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The German Spies at Pearl Harbor? Those Were My Grandparents (with ChrisΒ­tine Kuehn & Mark Schiponi)

πŸ“Ί Prevail with Greg Olear πŸ• June 5, 2026 at 5:25 PM
πŸ“ Source based in: World β€Ί Northern Hemisphere β€Ί North America β€Ί United States

What happens when you discover that the reason your father never speaks about his parents or his childhood growing up in Hawaii is because his mother, father, and older sister were Nazi spies? And not just any Nazi spies–the spies sent by Berlin to help the Japanese surveil Pearl Harbor.

ChrisΒ­tine Kuehn was living a quiΒ­et subΒ­urΒ­ban life when a mysΒ­teΒ­riΒ­ous letΒ­ter in 1994 pierced that bubΒ­ble, sendΒ­ing her on a thirΒ­ty-year quest to disΒ­covΒ­er the truth behind a horΒ­renΒ­dous famΒ­iΒ­ly secret kept hidΒ­den for half a cenΒ­tuΒ­ry. The result is the new book, FAMILY OF SPIES. FolΒ­lowΒ­ing a career in jourΒ­nalΒ­ism, pubΒ­lic relaΒ­tions, and nonΒ­profΒ­its, ChrisΒ­tine now lives in MaryΒ­land with her husΒ­band, Mark Schiponi, who helped her research the book for 30 years.

In this conversation, Greg Olear talks to the couple about how the book came to be, the long and unusual research process, and the emotional impact of learning the truth.

Buy the book:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250344465/familyofspies/

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Check out ROUGH BEAST, Greg’s new book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D47CMX17

ROUGH BEAST is now available as an audiobook:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Rough-Beast-Audiobook/B0D8K41S3T

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