New museum opens at UK mansion where jailed Nazi officers were spied on to glean secrets

A new museum, Trent Park House of Secrets, has opened at a UK mansion in Enfield, north London, where during World War II Nazi generals were secretly recorded by a team of listeners, mostly Jewish refugees. The museum highlights the intelligence gathered, which helped shorten the war, and displays recreated listening rooms and original wiring.

A new museum, Trent Park House of Secrets, has opened at Trent Park, a country house in Enfield, north London, where during World War II Nazi generals were secretly recorded. The museum highlights the role of a team of German-speaking listeners, most of them Jewish refugees, who transcribed the prisoners' bugged conversations. Museum director Giuseppe Albano told AFP that the intelligence gained was used by the British government to shorten the war. The mansion was part of a network of intelligence houses, including Bletchley Park. During the war, engineers wired the house with hidden microphones, even in the garden, connected to listening equipment in the servants' quarters. A total of 84 generals and 22 lower-ranking officers were held there between 1942 and 1945. The prisoners let slip secrets, including details of V-2 rocket development, which helped the British bomb the research facility. The museum opened as part of redevelopment by a property company. Visitors can hear actors reading some of the conversations. Some prisoners admitted atrocities, including General Dietrich von Choltitz, who said, "the worst job I carried out was the liquidation of Jews." Britain did not hand this over to war crimes trials to avoid revealing how it obtained the information.