Call Number:

C0731

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 23 boxes
• 9.6 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Jan Valtin Papers, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1930s-1959 (inclusive)

Creator:

Valtin, Jan, 1904-1951.

Form:

Correspondence -- 20th century

Abstract:

Consists of papers of "Jan Valtin," the literary pseudonym of Richard Julius Herman Krebs.

"Jan Valtin" was the literary pseudonym of Richard Julius Herman Krebs. Krebs, a Soviet and German spy, was author of the best-selling Out of the Night (1940), an exposé of Nazi and Communist practices. Krebs defected to the United States in 1938 and, during World War II, served as a war correspondent for the United States Army.

The collection consists of papers of "Valtin," the literary pseudonym of Richard Julius Herman Krebs. Included is correspondence with family members, literary agents, and friends such as Roger N. Baldwin, Arthur Garfield Hayes, and William Allen White. Also present are lectures, articles, drafts for a novel, Wintertime, material for his autobiography, Out of the Night, and subject files documenting Valtin's career as a German secret agent of the Communist International, a Nazi terrorist, and, later, a war correspondent for the United States Army in World War II.