 miles east of Berlin, where he remained until several weeks after the end of World War II.

After his release in 1945, Krasuski spent time in displaced persons camps in Corck, Strasbourg, Offenburg, Muehlheim, and Freiburg, Germany. In Freiburg he studied at a radio technician's school and afterward worked for about a year in a textile mill in Lauterbach. On May 2, 1951, he arrived in New York aboard the S.S. General Stewart as a displaced person, and was sponsored by Father Petro Valkoviak of Hamtramck, Michigan.

Since May 1951 Krasuski had worked at the Gobel Brewery in Detroit. He lived with his wife Joan (née Wisniewski, married 1952 in Detroit) and four young children at 5457 Jos. Campau Avenue in Detroit, a long-established Polish neighborhood.

The 1944 Incident at Gut Alt Golssen

According to the detailed FBI report of November 7, 1957, Krasuski described the incident as follows:

In 1944, in an unknown month, while traveling to their work site in the northern section of Gut Alt Golssen, through a marshy area, their tractor engine stopped on a road crossing the area. No other machinery or vehicle was visible at the time, but a noise was heard — described as a high-pitched whine similar to that produced by a large electric generator.

An SS soldier appeared and spoke briefly with the German tractor driver. After a wait of five to ten minutes, the whining stopped and the tractor engine restarted normally.

About three hours later, in the same marshy area but farther from the road where the work crew had been cutting hay, Krasuski secretly — because of the German guards commanding the work crew and SS guards in the otherwise deserted area — observed a circular compound approximately 100 to 150 yards in diameter, shielded from outside view by a tarpaulin-type wall approximately 50 feet high. From within this compound, a craft rose slowly and vertically to a height sufficient to clear the wall, then moved slowly and horizontally a short distance until it was concealed behind trees.

Description of the Craft

The FBI documented Krasuski's description of the craft in exceptional detail:

• Shape: Circular
• Diameter: 75 to 100 yards (approximately 68 to 91 meters)
• Height: Approximately 14 feet (approximately 4.3 meters)
• Structure: Two fixed, dark gray upper and lower sections, 5 to 6 feet high each
• Middle section: An approximate 3-foot middle section appeared to be a rapidly moving component, producing a continuous blur similar to an aircraft propeller but extending around the entire circumference of the craft
• Sound: Similar to the sound heard earlier but at a lower pitch
• Effect: The tractor engine stopped again; the German driver made no attempt to restart it until the whining had ceased

Additional Site Details

Krasuski reported a specialized infrastructure he had observed at the site:

Uninsulated metal — possibly copper — cables, one and a half to two inches in diameter, on and under the surface of the ground, in some places covered by water, were observed on this and previous occasions. The cables appeared to run between the enclosure and a small concrete column-like structure situated between the road and the enclosure.

After the end of the war, when Krasuski revisited the area, the cables had vanished, and the location of the concrete structure and the compound itself was covered by water. He had not returned to the area since.

The Work Crew

Krasuski stated the work crew numbered 16 to 18 persons, including Russian, French, and Polish prisoners of war. All of them discussed the incident among themselves many times afterward. He had maintained no contact with any of them since 1945, but remembered one by name: Franciszek Grabowski, approximately 50 years old at the time, who Krasuski believed had returned to Poland after 1945.

The FBI Interview

The interview was conducted on November 7, 1957 by Special Agent Cassius Rathbun. The detailed report, written as a "Blank Memo" and transmitted to FBI headquarters in five copies, stated explicitly:

"No indication of irrational or otherwise abnormal behavior by KRASUSKI was observed during the interview."

Agent Rathbun also noted that Krasuski explained he had approached Robert Cutler specifically — rather than President Eisenhower directly — after seeing Cutler's photograph and job description in a local newspaper.

In addition to the FBI, Inspector Paul Desmond checked Krasuski's credit records. William Raecknagel, manager of the Michigan Association of Commerce Credit Bureau, confirmed that the credit records showed only credit inquiries in June 1956, March 1957, and June 1957, which verified Krasuski's address and place of employment.

The Sketches

Page 4 of the file is a sheet of hand-drawn sketches made by the FBI agent during the interview with Krasuski, dated November 7, 1957. The sketches include:

• Concentric circles representing the large compound
• Various oval shapes representing the craft from different angles
• Dimensional notations: "5 1/2", "3", "5 1/2" (the height in sections), "75 to 100 yards"
• Notations "44-45" (the relevant wartime years)
• The entry "Gut Alt Golssen" and "55 Major" (possibly a reference to a German rank)
• A representation of the rotating cable assembly
• A reference to the sound: "50 [ft] high, 100-150 yards"

The Time Dimension: 1966

Approximately nine years after the file was opened, on October 2, 1966, the Oklahoma UFO Research Association (OUFORA) sent a letter to the Detroit FBI field office, signed by Kerry Lesh, the association's director:

"My organization would appreciate any information that you could send us on Unidentified Flying Objects, specifically those sightings in your area in early spring of this year."

On October 11, 1966, Paul H. Stoddard, the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Detroit field office, replied:

"Please be advised that this office does not have the information you have requested. It is possible that the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, may be the proper agency to contact."

The letter was entered into case file 100-26505, indicating that the FBI associated OUFORA's inquiry with that file — possibly in the context of the wave of Michigan UFO sightings in 1966.

Significance

This case file is exceptional for several reasons.

First, it documents a German (or otherwise unidentified) craft from 1944 exhibiting classic UAP characteristics: circular shape, vertical ascent, an electrical-sounding noise, and engine stoppage in nearby machinery. The FBI treated the testimony seriously and opened a Domestic Security file (prefix 100) on the basis of it.

Second, the FBI responded within one day of Krasuski's letter to a high-level White House official, sent an "urgent" instruction to Detroit, and conducted the interview within 24 hours.

Third, the craft description closely resembles published postwar accounts of German "flying disc" projects (Haunebu, Schriever disc), though the FBI itself offered no explanation.

Fourth, the craft's ability to stall nearby machinery engines parallels the phenomenon documented in the Levelland, Texas incident (1957) and in numerous other UAP reports from various periods.

Fifth, a shielded and concealed compound of 150 yards' diameter in a marshy area, with electrical cables and a concrete structure, guarded by SS personnel, is consistent with a significant clandestine German project.

---

Key People

Name	Role	Details
Wladyslaw Krasuski (aka Walter Krasuski)	Principal witness	Polish POW; later employee of Gobel Brewery, Detroit
SA Cassius Rathbun	Interviewing FBI agent	Detroit field office, case 100-26505
Robert Cutler	Special Assistant to President Eisenhower	Addressee of Krasuski's original letter
Inspector Paul Desmond	Investigative agent	Checked Krasuski's credit background
Paul H. Stoddard	SAC, Detroit, 1966	Replied to the OUFORA inquiry
Franciszek Grabowski	Uncorroborated witness	Polish work crew member; approximately 50 in 1944
Kerry Lesh	OUFORA director	Asked the FBI in 1966 for UFO information
Joan Wisniewski-Krasuski	Witness's wife	Married 1952, Detroit

---

Locations

Location	Role in the Document
Gut Alt Golssen, Germany	Site of the camp and site of the craft observation, approximately 30 miles east of Berlin
5457 Jos. Campau Ave., Detroit	Krasuski's 1957 address
Gobel Brewery, Detroit	His place of employment from 1951
Levelland, Texas	The comparable incident that prompted Krasuski to come forward
FBI Detroit office, 913 Federal Building	Managed the investigation
Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio	Named as the appropriate authority for UFO inquiries

---

Incidents

Incident	Date	Location	Pages
First tractor engine stoppage — electrical whine heard	1944 (month unknown)	Marshy road, Gut Alt Golssen	9
Observation of circular craft rising from fenced compound	1944 (approximately 3 hours later)	Northern field, Gut Alt Golssen	9–10
Krasuski writes to Robert Cutler	November 4, 1957	Detroit, Michigan	8
Hoover's "URGENT" instruction to interview Krasuski	November 6, 1957, 5:40 p.m.	FBI headquarters to Detroit	8
FBI interview with Krasuski	November 7, 1957	Detroit	9–12
Teletype report to SAC Detroit	November 7, 1957	Detroit	13
OUFORA inquiry to FBI Detroit	October 2, 1966	Oklahoma City	14
FBI reply to OUFORA request	October 11, 1966	Detroit	15

---

Notable Quotes

"IMMEDIATELY INTERVIEW KIASUSKI FOR ANY INFORMATION HE MAY HAVE. BUFILES REFLECT NO INFORMATION RE KIASUSKI." — FBI Director to SAC Detroit, November 6, 1957, page 8

"This vehicle, observed from approximately 500 feet, was described as circular in shape, 75 to 100 yards in diameter, and about 14 feet high, consisting of dark gray stationary top and bottom sections, five to six feet high. The approximate three foot middle section appeared to be a rapidly moving component producing a continuous blur similar to an aeroplane propeller, but extending the circumference of the vehicle so far as could be observed." — FBI report, Detroit field office, November 7, 1957, page 10

"No indication of irrational or otherwise abnormal behavior by KRASUSKI was observed during the interview." — AIRTEL from SAC Detroit to FBI Director, November 7, 1957, page 12

"Uninsulated metal, possibly copper, cables one and one-half inch to two inches in diameter, on and under the surface of the ground, in some places covered by water, were observed on this and previous occasions, apparently running between the enclosure and a small concrete column-like structure between the road and enclosure." — FBI report, Detroit field office, November 7, 1957, page 10

"Please be advised that this office does not have the information you have requested. It is possible that the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, may be the proper agency to contact." — SAC Paul H. Stoddard, FBI Detroit, October 11, 1966, page 15

---

Prepared on the basis of official FBI documents classified and subsequently declassified under the FBI's Automatic Declassification Guide, distributed May 24, 2007. Case file No. 100-DE-26505, Detroit field office, Record Group 65, NARA. FOIPA No. 245,978, May 31, 1985.