A newly declassified CIA cable shows the agency closely monitored a European journalist who publicly questioned whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, directing overseas stations to collect information on the author and his fiancée’s addresses, and his work.
The document, released in March 2025 under Executive Order 14176, titled “Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr,” is a classified message dated Sept. 30, 1964, and sent from CIA headquarters to stations in Bonn, Frankfurt, Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris, Stockholm, Reykjavik, The Hague, and Brussels.
The cable identifies German journalist Joachim Joesten, the author of Oswald: Assassin or Fall Guy? as the subject, noting: “CK title: OSWALD ASSASSIN OR FALL GUY? HAS WRITTEN UNDER TRUE NAME AND UNDER PSEUDONYMS: FRANZ VON WESSELRODE; H.F. LUKIN; WALTER KELLY; PAUL DELATHIUS.”
The document summarizes Joesten’s background, stating that he was a journalist and author of approximately 30 books and numerous news articles, adding that Joesten’s post WWII works were very “anti-Kubark,” (i.e., critical of the CIA). It also references his political history, noting that, according to captured Gestapo documents, he joined the German Communist Party in May 1932 and was assigned membership number 523315.
The cable also traces Joesten’s movements during and after World War II, reporting that he owned a lending library, and some time after May 1932 went to the USSR, where he remained until 1933, later returning to Germany, where it lists his “last residence Germany, Berlin Lützowstrasse 40 bei Hess.” The wire noted that Joesten’s fiancée, Anna Schinsky, managed his library in his absence.
CIA headquarters instructed field offices to actively gather material related to Joesten, writing: “Would appreciate as full a check as possible, including local services and available overt local pre-WWII references (press, books, etc.) on Joesten and fiancée”
The cable then requested that the Berlin station also check the Berlin Document Center and obtain photostats of any available documents, verify addresses and names, and determine whether the fiancée could be located.
All recipients of the cable were instructed to treat the request as urgent because the information was relevant to the Warren Commission’s investigation.
“All addressees pls handle request urgently as matter also of interest to Warren Commission. Cable summary results and pouch details including all copies available Joesten pre-WWII writings,” the document concluded.
