Benita von Falkenhayn

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Benita von Falkenhayn (born August 14, 1900 in Berlin ; † February 18, 1935 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a German aristocrat and spied for the Polish intelligence service during the Weimar Republic and the National Socialist German Empire . She was exposed in 1934 and executed in 1935 .

Life

Benita Ursula von Falkenhayn, née von Zollikofer-Altenklingen , was last married to Baron von Berg and was actually called Benita Ursula Baronin von Berg. Benita von Falkenhayn became known for betraying military secrets to the Polish spy Rittmeister d. R. (Georg Ritter von) Sosnowski in the period from 1926 to 1934. Her first marriage was to Lieutenant Colonel a. D. Müller-Eckhardt (1920–1922) and in his second marriage to First Lieutenant a. D. Richard von Falkenhayn (1923–1930) married.

The marriage between Benita von Falkenhayn and Richard von Falkenhayn was divorced on December 18, 1930. On October 18, 1932, she married the aircraft engineer Josef Baron von Berg. The marriage of Benita Baron von Berg was born on October 19, 1934 during the pre-trial detention annulled what Benita the name of her second husband Falkenhayn accepted again.

The Polish intelligence officer Major Jerzy Sosnowski recruited mainly female employees of the Reichswehr Ministry for espionage services for the benefit of the Polish secret service. The Polish spy ring was exposed by the German Abwehr in February 1934 and all members were arrested.

Benita von Falkenhayn and her friend Renate von Natzmer were sentenced to death by the 3rd Senate of the People's Court on February 16, 1935 , and beheaded with a hand ax by the executioner Carl Gröpler in Berlin-Plötzensee prison for high treason and treason . Your command officer Jerzy Sosnowski was sentenced to life imprisonment, but after a short period of imprisonment he was exchanged for several German agents who had been exposed in Poland.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerd Buchheit: The German secret service . Paul List Verlag, Munich 1967, p. 47 ff .
personal data
SURNAME Falkenhayn, Benita from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berg, Benita Ursula Baroness of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German spy
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1935
Place of death Berlin-Plötzensee , Germany