DRESDEN, Germany, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- John H. Noble, a U.S. citizen who spent 9 1/2 years in Soviet prisons on trumped-up spy charges, has died in Germany at the age of 84.
He died Nov. 10, his family told The New York Times.
Born in Detroit to a former Christian missionary and his wife, Noble moved to Dresden, Germany, with his family after his father purchased a German camera company in 1938, the Times reported Monday.
After the war, the Soviets seized the company and sent Noble and his father to prison on espionage charges. Noble spent time in Russian prisons in Germany, including Buchenwald, before being sent to Russia's slave labor camps.
He was released in 1955 after U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower personally intervened in his case.
Not only did Noble live to write books about his imprisonment but he also managed to recover the camera company and his family's castle in the former East Germany, the Times said.
He is survived by his wife and five children.
