SOE Manual: How to be an Agent in Occupied Europe. Special Executive Operations

e.g. because he has failed to satisfy local police and Gestapo in previous interrogations or because he has been caught red-handed. This interrogation may last from 24 hours to many months. Methods are manifold but aim is single – to extract a confession. No rules; nothing barred; “all-in”.

      2. INTERROGATION METHODS.

      a) Before Interrogation.

      i) Sudden but polite arrest on pretext of unimportant enquiry, followed by indefinite detention to prevent warning of associates.

      ii) Sudden arrest in the middle of the night when vitality is at its lowest.

      iii) Complete house and body search. Exhaustive enquiries about suspect’s life and activities in order to collect as much evidence as possible before interrogation.

      iv) Treatment in prison all part of interrogation plan, e.g. bad food, alternatively good food, comfort and discomfort, comparative liberty and solitary confinement, promising visits from friends, etc. Object is to break down moral strength before actual questioning.

      b) During Interrogation.

      Every effort will be made to make the prisoner feel ill at ease both physically and mentally. Some of the following methods may be tried:-

      i) Prisoner facing strong light; unable to see examiner properly.

      ii) Prisoner may be made to assume uncomfortable or humiliating postures.

      iii) Prisoner seated on uncomfortable chair. Not allowed to eat, drink or smoke while examiners indulge in all three.

      iv) Prisoner may be wholly or partly stripped sometimes in the presence of members of the opposite sex.

      v) Prisoner may be at one end of a long bare room and this isolation may be emphasised by the interrogators pretending to ignore the prisoner.