Frederick Mayer (28 October 1921, Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden, Germany – 15 April 2016, Charles Town, Jefferson County, West Virginia) was a German-born Jew who became an American spy as an OSS agent for the United States during World War II. He negotiated the surrender of the German Army in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1945 after he was captured in "Operation Greenup". Background Frederick Mayer was born in Freiburg im Breisgau, into a Jewish family. He was the son of Berthilda (Dreyfuss) and Heinrich Mayer. His father had served in the Imperial German Army during World War I, and was decorated with the Iron Cross Second Class for gallantry during the Battle of Verdun. After finishing high school, Frederick Mayer worked as a diesel mechanic with the Ford Motor Company. He lived by a practical motto: "Do your best at everything every day, control what you can, and what you can't, don't worry about". After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Antisemitism became an official policy of the German government. Mayer's father hoped his distinguished military record would protect his family, but his wife insisted that the family leave Germany while they still could. They emigrated to the United States in 1938, one year before World War II broke out in Europe. Frederick Mayer worked at twenty different jobs during his time in New York City. When one of his bosses made an anti-Semitic remark, Mayer knocked him down and resigned on the spot, just as he had previously done in Germany. In December 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Mayer enlisted in the United States Army. During a training exercise in Arizona, he crossed the "enemy" line and "captured" several officers, including a brigadier general. The general said, "You can't do that! You are breaking the rules!" Mayer replied, "War is not fair. The rules of war are to win." The general then raised his hands in the air, admitting defeat. Mayer was trained in demolition, infiltration, raiding, sniping, and hand-to-hand combat. His knowledge of several European languages (German, French, Spanish) made him a good candidate for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a wartime precursor to Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) and CIA. Mayer's group of 30 men included four other European Jewish refugees: George Gerbner (Hungary), Alfred Rosenthal (Germany), Bernd Steinitz (Germany) and Hans Wijnberg (Netherlands). Each of them spoke at