Many months ago I filed a Freedom of Information Act��request with the FBI for information concerning Babette��� aka Albert J. Ellsworth, Robert F. Brown or��Elizabeth Ellsworth. Yesterday, I received a PDF on disc in the mail along with a letter explaining 20 pages were being released for��declassification with some redactions,��out of��172 reviewed. Even with so much withheld, this remains a huge coup.��Here is the basic summary:

In 1950, Babette��was first reported to the FBI after raising the suspicions of a Portland radio station by insistently trying to obtain Hitler’s recorded speeches. There was no mention of further investigations and they seem to have let the issue drop.

In late 1961, her��file was expanded to investigate��affairs regarding��East Germany. This was what I most expected to catch the FBI’s attention, as by that point, Babette had spent considerable time visiting the Communist��bloc state��and kept in open communication with various DDR officials using her home address. An initial questioning of Babette’s employer and neighbors uncovered that Ellsworth was “an individual who devoted considerable time to reading” and “enjoyed a very good reputation in the community…”

Then, by��January of 1962, the FBI became aware of Babette’s��other names: Albert James Holmes Ellsworth and Robert John Pierre Brown. Digging deeper, agents found that the Passport Office had an Ellsworth file from December of 1944, when she applied for a Swiss Identity Certificate while still living in France. In this report, Babette told Swiss officials in Paris that she��had been abandoned at birth in Yakima and adopted by the French aristocrat Germaine Brown/Bonnefont through a Seattle based Catholic charity. With France in civil tumult, a desperate Germaine probably sought escape using Babette’s yet unestablished��American��citizenship��via��Switzerland to��the US.

The Passport Office had promptly investigated, tracking down one former neighbor of the Brown’s in Clackamas. Even as a baby, my professor’s features were unmistakable. Years later, this woman recognized a picture of 15 year old Babette and stated she knew Germaine and Robert F. Brown’s child in the early 1930s as “Robert John Pierre Brown.” She recalled the Brown’s considered��their son adopted, but expressed doubt it “was accomplished with legal papers and all.”

Next the Passport Office agents located��Mildred Ellsworth, Babette’s birth mother herself.��Mildred said��Albert had been born in Yakima as the legitimate child of herself and Albert J. Ellsworth, Sr., but very prematurely and not expected to live. Soon afterward, she relocated to Redmond, WA without the child, but claimed she repeatedly wrote to the hospital without response, and finally assumed her baby died. Upon viewing a��photo of Babette, Mildred instantly saw resemblance to herself as a 13 year old. She requested��officials��put her in contact with this long lost child.

It appears the Swiss documents were never issued, but on December 21, 1944, a Dept. of State communication directed the American Mission in Paris to regard Babette as a US citizen. Then, in March of 1945, both Germaine and Babette��appeared at the US Consulate in Paris. Germaine claimed her papers on Ellsworth indicated the baby��was born out of wedlock and abandoned, though she had one document with the father’s name as “John Doe” and another as Albert J. Ellsworth. This technicality apparently had��prevented Germaine’s legal adoption of Babette in��French courts.

During Babette’s interview, she��showed an interest in returning to America, and (always playing to her��audience) even promised to enlist in the US military, if WWII was still ongoing when she turned 18. With a new passport and $196 “repatriation loan,” she returned to the US alone in August of 1946.

After this substantial 1962 update, Babette’s FBI file remained closed until 1978, when it was expanded with many redactions. This was probably due to her��frequent international travels, which then included China, as well as the USSR and East Germany.

According to the FBI, there are��still other documents available��which may eventually lead to��other revelations in the future, but at least this release helps clear up��several mysteries about Babette. I’m excited to see what new information it leads to.