Eric Erickson (spy)

Eric "Red" Erickson (1890-1983) was a Swedish oilman who spied on German synthetic oil plants for the American OSS in World War II. [cite web |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00C16F8355C0C768EDDA80894DB484D81 |title=Eric Erickson, Wartime Spy (abstract of obituary) |publisher="New York Times" |date=January 25 1983 |accessdate=2007-11-16] cite web |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400EEDE123CF937A1575BC0A9649C8B63 |title= Alexander Klein, 83; Wrote Spy Thriller (obituary) |publisher="New York Times" |date=August 24 2002 |accessdate=2007-11-16] Alexander Klein wrote a 1958 book about his exploits, "The Counterfeit Traitor", which was made into a 1962 movie of the same name, starring William Holden as Erickson.

Erickson was born in America, the son of Swedish immigrants. He fought in the U.S. Army in World War I and graduated from Cornell University in 1921. He attended Cornell at the suggestion of oil magnate Walter C. Teagle.

Erickson came to Sweden in 1924 and became a Swedish citizen in the mid-1930s.

At the outbreak of World War II, he offered his services to the United States. Pretending that he was a Nazi, he visited Germany more than 30 times between 1939 and 1945.

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