Copyright 2020 by Ravi Somaiya
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Somaiya, Ravi, author.
Title: The golden thread : the Cold War mystery surrounding the death of Dag Hammarskjld / Ravi Somaiya.
Other titles: Cold War mystery surrounding the death of Dag Hammarskjld
Description: First edition. | New York : Twelve, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019058754 | ISBN 9781455536542 (hardcover) |ISBN 9781455536535 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Hammarskjld, Dag, 19051961Death and burial. | United NationsCongo (Democratic Republic) | Congo (Democratic Republic)HistoryCivil War, 19601965. | AfricaForeign relations19451960. | AfricaForeign relations1960 | Cold War.
Classification: LCC D839.7.H3 S63 2020 | DDC 341.23092dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019058754
ISBNs: 978-1-4555-3654-2 (hardcover), 978-1-4555-3653-5 (ebook)
E3-20200523-JV-NF-ORI
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For Caroline
And for my parents, Raj and Hershi
(in alphabetical order)
Cyrille Adoulaprime minister of the Congo, 196164.
Beukelsa Belgian pilot who says he flew as a mercenary for Katangese forces.
Larry Devlinthe Central Intelligence Agencys Leopoldville chief of station, 196067.
Colonel Ren Faulquesa French soldier who led Katangese rebel forces.
Dag Hammarskjldthe second secretary-general of the United Nations, 195361.
George Ivan Smitha UN press representative and close friend of Hammarskjld.
Harold Julienan American soldier, acting head of security for the United Nations Operation in the Congo.
Joseph Kasavubuthe first democratically elected prime minister of the Congo.
Claude de Kemoulariaa French former assistant to Hammarskjld and diplomat turned adviser and executive.
John F. Kennedypresident of the United States of America, 196163.
Nikita Khrushchevleader of the Soviet Union, 195364.
King Leopold IIa Belgian royal who colonized, then brutalized, the Congo.
Patrice Lumumbathe first democratically elected president of the Congo.
Harold Macmillanprime minister of the United Kingdom, 195763.
Joseph Dsir Mobutuhead of the Congolese army who eventually seized power and installed himself as a dictator.
Godefroid Munongointerior minister of Katanga, in close contact with Katangas Belgian advisers.
Conor Cruise OBrienan Irish diplomat, politician, and writer who was Hammarskjlds representative in Katanga.
Mohamed Chande Othmana Tanzanian jurist appointed in 2015 by the United Nations to reexamine the Hammarskjld case.
Daphne Park (later Baroness Park of Monmouth)the British Secret Intelligence Services head of station in Leopoldville, 195961.
QJWINa safecracker named Jose Mankel employed by the CIA for assassination recruitment and related activities in Leopoldville.
Bengt Rsia Swedish diplomat and investigator.
Charles Southalla US naval pilot seconded to the National Security Agency.
Jean-Franois Thiriarta Belgian optometrist and a fascist ideologue and recruiter.
Harry S Trumanpresident of the United States of America, 194553.
Mose Tshombea Katangese businessman appointed leader of the breakaway state.
Bo Virvinga Swedish pilot and investigator.
Roy Welenskythe last prime minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
Susan Williamsa British academic, author, and investigator.
WIROGUEa forger and former bank robber turned CIA agent in Leopoldville. Real name either David Tzitzichivili or David de Panasket.
Footnotes
Pronounced, roughly, ham-ar-heuld.
Pronounced, roughly, reu-scheu.
All narrative is a kind of benevolent lie. In telling a story so its intelligible, an author must, of necessity, leave some things out and focus on others. I have certainly done so here, and I apologize in advance to anyone who feels that their role in the story of Dag Hammarskjlds life and death has been omitted or underplayed.
In an effort to mitigate that, I have worked to place things in context and to credit those who have worked so assiduously before me to unearth original materials. I have used dialogue only where it was precisely recalled and noted by the participants themselves. All descriptions are drawn from the recollections or accounts of those present or from contemporaneous photographs and video.
This is a story with so many twists, and so many duplicitous characters, that unraveling it drove me nearly to madness. But as with all enduring puzzles, it has at its heart a simple question: What happened to Hammarskjlds plane in the skies over what is now Zambia in the few minutes between its last contact with the control tower and its fatal crash landing?
Between midnight and dawn, when the past is all deception,
The future futureless, before the morning watch
When time stops and time is never ending
T. S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages, Four Quartets
O n the morning of Tuesday, September 19, 1961, Harry S Truman woke before the sun was up. He made himself breakfast, lost in thought, then bathed and dressed in a dapper gray suit, a dark-blue tie, and a gray felt hat.