Gabriel Ascher

Gabriel Ascher was a German journalist and informant for the German defense service .

Life

In 1936 the Jewish journalist Gabriel Ascher, who had converted to Catholicism, became the secretary of the Jesuit Friedrich Muckermann in Rome . Even then he was in the service of the defense as an undercover agent, using the code name Siegfried . Muckermann made it possible for Ascher to make acquaintances and contacts with officials of the Vatican. When Muckermann traveled to Austria in November 1937, he accompanied Muckermann there.

When Austria was occupied by the Wehrmacht in March 1938, Ascher first went to Switzerland and then back to Rome. There he worked as a correspondent for the Basler Nachrichten . But when anti-Jewish laws were passed in Italy too, he went to Stockholm . Here he worked for the Basler Nachrichten and the New Catholic Herald , which appeared in London. In January 1941 he got in touch with Hans Wagner , the representative of the war organization (KO) of the Abwehr at the German embassy in Stockholm.

When the German defense wanted to review the role of Josef Müller , the head of the German counter-espionage in the defense, Joachim Rohleder , chose Ascher as the person who should look for Müller's contacts at the Vatican. On April 23, 1941, Ascher traveled to Berlin. He had two letters of recommendation with him. Proof of the Basler Nachrichten as a correspondent for the Vatican and a letter of recommendation from the Apostolic Vicar and later Bishop of Stockholm, Johann Evangelist Müller . In Berlin Rohleder gave him sufficient financial means for his research in Rome.

Another introductory letter for Monsignor Giovanni Montini , later Pope Paul VI. , at that time a substitute in the papal secretariat of state, received Ascher from the archbishop Cesare Orsenigo , the apostolic nuncio of the Vatican in Berlin. On May 3, 1941, Ascher arrived in Rome and contacted Montini. He also spoke to the Jesuit Father Robert Leiber , private secretary of Pope Pius XII. , and with Monsignor Ludwig Kaas . However, several of his contact persons were surprised that Ascher, with his Jewish descent, was able to undertake such trips across the Third Reich. Inquiries from journalists in Stockholm revealed that Ascher was a German informant.

When Leiber warned Montini on June 24th, it was too late. Ascher had left Rome again towards the end of June and gave Rohleder his report on Josef Müller in Berlin. Rohleder found conclusive evidence that Müller had communicated the date of the attack by the German Wehrmacht to the Vatican. Ascher then traveled on to Stockholm. There the Swedish police got information about Ascher's contacts with the German defense service. On April 2, 1942, he was summoned for interrogation.

However, since there was no concrete evidence of charges against Ascher, the police intended to have him deported from Sweden. When the expulsion date approached in mid-May 1942, Ascher suffered such a severe mental illness that he was treated in a hospital until shortly before May 1945.

It is not clear whether Ascher was a double informant. Because in Stockholm he had contact with Rennie Smith , who was secretary of the anti-Nazi organization Friends of Europe and was able to arrange contacts with the British secret service.

literature

• Heinz Höhne : Canaris - Patriot in Twilight. Munich 1976
• David Alvarez and Robert A. Graham: Nothig sacred - Nazi Espionage Against the Vatican. London 1997
• Hanno Hardt, Winfried B. Lerg and Elke Hilscher: Press in Exile - Contributions to the communication history of German exile 1933–1945. Munich 1979
• Helmut Roewer , Stefan Schäfer, Matthias Uhl : Lexicon of the secret services in the 20th century . Herbig, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7766-2317-9 .
• Josef Müller: To the last consequence: a life for peace and freedom. 1975
• CG McKay: From Information to Intrigue - Studies in Secret Service Based on the Swedish Experience 1939-1945. London